Silver Moon (4 page)

It’s Benjamin.

My mouth falls open. Where’d he come from?

“Fine. Just fine,” the Boy with the Vacant Eyes replies, before I have a chance to open my mouth. He narrows his eyes at me. “I’ll deal with you later.”

“I think you need to leave her alone,” Benjamin warns. There’s an edge to his voice, like he’s controlling rage.

The two guys shake their heads and smirk. “Mom and Dad won’t be happy about this one.” They turn and leave the way they came.

Benjamin’s jaw twitches. He stares in their direction, even after they’re long gone.

Finally, I ask, “Mom and Dad? You’re their—”

“Brother? Yes,” he confirms.

I glance in the direction they had gone, but can’t see anything past the six-foot fence surrounding the home we stand beside. “Are they always like this?”

Benjamin nods. “You could say that.”

“Well, uh, thanks for saving my ass, I guess.”

“Let me know if they bother you again.” His eyebrows furrow, and it’s like his eyes put me under some sort of spell.

I lose my senses. My head goes numb. Everything fades around us.

I shake my head to lift the curse. “I hope you don’t get into any trouble. I didn’t mean—”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you around.”

Like nothing just happened, he fades around the corner and out of sight. Standing in place for a couple of minutes makes me look as dumb as I feel. He’s not coming back. There’s no point in me waiting for him. I’ll have to wait until I see him again.

My own, personal hero,
I think. Not that I need one, but there’s something about him that I find comforting.

When I get home—my
new
home, anyway—Beth’s making dinner. She pokes her head around the corner as soon as I walk through the door.

“It’s just me,” I say.

“I wanted to be sure,” she calls from the kitchen. “How was school?”

“It was…different.” I don’t want to bring up the
Conway
brothers, or how they confronted me. Like I need more problems in my life…

I snatch a roll from the tray Beth pulls out of the oven. The bread is crispy and burns the tips of my fingers. I quickly take a bite, burning the roof of my mouth. The pain is fleeting—like I imagined it or something.

Weird,
I think.

“So,” Beth begins, mixing some sort of food together in a big dish, “have you made new friends yet?”

“Um, I met this guy in one of my classes. He seems pretty cool.” I take another bite of the roll; it doesn’t burn my hand or my mouth this time. Totally weird.

“Oh, yeah? What’s his name?”

“Blake.”

“I bet he’s that Thomas boy. They’re a good clan.”

“Clan? Um, whatever.” My head shakes in response to her odd choice of words. “I’m going upstairs to do homework.”

Beth waves me off.

Homework? Yeah, right. Since when do I do that? Even if I wanted to put a pencil to paper, I couldn’t. My mind is frenzied with thoughts of Benjamin and his brothers. I’ve met a few bullies in my day, but this is at the top of the list. They’re full of pure hatred for me, and I have no idea why. I’ve only been here for how long? A few days? Not long enough to irritate someone, let alone make them hate me. And what’s with their eyes burning black?

The only thing I think about is what’s going to happen to me tomorrow and the day after that. I don’t want to deal with them every day. Just my luck, though, right? I get away from trouble and trouble finds me yet again.

I wonder what Sean and
Layla
are doing this very second. Are they still grounded? Last time I checked, neither was allowed to pick up a phone or get online. I have no way of communicating with them.

Some time passes before Beth calls me downstairs. She says dinner’s ready. I take my sweet time. My stomach argues with me, since the only food I’ve had all day is the roll in the kitchen.
 

Randy’s not home from work yet. Apparently, he works the graveyard shift most nights. Something having to do with him being a manager at the bank. I thought only the dead stayed up that late. So, it’s just Beth and I.

“I heard from your mom today,” Beth says, taking a stab at her green beans.

“Really?” There’s no emotion in my voice. At least, that’s what I hope it comes off as.

“She asked about you.”

I play with my mashed potatoes and finally ask, “Did she?” My voice is foreign, even to me. Since when do I care that Mom checked on me?

“They’re worried about you, you know. You should give her a call when you get a chance, catch them up on what’s going on.”

I shrug. “Maybe later.”

Beth doesn’t say anything for the rest of the meal, which is completely awkward. Back home, dinner consisted of Mom picking up fast food on her way home from work, and eating in front of the TV. I suddenly feel sick at the thought of
Charleston
, and how I can’t go home anytime soon.

I push aside my plate, having lost my appetite, and quickly thank Beth for dinner, heading upstairs to my room—my only place of solace. I attempt to pull out my math book and figure out some equations, but that doesn’t work out so well. My every thought is consumed by what will happen tomorrow at school when I see Benjamin again. My insides toss and turn while I try figuring things out.

The more I think about it, the stranger my thoughts become. Why am I drawn to him? I don’t even know the guy, yet he came to my rescue.

I stand and stretch, walking to my window. I push the curtains aside. There, on the edge of the forest, are those same yellow eyes. I’m utterly absorbed by them. I wonder if my passing out episode is somehow related, but then I think how dumb that sounds.

They hold my gaze for a few seconds—vanishing as quickly as they appeared.

~*~

I attempt to talk to Benjamin the next day.
Attempt
is the key word. He wants nothing to do with my conversation. Completely ignores me. I wonder if he got in trouble the night before, for helping me.

When class lets out, I confront him in the hall.

“Could you at least
pretend
like I exist for two seconds?” I ask, trying to catch up with his brisk walk.

He stops, and I almost run into him. “I could, but I’m not going to,” he says, picking up pace again.

Breathless, I question, “You were nice to me yesterday, so what gives?”

We make it to his locker. He tosses a couple of books in the tiny cubbyhole, then pauses. “Listen, Candra, there are things you don’t understand, things you can’t possibly fathom right now. It’s obvious nothing has been explained to you, and it’s not my place to say anything.”

I almost laugh, but he’s so serious. “What are you talking about?”

“Exactly. I’ll see
ya
around,” he says, leaving me to collect my thoughts alone.

So I won’t look stupid, I rush to my next class. I feel the never-ending cycle of eyes bear down on me as I pass through the hallways. Never gets old.

New kid.

New meat.

Same as any other school. I hope someone else joins my ranks soon. I won’t feel isolated. I
so
hate being the shiny new toy all the kids want to play with.

The day passes by. All I want to do is sleep.

I’m the first one to take a seat in Geography. Blake enters the room soon after, followed by a short, dark-haired girl with freckles dusting the top of her nose and cheeks. I presume she’s Jana.

“Hi, I’m Jana.” She waves shyly, confirming my genius mind. “You must be Candra.” She and Blake take their seats in the row beside mine.

I bite my lip to keep from giggling. “I am.”

Jana’s not how I pictured her. She bounces when she walks. Too peppy, almost.

“I like your hair. Brown suits your eyes. They look almost pea green, you know,” she says. I squirm in my seat, not one for compliments.
 

“Um, thanks.”

“So, where are you from again?” she asks.

“
Charleston
.”

“That’s pretty far from here. Do you miss it?” She watches me intently.

The twinge in my stomach tells me I miss it too much. “Yeah, I do.”

“Did you parents move here too?”

Blake nudges her arm and gives her the keep-your-mouth-shut look.

“It’s okay,” I say, interrupting their evil glares at each other. “No, my parents stayed in
Charleston
. I live with my aunt and uncle.”

“Really? How come?” she asks.

“Jana! Stop,” Blake scorns.

“A bit of trouble, I guess. They couldn’t handle me anymore.” I stare at the cream-colored linoleum tiles—and Jana and Blake’s black backpacks resting against their desks.

“Well, I’m sure everything will work out,” Jana says, patting my arm.

I sneer and say, “Yeah, right. I already know a couple of guys who hate me.”

Jana and Blake’s faces scrunch, and they give me confused stares.
  

“Like who?” Blake asks.

“I-I can’t remember their names, only that they’re related to Benjamin somehow,” I stammer.

“Benjamin Conway. His brothers are Cameron and Ethan. They
would
hate you.” Jana practically growls the words.

My cheeks burn. “But why? I haven’t done anything to them.”

“You don’t have to,” Jana replies. “They hate you for who you are.”

“What?” I shake my head. “That’s not possible.” How is it that I just met these two, yet they seem to know about the
Conways
? Sure, it is likely word could’ve spread quickly about my run-in yesterday, but not that fast.

“Oh, it is. You just don’t know it yet.” She turns around and faces the front of the class.

Chapter Four

B
enjamin skips school on Friday. I search for him everywhere but can’t find him. It’s strange sitting in class with an empty desk beside me. Subconsciously, I feel like something is missing, and I know physically it’s his presence. But there’s something else—something deep and hidden inside me that flutters each time our eyes meet. I can’t deny that.
 

Why should I care whether he’s in class or not? Maybe part of me misses skipping. And today, I wish I’d skipped. Each class drags by slower and slower. My mind is in a complete fog the rest of the day. Teachers drone on with worthless garble, while I practically fall asleep at my desk.

I can barely place one foot in front of the other on my way home. This isn’t like me. Even though I’m tiny, I’m pretty sure I could stand up to hurricane-force winds…or so I convince myself.

No cars are in the driveway. All I can focus on is getting to the front door—getting there and inside to my bed.

The keys jingle in my hand as I pick out the right one. I can barely hold my eyes open. Inside, I make my way to the staircase, holding on to the railing for support. My iPod is turned on low, drowning out the day. I finally make it to my bed where I collapse.

Dizziness sweeps over me the moment before I plunge into a dark abyss.
 

I’m running through the large, desolate lot that sits beside Randy and Beth’s house—so fast that my hair is blowing freely. The trees move like soldiers forming ranks at a battlefield; their branches linking together. They form a barrier between me and the edge of the forest.

“Who…dares…enter…
our
…ground?” Each word catches on the edge of a breeze, as if it takes great effort for him to speak.

“I’m Candra.”

Though no mouths move, I know they’re speaking to me. My legs tremble and I wonder how they’re able to say anything.