Gravity, a young adult paranormal romance (29 page)

The red emergency backups came on, but then
they shorted out, as well, and I was left in soupy, gray darkness.
I cursed the school's cheap budget for not fixing their real
problems, especially when it seemed so easy for them to add more
volleyball courts or basketball hoops. 

Even though I had spent many months in these
halls, I became lost. I didn't know which way to follow. Everything
felt too real, my vision wobbly and at the same time too sharp in
the dark. Like watching a documentary.  

I spun around, not knowing where I was. Why
did I insist on being so impulsive? I patted my pockets for my
phone, realizing I had left it back in my bag in the art room.
Panic seized me, my heart beating wildly, and felt as though I
would jump out of my skin.    

I crept down the hall, even as I had the urge
to run. Shadows had taken on form, like living things. It was as if
the insides of the school had changed, warped. Hallways seemed
different. Common landmarks had lost their meaning.

I turned a corner, and bumped hard into
someone. I started to fall. Whoever it was grabbed my forearms and
lifted me up before I hit the ground.

"Careful," a familiar male voice said, and I
recognized with immediate relief who it was.

"Henry," I moaned. It came out more passionate
than I intended.

"Ariel?" he asked with concern, looking into
my face. I had no idea how he could see me in the dark. But then I
realized I could see his face now, too, more familiar than my own.
The red emergency lights were back on. I frowned.

 
"You're
not supposed to be here," he said softly.
Neither are you
, I thought
immediately, but did not say.

A blast of fire erupted from my left. It was
the basement access door; I could see the sign above the orange
flames. He grabbed my hand and we rushed past it, running down the
hallway. I quickly knew where I was again as we passed my homeroom,
and couldn't believe I would have ever gotten so lost. There was
another fire in a classroom to our right, smoke pouring out into
the hall and stinging my eyes. 

We burst out through the vestibule and
outside. The afternoon sun stabbed my eyes. The lawn was covered
with students, a chorus of voices talking on cell phones and with
each other. A fire truck was parked in front and firemen in yellow
reflective jackets lined up to go inside. They staked out the area,
communicating with one another on walkie-talkies. 

McPherson spotted us and began stomping up the
stairs, face purple with fury. Henry dropped my hand without
looking down. It felt so empty.

"And so the trouble begins," he whispered
under his breath.

"What the hell were you doing still inside?"
McPherson hissed, looking at Henry. Then he turned at me and
glared. I resisted the urge to cower. McPherson's moustache was
trying to meet his eyebrows. I didn't know that it was actually
possibly for a person's face to be that color. "What a surprise
that you of all people would be caught where she shouldn't
be."

I didn't like the implication.

Henry stepped forward. "If you really need to
discuss this further, you can speak to my father. You have his
number, correct? Or do you need his card?" He had affected an
almost snotty tone that I'd never heard out of his mouth before. It
both impressed and confused me.

McPherson stood still as a statue, at a loss
for words. Henry placed his hands on my shoulders, leading me down
the stairs and into the crowd.

"Walk over by that tree, there's an empty
spot," he whispered in my ear. I melted a little, feeling his
breath on my neck.

"I didn't need you to save me," I said finally
when we were out in the crowd. But he wasn't looking at me. He was
distracted by something. I looked at his face, the one I had
secretly studied countless times as he sat on the den couch in my
house. I knew his right nostril was a fraction bigger than his left
one, and one of his canine teeth had a small chip. And I could tell
he was keeping something from me.
      

"So what did you have to do with the fire?"
The words were out of my mouth before I knew I was thinking them.
Of course it made perfectly logical sense now that I said it. He
had plenty of time to set them when he left the classroom.
 

"Why would you think I have anything to do
with this?" he asked, his voice too innocent. He wasn't as good of
an actor as he thought he was, and it didn't help that he couldn't
look at me, still gazing off into the sea of students. It was as if
the rules had reversed, and he was the avoidant one. That part he
performed expertly. The openness that was normally all him had
disappeared.

"What's the matter with you?" I asked, peering
again at his face, trying to catch his eyes.  

"There's nothing," was his only answer. The
way he was avoiding me reminded me painfully of Jenna's
transformation, and panic flared illogically inside me. It was no
big deal, I assured myself. He was just freaked out. Regular Henry
would return soon, the one that I knew, the one that cared about
me.

"I have to go," he said, and prepared to jog
off, when he finally looked at me. He paused, and tilted his
head.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Now that he mentioned it, I was starting to
feel really sick. My throat was sore and I could hardly breathe
through my still-sensitive nose. My eyes were watering like I had
hay fever. In the sun, I could barely keep my eyes open.

"Actually, I feel sort of crappy," I admitted.
"I didn't think I inhaled that much smoke. I still have trouble
with my nose."

He looked conflicted for a moment, emotions
playing on his features. "Well...take care of yourself," he said
cryptically, and left me behind as he walked away.

The firemen had headed inside while I was
trying to decode Henry. Smoke was billowing out of some of the
front windows where we had been a few minutes earlier. I watched as
the spray from their hoses doused the impending blaze.
 

I wandered around and found Ms. Vore's class
fairly easily, hiding near the back. I hoped my absence had not
been noticed, but I couldn't tell for sure.

After the fire had been put out, we were
allowed ten minutes to go in and get our things, as long as we
stayed with our teachers. School was supposed to be dismissed a few
minutes earlier, but in the confusion no one had said anything.
Parents were showing up scared, worried about bomb threats and
phantom explosions.  

I went inside to get my backpack. Henry was
nowhere to be found; his books were already gone. I was feeling
progressively worse, both physically and mentally, with all the
questions running through my head. McPherson was wandering around
doing damage control out in the hall; the sound of his voice made
me anxious, like I was about to be captured.
  

As I slung my bag over my shoulders and tried
to leave the classroom, Lainey stuck her arm out, blocking the
exit. I hadn't even realized she was still in the room.
 

"I'm only going to tell you this
once," she said. "It's silly that I have to tell you, because I
thought I already made myself clear.
Leave
Henry alone
."

"What?" I asked, stupefied.

"You heard me," she spat, showing every
perfect, shiny-enameled white tooth in her mouth as she snarled.
"You are not one of us. You don't belong. Obviously, even Jenna
realized it when she dumped you."

I could have slapped her. I
clenched my fists instead.
"What if he
doesn't want you?"
My mind screamed. But I
was not that brave, and feeling sick made it even worse. I just
nodded meekly and let it go, ashamed of myself.

For a moment, it almost looked as if Lainey
was going to spit on me, but she turned and walked away, her heels
clicking loudly down the hall.    

The sobs trapped in my chest made it harder to
breathe. I realized that Lainey scared me, something I had never
really put together before. She had already broken my nose and
gotten away with it. What else would she do?

Ms. Vore came back into the classroom then,
and saw me. I must not have looked well.

"You look like you're about to pass out
Ariel," she said, steadying my limp shoulders with her
hands.

"Just the smoke," I said, looking away and
sniffling as my nose started to run. It must have looked like I was
tearing up, even though it was due to whatever was wreaking havoc
with my sinuses.

"How about I walk you out?" she suggested
softly. I nodded. She grabbed a patterned bag full of sketchbooks
from the back of her chair and slung it on her hip, flipping off
the classroom light.

"How is Theo doing?" I asked as we
walked. 

"She's alright. She has the flu, and her dad's
taking care of her since he works from home," she explained,
tucking her short brown hair behind her ears.

"Theo told me about him," I said. "How he
lives right down the street, right? What does he do?"

"He makes wooden sculptures and sells them
online," she said, shrugging. "It's a living. Anyway, I think you
might want to head to the doctor yourself, honey. You look like
you've got the flu, too."

I groaned and palmed my face. Of course, I was
coming down with the flu. "I don't know why I didn't think about
that. We spend so much time together now..."

"I've noticed that," she said. "I
wanted to tell you I'm really grateful that you took her under your
wing." It didn't seem that way to me, at all. As far as I was
concerned, Theo helped save
me
.

"She was really depressed for a while,
especially before we moved out here," she explained. "And in the
meantime I thought I was moving here for her benefit. I'm just
really glad she made such a good friend."

We continued walking through the hall
silently. I just wanted to be at home and sleep, but I tried to
keep up. It meant a lot to have a friend's parent actually like me,
and not think I was either a bad influence or roadkill.
 

"I know it wasn't very fair of me to call you
out for looking at your boyfriend," she said out of the blue. I had
nearly forgotten the incident in the months since, but I looked at
her, neglecting to correct the "boyfriend" part.

Her face was solemn. "It's just that you have
vision, and if you only stop yourself from being distracted by
silly school stuff, you'll go far. I know that's silly for me to
say, that it all will pass, but it will, even though the easiest
thing to do sometimes is to get caught up in it."

"My art isn't exactly good," I countered
shyly. "Or really, even art."

"Maybe you won't win any awards any time
soon," she conceded. "But you do have an eye for seeing things in a
new perspective."

We had reached the front doors of the school,
where the fire truck was still waiting outside. I was not in the
mood to have to walk home, but I braced myself anyway.
 

"Do you need a ride?" she offered. I nodded,
grateful. I was already sweating through my coat and I shifted
uncomfortably.

I didn't remember much of the ride home,
trying my best to stay alert. When we pulled into my driveway, I
stepped out of Ms. Vore's car.

"Tell Theo I said feel better," I told her.
"I've already said it a few times, but more won't hurt. And...thank
you." She nodded, smiling, and pulled into her own
driveway.

I walked in through the front door, not able
to make myself go around the back, and chucked my backpack by the
doorway. I rubbed my temples, which were throbbing in time to music
on TV.  

Hugh came out of the den with a stack of books
in his hand. "What's up?" he asked. "No more sports incidents, I
hope."

"I think I have the flu," I groaned. I swayed
on my feet and headed for the couch, pulling the quilt on top of me
and yanking it up to my chin. I still had my shoes on.

Hugh came back in with the thermometer. I
started to tell him about the fire at school, but it came out like
gibberish. He was even more concerned when he saw the 103.1 fever.
Next I was aware, he was on the phone with the pediatrician. He
told me if my fever didn't go down significantly tonight, we should
head to urgent care, and gave me some Tylenol. Hugh always got very
nervous when I was even the least bit sick, ever since I was a
little girl. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, burrowing under the
blankets, my mind a peaceful blank sheet.

Chapter 20

My fever dropped a little overnight, but it
was still holding steady over 101. I felt very warm, instead of the
chill a fever often brings, and alternated throwing the covers off
and yanking them back on me. I hated being cold when I had the flu;
it made my skin prickle.

In the morning, I stayed parked on the couch.
My head was so stuffy I felt like I was in another world, and my
skin burned all over. I couldn't stop sneezing and my throat hurt
like crazy. I watched morning cartoons and then an onslaught of
infomercials. I never realized just how many gadgets were created
for the sole purpose of cutting up vegetables. Chopping carrots
didn't seem that hard.