The Secret (3 page)

“I’ll find you after school?” Jake looked at the teacher, but waited for me to respond.

I knew my brother, Rob, wouldn’t like this. Being overprotective was his strong suit. “Okay. See you then.”

Leaving my last class was more of a production than I could have thought possible.

“Let me give you one more hug.” Senora Sanchez hugged me to her chest, crushing the leather portfolio between us. “Finally—I am sent an artist to work with.”

I hugged her back, feeling awkward—hugging wasn’t really my thing.

“Tomorrow you start helping me teach those yahoos how to really draw, no?” Her brown eyes sparkled. “They’ve been drawing fruit for two years. Where did I fail?”

“Okay.” I smiled. How did I tell her that the portfolio was not my best work?

I left the classroom to find Jake just outside. Metal clinked as he turned his keys in a circle around his finger, leaning easily against the wall with his back to me and his ear buds in.

I watched him for a second and my stomach knotted nervously. It was just weird that he was waiting for me. Stepping in front of him, I paused for him to notice me.

His lips turned into a smile and his eyes opened. “Hey.”

Forcing myself to swallow, I tried to think of something witty to say. But I was completely blank—which never happened to me. I started walking. “Hey.

Stepping into sync beside me, he reached for my bag.

“No.” I frowned, twisting a little away from him and feeling uncertain. “I don’t think I’m ready for that much of a commitment yet.”

Cocking his head to the side, he laughed, sounding genuinely amused by me. “Right—the carry your bag and propose marriage kind of commitment.” Seeming to almost spring with each step, I walked faster to keep up with him and pulled out my phone. There was a message from Rob that I should text him and let him know where I’d be. He was worse than actually having parents.

“Texting your boyfriend?” Jake’s tone was playful as he glanced at my phone, then stared straight ahead.

A pang of happiness went through me. Was he jealous?

I shrugged, trying to keep from giggling. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt like giggling. “Yep, my boyfriend.”

Looking at me quickly, he took the cue from my smile, opening the door by the main office. “Well, you’ll just have to tell him you’re busy tonight—
studying
.”

The parking lot was empty—except for Marsha, Reed, and Karen standing next to his car.

“Great.” Jake turned to me, rolling his eyes. “They’ll want to come.” Looking at them with annoyance, he turned to me raising his eyebrows. “Is that okay?”

A dull ache formed in my stomach at the thought of trying to socialize. “Uh…I have to write my report. Kind of the reason we’re studying.”

Raising his hands in the air playfully, he turned to me. “Oh, is that the reason we’re studying?”

Confusion swept through me. Wasn’t that the reason? Did he think this was a date or something? “Seriously, I don’t know what I’m doing for Mr. Drake’s class.” We were only three cars away from the group so I dropped my voice. “I don’t want to be behind.”

Reed pounded the back of the car, looking bigger in, what appeared to be, a bear-skinned brown coat. “Dude, it’s cold.”

Jake pointed, daring Reed to test him.  “Touch the car again—you die.”

Marsha elbowed Reed in the gut, stepping away and putting her hands on her hips. “You say
I’m
always pissing him off.”

Reed slouched, grabbing his stomach and howling.

Marsha’s satisfied face made me want to laugh. She turned her attention to me. “Hey—I was hoping we could do some bonding.”

“Oh?” I tried not to sound too surprised. Bonding? With me?

Tapping on her iPad, Karen looked up, pushing her glasses back and smiling at me. Then she turned to Jake. “Carls? Let’s get hot chocolate at Carls.”

Jake looked at me out of the corner of his eye, seeming to ask for permission.

No—I didn’t make friends like this. I should be going home with my brother and spending most of the night tortured because all my time would be going to writing a stupid report.

“It’s the best I’ve ever had.” Karen looked at me expectantly.

I tried to smile, knowing it probably looked painful. “Sounds great.”

Reed snatched Jake’s keys and they all clamored for the doors of the Mustang, Reed calling out shot gun. I followed Jake to the trunk, gently placing my portfolio inside with my bag on top and feeling the thump from the stereo start to reverberate through his whole car.

“Thanks for understanding. They’re really…” He trailed off, searching for the right word. “Fun?”

Meeting his eyes, I stepped back from the trunk, and we both burst out laughing. Happiness spread through me—we were sharing a joke.

A sudden rev of an engine surprised me and I looked up. 

“Lanie!”

The black SUV came straight for me.

“Lanie!”

In an instant, Jake’s body slammed into me, smashing my face into the gravel. My head screamed in pain.

Jake rolled me onto my back, pushing my hair back. “Lanie.” The sound of tires squealing and doors slamming felt inordinately loud.

“Jake.” Opening my eyes, he looked hazy, the sunlight shadowing his face and the metal coin from his chain touching my nose. “Jake…”

Episode 3: The Mark

The cold fingers were light, fluttering between my hairline and the lobe of my ear. I tried to move my head, but this time, red and black erupted, oozing down the edges of my mind. Fear sucked the breath out of me and I tried to move away from the fingers.

“I think our girl might be waking up.”

The smell of medicinal cleanliness filled my nose and I tried to open my eyes. Bright, blinding light ripped knife-like pain into my head.  “Hmm.” Cottony dryness prevented any words.

“Lanie?” Rob was there, his voice instantly calming me like a cold towel on a sunburn. “Lanie?” His voice turned desperate, motivating me to resume the process of opening my eyes.

“She’ll be okay.” This new voice had a southern accent to it.

I opened my eyes, peering into a kind face with almond-shaped eyes and dark hair pinned up. Tapping the chart in front of her, the woman leaned forward, clicking her tongue and reaching for my head. “You took a nasty fall, sweetie.”

I tried to pull away from her touch, but the colors started swirling again.

Rob put his hand out in front of the nurse. “She doesn’t like to be touched.” The sternness in his voice surprised me. But it shouldn’t have. Not when he was trying to protect me.

Scowling at Rob, the nurse backed away, dropping the chart into a box next to the door. “The doctor will be here in about an hour.”

Rob squeezed my hand, smiling down at me with concern.

Sadness filled my heart. I hated the way I was making him worry over me. “I…” A dry cough came out, intensifying the ache inside of my head.

Reaching for a cup with a straw in it, Rob pushed a button on the bedside remote to elevate my head. “Let’s get you some water.”

The initial dizziness settled and I sucked in the lukewarm liquid.

Stuffing another pillow behind my head, Rob took the water back and smiled at me. “Only
my
sister could find so much trouble on the first day of school.” He stroked my hair gently away from my face, taking care to stay away from my left ear.

I tried to smile. “H…how bad is it?”

Leaning back and folding his arms, Rob raised his eyebrows, his bowl cut, black hair flitting a little into his eyes over his glasses. The black Boston sweatshirt he usually wore looked rattier than usual, and the dark bags under his eyes stretched as he offered me a tired smile. “You’ve been sleeping for about twenty hours. But there’s nothing that seems to be wrong with you other than the head wound.” He leaned forward, narrowing his eyes and lightly tracing the bandage from the middle of my cheek past my ear and into my hairline. “I don’t understand how you hit the front of your head?”

The image of the SUV coming toward me skimmed through my mind. “I was pushed out of the way.”

Sighing heavily, Rob nodded. “Your new friends brought you to the hospital and called me.”

Realizing Rob would not be very happy with me having any kind of friends, I didn’t respond.

“Jake?” He posed it as a question and I felt my heart rate pick up. “He found my number in your phone and called me.”

Thinking of Jake made me sad, knowing it would be over before it could begin.

Rob studied my face and leaned back, exhaling loudly. “You can’t already be attached to this place?”

I knew I could never explain my feelings to my computer geek brother. I loved him. I really did. But he lived through the lens of a virtual world. Socializing for him was meeting up with his online gaming friends. Plus, it was my fault he was the way he was; moving was hard and he’d coped the only way he could. “It’s fine,” I said.

Rob slumped forward, peering at me over his glasses. “It’s just how it is, Lanie. I’m having the apartment packed up in a few hours and Stewart has been notified we need new I.D.”

I relaxed. Stewart was my dad’s oldest friend. The only person we could still trust—he would help us.

“I.D.?” Jake walked into the room, a police officer at his heels. Excitement and worry rushed through me at seeing him.

Standing, Rob puffed out his chest like he was bracing for a fight, his tall lanky figure looking off balance.

Trying to gauge the situation, I looked at the police officer. Why was he here?

Unaware of Rob’s stance, the police officer looked at me, wincing in pain and touching his head in the same spot mine was bandaged. “I hate head wounds.”

Relieved, I glanced at Rob, hoping the cop hadn’t heard Jake’s comment.

Pushing his clipboard under his arm, the officer smiled. “I just wanted to come back and tell you we’ve found the black SUV and the man who did this. He’s being put in jail as we speak.”

Rob shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

Alarm passed through me, clearing the painkiller haze. I sat up, ignoring the pain, and turned to the officer, giving Rob a ‘shut up’ look. “That just seems so fast.”

The officer took off his hat and gestured to Jake. “Your friend here memorized the license plate number.”

Looking guilty, Jake shrugged. “It was Marsha. She saw it before he got away.”

Turning to Rob, his eyes met mine with the same mistrust.

Touching the small tuft of hair on his chin, Rob looked at the officer. “Why was he trying to run down my sister?” I felt like my heart would stop.

Sighing and shaking his head back and forth, he pushed both hands into the air in clear frustration. “It’s the strangest thing—looks like he’s a psycho with anger problems. I guess he’s been making random drive-bys at schools for a couple of weeks. Four other students were all run down, not too hurt, mind you, but sooner or later he would have killed somebody.” He held his clipboard out. “It’s just sick, that’s what it is.”

It didn’t fit. It couldn’t. This kind of thing didn’t happen to me…at least not randomly.

“You’ll be notified about a court day. Can I talk to your parents or guardians?”

Looking at me, Rob shook his head. “It’s just us. I’m her guardian.”

Panic washed over me. My eyes flitted to Jake, but he stared intently at Rob.

The officer lugged his hat back onto his head and winked at me. “Okay, then, I’ll be in touch.”

My heart started slowing. “Thanks.”

Rob turned to me. “I have a few questions. I’m going to walk him out.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Jake stepped closer after Rob and the officer had left, tapping the bars next to my bed. “Looks comfortable.”

I laughed at the unexpected humor, gasping a little at the pain that accompanied the laugh. Leaning back, I wondered if Jake remembered my lie about my mom and grandparents.

He frowned. “Are you okay?” It seemed like he wanted to reach out to me, but he dropped his hands to his side quickly.

The light hit his eyes just right that I was reflected in them. He still looked fresh, even though he was in the same clothes from the day before. Pleasure and anxiety washed over me that he was here. “I’m fine.”

Sitting down, he pulled the chain off from around his neck and began twirling the metal coin through his fingers. “The lengths some people will go to get out of a book report.”

Groaning, I leaned back. “Yeah.” The glint of the metal in the sunlight jarred my memory. I watched him weaving the coin in and out of his fingers. “You saved me.”

He shook his head. “No.”

I wondered why he was denying it. “Yeah. You did.”

Waving his hand in the air, he shook his head again. “It’s not a big deal.”

“You could have been killed.”

“Hmm…” A smirk surfaced into his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Well, good morning, Miss Hart.” A short, balding man with a large smile and white coat interrupted us, stepping inside and taking the chart. “How are we feeling?” He flipped through the pages.

“I’m good.”