Wicked Sense (16 page)

“I don’t drink, stupid. It impairs your judgment
—
as you proved last night.”

“I don’t either. I just had a
few swigs
. I guess I’m really weak with
alcohol.” I don’t know why, but I feel I have to justify my behavior.

“What now? Are you guys going to date?”

I look at Priscilla. Is she serious? “We just made out. Even
I
know that means nothing. Why are you so concerned, anyway?”

She shrugs.
“Skye’s my friend.”

“Well,
guess what? Y
our friend abandoned you
too
, Priscilla. Welcome to the club.”
I stand up, painfully. “Thanks for the coffee.”

I drive home. Carefully.

***

I sleep through Sunday. Monday morning I see both Boulder and Sean
have
texted me, but I ignore them. I drive to school, making a pathetic detour to pass in front of Skye’s dead house.

As soon as I park
in the school’s lot
, I
notice Jane
arriving
, the roar of her motorcycle distinctive and deafening.

I wait for a moment when the lot is not too crowded
and approach
her
.

“Hey, Jane,” I say.

Sh
e turns to face me with
menace
i
n her eyes. But when she sees it’s just me, they turn back to her usually steely gaze.

“Hey, Drake. Feeling better?” The words are cordial, but her tone isn’t.

“I passed out, huh?”
It doesn’t clarify much.

“D
uring the best part,” she says
in a hushed voice. “Hey, can I trust you to keep it quiet?”

I don’t ask why. I don’t want to hear it.
“Sure,” I say. What else can I tell her?
‘
No can do
, Jane, I want to shout from the rooftops I made out with the hot crazy chick everybody’s afraid of
’
? I just had those amazing experiences with two girls
who
usually wouldn’t even look at me, and I can’t share them with anyone. Damn
, Drake, you’re such a boy
scout.

“Thanks. I had fun. Who knows? Maybe someday we can have fun again. I’ll let you know.” She leaves before I can answer her.

All this conversation went down with
out
a single smile from her. She
is
weird.

And
she doesn’t want me approaching her again, especially in school. I’m back to my usual status.

So, just like it was with Skye, as soon as it began, it was over. I have very interesting relationships, but they don’t last
long
.

One Week Later

Spend
ing
a week with Mum is
my condition to get back to Seattle for my
hopeless
mission.
I
make sure she’s comfortable and well
cared for in our house. Judi moves into a guest bedroom, indefinitely.

It’s been just us girls: Aunt Gemma, Judi, Mum, and
me
.
Mimi
, the publicist, drops by now and then.
We talk a lot, gossip a lot, watch
black-and-white
movies.
I’ve
never felt
so
connected
to them
.

When I have to say goodbye, it’s painful.
Not so much because of Mum, who’s
almost fully recovered now, but because of this family life I never had, and I’ll miss so much.

***

Even I, used to long and frequent flights due to my mother’s nomadic career choice, am bored by the London-Seattle ordeal. If only I could chat a little bit, but my companion is drugged out the whole time.

I didn’t tell anyone I’d be back. I thought I should surprise Priscilla. She sent me sweet emails and texts every day, and I answered some of them with news of Mum’s
health, but I didn’t mention I’d be
coming back. I was holding out until the last moment, waiting for the Mothers to change their mind and let me stay.

Priscilla turned out to be a real friend, staying in touch even though she believed I’d never be back. I must be more open with her. I could tell her my mother is a movie
actress
, for starters.

Drake is another issue altogether. I have no idea what his reaction
will
be. We had no contact since the heartfelt text he sent wishing my
mother well. I know he saw more in our day together than I did, and I
don’t know what to do
.

This week gave
me
a lot of time to think. I can
’t
waste my life waiting for
Connor
to acknowledge me again. My plan is
to have
an open talk with him, to make
it clear
where we stand.

I can’t deny the
history between
Connor
and me, and I need to
know
if there’s a chance to salvage our relationship.
When he left me, we had a fight, but
we never had closure.
It’s harsh to think of Drake as my failsafe, but that’s how things are.

Drake. Sweet, cute, there-for-me Drake. No matter how amazing he is, he can’t help but be second-best to an already existing relationship.

I’m almost hoping that
Connor
doesn’t feel anything for me anymore, so I can see where things go with Drake.
Am I being unfair?

Maybe
I
’m
over
-
thinking this
.
I hate long flights. 

***

Aunt Gemma and I are back home
. We already called
the
school from London and explained my long absence. It’s a Sunday, so tomorrow I’m coming back.
T
he naked incident
happened
almost two
week
s
ago; maybe it’s
forgotten
by now
.

I had a good night’s sleep
and
feel ready to go on with my mission and my life. I only need to search for the Singularity until the end of the school year; after that, all bets are off. The Singularity will probably
be gone by then
. Even the most determined Mother would have given up after two years of a fruitless hunt. “Witch hunt,” I say out loud in my bedroom. I
let out a dry laugh.

I wait until noon before calling Priscilla
. M
y guess is she wakes up late on Sund
ays.

A sleepy voice answers,
“Yeah?”

“Hey,
Pri
,” I say.

A moment passes, and I guess she must be
checking
the caller
ID
, because her voice becomes lively. “Skye? Where are you?”

“I’m back!” I say.

“That’s awesome! Come over! I have so much to tell you. I just need to take a shower and wake up.”

***

I show up at Priscilla’s
huge
house
.
I
must ask her about
last week
’s
party.

She’s having a 1 p
.
m
.
breakfast in the kitchen, and I join her. My clock is still messed up. She tells me her parents are away
:
they always go on weekend getaways, leaving her alone.
When I ask if she feels lonely, she looks
at me as if I
’m
nuts
.

“Nice glasses,” she says.

“Oh, these? They’re new. I had lost mine.” I got the spare
pair
I had at home. They’ve been crafted especially for my True Sight. That’s how I can see Priscilla’s
pink
aura. But she has a ring of gray around her h
e
ad.

After she
wolfs
down half a pancake, she asks without glancing at me, “Have you talked to Drake yet?”

“No, not yet.” I wait a bit
.
“Did you talk to him while I was gone?”

She
glances
at me, but eats the other half of the pancake before answering. “I gave him your message the day after you left.”

“How did he take it?”

“Badly, of course.” She takes a long time sipping
her c
offee
.
“You could ha
ve let him down easily.” Her tone is less friendly now.

I feel defensive. “I really thought I wasn’t coming back. I didn’t even want to,” I say, before catch
ing my mistake. I try to fix it.
“I mean, I wanted to stay with Mum.”

Priscilla shakes her head. “Drake’s not like the other guys.”

Whoa. Does Priscilla have feelings for Drake? What is going on? She rests her
mug
on the kitchen counter and grabs my hand. Uh-oh, here it comes.

“Listen,” she says. “I’m not a good judge of boys. I’ve chosen a few bad ones. Okay, many bad ones. But you can see Drake is one of the good guys. I mean, even
I
could see it.”

I say nothing. I want to see where this is going.

“You’re new here, Skye, so you don’t know about my reputation. I’ve been around. I like boys. I went out with them. Almost all of them.”

She went out with Drake. Is that it? That’s how she knows he’s a good kisser. Is that why she approached me after he came to talk to me in that first day? But he told me he hadn’t kissed her
.
I’m confused.

“I didn’t know there was something between you two,” I say. She looks at me strangely. “I mea
n, neither of you ever told me—”

“What? No, that’s not what I mean,” she says, interrupting me. “I’m trying to tell you I never hooked up with him
because
he’s one of the good guys.”

“What do you mean?”

She lets go of my hand
and grabs a fabric napkin.
While fiddling with it,
she says, “I did some bad things. Broke some hearts, used some boys. Some of them
did
not recover, and I don’t say it as a badge of honor
—
I regret it now. That’s why I
moved on to college guys. They
are less complicated and more… resilient.”

I wait. She gives me this exasperated look. “Skye, I spared Dra
ke. Of course he’s cute, and we woul
d
’ve
end
ed
up getting together sooner or later. But I thought I’d do him some irreversible damage, you know? I thought maybe I’d break his heart forever.”

That’s a side of Priscil
la I’ve
never seen before.
Her aura suddenly turns all gray.
I try to say something
,
but she cuts me
off
, as if she can’t hold it inside anymore.

“I spared him, but you didn’t, Skye.”

Oh.

It’s as if a film has been lifted from my field of vision, and now I see the world clearly. I had never realized it… Of course I did! I just never took responsibility. I
should have—

“You didn’t spare him,” she repeats. “And neither did Jane.”

I
glare
at the
buzzing
alarm clock as if it is the reason I have to face school once again. Another Monday means another whole week of
suckness
ahead.

At least the week after the party passed without any more
surreal
moments.

Apparently,
The Predator
was the only one who saw Jane and
me
together. Nobody is
talking about it in school. It woul
d be embarrassing, but I also wonder how the free publicity could improve my social life.

I learn it’s easier not to be the kiss-and-tell guy when you actually never kiss any girls. Now that I have made out with two mega-
hotties
, it’s hard to keep it bottled
up
.