Color Blind (7 page)

I stop walking and look directly into her
eyes. “He’d be crazy not to be. But he’s not the only choice you have, you
know.”

My breathing increases, coming in quick
little gusts, keeping rhythm with my speeding heartbeat.

“He’s not?” she whispers.

She is affected by my words. I can tell.
I’m not sure if it is because I’m making her nervous and uncomfortable, or
because she likes what I’m saying.

“No,” I answer, reaching out and tilting
her chin so she’s looking up at me. “He’s not.”

She averts her eyes. I watched her
profile, her skin almost sparkling in the sunlight. Out here, under the cover
of the trees she seems more exotic and mysterious than she did in the
fluorescent lights at school.

I can’t believe I’m getting this time
with her, just the two of us. I reach out to touch her face, but drop my hand
quickly when she begins walking again. She’s avoiding the closeness, and I
can’t help but wonder how close she and Luka got the night before. The thought
fills me with panic. I don’t want her getting too close to Luka. The closer she
grows with him, the further she may drift from me. I can’t let that happen.

Meeting Camryn has given me a sense of
need. I’m going to need her to get through my last year of high school and the
transition from my life with my mom to my life with my aunt. I’m going to need
her for a lot of things. And although I don’t know Camryn or her life, I know
she’s going to need me too. I don’t know how I know it, but I do. It’s an
innate sense of knowledge that swallowed me up the moment I met her, and I
can’t imagine that she doesn’t feel it, too.

“Lead the way to lunch,” she demands.
“I’m famished.”

Chapter
7

Mamma
Mia!

Camryn

Dara screams. Loudly.

“Two dates? You had two dates this
weekend?”

I burst out laughing and rub my temples
with my index fingers. It is my morning to drive to school. Fall has approached
stealthily, and burnished leaves flutter around the car as I drive.

“Girl. Spill!” Dara’s voice is
overflowing with curiosity and disbelief. She has barely ever known me to go on
one date, much less two dates with two different guys.

“Well,” I begin. I’m not sure where to
begin.

“Friday night I had dinner with Luka. It
was very nice. He planned a beautiful date at a really nice restaurant. I had
lobster. We walked on the beach afterward, and it was all very
RomCom
”

“Camryn Rae Grimes. I
so
do not care about what you ate. How
was Luka? Did he kiss you? Do you just love him? I mean, those eyes of his.
Didn’t you just stare at them all night?”

I consider that for a moment. I know how
attractive Luka is. But I really
hadn’t
stared into his eyes all night. We had a nice date, and then it was over. But I
do know what a great guy he is.

And he had wowed me, impressed me, with
the grandness of the date.

“It was really nice,” I repeat.

“And Cooper?” She narrows her eyes. “How
did that come about, anyway?”

Dara obviously has a preference where my
dating life is concerned. I guessed it’s probably because Luka is Brandon’s
best friend.

“He asked for my number last week to go
over some stuff for Lit class. His text on Friday night was really out of the blue.
And…I just went, when he asked.”

“And did you have fun?”

I pull into
Oceanview’s
parking lot and park in our usual spot. Looking around, I notice Luka’s SUV
nearby and Brandon’s Jeep in the next spot. I don’t see Cooper’s motorcycle and
my stomach sinks with disappointment.

I turn to face Dara, and answer her
question honestly. “It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. And the most
fun I’ve had with a guy, ever.”

“Wow,” Dara replies. She grabs her
backpack and steps out. “Does Luka know?”

“No,” I sigh. “I didn’t talk to him
Saturday or Sunday. I was working on choreography all day Sunday. He texted me
to see what I was doing, but I was so busy with dance.”

This is becoming a lot more complicated
than I had expected. I just want to get through my senior year, so I can start
living my life as a performer. Now I have guy drama, which I definitely don’t
want.

I
do
not
want it.

“Are you going to tell him?” she asks.

I shrug. “I guess so. It’s not a big
deal, is it? I’m not dating Luka exclusively. I’ve never even kissed the guy.”

As we walk toward the school building,
Dara loops her arm through mine. “I love you, Cam. But I don’t think you have a
clue what you’re doing. You need to tread carefully here. Don’t you know how
long you’ve been waiting for a guy like Luka? Do I really need to sell you on
all of his amazing qualities?”

I send my eyes rolling lazily skyward.
“No, Dara, I haven’t been waiting for anything. I’ve never needed a man in my
life, and I don’t suddenly need one now. Sure, maybe there are some feelings
involved here with Cooper and Luka. But I’m not falling all over myself to be
with either one of them.

“I know Luka’s a great guy. I didn’t ask
for any of this, you know. I’m just going to see what happens. It’s not like
I’m falling in love here.”

“Well, you could, if you’d realize that
Luka is perfect boyfriend material. Speaking of Luka…” she trails off
suggestively and tips her head to the side, her gaze aimed straight ahead.

“Hey girls,” Brandon’s relaxed tone meets
us just inside the school doors. He puts his arms around Dara and pulls her
close. “Cam! Up top.” He frees one arm long enough to high-five me.

“My man had a great time with you Friday
night,” he bends low to whisper, winking at me.

My lips quirk upward at Brandon’s
disclosure. I turn to Luka, who is standing on Dara’s other side.

“Hey,” I said.

He breaks into a wide grin, and his light
brown eyes almost sparkle with happiness. His face turns on like a lamp when he
smiles. He really is a cutie.

“Hey there,” he says, and sweeps me up
into a hug. “Good to see you,” he whispers in my ear.

Luka’s arms around me feel so comfortable,
I almost don’t notice what’s happening. It’s like I’ve been hugging him like
this for eons.

“It’s good to see you, too,” I reply,
smiling up at him. Our foursome begins walking down the hallway, heading toward
first period.

“Hey, what’d you do the rest of the
weekend?” Luka leans down to ask.

“Um,” I begin.

Suddenly, I feel movement behind me, and my
sunglasses are pressed onto the top of my head. I turn under Luka’s arm, and find
myself staring up into Cooper’s impossibly green eyes.

His crooked smile jolts my system as he turns
one corner of his mouth upward and his eyes burn into mine. He darts his gaze
down at Luka’s arm as it drapes across my shoulders. Fire flickers momentarily
in his eyes and then it’s gone as he looks back at my face. My chest constricts
when I look back at him because the hurt in his eyes is evident. I don’t want
him to hurt.

“Oh, thanks,” I breath. I’m suddenly
breathless and flustered in Cooer’s presence. I worm my way out from under
Luka’s arm. “I hadn’t even noticed these were missing.”

“You left them on the picnic table,” he
replies, his eyes never leaving mine.
           

Dara clears her throat, helping me to
clear my head and tear my eyes from Cooper’s.

“See you in a minute,” Cooper says, as he
saunters off to our first class.

My small crowd is silent for a moment,
watching me.

My face grows warm as I silently put my
sunglasses into my backpack. I ignore their attention, because I don’t want it.

So Cooper brought me my sunglasses. Who
cares?

Luka finally speaks. “Uh, picnic table?”

His eyes search mine, questioning.

Dara hastily says, “Oh, it’s no big deal.
She had lunch –“

I shoot her a long, testy look before
interrupting her. My look clearly says that I can speak for myself.

“Cooper and I hung out on Saturday. It
was a, um, last minute thing.”

I feel that’s all the explanation I owe Luka,
since we haven’t discussed being exclusive at all. I’m definitely not ready for
that yet.

“I see,” he replies, his brow furrowed.

Brandon whistles. “Whew! Looks like you
got another member in the Camryn Grimes fan club, man. But you’re up for a
little healthy competition, aren’t you, Luka?”

Luka nods, a determined gleam in his
beautiful eyes. “I’m definitely up for it.”

That sounds…alarming.

I’m not interested in participating in
any sort of contest between Luka and Cooper that probably will have less to do
with me than with their own two manly egos.

A frustrated sigh breaks free from my
lips.

At the end of the hallway, we part ways
as we all go to separate classes. Luka squeezes my shoulders before walking off
to his Statistics class.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” he calls.

I rush into Literature about two seconds before
the bell rings, and land breathlessly on my seat in front of Cooper.

He leaned forward, and I feel his warm
breath tickle my ear. The warmth spreads from my ear to the rest of my body
quickly, making me squirm in my chair.

“I like your outfit today,” he informs
me. “But not as much as Saturday’s.”

I glance down at my cutoff white shorts
and a burning heat flushes my face. I concentrate on taming my ragged breathing
before turning around.

“I bet you don’t,” I say. “But you won’t
see that again until the bonfire.”

His brow wrinkles in confusion.
“Bonfire?”

“Yeah,” I answer. “Every fall, the school
throws a beach bonfire right before Halloween. It’s an party that no one
misses.”

“Okay then, I guess I won’t be missing
it, either. Especially if it means I get to see you in that bikini again. Has
Luka seen you in that thing?”

I laugh. “Not that I know of.”

He nods. “Good.”

The redhead across the aisle leans toward
us and uses a loud stage whisper to get Luka’s attention. “A bunch of us are
studying at my house after school today.”

“Don’t look at her. It’s worse than
feeding them,” I say to Luka through almost-closed lips.

He stifles his laugh long enough to nod
solemnly at the girl beside us.

“You’re impossible,” he tells me.

“I know.”

The rest of the period passes quickly,
and when the bell rings, Cooper grabs my backpack from the ground next to my
desk.

“Beat you this time,” he says. “Where
to?”

“How chivalrous,” I reply. Secretly, I’m pleased
he didn’t let me get away from him when the bell rang. “I’m heading to French.”

As we walk, Cooper tells me about the
rest of his weekend; how he helped his aunt on Sunday do some painting around
their house.

“My mom says she’ll be here close to the
holidays,” he comments.

“That’s right, she’s not here. What’s she
doing right now in Maryland?”

He sighs, a look of irritation crossing
his chiseled features. “She’s ‘wrapping up loose ends.’ Whatever that means. My
mom’s always been a little flaky. She just divorced my third stepdad, and I
guess she has some things to take care of before she can leave town. But I’m
hoping this time around will be different. My mom and I have never been
settled, you know? But her sister, my aunt Stacey, lives here, so I think she
can help Mom get her act together. I’ve decided that no matter what happens,
I’m staying. I like it here.”
 

With this summation comes a small smile, and
he darts a quick look at my face.

“Good,” I say, without hesitation. “I
like having you here, too.”

He cuts his eyes toward me, eyebrows
raised. I keep my eyes trained on the hallway in front of us.

Cooper drops me off at my French class,
and then I have two more classes before lunch.

When that last bell rings before lunch, I
breathe a sigh of relief. I am starving, and I want to take a break and see my
friends. I’m aware of the strange desire to lay eyes on Cooper again, too, but
I ignore it.

Walking toward the cafeteria, I feel eyes
burning holes into my back. I turn in the hallway, and stare straight into the
eyes of four girls who striking model poses.

Alicia, Courtney, Desiree, and Keisha.

The starring actresses of the P.B.G.C.’s.
Alicia is definitely the ringleader, although I consider Courtney the attention
whore of the clique.

I look down at the back of my jeans.
“Cute, huh? I got them on sale over the weekend. You’re staring at them right?
Or are you just happy to see me?”

“Neither,” Courtney answers. “Where are
all your white girl friends?”

“Probably the same place as your common
sense,” I shoot back. “Why do you care so much about who my friends are? Are
you dying to become my
bff
? Is that why you sweat me
so much?”

Alicia laughs. “Girl, we don’t let people
like you in. You’re nothing like us. Keep walking.”

I stare at the girls for a moment. I don’t
want to do what Alicia says and keep walking, but I can’t see any reason to
stand there any longer.

I look each girl directly in the eye for
a second longer, then turn and walk back down the hallway, head held high.

***

Two weeks later on a Friday afternoon, I am
preparing to launch the first nighttime performance of “Mamma Mia!” We ripped
through our rehearsal earlier that day with a multitude of mistakes, which is
typical of all dress rehearsals. Dancers missed their stage cues; actors goofed
their lines. The crew had mixed up backdrops and set pieces, and the band had
mistaken one song for another. It was how dress rehearsals went, but I’m still
extremely nervous for the show tonight. “Mamma Mia!” is my baby, and I need it
to grow and flourish.

As I stand backstage, reviewing musical
cues with the band director, Mrs. Bartos walks up behind me and gives my
shoulders a squeeze.

“I just finished going over the routine
for “Dancing Queen” again, just to make sure they’ve got it,” she says.

I nod, chewing on my bottom lip. Mrs.
Bartos smiles reassuringly.

“They’re going to be great, Camryn,” she says.
“Now, do we need to rehearse your introduction?”