Sweet Harmony (16 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Annamarie left the dorm, her head in a fog. A couple of girls hovered by the door, chatting about their plans for the dance. She ignored them and headed for the school. Today felt like a chocolate for breakfast kind of day. When she headed up the stairs to the school entrance, somebody approached and fell in stride beside her. At first she assumed it was Owen—the guy had a tenacious, dog-like personality—but when she glanced at her tagalong, she realized it was Jaiden. He was holding a box of donuts in his hands.

"Good morning," Jaiden said cheerfully.

"Good morning."

She
came to a stop and Jaiden did too.

"I came
bearing gifts, as promised." Jaiden held out the white box.

God was smiling down upon her that day. The only thing better than unhealthy, sugary chocolate was a fried hunk of dough covered
in unhealthy, sugary chocolate. Heck yeah. She seized a donut and shoved it into her mouth. Filling sweeter than an angel's smile made her taste buds sing. So good. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"I…cub…mawry…du…wright…now…" she said with her mouth full of donut.

"What was that?" Jaiden laughed.

She swallowed, even though it was painful.

"I said I could marry you right now." She licked a chocolate smear from her finger.

"Is that a proposal?" He beckoned her over to a cement bench and placed the box on it.

"Yeah," she said.

"Then let's plan
a June wedding." He selected a jelly filled donut.

"Our flowers have to be orchids," she said.

"I really wanted roses, but for you, I'll make the sacrifice." Jaiden nodded, then placed a small piece of donut carefully into his mouth.

How can he eat a donut so elegantly?
she wondered. She was lucky if her donut made it to her mouth without a gob of filling staining her shirt. As she chewed, she heard familiar laughter in the distance and froze. It was Daniel.

Jaiden must have realized it too because he
stiffened.

"I should go,
" she said, preparing to flee.

Jaiden seized her wrist, stopping her from leaving.

"You never ran from Daniel before," Jaiden said.

He made
a fair point. Somewhere along the line Daniel had turned her into some sort of coward. As she pulled her wrist out of Jaiden's grasp, Daniel came around the corner with Gavin walking behind him.

When Daniel
looked from her to Jaiden, the grin slipped from his face. She had to force herself to breathe as she looked into the guy's eyes.
I don't like him. I don't like him,
she chanted in her head. Unfortunately, even when he held her gaze a few moments too long, her stomach exploded with butterflies. Those butterflies must have been on fire because she also was furious. She kept imagining beautiful Allison and knew there was nothing she could do about her. This time, she was determined to force the fire down—or at least, redirect it at another topic.

She took a defiant bite of her donut and chewed on it with a vengeance. Gavin stepped toward Jaiden, his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," Gavin said. "Any chance there's a donut in that box with my name on it?"

Jaiden nodded. "Help yourself."

Gavin opened the box and took out a donut covered in sprinkles. Daniel glanced at the box too.

"You bought c
ream filled," Daniel said. "Awesome. My favorite."

She wasn't sure what made her do it. Maybe it was anger, maybe it was immaturity. All she knew was that one second Daniel
was eyeballing the last cream filled donut and the next she was stealing it out from right under his nose. She ate half of it in one massive bite.

"What did you do that for?" Daniel yelled. "That was the last
cream filled."

Her mouth was too full for her to respond. She wasn't sure what she would have said anyway.

"Aren't you going to answer me?" Daniel asked.

She was in an awful predicament. Taking a bite of the
donut had been her way of expressing her anger at Daniel, but right now, she was the one who was suffering. She'd taken a bite of donut so big she couldn't chew it enough to swallow it. She had two choices—either she could spit it out in front of everyone or continue standing around with chipmunk cheeks like an idiot.
Chipmunk cheeks it is, El Capitan,
she thought.

Since she couldn't talk—something that Daniel appeared to finally realize—the guy seized a glazed donut and took a massive bite. He stared at her, the fried dough rolling around in his mouth, and didn't break eye contact.
The air between her and Daniel seemed to have become enflamed.

The moment ended when the bell
rang. Daniel looked like he was ready to keep having the staring contest, but Gavin still had his common sense and wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder.

"We have Mrs. Fredrick first," Gavin said. "You know how she squawks when people are late."

As Gavin dragged him up the stairs, Daniel pointed his index finger at her threateningly and mouthed the world, "You." The moment the guy was around the corner, she leaned over the bench and spat out the ball of dough that had condensed in her mouth.

"Cripes," she said, wiping her mouth on her arm.

Jaiden patted her back.

"You okay?" Jaiden asked.

"Fine. I made my point." What that point was, she wasn't exactly sure.

She straightened up, took a look at the
donut she still held in her hand, and took a bite that she could actually swallow. Victory may have been sweet, but so was stealing somebody else's donut.

****

Annamarie headed down the steps to the science lab. It was in the bowels of the building and was nicknamed the Depths of Despair. She didn't think it was so bad in the dark hall, but she had to admit walking through the badly lit area did make her hair stand on end. Once she made it to the science classroom, she paused when she saw a note scrawled in marker on the whiteboard.

'Meet in the library,' Mr. Ferguson had written.

Shrugging, she turned around and headed whence she came. As she walked, she saw a shadow dart in front of her, heading from one door to the next. She stiffened.

She'd never much liked the idea of ghosts, mostly because they were one of the few things that couldn't be beaten with her fists. She paused in front of the door where she'd seen the shadow enter.
You're being crazy right now
. If her hair hadn't been standing on end, she would have laughed at herself. Instead she walked into the abandoned classroom, wanting to prove to herself that she'd seen nothing.

Lines of desks sat in front of a recently used chalkboard. It looked like girls had been inside last because the writing was feminine. Plus, she'd never seen a guy scrawl, 'Love!' with a giant throbbing heart beneath it. There was a line of empty flower pots, only two of which were filled with dirt. A pink scarf was draped
on the teacher's desk.

Somebody cleared their throat from behind her.

She whirled around and almost punched Paul Henderson in the face. The guy managed to dodge the blow just in time. He'd barely saved himself from a black eye.

"Jeez. Y
ou almost nailed me in the face," Paul cried.

Flushing, she lowered her fists. She liked Paul. He was one of the few people in science class who actually talked to her.

"Sorry about that." She gave a nervous laugh. "I always fight whenever somebody comes up behind me. It's a kneejerk reaction."

"Remind me never to invite you
to a haunted house." Paul clicked his tongue. "Still you look pretty freaked out. You okay?"

"Oh, yeah." No way was she going to admit she'd just
been the victim of her own imagination. "I've just never looked around too much down here. It's strange."

"It is
pretty strange." Paul looked curiously over her shoulder before shrugging. "Shouldn't we be heading to class, though?"

"It's been moved to the library."

Paul groaned. "That means we're going to have to write essays."

"Probably." She laughed. "But look at the bright side. At least you didn't get punched in the face."

"I think I'd rather get punched than have to do an essay," Paul muttered, escorting her from the abandoned classroom.

Even as she walked away, she swore she heard something move
behind her.

****

Annamarie sat in the grass with Jaiden at her side. The moon was full, illuminating the spot where she sat. The stars twinkled overhead, romantic and awe-inspiring. As she looked upward, Jaiden reached out and placed his hand on her own.

"This is so nice," she said.

"Yeah, it is."

She heard footsteps in the grass. When she
searched for the source of the noise, she saw that Daniel was heading toward the two of them, irritation written on his face. Even though that was the case, she was happy when he sat down beside her.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
she asked.

"No."
Daniel touched her other hand.

Her palms grew sweaty. She kept imagining Daniel
with Allison and wanted to pull her hand back. But she didn't. Instead she just remained still, staring at the stars, stuck between Jaiden and Daniel.

Chapter Sixteen

The day of the dance arrived. Annamarie stood in front of the mirror in her dress of gold, studying her reflection. Her black hair was tied up in an elegant bun. She wore a silver locket her dad had given her on her first trip to Italy. Even though she was as fashionable as a rabies infected squirrel, her mom had somehow managed to drill into her the basics of applying makeup. She wore bronze eye shadow and eyeliner, plus some lip gloss that made her mouth appear bigger. When she stared at her reflection, she didn't even look like the weapon totting, fist throwing girl who dreamed of opening her own dojo. She looked like her mom. The thought was enough to almost make her want to wipe her face clean, but she decided she was wearing makeup only for one night. Plus, a little mascara wasn't going to steal her killer right hook.

As she
put on her golden heels, somebody knocked on her door. Since it was six o'clock, it had to have been Jaiden. She straightened up. Hopefully, she wouldn't look like a little kid playing dress up. She blew a hair out of her face and then opened her door.

When Jaiden laid eyes on her, his jaw dropped and he froze.
She knew dressing up didn't suit her. The guy was so repulsed he couldn't even speak. 

"Does it look that weird?" She
glanced down at herself.

Darn it. Why did she think she could handle this? Dresses and makeup were way out of her range of abilities.

"You don't look weird." Jaiden finally had the sense to close his mouth. "You're gorgeous."

Even she was getting a little flustered. Suddenly, it was hard to
think of adequate things to say. She opened and shut her mouth several times but didn't speak.

"Here." Jaiden
came to her rescue and handed her a package.

When she opened
it, she saw an orchid corsage. The flower was beautiful. Long white petals extended outward, going from the faintest pink to the purest white.

"This is
amazing." Okay, she definitely couldn't look him in the eye now.

She
pulled out the flower and discovered it was a wrist corsage. It fit easily without any discomfort. Still flustered, she examined the flower in the light.

"I was going to buy you a gold
one, but I couldn't find an orchid in that color," Jaiden said.

"How did you know orchids are my favorite?"

"Well, they're going to be the flower of choice at our wedding, so I kind of figured…" Jaiden winked at her.

Oh. Right.
She'd mentioned orchids yesterday during their fake wedding discussion. She had to admit she was blushing a little—okay,
a lot
—as Jaiden grabbed her arm and escorted her from her room. On the way down the stairs, girls made eye contact with her and gaped. She was certain it was because she looked ridiculous. With her jaw clenching, she touched her hair to make sure the bun was still in place. It was.

Jaiden must have realized her discomfort because he chuckled and said, "You really do look gorgeous."

"I don't know…" If only she was allowed to go to a dance in a karate uniform.

"You
really do."

After Jaiden r
eached the exit of the dorm, he opened the door for her and escorted her outside. Once in the fresh air, he took her hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked as they walked to the parking lot.

"It's a surprise," Jaiden said.

She wasn't sure how she felt about surprises. When she was fourteen, her dad had
thrown her a surprise birthday party. She'd ended up breaking her uncle's nose when he jumped out at her. Still she doubted that Jaiden was going to have people come leaping out at her from dark corners.

As she chewed her bottom lip, Jaiden
escorted her to a white Ferrari. She paused only for a moment to reflect on how expensive such a vehicle was before reaching for the handle to open the door.

"No." Jaiden grabbed her wrist. "Please let me
open the door for you. It's a date, after all."

When Jaiden opened the door
for her, she climbed in and smoothed down her dress. Jaiden climbed in the car too and jammed the key into the ignition. The vehicle roared to life. She found herself gripping the dashboard, prepared for Daniel's lightning fast approach to the road. She'd forgotten that Daniel and Jaiden were opposites. Instead of moving too quick, Jaiden moved too slow. He drove out of the parking lot and headed onto the street going five under the speed limit. It left her wanting to put the pedal to the metal for him. She forced herself to look away from the MPH gauge.

"Have you been to many dances?" she asked.

"Only two." Jaiden shrugged. "Daniel doesn't normally go, so I always hung back with him."

"He's going now." She was surprised at the ferocity that coursed through her veins.

"He told me." Jaiden nodded, not picking up on her frustration. "He's taking Allison Ankudinov."

Even Annamarie recognized the
last name.

"Isn't her dad a Russian movie star?" he asked.

"Yep." Jaiden nodded. "And her mom is a model from Poland."

That's why she's so gorgeous,
she thought, awed. The girl had high cheek bones and dark, haunting eyes. In the looks department, she and Allison weren't even comparable. She pinched herself in punishment hard enough to make her eyes water. She was not jealous. She refused to be. Wanting Daniel was like asking for a bad flu. It wasn't worth it.

She grumbled under her breath as Jaiden took a right turn and
pulled into a parking lot.

"We're here," Jaiden said.

When she looked up, all thoughts of Daniel were pushed from her mind. They'd arrived at an abandoned building with aged brick walls. It didn't look dangerous per say, but it didn't scream, "Hey, come in and have a cup of tea!" either.

"What is this place?" She wasn't
sure she wanted to get out of the car.

"It's my secret hideout," he said. "This is where I go whenever I need t
o think."

Jaiden
climbed out of the car. It took her a moment to jump out too.

"Please come with me,"
Jaiden said, offering her his hand.

When she met Jaiden's earnest
gaze, it was obvious how much he wanted her to come in. She realized he was offering her a piece of himself as much as he was his hand.
If there is anyone in that building that shouldn't be, then I can kick his butt,
she thought, teeth grinding.
There's no reason to be nervous about going inside.
She could handle an abandoned building. Heck, she might even like it. She grabbed Jaiden's hand. The guy led her toward the front door.

"
Is it locked?" She doubted the owner would just let people in and out as they pleased.

"There's a trick to getting in
side." Jaiden winked. "Test the knob."

She
twisted the knob. The door wouldn't budge.

"It's locked," she said.

"Watch and learn."

Jaiden rammed his shoulder against the
frame. The door crashed open.

"The
frame is weak," Jaiden said. "You could twist the knob all day if you wanted. The trick is to use force."

"This is illegal." She grinned. Yeah, she feared getting in trouble a little, but she doubted sneaking into an abandoned apartment building was such a big deal. "I'm surprised at you.
You never struck me as the rebellious type."

"Daniel actually discove
red this place," Jaiden said. "He thought it would be fun to go inside. Gavin and I followed him in, but Daniel decided it was too dusty and left right away. I decided to clean it up and kept coming back without telling him. I figure as long as I don't do any damage to the building I should be okay. The police have never even driven by here while I was inside."

"Well, show me
around." Now that there was rebellion involved, she was having fun.

Jaiden led her into the hall and then shut the door behind them.
The walls were covered in inch deep dust. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling. She saw a spider skitter across the wall and barely concealed a yelp. Even she was a little scared of spiders.

"It needs a little work
." Or at least a good dose of insecticide.

"
I only cleaned up the third floor." Jaiden's eyes crinkled in worry. "I'll bring you up there."

Jaiden pulled her
up the flight of stairs. The second floor was just as unclean as the first. The paint on the walls was fading. The floor was scratched up. She could barely see the painting of a woman at the end of the hall because it was so covered with dust. Even though she was in no way a fair damsel, her lungs tickled and she coughed into her hand. Jaiden led her up the next flight of stairs quickly.

Entering the third floor was like journeying from the underworld to heaven. The moment she entered the hall, she saw clean—though still scratched—wooden floors, dusted furniture, and
sparkling windows. She could tell that the walls had once been painted auburn but had faded with time. The fact she was someplace that held so many memories was magical to her. She could see why Jaiden liked it.

"
Sorry I dragged you through the dirt." Jaiden looked her up and down. "I should have warned you about that."

She shrugged.

"Dirt doesn't bother me." Though her lungs thought otherwise.

"Which is one of the many reasons why I like you." Jaiden wrapped an arm around her waist.

This was one of the few times she could ever remember feeling uncomfortable around Jaiden. His hand, tucked against her sensitive hip, made her uneasy. He was too close. She had to fight her most basic instinct to knee him in the groin. Forcing a smile on her face, she stepped out of reach of his arm.

"What's next?" she asked.

"Next is dinner," Jaiden said.

"Dinner? Here?" If Jaiden said they were going to be feasting on rat, she was leaving.

"Like I said, this is my go-to place," Jaiden said. "I started buying enough stuff to fill up the third floor apartment. Nothing big, but good enough to make it livable."

Jaiden
pulled her into the open room at the end of the hall. She looked around a spacious, two-room apartment. A large window revealed a park. Two beanbag chairs sat around a small table.

"
I don't have a stove or anything because there isn't any power, but I wanted to make you dinner." Jaiden led her over to a beanbag chair. "I had to get a little creative with the recipes, but I hope you like what I made."

Nobody, not even her parents, had gone to such trouble for her before. She wasn't sure what he'd
prepared, but she was certain she'd like it because of his efforts. Was thank you enough in a situation like this? She was worse at dating than she was at playing the flute. It was her well-informed opinion that they should teach a course on boys at school. Luckily, Jaiden didn't appear to need a response. He squeezed her shoulder and padded over to the kitchen. He came back with a tray laden with food.

"Crackers with pimento cheese dip." He pointed at
a bowl of orange dip. "I also have turkey and feta sandwiches, olive tapenade, and horseradish stuffed red tomatoes."

Okay, now she was even more awed. "When did you have the time to make all this
food?"

"Let's just say that I didn't sleep too well last night." Jaiden shrugged.

"You didn't have to put in so much effort." His attentiveness was making her feel awkward instead of pleased.

"You're worth it." Jaiden paused. "And if you're impressed by all this, just wait until you see dessert."

****

Annamarie groaned and sat deeper into her beanbag chair. Her stomach was bursting. For the first time ever, she was grateful
she had speedy quick metabolism. All of Jaiden's dishes had been perfectly flavored and completely unforgettable. She still had the taste of dessert—chocolate covered strawberries—in her mouth. No restaurant could have done a better job, with or without a stove.

"If you don't make it as an artist or as a musician, then you could definitely
try your hand at being a chef," she said. "Everything was delicious."

"You're just seeing the finished product after much trial and error." Jaiden laughed. "
During my first try, I put too much salt in the olive tapenade and overused the horseradish in the horseradish stuffed tomatoes. If I had served you my first batch, you'd take back those words."

"The dinner
was still amazing," she said.

She let out a contented
sigh.

"I suppose
so." Jaiden shrugged, oblivious to how amazing he really was.

"
Thanks again for taking me here," she said.

She could now understand why Jaiden had set up his own private place inside an abandoned building. At school, people were running down the hall and playing lou
d music all the time. Right now it was just her and Jaiden. She stretched out, shutting her eyes and enjoying the silence as her stomach digested her food. Some time passed before Jaiden cleared his throat.