Spiral (Spiral Series) (16 page)

“Casey?” she called more loudly. She started to stand, determined to go up to him and ask him to return the boat to the dock so that we could get off.

But it was too late.

Casey swiveled his head to face us, and the look in his eyes took my breath away. It was manic, nothing like the guy who had just invited us out for a boat ride a few minutes before.

With a sickening grin he cut the wheel hard - really hard. None of us was holding on properly, and I realized that something had been removed from the right side of the boat, a panel that would have kept us safely inside it.

There was now nothing to keep the three of us from tumbling into the freezing cold water.

Maxie let out a scream as she went flying. Jill and I both yelled, but there was nothing we could do. I tried frantically to grab hold of something along the sides, but it was no use. We all plunged into the water with a splash.

Ice cold water surrounded me, and I closed my mouth to keep it from filling my lungs. I bumped into Jill as we both struggled back to the surface. We were far enough out in the lake that the water was deep, and there was no sign of the murky bottom. We came to the surface spluttering and splashing.

“Are you okay?” I asked, coughing and wiping water out of my eyes.

Jill and Maxie had both surfaced nearby. Jill’s black eye makeup was streaming down her cheeks and she looked furious.

“Oh, I’m just fine,” she said. “How ridiculous. Where the hell is that boat?”

I looked around, but Casey was already far away, the drone of the motor getting quieter and quieter as he moved into the distance.

“I guess what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” I said, spitting out a bit of water.

“And more bitter,” said Jill, glaring in the direction of Casey’s boat.

“Do you think he’s coming back?” Maxie asked, even though the answer was obvious.

“No, no I don’t,” said Jill as we all treaded water. “And it’s a good thing, because if he did I would kill him.”

“He might try and run us over,” Maxie pointed out. “If he came back, that is.”

“I bet Haley put him up to it,” I said bitterly. “I’ve never heard of him doing anything like that before. He might be slow-moving and addicted to popularity, but he’s not a bad guy. Or at least he wasn’t before today.”

I tried to force my mind away from the strange look in Haley’s eyes - and Casey’s - right before he dumped us into the water. It seemed more important right now to figure out how we were going to get out of this fix.

“Sorry, guys,” said Maxie sadly, as she looked around, treading water with difficulty. “This is all my fault.”

“Yes,” said Jill cheerily, “it is. But don’t worry about it. We’re just probably going to freeze to death. No big deal.”

“Thanks for making me feel better,” Maxie moaned, then dunked her head under the water for a few seconds.

“The shoreline is far,” said Jill, scanning around. “I think we can make it, but it’s going to be hard. And it is certainly cold.”

“What’s that noise?”

Somewhere in the distance was the sound of another boat. I spun around in the water, trying to paddle my arms and look at the same time. I hadn’t been swimming since last summer, and the cold was already making it hard.

“It’s another boat,” cried Maxie, relief plain in her voice. She started to bob up and down in the water, waving her arms.

“Help,” she yelled.

“I think they’ve heard you,” said Jill dryly. “They probably heard you in China. The boat is coming this way. What happened to your desire to always look graceful in case there were hot guys around?”

Maxie gave Jill a stinging look. “I am the personification of grace, thank you very much.”

“It’s probably Haley come to finish the job,” I muttered, spitting out a mouthful of water.

“It’s not Haley,” said Maxie triumphantly. “It’s definitely a guy.” She stopped bobbing up and down and tried to push her mop of wet hair into some semblance of order.

“Oh, my GOD,” said Jill. She was staring at the boat like she had never seen anything like it before.

“It’s Pierce!” cried Maxie.

“No way,” I said, following her gaze. But sure enough, the boat was so close now that I could see a shock of dark hair, and underneath it a tall frame with broad shoulders. The silver eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, but you couldn’t mistake who it was.

“Wow,” said Maxie. “This just went from the worst day of my life to the best, just like that. Awesome. Now we get to see him outside of school, too.”

Pierce drew up alongside us and said, “Lovely day, huh? Here I was thinking my classmates did homework on Sundays.” He was grinning broadly and I couldn’t help but grin back.

“Actually, until a few seconds ago it could have been better,” said Maxie, giving him a smile that made the sun look dim.

“Yeah,” said Pierce, nodding. “I can see that. How about I help you aboard and you tell me about it?”

He reached his hand down to Maxie first since it was obvious that she was the worst swimmer and was struggling to stay afloat. Maxie flailed awkwardly as Pierce easily lifted her out of the water. Jill waited, gliding back and forth like she’d been born in a pool.

“I’ll get out on my own, thanks,” she said, when Pierce moved to help her next.

Finally it was my turn. I steeled myself to reach up and take his hand, avoiding his gaze. I still hadn’t said a word. With my friends I wasn’t shy, but around Pierce I felt like I was ten feet tall and awkward, and even the morning at Mrs. Tiger’s hadn’t changed that.

“Are you alright?” he asked quietly as our fingers touched.

“Yeah,” I said. “A walk in the park. Why?”

He grinned down at me. “I knew nothing would faze you. And because I wouldn’t want you to be hurt for all the weeding we still have to do.”

Once he had pulled me in I huddled with my two friends under towels. The water had been cold, and even though swimming had provided some circulation, I was still freezing. Pierce’s boat wasn’t as nice as Casey’s, and I soon realized that it was rented. I let that sink in. He had gone to spend a day on the water, alone, in a rented boat, and just happened to whiz past and save our lives.

“If guys that hot are going to rescue us we can almost drown anytime,” said Maxie.

“Do you have no shame?” asked Jill, rolling her eyes.

“I have shame. It's in a box under my bed. Right next to my teddy bear.”
Turning to Pierce she gushed, “Thanks so much for saving us. I truly have no idea what we would have done if you hadn’t come along.”

“My pleasure,” he said with a smile.

His arms were crossed over his chest as he leaned against the side of the boat. He was still the picture of casual confidence, but there was something humming in the air around him, something dark that felt like it couldn’t be harnessed. It had been there the night of the romance slam as well, and now I knew that it followed him everywhere. Now that I thought about it I always felt it when I was around him - which was turning out to be more often than I would have thought possible. It probably had something to do with everyone he loved having been burned alive.

“We would have been fine,” Jill grunted. “We could have made it to the shore, no problem.”

“Jill, please,” Maxie hissed, then returned her attention to the grinning Pierce. “Oh, no, pleasure’s all ours. It was awful.”

“Can we get going?” I asked. “I want to shower and stuff.”

“Tomorrow is her birthday,” Maxie offered. “She wants to look pretty for her party tomorrow night. What she doesn’t understand is that she always looks pretty. Oh, lightbulb! Pierce, you should come! That would be awesome!”

My face flamed. Here I was sopping wet and my friend was trying to get me a date.

Pierce’s grin broadened. “I’d love to come. What time?”

Maxie told him all the details while he sat down, apparently in no rush to leave the lake.

“Sorry, what?” I asked, my mind having wandered off to wonder what Maxie thought she was doing.

Pierce’s mouth quirked. “I said, what happened that you three were dumped in the lake?”

“Yeah, Nat,” said Maxie. “Tell him what happened.”

I sighed and pulled the towel more closely around me. I didn’t feel like talking, I felt like sinking back into the seat and thinking about the strange events of the past few days. But Pierce turned to me expectantly and I couldn’t disappoint him.

I explained, in as few words as possible, about coming to the lake to hang out, Casey’s invitation, Haley’s threats, and finally the way Casey had cut the boat so that we had fallen out of it, then driven away without so much as a backward look.

Pierce listened attentively, never interrupting. He kept the same inscrutable expression the whole time. The only time it changed was at the mention of Haley, where for just a second I thought he looked angry. But even then he didn’t say anything out loud.

“That’s unpleasant,” he murmured when I had finished. “I’m sorry.”

“I am just glad you were here,” Maxie cried. “You saved us!”

“You would have done fine, but I’m glad I was around to help,” said Pierce. “Now, we really should be heading back.”

With that he stood up and walked towards the front of the boat, calling over his shoulder that there was a cooler full of food and drinks that we could dig into. I hadn’t noticed until just then how hungry I was.

We spent the few minutes it took to get back to shore munching on crackers and talking quietly about what we were going to do about Casey.

“We can’t let him get away with it,” said Jill, pounding her fist into her hand. “He tried to kill us.”

“He did NOT,” said Maxie with exasperation. “He was just goofing around and it was a really bad joke.”

“I think it was a little more serious than a really bad joke,” Jill argued. “If it had been a joke he would have come back, not left us there to freeze. If Hello Gorgeous hadn’t come along we’d still be in trouble. What do you think, Nat?”

“I think it was Haley,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “Even if she wasn’t the one who turned the wheel, she was the one who wanted us dunked in the water.”

Maxie nodded. “I would agree with that. She’s had it out for Nat from day one.”

“But she’s never tried to hurt you before,” said Jill, frowning. “She’s always just said stupid things. This is a serious escalation.”

I couldn’t have agreed more.

“Let’s talk about it later,” I said as we reached the shore, not wanting Pierce to hear the rest of the conversation. Even though he hadn’t turned around the whole time he was driving, I had a feeling he had been listening to every word.

Pierce stopped me when I passed him with the lightest touch on my arm. “I wanted to ask you. . . .”

But I didn’t find out what he wanted, because Maxie cut in.

“So, you’re coming tomorrow night, right?” she asked, batting her eyelashes. “It’s just dinner, because it’s a school night and everything, but it’s still going to be fun.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said, smiling warmly at her.

Once we were off Pierce’s boat and he had sped off, we decided it was too nice outside to waste an afternoon indoors, and we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beach. We laughed and joked and looked at magazines until we were hungry enough to eat our picnic. To be outside in the sun was wonderful, and it made me long for summer. After that we were in a food stupor, falling in and out of naps.