Twisted Dreams (7 page)

The female officer checked her notes again, though I was certain she’d already planned exactly what she was going to ask me. “We also had an incident on Route Forty-Six yesterday afternoon in which you seem to have been involved.”

I’d had to report the accident in order to claim on my insurance for damage to my car.

“Well, yes, but that had nothing to do with me. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She studied my face and I shrank. “That happen to you often?”

I bristled. “Not normally. Must be something about this town.”

She responded only with a “hmm,” and scribbled something on her notepad.

“Anyway,” I said. “Is it okay if I go now? My next class will start soon, and I don’t want to be late quite so early in the term.”

They exchanged a glance.

“All right,” Officer Logsdon said. “If we need to ask you any more questions, I assume we can find you on campus.”

“Yes, I’m staying in Caraway dorm.”

Officer Russo leaned across the back of the seats and handed me a card. “If you hear anything or think of anything else, please give us a call.”

My fingers closed around the card which contained her name and number. “Sure. No problem.”

That seemed to be good enough for the moment. I climbed out of the car and tried to ignore all of the curious glances and whispers behind the backs of hands directed at me. I slouched further, trying to make myself as small as possible, wishing I could shrink enough for people not to notice me altogether. Sudden hot tears burned at the backs of my eyes, an overwhelming homesickness sweeping over me. Why had I bothered to come here? My parents had been right. I should have stayed close to home rather than trying to form a new life for myself. I could never escape what I was.

I slunk into my next class without even looking up to try to spot Laurel. I took a seat near the front and tried to concentrate as my new English Lit professor introduced herself and started to explain the course. Lifting the lid of my laptop, I did my best to hide behind it.

By the end of the lecture, my stomach was growling, signaling lunch time. I’d not had time to eat breakfast that morning and was starving. I didn’t want to go into the dining hall, but I couldn’t keep hiding.

You saved lives,
I told myself.
You shouldn’t be ashamed of what you did. You should be proud. So what if people are talking? They always talk. Give it another twenty-four hours and they’ll be gossiping about some other poor soul.

I wasn’t a coward. I needed to be strong, and if that meant walking into the dining hall with my head held high, then that was exactly what I intended to do. I could hear my parents’ voices in my head.
You’re tough, you’re strong. You’ve already been through more than any of these people could comprehend.

I slipped my laptop into its case, and then put it in my bag, together with my text books. The bag was heavy, but I barely noticed as I slung it over my shoulder and headed out of the lecture hall to join the river of students. From my tour earlier in the year, I knew where the dining hall was located, so I headed there. The south dining hall was a new extension on the old building, with slanted glass panels as a roof which let in huge amounts of light. Round tables with comfortable padded seats were positioned around the middle of the large space. A number of leather couches were grouped together in one corner.  The double doors were already propped open in expectation of the busy lunch period. Many of the tables already had students sitting at them. Most of the students who were relaxed and chatting easily with each other were older, second and third years. The few people lurking awkwardly around, trying to figure out which queue they were supposed to join, or with trays of food in their hands, wondering where to sit, were newbies like me.

There was a certain amount of comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only one who felt out of place.

I joined the line for food, resolutely ignoring everyone else. I debated the salad bar, and decided after the day I’d already had that I deserved a burger and fries. I even added a chocolate milkshake to the mix. I’d probably have every other teenage girl in the room gasping in horror at my selection, but my half vampire genetics didn’t allow me to put on weight. My weight had stayed exactly the same since I was fourteen. Besides, I wanted the comfort of some serious fat and carbs.

With relief, I spotted an empty table. Quickly, I crossed the dining hall and slid into one of the chairs, placing my tray on the table. I lifted my burger to my mouth, taking a huge bite, but I wasn’t allowed any time to immerse myself in the comfort of processed food as someone sat down opposite me.

“You know that’s not good for you?”

I lowered my burger to stare into his green eyes, and chewed and swallowed too fast. “What are you, Flynn? My substitute parent?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Far from it, I’d hope. And I’d really hate to be your parent. Considering the cops turned up for you at school today, I think you’d drive them into an early grave.”

I had to bite back a smile at the idea of my vampire father and vampire-blood taking mother meeting an early grave. “The cops only wanted to ask me a couple of questions,” I told him, wiping grease off my chin.

He leaned forward. “And what did you tell them?”

“Exactly what I told you.”

I refused to enlighten him about anything else. Though Flynn had so far seemed like a good guy, I didn’t really know him. He might take whatever I told him and spread it around the gossip mill. I had a feeling enough people were talking about me already.

Another figure approached the table, and I glanced up to find Dana, the school’s newspaper editor, standing there. She gave me a smile and slid into the seat next to Flynn.

“I hope you guys are finalizing the article I gave you to work on.”

I glanced guiltily at Flynn. “Yeah, sure we are.”

“Great, cause I need it by tomorrow to get it into the first print run.”

I made myself smile back, though the last thing I’d thought about was the article. “Not a problem. I was just running over a couple of facts with Flynn.”

Dana glanced to both sides of herself, and lowered her voice. “To be honest, Beth, I can’t help wondering if I should take you off this report to work on something more interesting.” She seemed to remember who she was sitting next to and glanced at Flynn. “Sorry, Flynn.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Not a problem.”

“What do you mean?” I said, though I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

She leaned across the table, conspiratorial. “I hear you got a front row seat at last night’s accident at the carnival?”

I shifted in my seat. I didn’t want to lie to her. I had hoped to make the newspaper a bit of a home away from home, and, as lame as it seemed, I wanted Dana to like me. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“So how about you write me up a piece on what happened? You can tell everyone your point of view. It’s the sort of thing that will make the front page.”

She hadn’t even seen any of my writing yet, apart from the few pieces I’d emailed her once I’d decided on which college I wanted to go to. This was a huge opportunity, but did I really want that much attention? Plus, this was a criminal investigation now. What would the police make of me plastering my story all over the front page of the school newspaper?

I said so to Dana and she screwed up her face in consideration. “You have a point. Let me check out what the law is in regards to you reporting the story, and I’ll get back to you. But if it looks like there’s no problem, will you do it?”

I couldn’t see any other way around the situation. “Sure.”

Dana began to get to her feet. She touched Flynn’s shoulder. “You coming or staying?”

He glanced to me. “I thought I might hang out with Beth for a while.”

Something about the tightness of her jaw and the hard glint in her blue-gray eyes at his words made me certain she hadn’t really been asking him. “Are you sure about that?”

I’d been sure they weren’t a couple before, but now I wasn’t so certain. There was some kind of connection there, even if it wasn’t romantic.

Flynn gave me an apologetic smile and got to his feet. The pair slunk away, shoulder to shoulder, Dana’s red curls close to Flynn’s buzzed blond head.

I turned my attention back to my burger. The meat had grown cold, the grease starting to congeal. I picked it up to take a bite, but changed my mind and set it back down, my nose wrinkled. I took a slurp of my milkshake instead and then absently chewed on a cold fry.

Whatever might be going on between them wasn’t really any of my business, I decided. Of all people, I should be one who knew the value of other people’s privacy. I’d lived for years wanting people back home to not ask questions about my own home life.

Whatever was going on between Flynn and Dana had nothing to do with me.

Chapter

9

T
he
afternoon classes passed by without event. I still felt eyes on me as I walked down the hall, and knew other students whispered behind their hands about me, but I did my best to ignore them. They would forget about me soon enough.

Wishing I had a room to myself, and praying Brooke would have found somewhere else to hang out for awhile, I headed back to my dorm.

Brooke wasn’t in, but someone else was.

My eyes widened in shock, and I glanced back toward the door, wondering if I’d imagined things or had walked into the wrong room. But when I looked back, there he was, all dark, tousled hair and piercing blue eyes, sitting on my bed. The shock of seeing him was like someone had punched me in the stomach, not only because of the strangeness of finding a boy in my room, but because the sheer beauty of him left me breathless.

I fought against my body’s reaction in order to get my brain to function again, and force my mouth to come out with a normal reaction to finding someone who was practically a stranger sitting on my bed.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?”

The window behind him was open, the wind causing the drapes to lift as though someone was behind them. I frowned. Had the weather suddenly changed? I didn’t remember it being breezy when I’d crossed campus.

“And how did you get in here?” I continued, trying not to be distracted by his mouth. A crease ran vertically down the middle of his lower lip, the effect pouty and almost feminine. I bit my own lip in reaction, feeling the blood rush to the area, as I imagined my teeth biting down on his mouth.

I shook the thought from my head and focused on the important thing. The door had been unlocked. Had I forgotten to lock it, or had Brooke? But that still didn’t explain how he’d made it through the front door without anyone challenging him.

One corner of that full mouth turned up. His blue eyes twinkled. “I sneaked in. I’m good at going unnoticed.”

His Irish accent made my insides melt, but I forced myself to be hard. I wasn’t one of those girls who turned into goo the moment they were in the presence of a hot guy.

“Not by me, you’re not. Seems to me like you’re everywhere I look. Now get out of here before my roommate gets back. She thinks I’m crazy as it is. You being here will make things even worse.”

He got to his feet, but instead of walking out the door, he approached me. His eyes slightly narrowed, but didn’t leave my face for a moment. My heart increased its pace with every step he took closer to me, my breath growing shallow. He stopped a mere six inches from me, looking down at me so his jaw length hair fell around his face.

“Don’t pretend having me in your bedroom does nothing to you.”

I didn’t want him to know he was right. I stepped back, trying to break whatever spell he had me under. “You leave me cold,” I said.

Infuriatingly, he laughed. “See, I knew you were icy. Maybe that’s what I should call you from now on, Icy.”

“You don’t need to call me anything,” I shot back.

“Aww, come on, Icy. You don’t really want me to leave.”

I didn’t. He was driving me nuts, but I certainly didn’t want him to go. He’d occupied my thoughts constantly since I’d first seen him working the ride. But at the same time, I was terrified of Brooke coming back and what her reaction would be. The girl already had it in for me. But yet I couldn’t stand not knowing the reason for Riley being in my bedroom.

“Okay, Riley,” I submitted. “Tell me what you want and then get the hell out of here.”

He jerked back in surprise. “How do you know my name?”

I knew this would throw him. “The cops told me.”

“They came to speak with you already?”

“Sure did. Were asking me lots of questions about you, how I knew you, what kind of set up you had going on.”

I enjoyed the falter in his cocky attitude.

“And what did you tell them?”

“I don’t see why I need to tell you anything. As far as I can see, you owe me. If I’d not warned all those people about the ride, you and the rest of your crew could be up for a manslaughter charge right now.”

“So come on, straight up with me. How did you know the accident was about to happen?” He eyed me, no longer quite so predatorial, but more curious. He knew there was something different about me, he just had no idea what—or at least I hoped he had no idea what.

“There’s nothing more I can tell you. Sorry.”

“Listen. If you won’t tell me anything more, you need to watch yourself. You’ve gotten yourself noticed a couple of times now by the guys who run the carnival, and they don’t like what they don’t understand.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Watch myself? Are you threatening me?”

“No, I’m warning you.” He sounded exasperated.

“Warning me or threatening me, they both sound the same. You’re telling me that unless I tell you exactly what happened, your guys are going to come after me.”

He shrugged, but had the decency to look uncomfortable for the first time. “I’m only telling you the truth.”

“Yeah, well, your truth sucks. Now get the hell out of my room before I scream, and really give you something to worry about.”

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Riley walked to the door, opened it, peered one way and then the other. He offered me a wink, and slipped from the room.

I sat on the edge of my bed, shaking. How could one boy create such a mixture of emotions inside me? Part of me wanted to hit him, while the other just wanted to be near him. There was no denying there was something magnetic about Riley. He might have decided there was something different about me, but I couldn’t help feeling I was missing something about him, too.

Did I really need to be worried about the men from the carnival coming after me? After all, I didn’t do anything wrong. Surely it was just an accident.

Something occurred to me.

Unless it wasn’t an accident. Unless something else was supposed to have happened, and I interfered, or else the
accident
was supposed to have happened, but the fact someone seemed to know about it spooked them?

The door burst open again, and I shot upright, my nerves jangling. Was he back? But instead of a cocky dark-haired gypsy boy, a gaggle of girls walked in, all laughing and talking, their heads together. I never felt like more of an outsider than when I was in this situation. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fit in with these perfect images of the all-American college girl. My soul was too dark.

“Hey, Beth,” one of the girls, Kayla, said with a bright smile. “How were your first classes? I think I saw you in bio. I tried to catch your eye, but you were so focused on your laptop, I couldn’t.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, forcing a smile. “Catching up on my email, you know?”

“Oh, sure. I know exactly what you mean. I always struggle to pay attention when I have mail.”

Brooke had entered with them, but she barely looked at me. I had to assume from the fact the other girls were speaking to me like I was a normal human being that Brooke hadn’t told them about the incident in the bathroom. For that, at least, I was grateful.

Brooke’s other friend, Erin, sat down on my bed and grinned at me, bright-eyed. “So spill the gossip!”

Unease swept through me in a wave. “What gossip?”

“You know, about what happened last night.”

My eyes flicked to Brooke, but she gave a slight shake of her head. Okay, so she hadn’t told them. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as I first thought. Of course, they meant the carnival.

Erin flicked her curls from her face. “I heard the cops were on campus today looking for you.”

I shrugged to try to show them how unbothered I was by all of this. “They found me. They just wanted to ask me a couple of questions.”

Kayla plonked herself down on the other side of me, leaving Brooke standing on the other side of the room. She smiled, as if joining in with the group, but I could sense the cold stare in her eyes. I realized that my escapades at the carnival last night had made me a bit of a celebrity, and the arrival of the police had only compounded the idea that I was some kind of bad-ass. I guessed that despite the whispers, this made me stand out, and everyone wanted the inside news on what had happened. Of course, it now felt as though I was stealing Brooke’s friends from her, and I wondered how long she would hold onto the secret about what she’d caught me doing last night.

I told myself my self-harm was different to what some other teenage girls put themselves through. After all, I healed almost as quickly as I cut, and I wasn’t cutting in order to release whatever pent up, teenage emotions I was going through. At least, I told myself that wasn’t the reason I did it. But perhaps my reaction to other people’s extreme emotions by wanting to bite them was my own strange, half-vampire, teenage body’s reaction. Other teenagers might be controlled by their hormones. I was controlled by my part-vampire genetics.

But no, they didn’t control me. I had a handle on it. Or I hoped I did.

“So are you coming to the social tonight?” Kayla asked me. “We’re all planning to go if you want to come with?” She looked over to Brooke. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”

Brooke shrugged, but didn’t look at me. “Whatever.”

I wondered if Laurel would be going. I hadn’t spoken to her since the police carted me off in the hall, and we hadn’t bothered exchanging numbers. Fingers crossed, she would be there. I could do with a cheerful face whose company I could relax in.

I just hoped that after I’d been caught out in my blatant lie that she’d still want to talk to me.