Unfaithful (22 page)

Outside, Ginevra put on a figure-flattering leather jacket in the same shade as her boots. She shook her voluminous hair that was always perfectly coiffed, emanating a cloud of floral perfume.

I climbed onto the rear seat. “Don’t you have a helmet for me?” I asked, my nervousness showing in my failed attempt to take the edge off my voice.

“What’s with the fixation on helmets?” she chided me before gunning the throttle. I grabbed hold of the gas tank, my fingers gripping the steel just in time.

“Where’s Evan?” I tried to ask, but the fierce roar of her Aprilia RSV4 drowned out my voice.

“His intervention was needed,” she said promptly, showing how superfluous words were with her since she could read anyone’s mind. “His and many others’, actually. Simon’s with him.”

I trembled at Ginevra’s unexpected confession and at how easily she could talk about the subject.

“What’s going on?” I asked, as surprised as she seemed to be that I’d been brave enough to ask.

“I don’t know, but I think it’s something big. An emergency in the Middle East.”

“The Middle East?! But there’s a war going on there!” I said, alarmed.

Ginevra looked at me in the mirror. “Exactly.”

I opened my mouth, shaking off a shudder, and sorrowfully closed it again, staring blankly at the streaked asphalt that raced by beneath us. I couldn’t come up with anything else to say, but Ginevra still gave me the answer I was looking for.

“He said he wouldn’t be back before tonight.”

“He’ll be gone all day?!” I groaned.

Ginevra nodded and parked the bike in the school lot. Time wasn’t as important to her as it was to me and I doubted she could understand my resentment. I didn’t know how much time I had left before death returned to claim me. Because it would, I was sure of it.

“You’ll have to settle for me.” She yanked me by the shoulder and we made our way down the school corridors.

I was so used to Evan’s company that the thought of him being gone all day long made me queasy. In a flash, the suspicion I’d had months ago became a certainty: Ginevra had enrolled at my school specifically for situations like this. My instinct had been right.

“C’mon, it won’t be so bad,” she teased, probing my thoughts.

I threw her a disapproving look but actually she was right. Her being there made Evan’s absence less bitter. It was surprising how the bond between her and me had grown so strong in such a short time. Sometimes I actually missed her when I hadn’t seen her for more than a few hours. Not even for Peter had I ever felt anything like it, and it was an extraordinary sensation. It wiped away the loneliness I’d grown up with. Evan’s love, my connection with his brothers and Ginevra . . . I’d never hoped to find everything that had unexpectedly filled my life. Sometimes it seemed like too much.

In the past, I’d often felt like I was searching for something, as if, even with everything I accomplished, it was never enough. And now the tiresome dissatisfaction I’d always felt inside had finally been completely eclipsed. For the first time I didn’t need anything else.

“Well? What do you want to do this afternoon?” Ginevra asked, her voice hopeful.

She’d already decided everything, I was sure of it, but still I tried to talk my way out of her plans. “No offense, but I think I’m going to stay home and read.”

“No offense? Of course I’m offended!” she said in an annoyed voice, loud enough that people in the hallway turned to stare at us. “You want to leave me alone all day long? Forget it!”

“Really, I wouldn’t be good company. I’m in a terrible mood this morning and have a splitting headache,” I insisted though I knew it was useless.

“I don’t think your bad mood is because of your head,” she grumbled, shooting me a glance.

“You know everything,” I said with a sigh, shrugging. “I couldn’t lie to you even if I wanted to. Evan’s never been away for so long before,” I said sadly.

 “Oh, come on, you won’t die from going one day without Evan. You’ll be too busy having fun with me!” she exclaimed, carried away with enthusiasm about her plans.

As we walked down the corridor, a freshman was so dazzled by Ginevra’s very presence that he walked straight into the lockers, making us wince. I held back a laugh as he picked up his books and looked at her sheepishly.

“Hello to you too,” she said, giving him a come-on look as she strode by, moving her long legs with feline grace. The boy continued to stare at her, babbling something incomprehensible, but Ginevra didn’t slacken her pace. I shot her a disapproving look.

“What? I was just being nice!” she said.

I couldn’t keep from laughing. “And you’re going to end up in his fantasies for the rest of his life.”

“Who says I’m not there already?” She stifled a laugh at what only she knew for certain.

In the cafeteria the only empty chair at our usual table did nothing but remind me how much I missed Evan. I took a seat next to Peter. Seeing that Evan wasn’t there, he moved his chair closer to mine. “Hey Gemma! You alone?” he asked, a little surprised.

“Hey Peter! Do I look transparent to you?” Ginevra said sourly.

“N-no,” he stammered. Ginevra’s allure had an effect on everyone, especially when she decided to flaunt it. “Come on, you know what I meant,” Peter said, turning back to me. “I’m talking about your boyfriend. Is Prince Charming off repairing the carriage?” he asked, unable to contain his sarcasm, which was actually directed at Ginevra.

I wished I could warn him to keep quiet because I was a little afraid of how this might turn out. Ginevra was sweet with me, but with other people you never knew what she might do.

“Watch what you say. He’s not crazy about you as it is,” she told him.

“Whoa, I’m not gonna be able to sleep, I’m so scared. So is the white knight off feeding his stallion?” Peter was really pushing it.

“I wouldn’t call him that.” Ginevra stared at him, an evil smile on her lips. “Black is definitely more his color.”

A black knight. That’s what Evan was. Deep down, Ginevra was right. Everybody around the table had fallen silent, tension spreading from one face to the next.

“There was something he needed to do,” I said, hoping to make them stop.

“Will he be gone long?” Peter asked as though for a specific reason.

“Kind of,” I said, crestfallen. “He’ll be gone all day.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. I knew him well enough to understand that look, though I was sure I was the only one to notice it—except for Ginevra, of course. “We were just talking about going for a walk in the woods this afternoon. If you don’t have plans you could come with us, Gemma.”

I couldn’t read minds like Ginevra could, but I didn’t need to. Peter’s hopefulness couldn’t have been more obvious if it had been written on his forehead. Ginevra glared at him. “The two of you could come with us,” he quickly corrected himself. “Of course I meant both of you,” he stammered as Ginevra’s expression became even haughtier.

“What walk in the woods?” Faith asked, surprised.

Someone cleared their throat to cover a laugh and Faith jumped in her chair. “Ow!” she exclaimed, shooting an angry look at Peter. Then she blinked nervously. “I meant ‘Oh! The walk in the woods!’ We were just talking about it a second before you guys showed up,” she said awkwardly.

Ginevra and I exchanged a look of understanding as someone else stifled a laugh. “Sounds like fun,” Ginevra said, looking at me to see if I liked the idea.

“I don’t know,” I grumbled reluctantly. “I don’t feel so good today.”

“Come on, just say yes!” Jeneane said. “When’s the last time we all spent an afternoon together?”

“I can’t even remember,” Faith agreed, hoping to put her gaffe behind her.

“You guys went camping together all summer long!” I said accusingly, weighing their expressions.

“Yeah, but you weren’t there. This is our chance to finally have you all to ourselves! Come on, Gemma, I know you don’t have anything better to do,” Jeneane said.

Their silent faces were hopeful. I’d had no idea they’d missed me. I hadn’t really missed them. Was it all my fault? Evan absorbed all my attention, along with my new family. All of a sudden I felt horribly guilty for having neglected them.

“All right.” The answer slipped out. After all, what could happen to me while spending an afternoon with my old friends?

“Great!” exclaimed Peter, who’d been holding his breath.

“Then it’s decided,” Brandon said.

“Okay if we meet at my place?” Faith suggested. “We can reach the woods easily from there. Shall we say three o’clock?”

“Sounds perfect,” I said, resigned.

Ginevra was there to pick me up with the punctuality of a Swiss watch. Sitting behind the wheel of Evan’s BMW X6, she was bubbling with enthusiasm about our spending a few hours together, since I usually spent most of my time with Evan. And yet it was so weird how she and I felt a need for each other. An invisible bond drew us together like the two poles of a magnet, me tending to underdo things and her to overdo them.

As always, she was impeccably dressed: casual boots laced up to the calf, tight jeans, and a brown vest that matched her boots and revealed the sleeves of her beige top. I climbed into the car, put my dark-red sweatshirt in my backpack, and pulled the white-gold butterfly pendant out from under the green, short-sleeved top that I wore with jeans and dark hiking boots.

“Still have a headache?” she asked me considerately.

“It
had
gone away, but thanks for reminding me,” I replied sarcastically. My mood hadn’t improved much since that morning, though my headache had relented, disappearing almost completely.

The sun was warm, though temperatures had dropped quite a bit compared to summer. The car’s tinted windows muted the light.

“Hi, Mrs. Nichols!” I said, rolling down my window when we reached Faith’s house. Her mom was bent over some bushes with red blossoms, holding a big, dangerous-looking pair of hedge clippers. Short, with dark hair, she didn’t resemble her daughter at all. Today she wore a big straw hat to protect herself from the sun and green rubber knee-high boots.

“Hi, kids,” she said warmly, raising her head slightly. She looked tired.

“We came to pick up Faith,” I said.

“Oh, right! I think she’s with Jeneane. I saw them heading toward the stable.” The woman pointed at the large wooden construction a few hundred yards away.

“Horses give me the creeps,” came a whisper from the back seat. I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was or the reason horses scared him so much. “What?!” Peter protested, noticing the guys’ raised eyebrows as they looked at him, surprised. “They’re huge! They could kill you with a single kick, you know.”

“Wuss,” Ginevra teased.

I rolled my eyes, a faint smile on my lips. This was going to be an interesting outing. “I’ll go get them,” I said, pushing open the heavy door.

“I’ll come with you,” Ginevra said instantly.

“I don’t need a bodyguard!” I said scathingly, immediately feeling guilty when I saw the looks everyone gave me. All Ginevra’s concern about my safety was doing nothing but making me even more anxious.

“All right, sorry. I just wanted to keep you company,” Ginevra said.

Some strange instinct made me slam the car door and stride off in irritation without even turning around. I headed toward the stable, as shocked by my own reaction as the others no doubt were.

The stable was clean, although stray wisps of hay covered the wooden floor. I inhaled the smell of the hay with pleasure.

Freedom. There were few situations my mind associated with this feeling, but among them was the image of a herd of pure-white wild horses, their manes flowing as they galloped across an infinite landscape chasing the wind.

Then I saw the horse in the stall Mr. Nichols was standing next to and the image instantly vanished, replaced by a stronger feeling: uneasiness. It was black, as black as pitch. And from the way its hostile eyes fixed themselves on me when I walked into the stable, it didn’t seem to like me.

“Gemma!” Faith welcomed me with a giant smile. “You guys are here already?” She and Jeneane wore impeccable hiking outfits, Jeneane’s in pink and Faith’s in dark green.