The Challenge (9 page)

"Sure," I said. Henry let go of me and climbed out the window.

Things were a little tense between Henry and me the next morning. Lena noticed it, but didn't say anything. She knew everything about me and all I had to do was give her a look before she understood that the incident with David last year was fresh in my mind once again. Now two people knew my secret-three including David-but there was a lot more to it than any of them could ever guess.

"So you're going to see your grandma over the weekend?" Lena asked as we walked down the hall. James and Henry were with us. James was holding Lena's hand, and Henry had his arm over my shoulders.

"Yes, I am," I said. I felt Henry's arm tighten and I looked at where he was looking. David was, for once, without Lauren, but was hanging out with other guys from the football team. Lena must have noticed this, too, because she veered closer to me. I looked at Henry's face to see anger in his brow and restraint in his eyes. His arm tightened a bit more, enough to make me uncomfortable. I made a noise and he looked at me, his face instantly softening apologetically. He loosened his hold on me and I smiled softly at my new protector.

"We're practicing in the auditorium today," Lena said quickly to distract Henry and I as we passed by David. She knew that we all already knew this, but I appreciated the gesture. Instead of heading to the Drama Room, we took a hard left into the Auditorium.

I don't know why, but, by the time Friday rolled around, I was worried about leaving for the entire weekend. That week, every time David would grace us with his presence I would instinctively look towards Henry, whose face would become increasingly more aggressive than the last time, and I couldn't help but feel worried that he was going to do something while I was gone. I couldn't stop it, anyway. I hadn't seen my grandmother since Megan's birthday in May and now it was October. I just hoped that Henry was smart enough not to do anything stupid. Either that or hope that the other guys were around. Over the last two weeks or so, Henry had become good friends with the guys in the group. They would stop him from doing something stupid, I hoped.

I RETURNED FROM my grandma's later than expected, so I didn't get to see anyone Sunday night. Henry called to tell me that he wouldn't be able to pick me up in the morning and said that Lukas and Lena would do it.

Monday morning I was worried and tired because I didn't sleep the previous night. Lena and Lukas had no clue why Henry couldn't get me and they were as curious as I was. So was the rest of the group, when they saw me arrive with Lukas and Lena.

"Where's Henry?" Amanda asked.

"I don't know," I said. "I thought one of you guys might know."

"We only saw him for like a minute on Saturday for some song writing," Curtis said.

"His car is here," Erin said, "but we haven't seen him."

"This isn't making me feel any better," I said. "I'm going in."

I went to my locker alone to get my books, but my mind was somewhere else. I shook off the funny feeling I had and went to class to take my seat just as the bell rang. The desk next to me was empty. A few other students trickled in late but everyone was there...everyone but Henry. James gave me a sympathetic look and took a seat at the other empty desk to me.

"I'm sure he's fine," he reassured me. "Just...a little late is all."

I nodded hesitantly and feigned a smile for him. After roll call I distracted myself by doing some homework I had missed doing while at grandma's. Then I heard the door open, but didn't look up until I heard a few gasps.

"Mr. Wilson, so glad you could join us!" said Mr. Blackmore. Then he did a second take and whispered, "Oh my..."

"Sorry to be late," Henry apologized. My eyes widened as I saw him walk down the aisle to his seat. He had a black eye, a cut on his forehead, a bruise on his cheek and a cut on his lip, which was also swollen. He sat down and winced. I stared at him, speechless, but he didn't look at me.

"Miss Williams, please turn your attention back to your work and off Mr. Wilson for the time being," Mr. Blackmore ordered, shooting another glance at the grotesque lacerations that covered Henry's face.

"Sorry," I said, turning my attention back to my notebook.

"What the hell happened to him?" James whispered. I shook my head. I don't know how I managed to get through the rest of the class, or the next two. I had to wait until lunch, but I couldn't let him dodge me all day. I grabbed Henry's hand and pulled him all the way outside to his car.

"What...
IN THE HELL
...happened to you?" I yelled, except for the last part which had turned into a whimper. But I was able to fight back tears. "God, I go away for a weekend and come back to a beat-up boyfriend?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry," Henry said.

"Oh yeah, you're perfectly fine! What the hell did you...?" I stopped, looking over Henry's shoulder I saw Lauren and David. David looked just as bad, if not worse than Henry, who turned his attention to them as well.

He looked back at me with wide eyes and whispered, "Sorry..."

"Oh, my God!" I yelled just loud enough for only Henry to hear me.

"Kris..." Henry said.

"What did you do?" I asked, closing my eyes and leaning back on the car.

"There's a perfectly good reason for what happened," Henry said.

"Oh yeah? What is it?" I asked, opening my eyes. "Did you do it for me, Henry? Or did you do it for
her
?" I gestured my head in the direction of Lauren, who was now standing fifty yards away at David's car. He didn't answer, but just looked at me. I shook my head. "You know what? It doesn't matter-either way I'm pissed at you. I don't want to hear what you have to say!" I pushed past him and stormed back to the school, fighting the urge to encounter David along the way.

"Honey, are you okay?" Lena asked once I got back to lunch.

"Did you find out what happened to Henry?" Erin asked.

"I'm guessing he got in a fight with David, because he's beat up, too," I said.

"Well, girls, let's just skip class this afternoon and talk about this," Lena said. "You need some time to calm down and seeing them all day will only make things worse. Come on."

I agreed with her and we went to our lockers to grab our things and left without anyone noticing. Ethan was doing work at his club all day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and hot tub, talking through almost everything. The girls even tried to distract me from my problems by talking about their own.

"My dad is such an overprotective freak!" Darla said.

"My uncle is getting to that stage, too," I said, with another feigned smile. I wasn't in a good mood, but I wanted them to think they were helping. Later, Darla and Amanda went out and came back with ice cream and cake mixes. I had to laugh at that-they knew me too well sometimes.

We were frosting the first cake when there was a knock on the door. Finally in a better mood now, I danced over to the door to the beat of the music playing. I opened the door...and slammed it shut almost instantly.

"Kris, open up," Henry called through the door.

"No!" I shouted.

"What's going on?" Lena asked, coming out of the kitchen. Henry rapped on the door again. "You gonna answer that?" she wondered.

When I refused, Lena walked over to the door and opened it herself. I jumped behind the door as she opened it so I could hear their conversation.

"Umm... all right, Lena?" I heard Henry say.

"What happened?" Lena asked.

"She's right brassed off at me, obviously. Think you can get her to have a word?"

"I think you should wait a little while...let her cool off," Lena advised, frowning.

"Can you just tell her something?" Henry asked.

"I think, if it's about what happened, you should tell her yourself," Lena said. I would have kicked her, if it weren't for the fact that it would give away my hiding spot.

"Please, just tell Kris that you and Lukas will drive her to school for the rest of the week," he pleaded.

"Suspended?" Lena asked.

"Yeah," Henry said. "Things were so much easier back home."

"You'll get used to it." Lena said. She suddenly went outside and closed the door. I looked outside and could see them talking, but without the door open, I couldn't hear anything. Henry nodded and then headed to his car.

True to what Henry said, I had to go to school with Lena and Lukas for the rest of the week. It's amazing how things were fine for two weeks and then managed to fall apart after one day. On Friday, I got Lukas to hack into the school database and find out where Henry lived. After class I got him to drive me there. He didn't live that far from me at all. It was maybe a twenty minute walk. I had passed his house hundreds of times before he moved in when I went for jogs and I never gave it a second thought. Then, over the summer, I saw the
For Sale
sign, but never would have imagined my future boyfriend would move into it.

I walked up to the door and knocked. A girl who looked to be twenty or twenty-one opened the door.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"I'm looking for Henry," I said.

"Just a moment," she said. She turned around and I saw Henry coming up behind her. She looked at me with a smile.

"He's all yours, doll." With that, she pushed Henry out the door and closed it.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"My stepsister," Henry said. "How'd you find out where I live?"

"Lukas...has his sources," I explained with a laugh, but followed with a frown. "Is it just me, or do you have more wounds than before?" Henry looked confused. "Look, Henry...I didn't come here to be mad at you. In all honesty, I actually missed you around school. It's easy to deal with Lauren and David with you there, but without you..."

"Is that all you want me around for?" Henry asked.

"No, Henry. What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it," Henry said. "Forget I said anything, alright?"

"Henry?"

"Yeah?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but the sound of a door swinging open cut me off and I turned around to see his stepsister standing in the doorway.

"Is she staying for dinner?" she asked.

"You want to stay for dinner, pet?" Henry asked.

"Umm...sure," I said.

"Yeah, she is Rach," Henry said.

"Okay, awesome." The door slammed shut again.

"Let me guess...her name is Rachel?" I asked.

"Yeah," Henry said. "Her mom and my dad married over the summer. That's why I moved here."

"I guess Lauren whined and cried to her parents to get them to agree to move here, too?"

"Pretty much, they're retired and were already entertaining the idea of moving across the pond," Henry said. "In all honesty, she started acting differently once we got here, so really, the break up wasn't too big of a shock."

"I...broke up with David around the same time you guys moved here," I admitted.

"Doubt that it's a coincidence then," he gave me toothy smile. "Want a tour of the house before dinner?"

"Sure."

We went inside through the patio door, then up the stairs. Henry pointed to the closed doors and said which room belonged to whom. At the end of the hall was his. It was a very interesting room: dark red walls with posters of different British bands, a desk sat against one wall covered in books and papers, a guitar was leaning against the desk and a very big bed that he said was a water bed. What surprised me was that the walls and lights were like my room, except in reverse. My walls were blue with red lights; his were red with blue lights.