ExtraNormal (22 page)

Jesse released me when the haunting strains of the music died away.

I caught my breath—and wanted to ask him to start it again. But he would have to walk away to do that.

Another—far lesser—song began. We moved again with our feet side-by-side, wrapped in each other’s arms, our bodies close. I’d often wondered why he was so different from other boys—so pure in his love for me. But with that kiss I understood that he did long to be close to me. Not in the empty and greedy way of other boys from this world. Simply to express his love.

As wonderful as this moment was, I felt a shiver of fear. I’d seen enough Earth media to know what came next in human relationships. On Nreim, teenagers simply did not pair off. The desire had been genetically bred out of us. We joked about having crushes, but they really were nothing more than fantasies. The truth was, beyond our ability to recognize good looks, our feelings for boys were pretty much the same as for girls. Reaching adulthood—with the ability and desire to mate—was marked as the age of segregation: complete with separate female and male campuses of higher learning. Even transportation and public buildings had segregated areas for unlinked adults. When our urges became strong enough—or we went mad, I’m not sure which—we chose to enter the link camps where we would be allowed contact with suitable mates.

That I’d fallen in love with Jesse at my age was a true mystery. Possibly the cellular response of having a male fall in love with me prematurely. Though that was a theory I couldn’t exactly confirm. The one thing that I did know for certain was that I was entirely unprepared for a romantic relationship. I was caught between a desire to please Jesse and an inborn ignorance of such things.

“Jesse,” I whispered. “Will you promise me something?”

“Sure.” He brushed my cheek with his own.

“Will you tell me if I’m ever moving too slowly for you?”

He laughed. Heartily.

I watched him, confused. He was truly humored by the request.

 “Oh, you’re serious,” he said, still smiling.

I continued to watch him, waiting a bit nervously for his response.

“Absolutely.” His voice became serious, though I could still sense that he was amused. “I will definitely tell you if we are moving too slowly.” He kissed me again, tenderly.

My head became light, stunned by the power of such a delicate kiss.

“As long as you promise to let me know if we’re moving too quickly,” he said, studying my face intently.

I steadied myself. “No such thing,” I lied.

He laughed again, but with such satisfaction that my fears melted. Somehow I knew that our relationship was right where it should be. Other than the little details that it was forbidden, threatened both our lives, and could end at any second.

“Jesse?” I whispered in his ear. “You asked me once why I chose you.”

“Uh huh. I remember.”

“Can I ask why you chose me?”

He caressed my cheek with his finger. Studied my face. “A million reasons. I couldn’t name just one.”

I put my head on his shoulder, somehow satisfied with his nonanswer. I was beginning to think it was impossible for him to not make me happy. If it weren’t for the obvious evidence of his unique physical features, I’d never believe he was less evolved than the males back home. Or that our patterns weren’t linked. I placed my hand on top of his. “Can we listen to your song again?”

He guided me to the stereo where he pressed a button. The melody filled the room as he wrapped his arm around my back, our bodies swaying to the rhythm.

“Jesse,” I eventually said. “Can I ask if you’ve ever…?”

He smiled, recognizing what I didn’t want to say. “No. You’re my first love.”

I felt a shiver at the word
love
, along with a surprising rush of relief. I hadn’t given it much thought until just now, but the concept of him looking at someone else the way he was looking at me was just…
impossible.
I settled my head into the crook of his neck, as though it had been designed for just such a purpose. The sparkling lights melted across us like flakes of snow. We twirled together as the song repeated—our bodies pressed together. Time and the world and all of my stupid rules fell away.

“Won’t your dad wonder where you are?” Jesse eventually whispered.

I nodded, not really registering the question.

“What will he do if you’re not home on time?”

The question was enough for me to lift my head. He would come looking for me. That’s what he would do. He wouldn’t trust me enough to simply open a stream. He’d come.

Reluctantly, I let Jesse lead me by the hand around the room while he turned off the sound equipment and lights. Eventually he opened the door, allowing brilliant sunlight to pour into the room. I dropped his hand, saddened that our dream date had ended. That we were back in the real world of pretending we meant nothing to one another.

 “I have one more surprise,” he said while locking the gym door. An adorable crooked grin spread across his face.

I leaned against the brick wall and sighed, my spirits rising again. “I love today.”

With a flourish, he pulled a cell phone out of his back pocket. “Two hours of dancing and you didn’t find it…and you say you want to take it faster.”

I felt my face go warm and swiped at his chest, pretending to be annoyed. “I’m glad you got a phone.”

“Give me your number,” he said.

I pulled my phone out of my shorts pocket. And remembered Lacey. I hadn’t thought about her once while in the gym. There was no response to the text I’d sent before going in. “Football,” I said, typing in a note to Lacey. “There’s a game soon, right?”

“Yeah. There’s a pep rally starting.” Jesse pointed to the football field where students were packed onto the bleachers. “Did you wanna go? I thought you’d need to get home.”

I clenched my phone, willing it to vibrate. “No, I just need to find Lacey.”

 CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

 “Where’s the football team right now?” I gripped my phone with a sense of urgency. “When do they go in the locker room?”

“Uh…It looks like they’re on the field right now for the rally. They’ll probably go in afterwards. Why?”

I started in that direction. “I just need to find Lacey. Let’s see if she’s there.” I broke into a jog—with Jesse following close behind—and searched the faces of the students in the crowd. Serena was on a tall podium, next to Dionne, who held a bull horn. It was an odd sight: outcast Serena with popular Dionne. It occurred to me that things like that were becoming common. Since the election, lines were becoming blurred. Everyone I knew was on the homecoming committee. But this wasn’t the time to start thinking Everett was a saint. Not until I found Lacey.

Dionne spoke into the bullhorn. “Testing! Testing!”

I called up to Serena: “Do you know where Lacey is?”

“Hey Mira!” Serena waved.

“Lacey! Where’s Lacey?” I shouted over the noise of the bullhorn.

Serena shrugged.

“What about Nick?”

She pointed towards the field where the football team had gathered. I stood on tiptoes to study the dozens of football players—all dressed in tight red uniforms with numbers on their backs. Bulky shoulders. Narrow waists. Helmets covering their faces. Any one of them could have been Nick. And there was no sign of Everett. I turned to Jesse—still gripping my stupid, silent phone. “I need you to take me in the locker room.”

“Locker room?”

“Where the football players go.”

“Mira, are you okay?”

Let’s get ready to rumble!
Dionne’s static-filled voice boomed above our heads.

“Please.”

He gave me a look of resignation and stepped into the crowd. We traveled along the edge of the grass field towards a brick building that I assumed was the locker room. “You wait here. I’ll go check.”

“No, I’m coming.”

“This is the football players’ locker room.”

I hesitated. If Lacey was in there, in the condition I feared, I didn’t want him to be the one to find her. “We’re both custodians,” I said.

“Yeah. But I doubt the football players will see it that way.”

A muffled scream came from the other side of the door. I took three long strides and pushed it open with my shoulder. A football player stooped over a bench. A head of blonde curls on the bench was mostly obscured from my view.

“Lacey?” I asked.

The football player turned around, his helmet cradled in his arm. Lacey was reclined on the bench, her hands over her face. Her shirt was ripped open, revealing her bra. And a large bell—I presumed it was a cow bell—sat on the floor next to her.

Nick dashed past me, nearly knocking me off my feet. Jesse stepped in front of him to block his exit. Nick shoved him. Jesse came back at him with his fist raised.

“Don’t!” I called. I’d regained my balance and rushed to Lacey. “Let him go.”

Jesse looked at me, his fist in the air, his face torn between pleasing me and satisfying his desire to stop an obvious wrong. The pause was enough for Nick to rush out the door. Jesse started after him.

“No!” I insisted. “What are you going to do? The whole football team is out there.”

Jesse stopped but didn’t turn to face me.

I sat next to Lacey and helped her sit up. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Jesse paced anxiously—towards the door, then back to me.

Lacey pulled at her shirt. Tears streamed down her face. “I don’t know. He was being so nice. I thought…I didn’t know…” A bubble formed on her lips and popped. She wiped at her dripping nose with the back of her hand.

“Did Nick do this?” Jesse demanded.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. There were lots of them. Like…five I think. They…they…were all laughing. One of them grabbed my shirt.” She pulled the blouse tight, curling herself forward. “I don’t know which one. Then all of a sudden they ran out. Except Nick. He just stood over me. Like he didn’t know what to do. Till you came.”

I stroked Lacey’s curly locks. “What do you want to do now? Do you want to go home?”

“We need to report this,” Jesse said.

“No. Please.” Lacey’s body swayed forward and back. “Don’t tell.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“Do you know where Christian is? He was going to give me a ride home. Before I took off with Nick.” She looked around the room, pulling her shirt close. “I need…I can’t see him…like this.”

I looked to Jesse. He nodded in understanding and left to find Christian. I opened a locker left ajar and pulled out a t-shirt. It was football-player size. But it would keep her covered. When Jesse and Christian returned, they silently walked in front of the crowd—doing their best to block Lacey from the student body’s view—to the parking lot.

After Christian’s car pulled out of the parking lot, with Lacey safely inside, I checked my phone. I was almost an hour late. “I’ve got to get home.” I started in the direction of the sidewalk. “I can’t let you take me. My dad might see us.”

“Mira, stop.” Jesse called. His voice was subdued, but his anger clear. “Just stop.”

“I need to get home. My dad…”

He stayed in place, in the middle of the parking lot. “I can’t keep doing this.”

“Jesse, please. Not right now.”

“I understand you have things you can’t tell me. I’m trying to respect that. Really. But I just stopped a girl from being attacked for the second time in two weeks. I don’t know what’s going on. Or how you knew it was going to happen before it did. But I can’t just keep looking away.”

I checked behind me. To the sidewalk. I checked my phone for the time, and wondered how long Dad would wait before coming. Or streaming Mom. “You’re right,” I said. “Absolutely right. It’s just…not that simple. I don’t think it was Nick’s fault. I think Everett manipulated it somehow.”

He watched me. Waiting for more.

“Yesterday, when you saw him talking to me. He pretty much told me this would happen. I mean…it was a story about someone else, but it was exactly like this. He said to do the right thing. Made it sound like I should just be there for Lacey. But I think he meant I should stop seeing you.”

“I knew it.” He stepped close and wrapped his arms around me. Right in the parking lot. “I knew he wasn’t going to just leave you alone.”

I pushed on his chest, glancing to the sidewalk, and took a step back.

He dropped his arms to his sides. “Why didn’t you tell me about it yesterday?” he asked.

“You were upset…I was confused.”

He turned away.

I watched his back with a heaviness growing in my stomach. I was so anxious to get home, yet didn’t want to rush him. He’d been so patient with me.

“So what do we do now?” he finally said, still turned away. “Pretend it didn’t happen? Wait until he does it again?”

“I don’t know. I’m still figuring it out. For now though, I don’t want you to do anything.”

He turned to face me, and I longed to step back into his embrace. He looked over the parking lot, in the direction Christian and Lacey had just gone. “How much of this…” He motioned to me with his chin. “This distance we have to keep in public…is because of Everett?”

“None. Our relationship would have to be a secret even if there were no such thing as an Everett. Whatever’s going on with him is totally separate from my secrets.”

He looked down and kicked a rock. “And will you let me help you figure it out? The Everett part of your mystery?”

“Yes. I promise.” I restrained myself from reaching out to touch his cheek. “Now I really need to get home. My dad won’t understand.”

“Have you called him? To tell him you’re running late?”

 “Oh, yeah. Good idea.” I doubted if streaming would do any good. But maybe I could stall him.

Jesse’s gaze went to my pocket.

 I sent out a stream while digging for the phone. I looked at the phone, just for show, and wondered what would happen if I randomly pushed buttons.

Dad responded, his voice sharp.

Jesse watched me, still waiting for me to use the phone. I noticed a man in the distance walking toward us. He was in a cardigan sweater, even though it was ninety degrees outside.