Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (78 page)

               
“That doesn’t seem juvenile to you?”

               
Tracy shakes her head.  “No, I think it would be better if he knew what
was going on.”

               
“You can’t let him know what I told you.  Promise me that you won’t let it
slip!”

               
“Cross my heart,” Tracy replies as she draws an X on her chest with her
finger.  “I’ll just tell him that I know that you said you loved him and
Damien isn’t returning phone calls.  I have it covered.  It’ll be
fine.  It’s better for him to know than to have you ignore him at school.”

               
Kayla hangs her head.  “This is crazy.  I don’t want to go back to
school.”

               
“Everyone will be excited to see you.  The whole school was in an uproar.”

               
“Oh great, everyone’s going to stare at me,” Kayla mumbles.  “Just what I
need.”

               
Leaning forward, Tracy says, “People did what they thought they needed to
do.  No one knew where you went.  Damien was frantic to get you
back.  The phone lines were ringing off the hook because of the
reward.  I’m surprised one of William’s thugs didn’t turn him in. 
Eight million dollars is a lot of money.”

               
“I doubt Damien would put up that money now,” Kayla sighs.  “If he knew
what was going to happen, he probably would’ve revoked the reward.”

               
“Stop it, no he wouldn’t.  He loves you.  That doesn’t go away at a
drop of a dime.  He may be hurt and angry, but I doubt he wants anything
bad to happen to you.”

               
“You never know,” Kayla replies unhappily.

               
Tracy gives her a look.  “All right, now you’re being ridiculous.  I
understand you’ve been through a lot.  It’s been a rough month, and you
have every right to be a basket case, but come on, you need to snap out of it.”

               
“It would be easier if I knew what was going to happen.”

               
“What do you want to happen?” Tracy asks. “Like, perfect situation.”

               
Looking at her friend, Kayla answers, “Damien would forgive me, and Jackson
would love me back.”

               
“He said he loved you.  I don’t think he would lie.”

               
“Our lives were being threatened; you kind of do what you have to in those
types of situations.”

               
Tracy nods. “Yeah, true, but he calls me multiple times a day to ask about
you.  How often does he call you?”

               
“The first few days it was every couple of hours.  Now, it’s just a few
times a day.  He leaves me messages saying that he just wants to talk to
me.  They’re the same messages that I’m leaving Damien.”

               
“It will all work out,” Tracy says soothingly.  “Just give it time.”

               
There is an unexpected knock on the door.  “Girls, are you hungry? 
Dinner’s ready.”

               
“Yeah!” Kayla yells.  “We’ll be right out.”

               
“I’ll talk to Jackson tonight.  No secret spillage, but I will explain
what’s going on.”

               
“Thanks,” Kayla replies.  “Let’s go eat.  I’m starving.”

               
The next morning, Kayla and Tracy sit in Tracy’s car, waiting for school to
start.  “I still think you should’ve kept the car,” Tracy states.

               
“No, that would have been wrong.” Kayla sighs.

               
“He had it delivered to your house.  I think that’s a sign that he wants
you to keep it.”

               
Kayla shakes her head.  “No, that’s ridiculous.  He won’t talk to me,
so I can’t accept a car.”

               
“Once again, I will drive you wherever you need to go, but we should get into
school.  Don’t want to be late your first day back.”

               
“Yes, I do,” Kayla whispers.  “I don’t want to see anybody.”

               
“Jackson knows what’s going on.  He still wants to talk to you, and I don’t
know what you can do to stop him.”

               
Kayla shrugs. “Run between classes.”

               
“Come on, let’s go.”  They get out of the car and walk across the parking
lot toward the school.  As soon as they enter the hallway, everyone turns and
stares at Kayla.  She bows her head and tucks her hair behind her
ear.  Tracy wraps her arm through Kayla’s and walks Kayla to her locker.

               
When they get there, Jackson is leaning against it.  He turns to
Tracy.  “Give me one minute with her, please.”

               
Tracy looks at Kayla.  “I don’t know.”

               
“She doesn’t have to say a word.  I just need to say something.  It’s
important,” Jackson stresses.

               
With a nod, Tracy lets Kayla go and walks down the hall.  Kayla doesn’t
even look at Jackson.  She just opens her locker.  “I can’t talk to
you,” she whispers.

               
“Then don’t. I have to say this, though, I understand what you went
through.  I can’t even imagine the horror of it, and I know we were thrown
into a tough situation, but none of what I said was a lie.”  He steps
closer to her and murmurs, “I would rather not say it for the first time in the
hallway at school, but—”

               
“Then don’t say it,” Kayla softly snaps.  “Just…don’t.  It’s better
that way.”

               
He bangs his head on her locker door.  “We can’t hinge everything on
what’s going to happen with Damien.”

               
“
Everything
hinges on him,” Kayla exclaims.  “I hurt him.  He
won’t even talk to me!  Will he talk to you?”

               
Jackson shakes his head.  “No, I even talked to his mom.  He hasn’t
really spoken to them either.”

               
“Damien’s out partying,” Kayla grumbles, putting her books away.  “You can
see it all over his Facebook page.”

               
Jackson releases a heavy sigh.  “I’m sorry, Kayla.  It’s what he
does.”

               
“That’s the thing.  I wouldn’t even blame him if he were out sleeping
around.  That seems like the best revenge.”

               
“So if he’s out partying, can’t you take that as proof that you’re no longer a
couple?”

               
Kayla slams her locker shut and glares at him.  “I’m not considering
anything until he tells me what’s going on.”

               
“Baby,” Jackson groans.  “That could take forever.  Are we really
supposed to wait that whole time?”

               
“We?” Kayla says with a strained voice.

               
Stepping closer to her, Jackson whispers, “Yes, we, are we supposed to wait
that whole time?”

               
“I can’t do this,” Kayla whimpers.  “Please.”

               
“Kayla,” Jackson says softly, putting his hand on the side of her face. 
“We can’t help the way we feel.”

               
She brushes his hand away and stutters, “Yes…we can…we can help the way we
feel.  I’ll put a stop to it before it starts.”

               
“Baby,” Jackson sighs.  “Come on, that isn’t fair to us.”

               
“Please, please, don’t do this,” Kayla cries softly.  “Just leave me
alone.”  She pushes away from him and runs down the hallway.

               
“Kayla!” he yells after her.

               
She darts into the bathroom and shuts the door.  Thankfully, there isn’t
anyone in the bathroom, so she takes out her cell phone and dials Damien’s
number.  It rings and rings and then goes to his voice mail. 
“Damien,” she sniffles. “Please, will you call me?  I don’t know what to
do.  I miss you and feel so bad.  I’m not talking to Jackson, and I
don’t plan on it anytime soon.  I’m sorry.  Please understand that I’m
with you.  He isn’t even in the picture.  Just…I need to talk to
you.  I need to know that you’re okay.  Send me a text,
something.  I’m waiting and will keep waiting for you.  Just call
me.”  She hangs up and wipes the tears away.

               
When the bell rings, Kayla checks her eyes in the mirror.  They’re red but
there isn’t much that can be done about that.  After a couple minutes of
hesitation, she walks to her first class.  The teacher is already talking,
but when Kayla walks in, the whole class stops and looks at her.  She shifts
her weight back and forth between her feet, trying to avoid their stares. 
Her teacher finally smiles. “Hello, Miss Hendrickson.  Welcome back. 
You can take your seat.”

               
Giving a weak smile, Kayla slides into her chair and hunches over.  She
can practically feel everyone staring at her.  When her teacher starts to
talk again, Jackson suddenly puts a stack of papers on her desk.  She
picks them up and looks at them.  They are notes from the classes that she
missed.  A sticky note sits on top of the papers.  It reads:  I
knew this would be important to you.  ~J~

               
The corner of her mouth twitches, and she sticks the notes in her binder. 
She doesn’t look at him, but Kayla knows Jackson is staring at her, which
brings a smile to her face.  The rest of class is a blur.  Kayla
realizes that she has missed a lot, but none of that seems important. 
After everything, she isn’t sure what is important anymore.

               
When the bell rings, she grabs her stuff and darts out of the room.  The
rest of the day is spent in awkward silence with people.  Kayla isn’t sure
if anyone really knows what to say.  At the end of the day, Kayla bolts to
Tracy’s locker.  “Come on,” she says to her friend.  “We need to go
now.”

               
Tracy raises her eyebrows, but says, “Okay.”

               
When they get to the parking lot, Kayla lets out an exasperated sigh. 
“That was awful.”

               
“School usually is,” Tracy quips, trying to get her friend to laugh.

               
“No, everyone’s staring at me, and when people would actually say something it
was just weird and awkward.  And then you add Jackson into the mix, and I
want to scream!”

               
“Then scream, if that will make you feel better.”

               
Kayla gives her friend a look.  “That won’t help.  People will think
I’m crazy.”

               
“I think you’re crazy already, so it doesn’t really matter then, huh?” Tracy
giggles as she opens her car door.

               
That makes Kayla laugh.  When she opens the passenger door, she looks
up.  Jackson is standing a few rows down by his car.  The intensity
of his gaze freezes her, so all she can do is stare back at him.  The
burning desire to run to him courses through her.  All the times he made
her laugh and every kiss they shared, tear at her heart.  Kayla’s chest
clenches so much that she can’t breathe.

               
“Are you going to go over there?” Tracy asks.

               
“No,” Kayla whispers, breaking eye contact with Jackson and throwing her
backpack in the car.  When she looks back up at him for one last glance,
her heart breaks when she sees him kiss his fingers and hold them out to
her.  Every inch of Kayla wants to run over to him, but she doesn’t. 
She takes a deep breath and gets into the car.

               
“I think you’re being stupid,” Tracy declares.  “The man loves you and you
love him back, and he’s only standing a few cars down.  He wants
you.  You should be all over each other in the backseat of his car right
now.”

               
Kayla scoffs.  “If we lived in a perfect world, that would be true, but we
don’t.  I don’t even want to think about it.  It just hurts.”

               
“Okay,” Tracy replies softly.  “Let’s get you home.”

               
“Yeah, I have a ton of homework to catch up on.”  Although she isn’t sure
she’ll be able to concentrate on anything with all the drama between Damien and
Jackson going on.

               
Later that evening, Kayla is sitting in front of her computer.  Her head
is on her desk and she’s crying.  Everything is too much for her to
handle.  She doesn’t know if she can take much more. There is a soft knock
on the door. Kayla swipes her tears away.  “Yeah,” she calls out.

               
“Honey,” her mom says.  “Jackson’s here.”

               
The tears return in full force.  “I don’t want to see him, Mom!”

               
“He has something for you.  Just see him for a minute.”

               
“Tell him to slide it under my door.  I don’t want to talk to anyone right
now!”

               
“It’s nothing you can slip under a door.”

               
Growling, Kayla goes and opens her door.  “What?”

               
Her mom thrusts forward a large square package.  “He’s downstairs.”

               
Kayla takes the package.  “Mom,” she hisses. “I can’t see him. 
Okay?  It hurts too much.”