Maverick (Maverick Academy Series) (18 page)

“I’m done apologizing to you,” he snapped right before his mouth closed over hers.
She gasped in surprise, which gave his tongue the entrance it was seeking. Whit’s hands went to Nolan’s chest with the intent of shoving him away, but instead she found herself running them up to his shoulders. Nolan nibbled on her lower lip and Whit sighed. His hands skimmed down her arms, then around her waist, holding her close. As the kiss deepened, Whit felt Nolan’s fingers glide over the skin of her lower back.

The sound of giggling returned Whit’s sanity.
She pulled away from Nolan and immediately thumped her head against the wall for clarity. Why had she let him kiss her? Why had she kissed him back? She knew her cheeks were blazing and wanted to delay the moment she had to see Nolan, but the noise level in the classroom was increasing and she knew they were no longer alone.

With a burst of embarrassment, Whit
pushed Nolan away. Then with her head down, she grabbed her bag and darted by him towards the door. Once in the stairwell, she sank down onto a step and leaned back against the wall. She closed her eyes and immediately replayed what had just happened. She knew she was going to be late for Mind Study, but currently her mind wasn’t working at 100 percent, so what did it matter?

Eventually
, she was able to pull herself together and continue up the stairs to Mind. The door was shut and Whit knew Mrs. McFaddin disliked interruptions, but there was no way to avoid it unless she wanted to skip class completely. The thought of going back to her room was tempting, but that would only lead to obsessing over the kiss. After mentally preparing herself for her teacher’s anger, she raised her fist and knocked softly.

The door swung inward and
Mrs. McFaddin filled the space with a look of annoyance. “I’m glad you decided to grace us with your presence, Whitni,” she said irritably. “Care to tell us why you’re late?” she asked with a smirk, like she already knew.

Whit apologized profusely and slipped into her space in the circle
, hoping the attention would shift from her to someone else. She could feel everyone waiting on her to respond and becoming more curious the longer it took. Avoiding eye contact, Whit quickly explained that she hadn’t been feeling well and on the way to class had needed to sit down for a moment. The room remained silent for a moment before the lesson underway resumed.

The remainder of class was spent discussing dream journals, along with any new developments in powers.
Whit felt ill prepared and knew Mrs. McFaddin’s earlier disappointment had increased during this class. Throughout the class, Whit felt her teacher’s eyes watching her, but she still felt too frazzled from the earlier incident and to concentrate on the class. By the end of it, Whit found it hard to recall what exactly had been said.

Movement
Performance was a struggle as well, because Nolan was in the room with her. She could feel his eyes following her as they played volleyball. Thank goodness they were on different teams, in different parts of the gym. She didn’t know how she felt about him or the kiss, and needed time to process and figure it out.

Rory
, of course, immediately noticed that something was up. After badgering Whit on the entire walk back to the dorm, she finally got her way. Whit gave in and related what had happened in Biology. Rory stood silently, with a puzzled expression on her face when Whit finished.

“So he just grabbed you and kissed you?”

“Yeah.”

“Good lord, that sounds like something straight from a romance novel,” Rory sighed. “Why can’t that happen to me?”

“I don’t know what to do,” Whit said warily. “Nolan was a complete asshole to me at the dance. I don’t trust him, but that kiss was … something.”

Rory squeezed her shoulder and advised that she just needed some time
to figure out what she wanted. Whit totally agreed with that.

Once in her dorm room, Whit collapsed on her bed and shut her eyes.
She replayed the kiss, trying to figure out how she felt about it, but her emotions were everywhere. She felt rage and excitement, but most of all confusion. Most of the time Nolan annoyed and infuriated her, but sometimes she would glimpsed the sweet Nolan that she had started to really like. Her emotions felt out of control, and her body felt restless for some reason. Stretching out relieved some of the pressure. To distract herself, she grabbed her IPod and tried to escape into the music. The music was so soothing that she closed her eyes and dropped into a deep sleep.

Chapter 18

The trail through the woods was dark, but someone nearby carried a flashlight. Rory and Ellie were walking in front of her and talking excitedly. Most of their conversation was about the upcoming competition and the need for a team meeting. Whit heard her voice say something about making plans to get together sometime the next day to talk strategy.

She realized immediately that she was seeing the vision from someone else’s perceptive, because she could see and hear herself talking to Rory and Ellie. The person was hiding behind some bushes in the woods that surrounded Maverick, but silently followed the three girls as they moved further into the forest. The sound of talking and laughing increased as a small clearing came into sight. It looked like a party around a fire pit. The stalker watched the entire group around the fire with hatred.

Whit had never felt the emotions of a person during a vision, but she felt this person’s revulsion toward the students. Glancing around at the attendees of the party, Whit thought if she could see who was missing, maybe she could identify the person watching them. There were Nalini and Darby, roasting marshmallows, while Nolan and Mark talked to a couple of girls she didn’t know. Rory, Tavis, and Christopher were laughing about something. The hatred started to feel overwhelming, and Whit just wanted the vision to end.

The dream started to fade immediately and eventually disappeared altogether, to be replaced by what Whit recognized as the warehouse area the school used for the hide and seek game. There were torches mounted along the wall in several areas, and large shapes scattered throughout the room. Whit peered intently at the shapes, trying to figure out what awaited her within the room. She moved into the room slowly, and ducked behind a large box pushed against the wall to scout out the room further. Out of the corner of her eye, she detected movement. As she turned to investigate the motion, pain burst through her head and everything went black.

Whit felt different when she woke up. That dream had felt different. She’d been able to think and look around during the dream. She even thought she had made the first vision end when she started feeling uncomfortable. It had felt like she’d had some control for once. Elation filled her body. Finally, a breakthrough. Maybe this would get McFaddin off her back for a while.

A sweat droplet trickled down the side of her face
, and Whit suddenly realized how hot she felt. There was also a tingling sensation in her hands. She felt parched. She thought about how heavenly water would feel to her dry throat, and the bottle of water she had set on her desk earlier floated across the room towards her. The bottle continued to hover in front of her face until she grabbed it. She stared at it in wonder. Had she made it come to her? Had she actually wished for it and brought it all the way across the room?

Well, o
nly one way to find out. She started thinking about doing her homework. Her backpack instantly shifted on the ground next to the door, where she’d dropped it after class. It lifted up, then sailed through the air to her outstretched hand.

Whit grinned.
She couldn’t believe it. She was telekinetic. She could move things with her mind. She remembered the feeling of being restless earlier, and how her emotions had felt out of control. She wondered now if that had somehow broken through walls in her mind that had previously blocked her abilities.

Mrs. McFaddin would definitely be surprised tomorrow.

Chapter 19

The Maverick Running Club met several times a week and ran the trails around the school. The core group of the club consisted of seven very dedicated runners. Whit tried to run with them at least once during the week and then also on Saturday. Sometimes she made it, sometimes she didn’t.

This morning, her
alarm clock went off for the run, but she didn’t even need it. She’d been laying in bed awake for at least an hour, going over the events of the day before. At the sound of the alarm, Nalini grumbled and smashed her pillow over her face. Whit dressed in running tights, a long-sleeved dry fit top, and then at the last minute threw a fleece pullover on to be safe. She quietly left the room, trying her best not to disturb Nalini further.

Whit
flew down the stairs of the dorm and jogged toward the cafeteria to get there faster. It was November in the Blue Ridge Mountains, so it had gotten chilly in the mornings. She grabbed some cereal and flopped down at an empty table close by. The running club met early on Saturdays, but Whit knew from experience that she would pass out if she didn’t eat before she ran. Glancing around the room, she wasn’t surprised that it was mostly empty. The students here were like any normal teenagers and just wanted to sleep in on the weekends. With the exception of the running club.

Focusing on her cereal, she didn’t notice Mark until he was slouching into the chair beside her. They acknowledged each other with a nod but remained silent.
This had become their routine since Whit first started joining in on the Saturday runs. Mark ran as well, and they usually ran together.

When he was
finished, Mark finally shot Whit a knowing look. “So, want to tell me about Biology yesterday?” he chuckled.

“Nope
.” Whit’s cheeks flamed.

“No need anyway.
I mean, Nolan
is
my roommate,” he said with a knowing smile. “Plus it’s making the rounds on the rumor mill. “

“Wha
… What are people saying? How do they know?”

“Ya’ll weren’t exactly hiding.
I heard a whole class caught you making out on top of one of the lab tables.” He nodded with an evil grin, like he was enjoying her discomfort way too much. “But by far the worst version I heard was that certain articles of clothing had been removed and the deed was about to be done right there in the Biology room,” he finished with a flip of his eyebrows.

She gasped.
“You’re kidding, right?”

“Sorry, but no.
That’s actually what I heard last night at dinner. Nolan was sittin’ there with me,” he said. “He said nothing to clear it up, either.”

Whit sat
, stunned and in absolutely horror. People actually thought that she and Nolan had had sex in the Biology classroom between classes? What the heck? She covered her face with her hands and thumped her head down on the table.

“Nolan just laughed it off.
It’ll blow over in no time,” Mark comforted with a grimace.

After that revelation, Whit had wanted to go hide in her dorm
. “Why didn’t he clear it up? Tell everyone the truth,” she asked.

“He just shook his head and laughed, then kept eating.”

“Why is he such a jerk? Doesn’t he know that people will think the worst about me now?”

“He was just being normal.
There’s always rumors about him and some girl, he never explains. That’s just how he is,” Mark shrugged. “But I’ll tell you one thing, he was really quiet about the whole thing with me, which isn’t normal. He usually tells me everything.”

“So?” Whit clearly didn’t understand what Mark was trying to tell her.

“He’s different about you. You’re like the only subject he won’t talk about.”

“What does that mean?” she asked still clearly confused.

“Nolan doesn’t like to talk about things that really matter,” he whispered. “He keeps a lot of things inside. That’s how I know you matter, but he doesn’t want you to.”

“Why?” Whit asked even though she felt the same way.
She didn’t want him to matter, but it seemed that he did.

“His parents are going through a pretty nasty divorce.
His dad left his mom for another woman and his mom is a wreck. He calls her everyday to make sure she’s out of bed. Shelia, his sister, is only ten so he’s constantly worried about her too.”

“That’s awful.
He told me his parents were getting divorced, but that’s it.”

“That’s more than he’s told anyone else,” he said rubbing his eyes.
“He wouldn’t like it that I told you.”

“I won’t say anything,” Whit promised.

“I’m only telling you now because I think he really likes you, but he’s scared.”

“Scared? Of me?” she said pointing to herself questioningly.

“Scared of being hurt and left again. I think he talks to his mom and tries to be as different from her as possible. She’s hurt and alone, so he’s acts like he doesn’t care about anything or anyone.”

Whit looked at Mark then stared at her bowl of cereal.
How could she stay mad at Nolan now that she knew what he was going through? Whit almost decided to go back to her room and think but Mark dragged her to the picnic tables where the running club met. He argued that she would feel better with a little exercise.