Timesurfers (6 page)

Cate wove her way closer to them through the
noisy cafeteria, careful not to draw their attention. She strained
to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Casanova you aren’t!” Rose laughed and
glanced up. “She
ran
away from you.”

Cate ducked to tie some imaginary shoelaces.
Unoriginal, but the best she had.

Rose searched the food line for Eve. “Eve’s
quite exotic looking. With that caramel skin and white-blonde hair,
she has to have Asian and Scandinavian heritage.”

Close
, thought Cate.
Eve’s father was Scandinavian, but her mother was Egyptian, not
Asian.

“Well she likes you,” Rafe muttered. “Cate
won’t be far from her. Those two are joined at the hip. They’ve no
other friends.”

Harsh, but true.
She
changed feet to tie her other imaginary shoelace.

“Cate’s legs may have been running from
Austin, but he pushed all her buttons.” Rafe nudged Austin. “If you
get my meaning?”

“Who could
not
get
your meaning?” Rose answered.

“You’ve totally scrambled her brains,” Rafe
said. “The lusting, loathing, feigned lack of interest and general
mayhem going on in her head are giving me a migraine. I think
you’ve woken up her teenage hormones, big time.”

Gross! And not true
,
she lied to herself.

“Spare me the details.” Rose screwed up her
beautiful face with dislike.

A brick landed in Cate’s stomach as Austin
gave Rose’s shoulder a quick squeeze.

“What do you think her deal is?” Rose asked.
“Make sure you listen out for her, Rafe.”

“She thinks like an elephant. I can hear her
from a block away.” Rafe checked his hair in a spoon.

“Son of a...” Cate itched to think “vomit”
super loud as payback for that comment. She slid onto the edge of a
bench filled with people and peered through a small gap.

Rafe busied himself confirming the symmetry
of his eyebrows and grimaced at Rose. “I
apologise
in advance for these next words.
Cate’s not the only one lusting after Austin. I’m at a loss as to
why no one is thinking hot, sexy thoughts about me. What’s not to
like?”

Rose opened her mouth and closed it. “That’s
too easy. My Austin is pretty much every girl’s cup of tea.”

Her Austin?
Cate’s
stomach lurched. The plastic from the seat bit into her backside.
She was about an inch away from ending up sprawled on the
floor.

“I’m convinced I saw Jonah this morning,”
Rafe said.

Jonah, Jonah?
He was
the Ralph Lauren model from the bus stop who had nearly killed her,
while Rose watched and did nothing. Jonah had said something to
Cate before he started to choke her. She couldn’t remember
what
though.

“I think someone is a bit Jonah paranoid.”
Rose rolled her eyes and checked her nails.

“You should be nicer to me.” Rafe fluttered
his eyelashes. “You rely on me to make people think they’ve known
you for years. No one said anything about them having to
like
you.”

Well, that explained why everyone at school
knew them! If you could get past the fact it involved Rafe using
mind control. Why did Cate see something different from everyone
else? It was like the bus stop all over again.
Is
there some problem with my brain?

“You wouldn’t.” Rose raised a perfectly
shaped eyebrow at Rafe. That figured. She could do the eyebrow
thing too.

“While your constant rejection would be ample
incentive to a lesser man, I choose to take the high road.”

“Stop bickering,” Austin snarled.

“Someone’s testy about having to coerce Cate
to be his special friend,” Rose said. “I’m the only one with the
right to take issue with that.”

Cate’s chest tightened. Austin had to make
her like him. That completely explained the “let’s be an item and
make Zach jealous” plan.

“There’s a lot to like about her. She’s
feisty, athletic, and she knows how to throw a punch. I’ve had
worse missions, and it’ll be fun messing with Zach. The loser
dumped her by text.”

She grabbed her phone, ready to text the
distress word to her mum and Pip. Her finger hovered over the
button. Once it was done, it couldn’t be undone. These three had
had ample opportunity to kill or kidnap her, but they hadn’t. She
didn’t love her life, but she certainly didn’t want to relocate and
start again.

“Do you think it’s her?” Rose asked.

Austin shrugged. “Mortez wasn’t pruning the
roses at her house this morning, and I didn’t
recognise
anyone else, so no leads there.
But you saw her at the bus stop, and then there’s her name.”
Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement.

What’s the deal with my
name?

Austin shrugged. “Even if it is her, Naitanui
will never sanction an intervention. We could be tracking her
indefinitely. Are you listening for her, Rafe?”

“Yes! Get off my case. If she is who we think
she is, why would Jonah try to strangle her?”

“That’s exactly what I’d do,” Rose said
quickly. “To cover up Mortez had ordered him to abort his mission
to protect her precious Catherine. Mortez would only do that if
someone crucial
and
irreplaceable to her
plans was in danger. She’s sacrificed hundreds of her people at a
time without flinching. There are only two people that important to
Mortez, Jonah and Catherine. So my money’s on Cate here being
that
Catherine.”

Who did they think she was? She’d never heard
of anyone called Mortez, and the only person who called her
Catherine was her father. She’d had no contact with him since her
family relocated to Tempus Falls.

“What are you doing?” Eve said near her
shoulder.

Cate overbalanced and tumbled onto the floor.
She scrambled to her feet.

“Who are you texting? I’m right here. Come
on, I’ve got our food.” Eve marched past and settled between Rose
and Rafe.

Cate let out a breath she didn’t know she’d
been holding. Her finger hovered over the send button. She was in a
crowded cafeteria. How dangerous could it be? Texting the distress
word would be a last resort. She wouldn’t set those wheels in
motion unless she absolutely had to.

Rafe’s head jerked up when he
realised
she was near their table.
He tilted his head to the side, listened, and rubbed his ears.
Something had him perplexed.

Cate surveyed her new lunch group. Rafe was
giving her furtive glances. Eve gabbed at a million miles an hour
to Rose, who added an appropriate nod and occasional word when
required. Austin was casing the cafeteria. He had sized up everyone
in the room and noted all the exits. It was possible he was
currently identifying potential weapons and arranging them
alphabetically in his head. No, alphabetically would be lame.
Potential deadliness would be a much cooler way to
organise
them.

For now, she would play along. It was time to
be herself, not the manufactured bland girl who blended in that
witness protection required her to be. She chomped on her hamburger
and stared at Brittany and the other cheerleaders.

Rose tapped Brittany on the shoulder. “So,
Brittany, being a cheerleader must be really fun?”

Austin groaned.
His fingers brushed Cate’s neck as he laid his arm along
the back of her seat.
Rose glanced at Austin’s hand and
shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

“I’m not a cheerleader. I’m
the
cheerleader. Cheer captain,” Brittany replied with
a tight smile.

“Impressive,” Rose said. “I’d love to try out
for your team.”

“You’ve missed tryouts.” Brittany flipped her
hair.

The buzzing started in Cate’s ears again. She
heard a soft snick and the static disappeared. Rafe’s voice came in
loud and clear, inside her head.

Let Rose try out. Insist
she bring her friends along. Having Cate and Eve on your cheer
squad is a lifelong dream.

“Over my dead body,” Cate muttered.

Austin’s hand squeezed her shoulder, wrapping
her in a blanket of tingly warm feelings. He bent his head and
whispered to her. “So you can hear Rafe doing his thing now?
Interesting. I know you couldn’t hear him this morning, because he
kept throwing in requests for you to flash your boobs at him, and
you didn’t smack him.”

Cate kicked Austin hard in the shins under
the table.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Brittany said. “I’d
love for you to try out. Bring Cate, and Eve with you.”

Eve spat her drink over the table. “You
cannot be serious!” she spluttered, wiping her mouth with the back
of her hand. The other cheerleaders stared in astonishment.

“I
never
joke about
cheerleading,” Brittany replied. “We meet on the oval Thursday
after school.”

“Nice going.” Rose high-fived Rafe.

“I aim to please.” Rafe winked.

“So Eve, are you up for some cheerleading?”
Rose smiled. Red crept along Eve’s latte cheeks as she stared at
the table, pushing strands of white-blonde hair behind her
ears.

Eve has such a crush on
Rose!
Cate thought.

“You two are prettier than all those
cheerleaders; how come you aren’t on the team already?”

“Well”—Eve preened as she spoke—“I am
gorgeous but disliked because I hang with Cate, who is
more
gorgeous than me, but has a foul temper she often
has trouble controlling. People keep their distance. So pretty yes,
but popular, not so much. I’m also extremely uncoordinated.”

“Cate!”

Well, well, well.
“What do you want?”

“I wanted to say hi,” Zach replied.

His eyes were puffy and his blonde ringlets
rumpled. That could be his new
popular
style though. Her desire to smack him around dwindled as she took
in his shabby look. She still wanted to get even, but not like
that.

“Oh,” she replied. “Well, hi.” Zach’s eyes
followed Austin’s fingers, which had begun to trace circles on her
neck. Cate’s entire body below the waist filled with butterflies.
She was surprised and a little pleased at how
unpleased
Zach looked. She snuggled a little closer to
Austin.
Hello, new boyfriend
!

“Well, bye,” Zach finished.

“Bye.” Cate mustered the brightest “I am so
over you” smile possible.

“Bye, Jack,” Austin called.

“It’s Zach,” Zach replied.

“I always get that wrong. Sorry.” Austin
didn’t look remotely sorry.

Zach’s eyes flashed with anger.

“Eve, could you be a dear and get me a glass
of water?” Rose asked with a dazzling smile. “I feel a little
warm.”

“On it!” Eve’s face lit up, and she zoomed to
the
servery
.

Austin’s hand dropped from Cate’s neck as
Zach sat next to Brittany. “That would be our cue to report
back.”

“I have questions,” Cate said.

“And when we confirm who you are, we’ll
consider answering them.” Austin stood and hoisted his leg over the
back of his chair. “Oh, Cate?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess we’re an item now.”

She took a deep breath, but the three of them
were already halfway to the door.

“I really like them.” Eve’s face beamed as
she watched Rose leave. At five foot five, Eve was three inches
shorter than Cate and far more slender. Her lack of curves and
boobs was a constant source of angst. “So you and Austin looked
cosy
. Now you two
together makes far more sense than you and Zach ever did.”

Cate gave a noncommittal shrug.

***

She stewed through the afternoon about all things
Austin. Eve left straight from school for an appointment, so Cate
headed to homework club to finish a pesky essay. She left school at
a different time and from a different building each day. Witness
protection frowned on routine.

As the sun disappeared behind the buildings,
she shoved her books away and headed home. She’d make a loop around
the boarders’ house for the required deviation as she left the
school grounds.

The minute she stepped out of homework club,
the short hairs on her neck stood up. She put her head down and
power walked to the iron gates and hesitated. After checking behind
her, she deliberated whether to call her mum to collect her.

“You’re being paranoid,” she muttered,
crossing the road at a jog. A huge ginger cat raced past her. It
looked like Polka Dot, the
neighbourhood
stray. She glanced behind again.
Someone with a tangle of white-blonde hair disappeared around the
corner.

The shadows from the old boarding house
started dancing, extending dark, damp fingers her way. One
particular shadow held her attention. It crept along the ground
toward her. She froze. Was that someone breathing in the shadows?
She gulped. The tip of the dark shadow slid closer. She made a
decision.

Chapter 4

Infuriating Twerp

C
ate ran the entire way home.

Her heart was about to burst from her chest
as she slammed the bedroom door and collapsed against it. “Get a
grip,” she gasped. “No one followed you. You’re on edge
after...well...everything. Aarrgh.” Three loud bangs on the bedroom
door made her scamper to the window. She could absolutely jump from
one floor up. The doorknob twisted, and her heart took off like a
helicopter. She fumbled with the window lock.

“Cate, you in here?” A blonde head poked
around her door.

“Geez! Xavier.” She grabbed the nearest thing
and hurled it. “GET OUT!”

“Again with the pathetic throwing,” Xavier
called, as Flopsie the stuffed white rabbit landed on the floor a
foot in front of him.

Eyes closed, she growled through her teeth,
so tense she thought she might explode. Sagging onto her bed, she
took three deep breaths. “What do you want?”