After Me (9 page)

I logged off the blog and checked the FaceSpace account for Cherry Licious. Just as I figured, all the friend requests I’d sent had been accepted, and I had a few private messages inviting me to exchange photos or meet in a private chat room. One guy sent me his cell phone number and invited me to “sext” him anytime. Gross.

None of them sounded like BOSSMAN
though.
He’d been quick to tell me what an important man he was and how much money he had and how willing he was to send expensive gifts—especially jewelry—in exchange for naked pictures and web cam sessions.

I accepted all the new friend requests, then I logged off the account and logged in to the one I’d made for Gwen. Sidney, Justin and Leonard had all posted welcome messages on my wall along with links to songs and funny videos, but nothing from Lew yet. Maybe he hadn’t had a chance to get on FaceSpace since he’d been home.

I killed time by searching the Internet for an avatar to use as my profile picture, and I cracked myself up by choosing an animated girl zombie with blonde hair and huge black eyes. Nothing like a good inside joke with yourself. Still laughing, I got out my copy of
To Kill a Mockingbird
and finished it in twenty minutes.

Still no sign of Lew on FaceSpace, so I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling while I thought about him. Karen was right—he
was
cute despite being a nerd, and he was also funny and a lot more confident than I would’ve expected him to be. Probably because he’d grown up with money and was used to people sucking up to him, even though he obviously didn’t want anybody treating him that way.

I still wanted to find out why he and Matt had such bad blood between them, and he’d also clearly been leaving something out when he was talking about what had made Javier go rogue for a while. I wanted to find out more, but I had to be careful not to push him to talk or make him think I was prying. God, it had been so much easier when I was Jada and hadn’t cared about anybody enough to want to know anything about them.

Easier, but not better. I knew that now.

With a sigh, I rolled over to check my computer screen again and almost fell off the bed when I saw the red number one telling me I had a response to a friend request. I clicked on it as fast as I could and actually squealed when I saw it was from Lew. A few seconds later, he posted a note on my wall.

Interesting profile picture. Doesn’t really do you justice though. See you tomorrow
.

I sat there gazing at it with a stupid grin on my face as though it were a freaking love sonnet instead of basically saying that he thought I was better looking than a zombie.

Chapter Fourteen

I
spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how much of the truth to tell Annalee, reading the books I got from the library, and thinking about Lew. Okay, mostly thinking about Lew. Good thing I didn’t need to sleep anymore or I would’ve been totally zonked the next morning.

When I passed Dougie on the school bus, he gave me a dirty look and called me a slut.

“And yet I turned you down,” I said, stopping to smile at him. “How pathetic does that make you?”

The guy sitting next to him snickered, and Dougie’s face went an ugly shade of red. Annalee laughed when I told her what I’d said to him, then she gave me a curious look.

“Hey, how did he really get the knot on his head? Did you do something to him like you did to Rufus?”

I hiked one shoulder up and down. “I pushed him and he ended up against a tree. That’s how I found out I’m a lot stronger than I used to be.” I could tell she was about to ask more so I stopped her. “Listen, we don’t need to talk about any of that stuff where somebody might overhear us. I’ll tell you after school today like I promised.”

“Okay,” she said. “I guess I can wait until then.”

“Karen said it was okay for you to sleep over tonight. You think you can?”

“Sure. My mom’s working a double to make up for missing yesterday. I’ll call her when we get to your house.”

“Was she pissed when she found out Rufus was gone?”

“She cried over the jerk for about an hour.” Annalee sighed and looked out the window. “But I think she was glad he was gone after she sobered up. She’s really a good mom when she’s not drinking.”

I wasn’t sure
good
was the best word choice, but I kept it to myself. Who was I to judge anybody?

“Hey, I do have some good news we can talk about now,” I said. “Guess who we’re going out to eat with Friday night?”

She frowned at me. “What are you talking about?”

“I ran into Lew after I left your house, and he gave me a ride home. He wants to take us to this Cuban sandwich shop where his friend Javier works when we’re done at the library on Friday.”

“Okay, back up.” She held up one hand. “Who’s Javier, why are we going to the library on Friday, and how did you run into Lew last night?”

I explained it all to her, then I said, “Isn’t that great?”

“You’re something else, Gwen.” She shook her head, clearly in awe of my social skills. “And I can’t believe you included me when I know you’d rather be alone with Lew.”

“Oh, well…” I tried to look like it was no big deal. “What are friends for?”

A twinge of guilt poked me for not telling her it was Lew’s idea to invite her, but it disappeared when I saw the way she smiled at me. Okay, yeah, I was happy to take the credit. So kill me—again.

Friendship had sure been a helluva lot simpler when it was just me and Cassie. Boys definitely complicated things. Especially when you both liked the same one.

* * *

A
ll morning at school, I discovered that my sudden genius status in chemistry didn’t extend to my other classes as well. No big deal, but I had to wonder why Flo’s department hadn’t at least made me smart in math to impress Lew. Guess they thought that was just too much for anyone to believe.

Annalee reluctantly agreed to eat with me in the cafeteria, so we met in the foyer at lunchtime. Sidney waved us over to their table when he saw us walk in.

“Hi, Gwen. Hi,
Annalee
. We saved a place for you.”

I could tell he’d stressed Annalee’s name to point out that he’d gotten it right. I gave him a punch to the shoulder and said, “Thanks, Sid. You’re all right.”

He winced and rubbed his arm. “Wow, you’re strong for a girl.”

I traded looks with Annalee, and we both tried not to laugh.

Justin stood up and slid his lunch tray over to make room beside him. “You can sit here, Annalee. I want to tell you about that laptop to see if you think you might want it.”

She smiled shyly at him as she sat down. “Thanks, Justin.”

I’d noted that Lew was missing as soon as I came in, but I knew he was at school because I’d seen his Corvette in the parking lot that morning. Trying to be casual about it, I took out the apple I’d brought for lunch and turned to Sidney.

“Where’s Lew today?”

“He’s helping Ms. Fountain with the computers in her keyboarding class,” Sidney replied. “Somebody keeps putting passwords on them and locking her out. She’s a nice lady, so Lew always fixes them for her.”

I saw Annalee listening to Sidney while she pretended to be engrossed in Justin’s animated description of the laptop’s specs. I gave her a smile to let her know I was on to her and got an eye roll in return.

“Yeah, you told me he was a computer whiz,” I said to Sidney. “Maybe I’ll see if he can help me with a little problem I’ve got.”

“Oh, he can for sure,” Sidney replied. “He hacked into the school’s enrollment database once and added a couple of new students named Tony Stark and Peter Parker. Everybody cracked up when they got called to the office for skipping.”

I was glad to hear Lew didn’t mind yanking authority’s chain sometimes despite being such a model student. Not that I intended to lead him astray or anything, but it was good to know he might be a little understanding if I got into trouble from any zombie shenanigans.

Loud voices behind us made me turn around just in time to see a girl at Matt’s table stand up and pour a carton of milk on one of his jock buddies then run out of the cafeteria in tears. The rest of the guys at the table collapsed in rude laughter. Most of the girls giggled, but a couple of them looked disgusted and left the table.

“What do you think that’s about?” I asked Sidney.

He turned to look. “I heard two cheerleaders talking in second period about something that happened at a party over the weekend. I think the girl that dumped the milk on Scott’s head was who they were talking about.”

“What happened to her?”

He shrugged. “All I heard was that she asked for it by getting so drunk.”

“Sounds like she could use some less bitchy friends.”

I didn’t know why, but it really pissed me off the way this unknown girl was getting treated. I decided to find out what had happened to her.

“Hey,” I said to everybody at the table, “does anybody know that girl’s name who just ran out?”

“It’s Caitlin Warner,” Justin said. “She’s in my World History class.”

“You know her?”

“Just her name. But she did tell me thank you one day when she dropped her pen and I picked it up for her.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “Sounds like she might be sweet on you, Justintime.”

He smiled then sobered when he looked at Annalee. “There’s nothing between us though—for real.”

“Oh, okay.” She smiled then looked at me. “Why do you want to know about her, Gwen?”

“I’ll tell you tonight at my house. It kinda goes along with that other stuff I promised to tell you.”

From the look she gave me, I could tell she had a pretty good guess about what I meant and felt the same way. Who knows, maybe Annalee would end up being Zombie Girl’s sidekick—Book Babe.

* * *

W
hen Lew smiled at me as I walked up to our table in chemistry class, I managed to keep from breaking into a skip like a total dork.

“Hey, partner,” he said. “Glad to see you didn’t adopt the look in your profile picture as your new style.”

“Inside joke,” I said as I sat down. “I could explain it to you, but then I’d have to eat your brain.”

He laughed. “From what I’ve seen of zombies, I’d like to think I could outrun you.”

“Yeah, but what about when you stop to look behind you in horror until I’m almost there and then trip over nothing when you finally start to run again?”

“You’re right, I’m a goner. May as well give up now.”

Oh, man. That definitely begged for some further interpretation that I would have to examine under a microscope later on. I studied his face closely to see if I could detect any hidden meaning, but all I saw was amusement.

“You know it, Captain Chess Champ.”

Oh, crap. Did I really just call him that out loud?

He laughed again. “Wait, with a name like that, maybe I’ll turn out to be your nemesis.”

Okay, that could have more than one meaning too. At least he didn’t seem to mind the nickname.

“Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be in big trouble if we ever play a chess match to the death,” I said.

Matt walked past our table and sneered at both of us. “Still settling for Junior when you could be tapping Daddy’s bank account?”

I returned his sneer. “Still wasting oxygen meant for people with a brain?”

Lew laughed and Matt slapped the back of his head. “What’d I tell you, rich boy?”

I stood up, ready to throw Matt through the window, but Lew pulled me back down.

“Ignore him, Gwen. He’s just trying to prove he’s a tough guy to everybody, including himself.”

Mr. Forrester walked over before Matt could do anything else. “Mr. Winston, I thought I made myself clear yesterday when I told you I wasn’t going to tolerate any more aggressive behavior from you. Do I need to go have a talk with Coach Morton about it?”

“No, sir.” Matt’s arrogance disappeared. “Please don’t say anything to Coach. He’ll bench me for the Coral Gables game Friday night.”

“Then I suggest you keep that in mind the next time you let your testosterone dictate your actions.” He waited for Matt to take his seat before looking at me and Lew. “And I would also remind you two of the warning signs at the zoo about taunting the animals.”

“Yes, sir,” we said at the same time.

Oh, yeah. I definitely had to find out the story behind Lew and Matt’s feud. And that reminded me of the other mystery I was working on.

“Hey, do you know a girl named Caitlin Warner?” I asked Lew.

He shook his head. “Not really. I know who she is. Why?”

I told him what happened in the cafeteria at lunch and what Sidney had told me. “Any idea what it’s about?”

“No telling with that crowd. Why do you care?”

“I’m not sure I do. But even if she was stupid enough to get so drunk that she didn’t know what she was doing, I don’t like the idea of those jockstraps taking advantage of her and laughing about it.”

He looked at me intently for a moment. “I can’t believe I was so wrong about you at first. You’re really something.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot more to us zombies than meets the eye,” I said. “Don’t forget that, Triple C.”

He laughed loud enough to get a warning look from Mr. Forrester. Guess I was leading him astray after all.

When Mr. Forrester passed out the test papers from the day before and handed me mine, he said, “Congratulations, Miss Stewart. Yours was the only perfect score in the class.”

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Lew said. “Let me guess—chemistry is another street skill.”

“Actually, yeah,” I said, “but I don’t think the meth labs use chemical analysis or the scientific method.” I could tell he didn’t know how to take that, so I added, “I was strictly a cheap wine girl myself. Thunderbird, vintage 2010.” I didn’t think Flo would mind if I tweaked Gwen’s rep a little.

When the bell rang, Lew walked me to my locker. Matt made sure to bump him with his shoulder when he passed us, but he didn’t say anything or stop.

“Say the word and I’ll take him out,” I said, only partially joking.

Lew sighed. “Not worth it. Just ignore him like you would a gnat.”

“I squash gnats,” I said. “Are you ever gonna tell me why the two of you hate each other so much?”

“Probably not. Can’t afford to lose my mystique, you know. See you later.” He winked and turned to walk down the hall.

I stood there watching him go, grinning like an idiot because he’d winked at me, and more determined than ever to find out his secret.

* * *

A
nnalee was already on the bus when I got on.

“Ready for our slumber party?” I said. “Do we need to go by your house and get you some clothes for tomorrow? You can always just wear some of mine if you want. We’re about the same size.”

She looked from her chest to mine and laughed. “The same height maybe.”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, I’ve got a couple of shirts and some jeans Karen bought me that don’t fit right. She can’t take them back because they’ve been worn. You can have ‘em.”

I could tell she was embarrassed by the charity offer, but I could also tell she was happy at the prospect of some new clothes. I was pretty sure she’d been wearing the same pair of jeans all week.

“Okay,” she said. “If you’re sure your foster mom won’t mind.”

“Karen’s great. If I’d had a mom like her, maybe I wouldn’t be so screwed up right now.”

“Trust me, I know what you mean.”

She slipped her hand into mine and squeezed. I
did
trust her, and I decided I was gonna tell her everything once we were alone.