Good vs. Evil High (26 page)

“Okay, but find me when you’re done. Find me
sooner if you see Armstrong.” He kissed my cheek before he left for
the line of kids all in black suits and dresses.

The Baring Springs was re-covered and wheeled
out of the hall as I searched the more colorful line for my
friends.

Chapter
Thirty-One

~ Silver Mask ~

“Where’s Lance?” I asked Sassy when I got in
line with them.

“Talking to Jerry about something. He’ll
catch up with me later.”

“What are you voting for?” Harmony asked me.
They still had no idea I knew anything.

“A fountain that mirrors your emotions with
smoke? Duh, The Baring Springs.”

“But with the Cyclone you can fly like a
bird.”

“Haven’t you heard of jet packs?” Sassy
asked.

“You can’t compare those old things to a
Cyclone.”

We had a lot of fun debating on which one
would win, with Harmony and Nadine vs. Sassy and me.

When Headmaster walked past us with his eyes
fixed on me, I was sure he was going to pull me out of line, since
those who knew about the invention weren’t supposed to be allowed
to vote. But he walked on past me.

Nadine was the first of our four to go
through the black curtains and I was the last. Miss Tripside waved
me through and then I was in a small room, made up completely of
black curtains. Miss Neighbors, the music teacher, sat in a chair
with two giant baskets at her sides, one filled with blue chips and
one filled with green. I picked up a green one and dropped it
through the slit in the box on the other side of the room.

Harmony, Sassy, and Nadine were waiting for
me on the other side. We all walked around the curtains to the food
table, where we loaded up our plates. I remembered I was supposed
to find Luke as I reached the table’s end. “I should probably go
eat this with my date, guys. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Kay.”

“See ya.”

I stepped out of the way of the other people
moving through the food line and looked around for Luke. He was
sitting at a half empty Cinder table not far away. He’d pulled out
his chair so he could lean back in it and watch me.

“I thought you’d forgotten me,” Luke said as
I sat down next to him.

“That would be impossible. I just got
something to eat. You want some?”

He shook his head and reached out for one of
my hands. Leaning forward and resting his elbows above his knees,
he kissed each of my fingers as he watched me eat. It was hard to
concentrate on getting food onto my fork and into my mouth when all
I wanted to do was stare back and smile.

Eventually I noticed Bane standing near our
table, mesmerized by something. I turned around and saw tables full
of people. He could have been staring at any one of them. But I
could have sworn he was staring at a table of North Haven girls,
including my girls. And I began to wonder if it was a North Haven
girl he was interested in.

I watched expectantly as he moved across the
room, past tables full of girls, to the one I’d suspected he was
watching. He extended a hand to Harmony and asked her to dance. I
gasped as I watched her take it and stand, looking very unsure.
“Did you see that?” I asked, turning back to Luke.

“I saw it. Bane’s mentioned her a few times,
so I had a feeling.”

I glanced their way a few times during the
song and was glad to see them having such a good time together.

But they were soon forgotten as Luke and I
talked and laughed through the next few songs.

I didn’t realize Harmony had taken the stage
until the music stopped. We looked up and saw her con open as the
fire-head guy handed her a cord to plug into it.

“What’s going on?” Luke asked.

“She’s going to sing something.” I was really
looking forward to it. It would be the first time I saw her
perform, but Sassy had told me how she really gets into it, like
she can actually feel the song and put it into motion.

Harmony looked excited as she stood in front
of the microphone. “Hey, North Haven and Cinder High. Are ya’ll
havin’ a good time?”

Everyone screamed their approval.

“Fantastic! I’m gonna do something I’ve never
done before and sing a song for the Cinders, because one of my best
friends took the time to discover that some of you are actually not
so bad.”

There were a lot of whispers and surprised
faces, including my own.

“It’s not the lyrics, but the song itself
that brings you to mind. The melody. The way the music makes me
feel. I hope you like it.”

She touched the blank con floating behind
her, and a flute began to play, followed closely by a bass drum. It
paused and she began to sing. The soft, sleepy music came on again
as she closed her eyes and let her hands slide seductively down the
mike’s stand. It sounded familiar somehow, like I’d heard something
like it before, but not like that, not with the passion she put
into it.

And judging by the way Bane was watching her,
I was positive Harmony was the girl he was referring to earlier
that day.

“Dance with me for just one song,” Luke said,
standing up.

“But I swore off dancing forever.
For-ever.”

“It’s a slow one.” He forced me into standing
and pulled me close. “I won’t let you fall. Trust me, Kristine.”
His heart beating against mine and arms holding me against my
will—except that it was exactly what I wanted—made me powerless to
deny him anything.

“A, all right.”

He led me into the slow dancers and put both
hands on my back.

“Just don’t let me go,” I said, putting my
hands on his shoulders.

He leaned down to kiss my eyelid gently,
picking up a few tiny sparkles as he did. “I will
never
let
you go.”

I laid my head against his chest, hard as
stone, and closed my eyes. It felt safe and secure.
How did I
ever survive without Luke?

The music remained slow and hypnotic as
Harmony’s voice rose for the chorus. It was easy to move perfectly
to the song with Luke leading my every move.

“I love you, Luke,” I said. “I love you so
much.”

His breathing slowed as he took a deep
breath, just as he did every time I said that. The look he always
got was like he was inhaling some kind of drug. He crushed me
against him as he let it out. “I love you, too.”

It almost felt like I couldn’t breathe, with
him holding me so tight. But I hardly cared. I would have gladly
given up all my breath to stay pressed against him like that. I
opened my eyes with the intent to lean up and kiss him.

But what I saw terrified me. A silver mask
was watching me from behind Luke. I screamed with fright as the
person behind it reached out for my arm—and then everything went
dark.

I fell forward as Luke jerked back and let go
of me. I heard a broken shout and grunting, then a lot of
scuffling.

“Luke?”

Someone grabbed my arm and helped me up.
“It’s okay,” he whispered.

“Luke?”

He searched the darkness with a hand for my
face before he kissed me. For a moment I thought it must be him,
but it didn’t feel right. The person kissing me wasn’t quite big
enough. The hand on my back didn’t hold me the right way. Through
my eyelids I saw bright light fill the room and then, when I leaned
away and opened them, I found Roman in front of me.

“Can’t you feel it?” he asked me. “You love
me, not him.”

“Roman!” I reached back and slapped him
across the face, then looked around for Luke.

The rest of the North Haven Snow Riders were
holding him in place, maybe ten feet away, and he was staring at me
in sheer horror. It passed as rage took its place and he began
jerking around and shouting.

“Let him go, you dirt bags!” I cried, running
toward them and falling over my stupid shoes.

I caught a glimpse of silver on the ground
somewhere to my left. The mask Roman must have been wearing. I
kicked off the wretched shoes and stood up as Titus came running
with an empty platter and smashed it against the back of James’
head. Spinner came next, and then the whole Cinder Snow Rider team
was launching a vicious attack. Nearby Haveners jumped in as
someone grabbed my arm.

I turned around to face Roman again. “Didn’t
you feel it?” he asked.

“No. I hate you, Roman! Let me go.” He let
out the tiniest sob as his eyes began to mist. Then his grip was
becoming painfully tight. “Ouch, LUKE!” I screamed, turning around.
But he was nowhere to be seen.

Roman finally let go and I turned to see Luke
grabbing his white shirt and pounding his fist against Roman’s face
until his shirt slowly began to turn red. All around us, people
were joining the brutal fighting.

“Luke, we need to get out of here,” I said,
grabbing his arm. He was losing control and, even though I detested
Roman entirely, I was afraid he would do permanent damage. Or
worse.

“No!” he pulled it away and kept hitting
Roman, who was struggling to stop Luke’s fist from coming, again
and again.

Someone slammed into me and knocked me over,
making me scrape one of my elbows on the stone floor. I stood up
and tried again. “It’s not safe here. We have to go. Please!”

“Not until he pays for what he did.”

“But he—”

All the air was knocked out of me as someone
hit me in the stomach and I crumpled on the ground. It hurt so
badly I couldn’t cry out. Then it was agony, as a foot kicked me
just as hard. I looked up and saw Thorn leaning over and reaching
for my hair. Halfway down, her eyes popped and then closed as she
fell over on me, unconscious.

Luke was behind her, clenching one very
bloody fist. He grabbed her by the hair and rolled her off of me.
Then he scooped me up off the ground and began carrying me through
and away from the fighting.

As we got closer to the tables I could see
that the violence hadn’t spread away from that central area. Adults
were rushing toward it from every direction. I spotted Sassy and
Nadine sitting at a table with two guys from North Haven before
Luke kicked open a door and carried me through it. The voices and
shouting were shut out when it closed behind us.

Luke carried me partway down the empty
hallway before he set me down. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” My side was still throbbing,
though.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve left when you asked
me to.”

“It’s all right.” I rubbed my side
gingerly.

“We could take the Cyclone out. I’ve got it
right here.” Luke patted his pocket.

“But what about the dance?”

“What about it? You’re the only person I care
about spending my Christmas with. And you hate dancing. I just
wanna enjoy you...under the stars...I can finish taking care of
Armstrong later.”

Well, I
had
hardly seen him that day.
“Okay.”

We only made it halfway to the arena, where
our snowsuits were still stashed, before my con began bubbling.
Once I had it out, Connie said, “Headmaster wants all North Haven
High School students who aren’t in the hospital wing to report to
the dining hall immediately.”

“That’s not good,” I said.

“Let’s blow it off. They’ll think you’re in
the hospital wing.”

“Yeah, but if Headmaster’s making an
announcement it’s probably serious enough that I should be
there.”

Luke hit the wall behind me. “Everything’s
getting in our way.” He pressed me against it and kissed me. “I
can’t wait until we’re out of this place and on our own.”

I realized, for the first time, that I would
have a very difficult choice to make when it was time to leave
school. But that was far away. I decided not to worry about it
yet.

* * * *

When Luke and I reached the dining hall,
Harmony waved to me from our table and held up the shoes I’d hoped
I would never see again.

I quickly realized the front tables were
empty and that not a single Cinder was there.

“Your Headmaster is having his students meet
where the dance was held, Mr. Knight,” Headmaster said, looking
dangerously like his brother.

Luke gave my hand a little squeeze before
leaving me to cross the solemn room alone.

“Does someone want to tell me what happened?”
Headmaster asked.

James stood up at the other end of the table.
“Titus attacked me. That’s what’s happened.”

“Liar!” I shrieked, standing up in outrage.
“He was defending Knight, who you attacked.”

“I didn’t attack anybody!”

“Yes, you did. You grabbed him and dragged
him away from me so Roman—”

“That’s not an attack.”

“SILENCE!” Headmaster shouted.

James stuck his tongue out at me as he sat
down, which made me madder than anything else had for some
reason.

“Harmony Foxen’s con was open, I’ve been
told, and probably caught everything. I am very disappointed in the
ones of you who were involved in what happened tonight. Five
Cinders are in the hospital wing, in addition to seven of our own.
Instead of fighting back, you should have done everything you could
to stop it. As soon as I find out exactly who was involved, they
will spend the next two weeks as janitors and kitchen aids to the
Cinders. And you will not be allowed to attend the
end-of-competition party.”

My spirits fell. What if that included
me?

I glanced around to see if Roman was even
there, but I didn’t see him anywhere. It wouldn’t have surprised me
if he were one of our seven after what Luke did to him.

“I’m sending you all to bed early. The dance
is over. And in case anyone’s wondering, the Cyclone won. Another
point to the Southland Cinders.”

There was a lot of complaining as we left the
great room. I walked past our Headmaster and Luke who’s talking
with a few teachers in the hallway. “Miss Foxen,” Headmaster said.
“Would you please lend me your con until morning?”