Good vs. Evil High (23 page)

Luke grabbed a glass full of pens from off
the dresser and threw the whole thing at him. Spinner ducked behind
the door as glass shattered everywhere. “Did I tell you to come
in?!” Luke shouted.

“I thought you’d be asleep. Just come
downstairs when you’re dressed.” Spinner left the door open and
turned to leave.

Luke shouted, “Don’t ever do that again!”
before he slammed it shut.

He turned around and searched the seemingly
empty room. “Kristine?” he whispered.

I opened my mouth to answer, but decided
against it. I knew I should leave, but I wanted to stay and watch
him. I wanted to watch him when he was completely unaware. The way
he was watching me when I broke up with Roman. The way he was
watching me sleep only minutes before.

Luke swore under his breath as he ripped the
blanket from his bed and kicked it underneath. He went on
aggressively kicking against the floor and the bed for another
minute before he slumped down on the mattress. He rubbed his face
and scratched the back his head before resting his mouth against
his fist and staring at the ground for another minute.

Then he leaned back to pull my shirt out from
under his pillow and hold it up in front of him. “Why couldn’t he
have let you finish saying you love me?” he asked. He balled it up
and pressed it against his face to inhale deeply. Next he held it
against his cheek. His eyes closed as he pulled it so tight between
his fists I was sure the fabric would rip.

“I won’t let them take you away this time.” A
tear rolled over his cheek as he stood up and went to open the
bottom dresser door. He took out a small safe and began turning the
knob back and forth.

Very slowly, I inched my way across the room
to see what was inside. Luke opened the little door as I got just
close enough to see an old picture of me, which also came up
missing not long before my mother’s death, part of a picture of his
mom, and stacks and stacks of hundred dollar bills.

My shirt was shoved into the safe and locked
in before Luke put it back in the drawer and pulled out a pair of
pants and a black wife-beater. I turned away and stared at the
blank wall of stone as he changed. That wasn’t the sort of invasion
of privacy I was there to make.

While I waited I thought about how he’d held
onto my things all these years, obsessing over me, while I’d let
him slip painfully away. If he could love me that way, when he had
no reason to believe he would ever see me again, I could only
imagine how he could love me now. I smiled as what he said the
night before began to make sense. Here or at North Haven, he would
love me the way he had for all those years, when the only part I
played in his life was that of a memory. Still, I could hardly bear
the thought of leaving him, but I knew he would always come for me.
He would always love me, no matter what happened.

When I heard the door open I looked over as
Luke walked through it, fully dressed with his hair firmly in
place. I counted to twenty before I left his room, barely catching
sight of him as he turned a corner in the hallway.

Then I ran back to the girls’ quarters, which
was now empty. Not good. I got dressed, did my makeup and hair, and
grabbed my bag before I ran for the door.

Remembering how sad Luke was that I didn’t
get to finish what I was saying earlier, I decided to write him a
note as I walked down the stairs and through the hallway. Taking my
notebook from my bag, I scribbled down, “I love you, Luke Knight,
now and forever,” before I tore the paper out and folded it
twice.

Already, I had to fight back tears. I was so
afraid of what Headmaster was about to say.

My cheeks burned when I walked into the
dining hall. Everyone sat crammed into seats, silently staring at
me. There was absolutely nowhere to sit, and I couldn’t give Luke
the note with everyone watching.

But I didn’t want to wait, either. What if we
were escorted right out of there to pack our bags and board the
jets? Luckily, he was sitting at the edge of the second table, as
usual. His black eyes flashed enticingly as he winked at me when I
passed him and casually dropped the note, hoping he’d notice and
catch on. I heard his heavy foot fall over it and knew it was safe
with him.

Harmony scooted back in her seat and held an
arm out for me when I reached her. I pressed my stomach against the
table’s edge as I sat in her lap. “Where’ve you been?” she
whispered.

“I got up early and went to find Luke. Connie
gave me a hand.”

“Now that we’re all here,” Headmaster began
from the other end of the room, confirming my fear that I was
indeed the last person to get there, “my staff and I were up half
the night, discussing your varied responses. We received a great
many suggestions on how to best handle our current situation, many
of which will be put into full force shortly. As far as the votes
for whether or not we stay, it’s clear what North Haven prefers. An
astounding ninety percent voted one way.” Headmaster paused to
clear his throat.

I thought my heart would rip right out of my
chest with how hard it was pounding. “Please, please, please,” I
whispered.

“North Haven High School will be staying.”
Immediately the room thundered and echoed with excited
screaming.

My vision blurred as I was unable to keep
from crying any longer. We were staying. I smiled and pressed my
palms against my eyes, only picking up my head to look back when I
felt Harmony leaning away.

Someone standing beside her was reaching out
for me. He grabbed me under my arms and lifted me right up into the
air. I squeezed away the tears and saw Luke as he set me down in
front of him. Then he took me in his arms and dipped me back. Kids
whistled and whooped and a few guys from the Cinder end of the hall
shouted, “GO, KNI-EET,” as he kissed me with all that he had.

* * * *

It was on the way out of the dining hall that
Nadine began acting strange. With the uncertainties of the day, all
North Haven training and physical fitness was canceled. And the
Cinders were being kept after breakfast by their headmaster. As we
walked through the doors, she looked back and grabbed Sassy and me
by the elbows, pulling us to the right.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Harmony,” she hissed, and nodded for her to
come that way, too.

“Do you need to go to the hospital wing?”
Harmony asked her.

“Sure.”

Harmony and I raised an eyebrow at each
other, but followed her through the long corridor to the stairs
leading up and down. Nadine went up one flight before she turned
left and pressed herself against the wall beside the stairway.

She motioned for us to do the same behind
her. So we lined up and waited. Nadine stared at the landing until
we saw someone—a short, freckled kid. It was Henry Lancaster, the
boy we’d discovered on Harmony’s con who’d been stalking me at
North Haven.

As Nadine grabbed him by the collar of his
shirt, he began squirming around. He was small enough he almost
looked like a little kid, except for the peach fuzz forming above
his lips and his squeaky just-hit-puberty voice. “Why are you
following Kristine?” Nadine demanded.

With everything that had been going on with
Luke, I’d completely forgotten about him.

“I’m not following her. Let me go.”

“You’ve been following her since we got here.
Tell me why!”

“I don’t even know who Kristine is. I was
going to get some aspirin, I swear.”

“Everyone knows who Kristine is—Don’t make me
hurt you.”

“But you’re a Havener. You wouldn’t hurt
anybody.”

“I would if it meant protecting one of my
friends—Tell me!” She twisted the fabric in her hand tighter—until
it began pressing against his neck.

“Nadine,” I said, wishing she would stop.

“
Okay,” Henry said. “But don’t tell him
I told you, all right?”

“Tell me first; then we can talk.”

Henry stared at me as he answered. “Roman
asked me to follow you around. He said he’d get me on the Snow
Riders next year if I did it.” Clearly, Roman was no ordinary
jealous boyfriend.

“Why would he do that?” I asked him in
alarm.

“It was driving him crazy not knowing where
you were and who you were with since he has training all the time.
I know it’s weird, but I want on that team. I’m not out to hurt
you, Kristine. Just please don’t tell him I told you. He won’t let
me on if he finds out.” He seemed pathetic with his broken, teenage
voice.

“The Cinder Snow Riders would murder you,”
Nadine said, letting him go.

“Why? Because I’m small? You and Coach
Rolland are wrong. I’ll be the best Snow Rider North Haven’s ever
seen. You’ll see.”

Henry turned away and ran down the stairs,
leaving my three friends to stare at me.

“You should tell Headmaster,” Sassy said.
“This whole Roman thing is way out of control.”

“I don’t know...” I kind of figured it would
end on its own, since Roman and I had officially broken up. Going
to Headmaster about it now seemed silly, like I was a
tattletale.

“So, we’ve got a whole day free. What should
we do with it?” Harmony said cheerfully, breaking the tension,
because I think we were all feeling pretty uneasy after what Henry
said.

“We could go outside and make snow angels and
a snowman,” I said.

“Then we could come back in for hot cocoa and
apple cider and go climb in Kristine’s bed so she can tell us
everything about her new boyfriend,” Sassy said excitedly.

“Yeah,” Harmony said. “It looked pretty
serious this morning. And now you’ll have plenty of time with
him.”

“Thank goodness,” I said.

“He
is
your boyfriend, right?” Sassy
asked, as we started down the stairs. “This isn’t another he thinks
he’s your boyfriend when you really aren’t into him kind of
thing?”

“Nope, this time he’s definitely my
boyfriend, and I would love to tell you guys all about it.”

Nadine put her arm around me. “If Henry keeps
following you, I’ll take care of him.”

“Thanks, Nadine.”

As we began down the hallway, I
wondered...What if it was all Nadine? The attack on Rose. Knight’s
snowmobile. She could have set it all up to give me a boost into
the competition and to keep me away from a Cinder. She was the only
one who still didn’t seem happy for me and Luke. And it kind of
sounded like she’d offered to do something similar to Henry.

I quickly pushed the idea away and scolded
myself for even thinking it. Nadine was one of my best friends in
the whole world. She was wonderful, a little rough at times, but
absolutely wonderful. She wouldn’t do something like that.

But the thought would still haunt me, I knew,
just like the one about Coach Beckham still did.

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

~ Chilling Christmas Gift
~

A lot of changes were made after that
morning. Headmaster did have us choose someone to be responsible
for, and likewise, they were responsible for us. My roommates and I
kind of improvised with this, though. Harmony and I stuck together,
as did Sassy and Nadine. But when Nadine had soccer practice Sassy
stuck with us. And when I was with Luke, Harmony stuck with them.
Either way, we all looked out for each other.

Harmony and Luke began to find some common
ground over making sure I was always safe. Neither one would leave
me alone until they were sure I was safe with the other.

Adult staff from both schools stood guard in
various places day and night. Security cameras were installed. Game
equipment was thoroughly checked before being used.

Even though the attacks stopped, things began
to come up missing. Nothing big, but enough to get people talking—a
girl’s perfume, a guy’s new book series, and a Cinder’s Harley
Davidson t-shirt, just to name a few. The Cinder with the missing
shirt swore blood from whoever took it. But nobody knew. Still,
they were all relieved that at least the mysterious kleptomaniac
wasn’t hurting anyone.

The weeks went by like this. November came to
an end and the first part of December went by quickly. Luke and I
couldn’t get enough of each other. We spent a lot of time just the
two of us because, even though several of the Cinders seemed to
accept me and the majority of North Haveners were all right with
Luke, it just felt better that way. No division. No school rivalry.
Just us.

And then it was the day of the dance.
Christmas day. Sassy, Nadine, Harmony, and I had a little pine tree
decorated with silver and blue tinsel and ornaments set up on the
dresser in between our beds, and a rug on the floor just big enough
for us to sit on.

Harmony woke me up by bouncing on my bed and
saying, “Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” It was easier to get up
than most mornings, since it was my first real Christmas in three
years.

I threw my feet over the edge of my bed and
saw that Harmony had already put all the presents in the middle of
the white and red rug. They had been sitting under the four-foot
tree for what felt like forever. “Come open your presents from me,
guys,” I said, sitting on the rug beside them.

“Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” Harmony
was just getting to Sassy, who sat up as excited as we were.

“Merry Christmas,” she said, hugging Harmony.
She climbed down and hugged me too. “Merry Christmas,
Kristine.”

“Merry Christmas, Sassy.”

She went to hug Nadine as Nadine tried to
pull her curtains closed. “You guys go ahead without me,” she
grumbled.

“We can’t.” Sassy started shaking Nadine’s
arm.

“I’m tooo tiiiired...”

Harmony bounced on Nadine’s bed. “Get up,
Nadine, get up. Get up, Nadine, get up.” Sassy joined in and they
sang this chorus until Nadine got up grudgingly and plopped down on
the rug across from me.