Timesurfers (5 page)

“I’m surprised.” Eve turned in circles as she
attempted to examine the back of her thigh.

“You and me both,” Cate muttered. She smiled
and, keeping her hands out of view, trudged to class. There were
smudges of blood on them. Eve’s blood. From her now nonexistent
grazed thigh. What was with that?

Chapter 3

Mind Control

“I
’m thinking of getting my hair cut in a mohawk.” Eve
tweaked one of the numerous green bows scattered through her
hair.

“Is that so?” Cate stared at Zach’s empty
seat. Ditching school must go hand in hand with being popular. Or
he was too scared to show his cheating face.

“I’m going to
dye
it black, with a white strip down the
middle.”

“Hmm.” Cate tapped the wall with a
fingernail.

“And stick my head in the bushes at the front
of the house and see if I can catch a skunk.”

“Oh...WHAT?” Cate turned to Eve.

“So you were happy for me to make the biggest
hair mistake ever, but worried about me catching skunks?
Nice
.”

“Where do you think Zach is?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care, and neither
do you,” Eve said sternly.

“I don’t care.” Which she didn’t. Unless Zach
lay beaten and bloodied, or even dead,
because
of her. She knew firsthand how brutal the
people were who forced her into witness protection. Zach would be a
soft target into her life and routine. “You don’t think something’s
happened to him? His folks are still out of town.”

Eve gave her a sad little smile.

“I’m curious is all. He’s never missed a day
of school.”

“Ms. Oliver?”

“Yes, Mr. Leckie.” Eve snapped to attention
and saluted.

“I assume you have a class you
should
be in?”

Eve rolled her eyes and flounced off.

“Inside please, Cate,” Mr. Leckie said as he
entered the classroom.

She pulled out her phone and texted her
mum.

CATE: “ZACH NOT AT
SCHOOL??? WEIRD.”

“Hey, Black Belt Cate.”

Surely not!

Austin was back with Rose and Rafe. If she
ignored them, they might all go away. Austin smiled, and she gave
an involuntary sigh. What was with that? She needed to stop that
immediately. Should she smile or feign indifference? With a head
toss and a ramrod-straight back, she strode into class.
Indifference it was.

The murmurings of “Zach”, “Brittany”,
“dumped” and “text” as she walked to her seat weren’t unexpected.
Neither were the looks and snickers. That didn’t make them any
easier to take. Her books hit the desk with a dull thud. A
high-pitched buzzing filled her head. She stuck a finger in her ear
and ground her teeth. A metallic taste crept along her tongue. The
buzzing vanished.

“Done,” Rafe said.

Why were the other students in the class
smiling and saying hi to Austin, Rose, and Rafe as they wandered
behind her? The three of them had never gone to Socrates. She
opened her history book to the list of Egyptian emperors she’d
hastily scrawled and sat, pencil poised. She would ignore these
three or die trying.

“I’ll sit with Rafe.” Rose tossed her
ink-black hair, which hung in a plait past her very shapely behind.
Where Rose’s face was delicate and fair, Rafe had a washed-out,
pasty complexion with a nose a little too big for his face. His
gangly, skinny frame was at complete odds to him being able to lift
a bus. His dirty-blonde hair had a wave to it, and his mullet was
certainly impressive.

Rafe’s excitement at Rose sitting with him
reminded Cate of a small puppy. As he wriggled in his chair, she
pictured him wagging an imaginary tail. His ears practically
pricked up at the sound of Rose’s voice. Those two had a strong
unrequited-love vibe going on.

Rafe had changed out of his outrageous
Hawaiian shirt.
Wait a minute.
“How come
you’re all wearing school uniforms?” Cate demanded.

Austin gave her a quizzical look. “They’re
compulsory.”

“But you weren’t wearing them this morning.
And they’re only compulsory if you go to Socrates.”

“Like we do,” Austin replied.

“No! You don’t.” It was infuriating he could
lie so effortlessly.

“The fact I’m wearing the Socrates uniform,
in history class, at Socrates Private School, does seem to indicate
I’m a student here.”

Brittany wiggled her fingers at Austin from
across the room. She made an
L
sign on her
forehead and pointed at Cate and then her mobile phone. Her posse
of friends burst into fits of laughter.

She had a finger she’d like to show that
boyfriend-stealing whore. “Brittany doesn’t know you! She’s never
met you. You’ve never gone to this school.” She heard desperation
in her voice.

“She waved hello.” Austin stretched his arms
over his head. “I’m not trying to be antagonistic, but that
supports she knows me.”

“Antagonistic?”

“You know, aggressive, hostile, deliberately
opposing someone’s point of view.”

“I know what it means,” Cate seethed.

Austin scanned the classroom. His fingers
tapped the table as he jiggled a knee. Each time someone smiled or
nodded hey to him, Cate’s irritation ratcheted up a notch. She
glanced his way more times than she would ever admit to anyone.
Austin had...charisma. That was the right word. It radiated from
him. He gave off a ready-to-party vibe, and his scars were
intriguing. Butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach.

The teacher called on her four times to name
different emperors. Each time she failed. The fact Austin answered
them all correctly irritated the crap out of her. According to her
teacher, “he was a fabulous student she could learn much from.”
Whatever
.

“So...” Austin’s voice broke into her dark
mood.

She looked his way before her brain
remembered that was exactly what she was trying not to do.
Look! Don’t look!
A private little war
raged in her head. He smiled that infectious smile and she sighed.
She pulled some hair from her bun and twirled it around her
fingers.

The sighing and hair twirling simply had to
cease immediately. She yanked her hand away and a large chunk of
hair separated from her scalp. Her eyes watered. What was wrong
with her?

“Are you crying?” Austin asked.

His long, jet-black eyelashes curled at the
ends. Why did boys always get the good eyelashes?

“Um, no...I have allergies.” She fumbled,
fighting a weird urge to lean in and rub her cheek against his.
That would be creepy. “This time of year is rubbish for them.”

“Winter?”

Even the seasons were against her now. “Yes.”
She waded deeper into her creative mess. “I have terrible winter
allergies.”

Austin raised an eyebrow.

Damn him for being able to do that. She
couldn’t.

“Okay.” Austin nodded. “Tough break. So you
moved here from Australia?”

“Yep.” Cate kept her eyes forward.

“Have you lived in the thriving metropolis of
Tempus Falls, California, for long?”

“About five years.” Cate tapped her pencil on
the desk and glanced at her flashing phone.

MUM: “ZACH ALIVE AND
KICKING”

Relief washed through her.

Austin covered her fingers and stopped the
pencil tapping. She tried to yank her hand away, but he held
fast.

“Let go,” she hissed.

He moved his hand away. “Do you want to get
lunch today?”

That came out of left field. “Lunch?” Cate
processed a zillion scenarios in her head of how lunch might play
out. Some ended well, but most ended with her dead, or in a
straitjacket.
“No.”

“Think about it. Eating lunch with me makes a
strong ‘I’ve moved on’ statement to everyone. If Zach doesn’t see
us, he’ll hear about it.”

Austin was back on the Zach thing. She did
need to find a boyfriend. Fast. A little voice told her Austin
would be trouble in that department. Trouble with a capital
T
she was more than a little interested
in.

“You do eat lunch, I assume?” Austin
said.

“Yes...always. Eating is one of my
favourite
things to do.
Mum is constantly on my case about how much I eat.” That was
probably too much information. “Eve and I can both eat an entire
dinosaur steak from The Bedrock. Our names are on the walls there.”
Why can I not stop talking?

“Impressive.” He looked more wary than
impressed.

The bell rang.

“Hallelujah.” She groaned and hurried to pack
her books before racing out of the classroom.

“Eve!” Cate dodged around students. “Make a
path, people, make a path,” she muttered, surprised when a path of
sorts opened up along the grey and white tiled floor of the busy
school corridor. Something had finally gone her way. “Have you seen
the three new kids?” Shit! The annoying buzzing in her ears was
back.

“No,” Eve stopped at her locker to swap
books. “No one’s mentioned any new kids. Three, you say?”

“Cate, I wanted to check we’re on for lunch.”
Austin slouched against the lockers. “Hey, Eve.”

“Austin,” Eve replied, her eyes not leaving
the books in her locker.

“You know him?” Cate asked.

“Of course I know him.” Eve smacked Austin on
the arm.

“But he’s never been here before today,” Cate
said.

“You’ve been so weird today, even considering
the Zach debacle.”

“I’m not the weird one. You’ve never met
Austin before. He doesn’t go to school here. Yesterday you were in
a catatonic state while he disabled a bomb under a bus.” She
lowered her voice when heads turned her way at the mention of a
bomb.

Austin rolled his eyes.

Eve shook her head and slammed her locker. “I
refuse to feel guilty when I say I have no idea what you’re ranting
about. See you at lunch, Austin.”

“Magic,”
Austin
mouthed as he left.

“What was all that about?” Eve said with a
tight smile.

“Huh?”

“That crap about bombs. Are you on something?
That’s not okay. Ever.” Eve’s voice and face were devoid of
humour
. She looked,
well, fierce.

“Of course I’m not on something.”

Eve had her best parental look on.

“It’s only ten o’clock. I never take anything
before lunch. It makes me queasy.” Cate wriggled her eyebrows and
smiled. “Oh, come on! That was hilarious.”

“Do you see me laughing?” Eve turned on her
heel. “Calculus calls.”

The screeching in Cate’s ears vanished as she
glimpsed Rose’s shimmering black hair disappearing around the
corner. Rafe must to be nearby.

People
making
you do
and think things with their minds was insane.
Hang on
. What if these three weren’t people? Vampires
did the whole mind control thing. Actually, she may have made that
up. She had a feeling it was the fallen angels who had cornered the
mind control market. Cross off werewolves. They could only read one
another’s minds, and they had to be in the same pack. Wizards,
could they read minds?

Calculus took forever. Whatever derivative
they derived was lost on her. She was desperate for and dreading
lunchtime simultaneously. She packed her things, dawdling behind
Eve. Her mind raced while her feet dragged. She took a sharp right
turn into the empty science block hallway lined with glass cabinets
filled with vintage science equipment. “I need some air.” She
hurried to the end of the corridor and pushed the glass door marked
“exit” in faded green letters.

Smack! She walked straight into the glass.
“Open, for Pete’s sake!” She aimed a vicious kick at the door.
Glass exploded, and she slid down the grimy white wall, her head
resting in her hands.

“What on earth is the matter with you?” Eve
gazed down at Cate, her blue eyes wide with shock.

“I’m having an epic bad day,” Cate answered.
“The door wouldn’t open.”

Eve walked past and with one finger pushed
what remained of the doorframe open. “Well, there you go. Violence
was in fact the answer in this case. You’ve frightened the door
into opening.”

Cate glowered at the door. Everything was
against her today.

“Are you hurt?” Eve bent and examined Cate’s
leg.

“Stop fussing.” Cate brushed Eve’s hands
away. “It was glass. I can break concrete and bones. Glass is a no
brainer.”

“Maybe you need something to eat,” Eve
suggested.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Don’t be stupid—you’re always hungry. It’s
our thing. When all else fails, we eat.” Eve grabbed Cate’s hand
and yanked her off the ground. “I for one don’t want to have to
explain this little scene to anyone. We should skedaddle.”

“Skedaddle?”

“Cool word, hey? Come on, Austin will be
waiting in the cafeteria.”

“Awesome,” Cate muttered.

***

Cate spotted the three of them straightaway at the
table next to the cheerleaders. They were a bubble of stylish cool
floating in a sea of try-hard fizz. Eve waved across the cafeteria
with zealous abandon. Rafe nudged Rose, who smiled and motioned
them over. Eve nodded and pointed to the long food line. Rose gave
a thumbs up and returned to chatting.

“She’s so nice.” Eve smoothed a few stray
strands of hair off her face.

“Rose?” Cate would never use
nice
to describe her.

“Yep. I’ll get your lunch. Go sit with them.”
Eve bounced off and grabbed two plastic brown lunch trays. At least
someone was enjoying this alternate universe. She would wait for
Eve’s moral support before she joined the
nice
Rose and the two boys.

She scrutinized the three people who had
invaded her life. Rose, Austin, and Rafe chatted easily. Their
bodies were relaxed, but their eyes glowed with intensity. Rose
stood to borrow some sugar from the table next door. Six pairs of
hands fought for the
honour
of handing it to her. Her shapely figure made
the school uniform look like couture. Austin was sprawled in his
chair, oblivious to the admiring looks aimed his way. Everything
about him promised a good time.