Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (6 page)

“
Alright
,
time out
,”
I said after slamming against
the mat for a third time.
“
You know what? I think you
’
re lying.
”
She held out a hand for me
,
pulling me to my feet.

“
Come again?
”
she asked.

“
You don
’
t need this class
,”
I said
,
shaking my head and trying to be cool
,
even though my
ass
throbbed
.

A smile crept across her lips.
“
I
’
m
a quick study
. It
’
s always been that way. Let me make it up to you.
”

“
Make what up to me?
”
I asked.

“
For all of the Ben Gay you
’
ll need to buy tonight.
”

“
Ha ha. Real funny.
But if you’re talking food, then l
et
’
s get cleaned up and meet back out here in ten
,”
I said and headed toward the
boy’s
locker room. On the way in
,
I had a little pep talk with
myself.
No
,
I think it was more of a
get real
,
what are you doing
kind of speech going on in my head. I undressed
down to my boxers
,
strutted over to the showers
,
and reached into the first stall. Turning around
,
I almost swallowed my tongue.

“
Wow
,
Caleb. I gotta hand it to you. Charm is definitely a strong point for you
,”
the
Walker
said to me as I stood there in my underwear. Mortified didn
’
t come close to how I felt right then. I snatched my towel off the shower bar and wrapped it around my waist.

“
You have got to stop doing that
,”
I blurted.

“
Doing what?
”
she asked innocently.

“
Stalking me
,
and—and showing up like a weirdo ghost
,”
I said. My whole body blushed. I could feel it just like I felt the heat coming off the water in the shower.

“
Guys
spy
on girls
all the time. So are you saying you don’t like it when things are the other way around?
”

“
Oh yeah? Newsflash
time
. You
’
re not a normal girl
,”
I said in a low voice.
I hated admitting it,
but s
he had a point.
I wanted to be the one in control.
Getting stalked by a female
,
a gorgeous one let me add
,
boosted my ego by a ton
, and made me feel vulnerable at the same time
.

“
I gotta hand it to you
,”
she began.
“
I didn
’
t guess you
’
d be
that
type of guy.
”

“
Right.
Fill
me
in
on what you
’
re talking about
,
please,
”
I said
,
feeling a tad more confident around her than I ever had before.

Her face got all serious just before she said.
“
I didn
’
t expect you to have such passion
for life
and goals. I thought you would turn out to be
, well, arrogant and flighty. Instead, I see somebody completely different from those things.
”

We stared into each other
’
s eyes for the longest moment. What did she mean?
Damn
,
she
’
s hot.
Dead soul or angel or
maybe a potential brain-eating zombie.
Um, nah.
W
hatever she
was, it
didn
’
t matter. Why do I feel like I know her so well?
What am I saying? I gotta get a grip
,
she
’
s not even
a real person
. But
the
electricity flying between us was very much human.
M
y very needy body react
ed to it in a most embarrassing
way
by lifting my towel in a salute
.

“
You have a cherry bomb girl waiting outside this room. Better not keep her waiting
,”
she said
,
holding my gaze
before she glanced down and giggled
.

Losing myself in her strange dark eyes
with the greenish-blue speckles inside the
irises
,
I finally lost the idiot in me and found my voice.
“
Cherry bomb
?
”

“
Someone obsessed with various shades of red
. You know…like pink, for example.”

“
Oh
,
that explains everything
,”
I teased
,
inching closer to her
,
and feeling thankful that my towel was large enough to wrap around me twice. She had this effect on me
,
something hard to describe. That can
’
t be good
,
either.

“
Do you normally hang out in the boy
’
s locker room?
”
I asked.

“
Only when necessary. I
came here
to tell you to watch your back
,”
she said quietly.

“
Okay
,
thanks for all of these empty warnings. But I can handle the
Walker
s.
”

“
Your ego is what worries me the most.
”

“
Y-ouch
,”
I said
,
wincing.

“
I’m
leaving now
.”
She broke our spell. The steam drifting around us evaporated along with whatever else had been there in that room between us
. Damn.

“
I do. Wait
,
I mean
,
I have things to do. But I don
’
t mind if you leave
,”
I lied
and held my arm up so she couldn’t walk away
.
“
First
,
you have to tell me the magic word.
”

“
I don
’
t have to do that.
”
A smile crept across her heart-shaped lips.

“
It
’
s an
easy one
.
Tell
me your name
,”
I said.

Her smiled faded at once.
“
Never.
”

“
Why not?
”

“
Because I don
’
t want to
. It would complicate things,
”
she muttered and hugged her shoulders.

I moved back so she could walk by and wondered what spooked her out so much about me asking for her name.

“
Aren’t
you going to evaporate
,
or walk through a wall
,
or something?
”
I asked.

She gave me a sad smile and said
,
“
Not this time.
”
T
hen she walked out of the doors
of
the boys
’
locker room as if she were human.

“
Whoa
,”
I said, turning back
to the shower.

Outside the locker room
,
Erica
was already dressed and ready to go. The two-minute shower I took gave me an excuse for my flushed skin.

Erica
’
s idea of treating me was a trip to the local coffee shop downtown on
Broad Street
. After we took our seats
,
she bought me a
smoothie
,
something I didn
’
t really care for but accepted because she seemed so excited to be drinking one. Hey
,
I can be a gentleman. My mom the spoon wielder taught me well. It didn
’
t matter that my mind was completely hooked around
the mystery Walker and
what just happened back in the
boy
s
’
locker room.

Focus. One girl at a time
,
my man.

For the next couple o
f private lessons
Erica worked hard to
maste
r the moves I
’
d worked into her
lessons
.
We did her training after the students in my main class left.
She was a fast learner
,
and could probably run
circles around some of my dojo mates who had years of
experience
before they even reached the second of
the
five
master
levels.

Two things were for certain:
a)
Erica wasn
’
t a bubble-head like I thought
,
and
b)
I
’
d never again tease another girl about how well
her ass
might bounce on a mat.

Chapter Four

The lacrosse team
’
s Fall Ball practice started the following week. But that didn
’
t
thwart
Kyle and Shani
’
s make out sessions one bit. I caught them kissing in the hallways
,
the lunchroom
,
between classes.
The final straw came when Kyle stepped out on the practice field
with
Shani
hooked
on his arm as usual. When they locked lips this time
,
the hoots and hollers erupted around me.

“
All right
,
that
’
s enough
. You two are gonna dehydrate if you keep that up.
”
I stalked over to where they s
tood in front of the bleachers and pulled
them apart
.
Shani gave me the death look while Kyle grinned and flexed his muscles. More hoots came from behind me.
“
Haven’t you two had enough of each other? Geez! Save it for the weekend when I don’t have to watch.
Kyle you need to
leave
some energy for the field
,
my man.
”

I
led
Kyle away by his collar.
“
I
’
ll be right here
,
Romeo
,”
Shani assured him as we headed toward our teammates. After we reach
ed
them
,
I turn
ed
and face
d
Kyle.
“
Do I have too much wax in my ears
?
Because I think she just called you Romeo.
”
A grin crept across my lips.

“
I
’
ll pound you if you pick on me about it
,
Erica
’
s new
lap boy
,”
he teased. He just had to say something in front of the teammates. I got all kinds of slaps on the back for that one.

“
So
,
Wood
,
rumor has it that Erica Jensen is your date
to the big
All Souls D
ance
,”
Corey Haines announced to my complete surprise.

I scoffed.
“
Looks like the rumors know more than I do.
”
I stepped away and assumed the flight position before they had a chance to say anything else. But fate never turned out to be a friend of mine. About thirty minutes into practice
,
Ashley High
’
s cheerleading squad drove by the field. I
’
d catch hell now for sure.
About
eight girls were packed into Erica
’
s convertible Mini Cooper.
To
my complete humiliation
,
they all made a point to wave in my direction as the car rolled by.

“
Careful
,
Caleb. You just might start drooling if you open that mouth any wider
,”
Kyle teased

I smirked.
“
Nah. You and Shani wrote the book on slobbering all over each other
,
I think.
”

“
Hey man. Leave me out of it
,”
Kyle said.
“
In my eyes
,
you
’
re like a god right now. Everybody
’
s talking about this sudden
,
er
,
friendship thing you got going on with her.
”

“
Yeah. That
’
s exactly what worries me the most.
”
This image of
Thorn
e
’s
boxing gloves meeting my l
ess-than-
petite
nose haunted me. Somehow,
I managed to shake it off and finish practice. First thing I vowed to do tomorrow was to confront Erica about
this mystery date
I
’
d somehow been drafted
to take her on
.

The next day added to my confusion instead of solving it. In the lunchroom
,
Erica sat with
the Circle
. I hadn
’
t even seen her all day
,
this girl who I was supposed to take to the
All Souls Dance
.
She
  glanced in my direction a few times. Of course this brought teasing from both Kyle and Shani. To them it probably seemed like I couldn
’
t keep my eyes off of her. But in reality I was just trying to figure
her
out.
Thorne
trudged over to their table. Any mystical magic that might
’
ve been forming between us flew up and out the window
.
I turned to my tray of food for the first time since lunch began. The fake hamburger had
already
gotten cold
,
and my French fries
got
soggier by the minute
.

I glanced back at Erica
’
s table. Big mistake. I caught
Thorne
with his arm draped over her shoulders
, his hand dangling right over the middle of her chest
. Something in me stirred the slightest bit. She was supposed to be my unofficial date
,
right?

Kyle
,
my razor-eyed friend
,
caught my mood swing right away.
“
I thought they broke up? Are you just gonna stand for that big Duff putting his paws all over your woman like that?
”

I shrugged.
“
Not my problem.
”

“
Hello
,
she
’
s going to be your date on
a very
popular night
,
let me
add
,”
Shani announced.

“
Thanks for pointing out the obvious
,”
I snapped.

“
What
’
s she going to dress up as
,
anyway? The ice queen
’
s daughter?
”
Shani asked me.

To answer that required some knowledge. The
information
you
learned
by talking to your date versus watching her
get felt up by
her
ex-boyfriend while you sit there like a dud
. Girls
,
I
’
ll never understand them.
“
I have no idea.
”
I
swerve
d
around in my seat and stuff
ed
my face with cold hamburger. I
was
so heated up that I did
n
’
t even realize how bad the meat taste
d
.

“
I
’
m sure you two will work it out
,”
Kyle said.

I gave him a har
d look, and said:
“
What
’
s there to work out?
I know nothing about
this big date
. She hasn’t asked me. I haven’t asked her. I have no freaking idea what’s going on. If she wants to let Rocky over there touch her then fine. Let him.
”

“C
hill with all this talk about the two of us.
Do I look like the meathead football player type? I don
’
t drool over
conceited
girls. Nope
,
”
I said.

“
Wow
,
Caleb
,
you have a tongue that could put even the bitchiest girl to shame,
”
Shani said
and glanced
at someone
behind me.
“Eavesdropping alert.”

I was batting for zero and none these days. I knew
Erica
stood back there even before I turned around to face her.

“
That
’
s all right
,
Shani. I
’
ve already figured out that Caleb is all bite when he wants to be. But the good thing about dogs is that they
’
re trainable.
”

That did it.
She
might be used to bossing
Thorne
around
,
but I
wasn
’
t having any of that. I spun around on my chair.
“
We need to talk
. Now.”

She gave me the widest
,
no wait
,
the
most devious
grin I
’
d
ever
seen on a girl
.
All that tough dude talk I intended to lay down on her flew right out of the window
along with the burnt meat smell lingering in the air around us.

“
Calm down there
,
Tiger
.
What are you doing after school today?
Could
y
ou stop by the auditorium
, and we could talk then?
I got the role of
Coco
in
Fame
. I
’
d love for you to check it out.
”

“
Sorry. Drama isn
’
t really my thing
,”
I said
,
even though I was a tad
 
intrigued. Her face fell the slightest bit.
“
Maybe next time
.
Besides, I’m much more interested in talking about
this date
I’m going on with you. You know, the
one
that we never asked each other about, or even bothered to see if the other one had plans?
”
Ha! That
’
s what she gets for planning my future and then humiliating me by flirting with
Thorne
in front of the entire lunchroom.

“
We
’
ll talk
after tomorrow’s defense class
,
if that
’
s okay. I
’
m sorry if I upset you. It won
’
t happen again
,”
she said quietly
and
then walked away.

 
 
”
Oh boy. Careful
,
bro. My disease is contagious. Next thing I know
,
you
’
ll be the one drooling in the hallway
. That is, if you can learn the art of being smooth and not crude,
”
Kyle joked and
flexed his
arm.

“
Hey
,
I
’
m nothing like Miss Stuck Up of Ashley
George
High
,”
Shani said.

“
Don
’
t count on me catching anything like that
,”
I said
,
wanting to believe that I meant every word.

* * *

The sounds of ninja battle calls blared through the living room when I walked through my front door. One of my parents was watching my Naruto discs
?
No way.
The possibility of that happening was about as slim as our chance of ever seeing ov
er two feet of snow fall here on
the
North Carolina
coastline
.
The scent
,
that lavender and vanilla combination that drove me wild
,
teased my nostrils before I even found her sitting on my couch. The
Walker
.