Cassidy Jones and the Seventh Attendant (Cassidy Jones Adventures, Book Three) (22 page)

“Not even,” Nate groaned again. “Go home.”

“You are
so
rude.” Miriam laughed and grabbed the doorknob. But before she could open his door, I yanked her into my room.

She stumbled in, yelling, “Nate, I am so kicking your—” Catching herself, she swung wide eyes at me.

Your mom and dad?
she mouthed, as it occurred to her they could be upstairs sleeping.

“In the kitchen,” I answered, shutting my door.

“
Shwooooo!
” Miriam giggled. “Thought they were still in bed for a sec. Nate cracks me up. He is
soooooo
adorable. I think I’m in love with him. Does Emery wear a shirt?”

“In Fight Club?” I asked, trying to keep up with her train of thought, which was similar to one of those bouncy balls from a gumball machine. “Yes, he does. Sorry.”

Normally, I wouldn’t deny her the opportunity to be with Emery, especially since I believed the interest was mutual. Emery insisted he didn’t like Miriam, but I knew better. However, I didn’t think he would be in the mood for her antics today. Frankly, I wasn’t either.

“Miriam, these guys are serious about this stuff.”

“Are you suggesting I’m
not
?” She feigned offense. “I totally know karate. Want me to prove it? I’ll flip you.”

Miriam seized my arm and tried her best to flip me. Eventually, we both ended up piled on the floor, laughing hysterically.

“You’d better put your hair in a ponytail, or things could get ugly,” I advised, eyeing the tumble of dark, silky ringlets spilling over the taupe carpet. Miriam had the most beautiful hair.

“Oh, I hope so. Can I borrow a scrunchie?”

“Top drawer on my nightstand,” I said as I stood up. “I haven’t eaten yet. Want a protein bar?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

I went down to the kitchen where my parents were reading the newspaper and Chazz was silencing Rice Krispies in a bowl of milk, submerging the puffed rice with a spoon until it no longer
snapped
,
crackled
, or
popped
. I grabbed two protein bars and bottled waters from the fridge.

Moments later, I returned to an unusual sight in my room. Miriam sat cross-legged on my bed, frowning and playing absently with my rainbow scrunchie. She was so immersed in thought that she hadn’t noticed me come into the room.

“What’s wrong?”

Miriam jumped and looked up at me. “Nothing.” She shrugged. “I’m not in the mood for this anymore. I think I’ll go home.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged again, avoiding eye contact.

My mind raced.
What happened in the last two minutes?

“Stay!” I urged, feeling inexplicably panicked. “This is fun.” I had never seen Miriam sad before and couldn’t shake the feeling that I had caused it. “You’ll have a good time. Think about it. Sparring with Emery.”

“I don’t care.” She flopped her hand dismissively, looking away. “I’m over him.”

“Since when?”

“Since—now!” She shot the scrunchie at me. It missed, of course. Miriam had horrible aim. “Don’t think this doesn’t mean I can’t do one of those karate kicks,” she said, laughing.

I laughed, too, relieved that she had decided to stay.

“Tell me . . .” Miriam put her hand out for a protein bar. “Is Aiden Pruett in Fight Club?”

“Yes. Why don’t you like Emery anymore?”

“Because I am
over
him,” she repeated, seeming more interested in the wrapper of the protein bar than the current subject. I recognized evasion when I saw it.

“Fine, you’re over him,” I relented. “So let’s talk about Aiden. Oh, and by the way, he wears a shirt, too.”

~~~

Kicked back on my bed, Miriam and I shot the breeze while ten or so boys made their way to the attic at intervals. By unspoken unanimous decision, we had elected to arrive fashionably late, which I didn’t mind at all. I was having a blast. Miriam and I hadn’t talked, gossiped, and laughed like this since premutation.

“Shall we?” I asked, once the noise overhead suggested the boys had started warm-ups.

“In a few.” Miriam twisted her ponytail of ringlets around one finger while she stared up at my ceiling. “Do
any
of them take off their shirts?”

“No,
but
there’s always a first time.” With that, I flung myself off the bed, threw open the door, and dashed for the attic at a speed Miriam could keep up with.

“Oh, no you don’t!” she shouted.

At the foot of the attic stairs, she shoved me out of the way. We laughed and pushed, forcing our way in front of each other for the entire ascent. At the top, we lost our collective balance and fell face down on the Berber carpet, making an entrance that would have embarrassed me if Miriam hadn’t gotten me all wound up.

“Hi, guys.” She giggled, pushing escaped ringlets from her face. Propped up on her elbows, blue eyes sparkling, midriff exposed where her hot-pink tank top had ridden up during our struggle—Miriam made a stunning mess.

“Don’t mind us,” I said and scrambled to my feet, assisting Miriam to hers.

Surprisingly, she didn’t resist my effort. This was the sort of opportunity she would normally seize in order to create a scene.

“I know. Way to make an entrance,” I added.

Noting that the room had fallen oddly silent, I glanced around at the boys. Tension was thick in the air. Their sliding glances to one another proved I wasn’t the only person who felt it.

“Join in,” Emery said to us, his expression inscrutable.

I lifted my eyebrows.

He gave me a half-smile and looked away. “Switch legs,” he instructed the boys, who were stretching.

My questioning eyes cut to Nate. He shrugged, but looked none too pleased about what he obviously sensed, too. My gaze then swung behind me to Jared, who smiled, exuding the same sort of alert energy that I had prior to a confrontation.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Chad watching me. I pretended not to notice.

What the heck is going on?
I wondered, shifting my eyes forward. I caught a glimpse of Miriam blatantly scoping out the boys who were doing warm-ups, oblivious to the tension in the room.

“On the floor,” Emery instructed.

Who cares what’s going on with these boys? I’ve got enough to worry about
. I followed Emery’s instructions and redirected my concern to him. As he led us through floor exercises, I marveled at how calm he appeared.
He has to be freaking out. I know I am
. I grabbed my right foot and stretched forward over my leg.
Everything comes crashing down tonight. What are we even doing here?
I switched legs.

By the time we finished floor warm-ups, the bad vibe hadn’t diminished.

“We’re going to do a conditioning drill that I did when I was a kid,” Emery announced, clapping his hands as if that would break up the tension collecting in the air. “Holding one leg up”—he grabbed his knee, balancing on one foot to demonstrate—“you’ll try to knock your partner off balance.”

There were grunts of approval.

“I claim Nate!” Miriam shouted, running over to him and clutching his arm. He was shocked. We both were.

Nate?
I thought, dumbfounded.
Why not Emery?

“No—
I
claim Nate!” Bobby bellowed over the snickers and harassing comments from the boys and grabbed my twin’s other arm. A tug of war for Nate ensued.

I laughed with the boys, but still sensed an undercurrent. I looked at Emery to get his take. He was grinning and appeared not to have a care in the world.

“Dudes, enough!” Nate broke loose from Bobby and Miriam. “There is plenty of me to go around. Bobby, you can have me after Miriam.”

“Sicko!” Bobby shouted and shoved Nate.

Clasping Nate’s hand, Miriam hooted and swung their arms in the air like they had just won an Olympic gold medal. “Emery,” she said, pointing at me, “you and Cass be partners.”

My brain hurt.
What is going on today?

She dragged Nate off. The other boys started pairing up.

“Why are we even here?” I muttered to Emery under my breath. His cell phone vibrated in the pocket of his sweatpants. Collecting it, he looked at the screen.

“Who is it?”

“Riley.” He answered the phone. “Hi, Riley. Hang on a moment.” He asked me, “Mind if I take this in your room?”

“Not at all. Do you want me to come?”

His gaze swept over the boys. “No,” he said, looking back at me. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Emery walked in long strides to the stairs, bringing the phone to his ear. As I watched him go, Chad’s smell invaded my space. He tapped my shoulder.

I turned around to him. He smiled.

“I need a partner,” he said, dimples deepening. A quick survey of the room revealed that he most certainly did. All the other boys had partners.

“I guess I do, too,” I admitted, feeling charitable. What was I going to do, make him stand there until Emery came back? “Lead the way.”

Following Chad to an empty spot in the upper corner of the mat, I ran through reasons why Riley could have called. She had a lead on Moreau? She had learned what was going down tonight? She’d found out Emery’s dad was involved?

Why are we even here?
I asked myself again, pulling my leg up.

Chad tucked his left knee in his forearm, and we began circling one another, bouncing on one foot. While he looked for an opening to knock me over, I reminded myself to pay attention, make this look challenging, and not accidentally hurt him.

I should have gone with Emery
, I thought, absently evading Chad’s shoulder. I looked longingly at the stairs.

Chad’s forearm grazed my chest.

“Hey!” I dropped my leg and jerked around.

Chad threw his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry, it was an accident,” he claimed, appearing embarrassed. A few boys watched us, including Jared. This embarrassed me.

“Well, watch it,” I muttered, blushing, and we continued the drill.

With each passing second, I became more distressed about Emery as my body naturally and automatically eluded Chad, though he did get in one good body slam when I glanced at the stairs. I didn’t even teeter.

“You’re like running into a brick wall,” he complained.

Try it when my skin is hard
, I grumbled in my head.

The attic door opened then, and I whipped around to face the stairs. Chad took the opportunity to throw his full body weight at me. Our feet got tangled, and we fell.

Umph!
My back slammed into the mat, and Chad landed on top of me. We stared at one another in shock, as sweat dripped from Chad’s face and splashed on my cheeks.

The next thing I knew, his warm, sweaty mouth covered mine—and the next thing
he
knew, he was face down on the mat with his right arm craned straight up and my bare foot digging between his shoulder blades.

“Criminy!” Ahmid shouted.

Instantly, boys flocked around us, staring in stunned silence.

Heaving furious breaths, I glared daggers at the back of Chad’s head, wanting to spit out the taste of him. He turned his head to the side and cussed up a storm.

“If you pull his arm to the left, you’ll dislocate his shoulder,” Emery advised, appearing at my side.

Chad told him where to go, and then pleaded with me, “I’m sorry. I misread you. I thought you wanted me to kiss you.”

“You kissed her?” Nate shouted, furious.

“I’ll say you misread me,
jerk
!” I hissed, cranking his arm a little higher.

Nate charged forward. Emery grabbed his arm.

“I’m killing you, Chad,” Nate said through his teeth. He looked like a deranged madman.

Despite my disgust, I busted up, accidentally putting more pressure on Chad’s arm.

“Please!” he wailed in pain.

“That’s all I was waiting for.” I snickered. “Nate, don’t go loco on him when I let him up.”

Eyes blazing, Nate didn’t reply.

I took the chance that my twin would behave himself and let Chad go. If Nate punched him, then so be it. It wasn’t like Chad didn’t deserve it.

With surprising dignity, Chad climbed to his feet.

“Did I hurt you?” I asked, just to embarrass him.

Glowering, he called me a rude name and stormed off.

“Not cool, dude,” Zach called after him. The other boys voiced their agreement.

Miriam hissed, “He’s a pig.”

I wiped my contaminated mouth and said to her, “Please tell me that doesn’t count as a first kiss.”

Jared’s head snapped around, and his angry eyes held mine. My heart galloped in alarm. Resolute, he turned away and walked to the stairs in measured steps.

“Dude,” Tyler called, scampering after Jared. “He ain’t worth it.”

The other boys followed. Miriam and I took a step forward, but Emery stopped us. “Stay here,” he commanded, looking at me. “I’ll take care of this.”

I nodded, understanding his concern. There was no way I would let Chad hurt a hair on Jared’s precious head.

“Don’t let anything happen,” I called after Emery, worried out of my mind.

The door closed behind him, and Miriam and I didn’t move an inch for about ten seconds.

“Forget this,” she said, and we ran for the stairs.

~~~

We threw ourselves onto the porch as the mob of boys rushed down the walk toward Chad and Jared.

“Chad,” Jared said, his voice razor sharp.

On the sidewalk, Chad puffed out his chest and turned to glare at him.

Jared stopped in front of him. “I told you not to pull your crap with her!”

“You don’t tell me what to do. Besides, she wanted it.”

“I can’t hear. Let’s go down,” Miriam urged.

“No, stay here,” I said, horrified.

Something inside warned me that if I left the porch, I would do more harm than good—most likely to Chad’s face. If reason hadn’t told me this, the stern look Emery threw me over his shoulder would have.

“Stay away from her.” Jared delivered each word like the strike of a cobra.