Sweet Harmony (5 page)

"Maybe it's not
her," Gavin said. "Haven't you been obsessed with that girl lately? Yesterday you were talking about her all day."

"I'm not obsessed," Daniel barked.

"Get behind the tree," Jaiden said, shoving her behind the fat trunk.

She heard Jaiden head toward Daniel and Gavin.

"What's the matter, Dan?" Jaiden asked.

It was the first time anybody had called Daniel anything other than his full name. Dan didn't seem to fit him.

"It's that girl again." Daniel sounded furious. "I'm pretty sure she stole my violin. I'm going to kill her this time."

"He doesn't even know
for sure she took it." Gavin let out an exasperated sigh. "It disappeared during class."

"I'
m sure you can borrow somebody else's violin until you find yours," Jaiden said. "It will turn up. Calm down."

"That violin was special." Daniel groaned. "I can't just use any violin.
She crossed a line when she took it."

"
Well, maybe that karate uniform meant something to her too," Jaiden said. "Maybe she thought you crossed a line first."

"Why would a stupid uniform have anything in common with my viol
in?" he asked. "Karate is dumb. Why are you taking her side, anyway? You never do that."

All regrets she had about stealing the violin disappeared. Maybe she wouldn't destroy it, but she'd torture him for a while. The wicked grin
returned to her face.

"
She's not out here," Jaiden said. "I haven't seen anybody."

"Shoot me a text if you
do see her," Daniel said. "I'm going to her dorm room. She was probably dumb enough to hide it in there."

"You can't keep going into the girls' dorm," Gavin muttered.

"I won't get detention. I'd complain to my father and the school would be in trouble." Daniel stomped his foot. "Come on. Let's go. Maybe I'll see her on the way there and then I'll wring her little neck."

Footsteps carried away from her. Jaiden re-appeared
by the tree and shook his head, an exasperated smile on his face.

"That's why you were in a good mood, wasn't it?" Jaiden stared at her.
"You were torturing Daniel."

"Yep." She
bobbed on the balls of her feet. "Thanks for lying for me."

Jaiden rubbed the back of his neck.

"I feel guilty about that," he said. "I just betrayed my best friend because of a girl."

"You hid me behind a tree. It's not that big of a deal." She laughed. "I promise I won't ever tell him you helped me."

With a sigh, Jaiden nodded and made eye contact. He looked at her so intensely it made nervous sweat cover her forehead.

"What?" She cocked her head.

"Nothing." He frowned at his feet. "About that violin…You aren't going to destroy it, are you? I wouldn't feel comfortable if you were going to do that."

"I don't need to
destroy it to mess with Daniel." She sunk down to her butt again. "Now let's talk about something else. I can tell this topic makes you feel guilty."

Jaiden's grin returned. When he sat at her side, she was surprised how comfortable being friends with him felt.

Chapter Five

Annamarie
headed down the hall of the dormitory after class. She still had to go to detention, but she wanted to make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner first. As she approached her room, she saw her door was ajar and several girls surrounded the threshold, gasping. Most of them left when they saw her, but a thin girl she believed was named Lucy remained.

"Somebody ransacked your room," Lucy said. "Everything's a mess.
I don't know who did it either."

She looked inside.
Sure enough, her posters had been torn from the walls and her karate uniform lay on the floor. She should have known Daniel wouldn't just search her room but ransack it too. It was hard to describe her emotions. Yeah, she was annoyed she'd have to put all of the posters back on the wall and re-make her bed, yet she kind of enjoyed how pissed off she'd managed to make Daniel. All she had to do was taunt him a little and she'd consider the two of them even after what he'd done to her uniform. She grinned.

"Why are you smiling?" Lucy asked. "This isn't good."

Lucy looked at her like she was nuts. Who knew? Maybe she was.

"It's just a game I'm playing with somebody," she said. "Everything's fine."

"A game?" Lucy raised an eyebrow and turned around, muttering, "Boy, that girl is weird…"

As she silently agreed with Lucy—she was undoubtedly a real freak—she went inside to clean up and prepare for her next plan of action. It took her fifteen minutes to place the posters on the wall and straighten her sheets. Just as she'd picked up her family picture and placed it on the dresser by her bed, she heard somebody stumble into the room. It was Owen.

"Are you okay?" Owen asked. "I heard some girls talking outside the dining hall. They said your room was torn apart."

"It was just Daniel." She snorted. "It's fine. I've cleaned
up the mess he made, but unfortunately I don't have much time to eat now before I go to detention."

"Why are you so happy right now?" Owen asked.

"Everything is going according to plan." She shrugged. "Daniel's pissed, which puts me in a great mood. Thanks again for your stunt today with the soda. I'm going to take you out to dinner anywhere you choose and I promise I'll help you out with something too."

Owen grimaced. "It wasn't that big of a deal. After the violin went missing, he completely forgot about me. Though I
do have to get his uniform dry-cleaned. He said he was going to text me when he was going to drop off his clothes, but he hasn't done it."

The stars were lining up. It was her official destiny to torture Daniel until the day she died. How could Daniel have made the mistake of giving Owen his cell phone number?

"Owen, give me Daniel's phone number," she said sweetly.

The color drained from Owen's face.

"Haven't you done enough?" Owen asked. "I don't get why the two of you are so obsessed with torturing each other."

"He trashed my room and dy
ed my karate uniform pink," she said. "Now it's my turn. Think of it like playing chess, except both players hate each other."

Owen swallowed. "I guess I'll give
you the number."

"You're the best."

She gave Owen a huge kiss on his cheek. She'd never seen him so red.

****

Annamarie stared into the final toilet. Some of the students had filled the basin full of candy bars. It was both disgusting and juvenile. Perhaps Daniel had done it. She thought about that for a moment. Nah, it wasn't his style. This was somebody else. Maybe Bridget. She winced and flushed the toilet. Clear water swarmed the chocolate bars and the toilet clogged at once.
This is my karma for messing with Daniel,
she thought morosely before sticking the plunger in the toilet. She plunged and plunged. Finally, she heard the sound of draining. Water and chocolate remnants were washed away. She gave the basin a quick scrub and then left the stall. Today Rafael was cleaning the sinks with bleach.

"See you tomorrow, Rafael," she said.

"Later, toilet girl," he said.

She waved and
seized her backpack. She broke into a sprint as she headed to the locker room. When she made it to the door, she froze when she heard footsteps behind her.
What is that?
She looked over her shoulder, peering through darkness. Maybe it was another janitor. She knew that Rafael wasn't the only one around. Nervously, she opened the locker room door and snuck inside. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found the violin case hidden inside the clutter in the broom closet.

After she made it back into the hall,
she looked both ways. The hair on the back of her neck stood in pins. Was she being watched? She didn't think this school had cameras. Heaven help her if it did. She decided her fear was situational. Nothing was there. The darkness was just overwhelming. It reminded her of when she was two and had almost drowned in the public swimming pool. When the water choked her, she'd been surrounded by darkness too. She shrugged it off and sought out the concert hall. She turned on the light.

Golden bea
ms illuminated a beautiful room. She took a seat in a squishy chair and opened the violin case. She pulled out the instrument and sucked in air. Boy, the violin was beautiful. She could see why Daniel was going loco over missing it. Every part of the instrument gleamed. The guilt returned. Her karate uniform could be replaced, but this couldn't. She shook her head. It was fine. She wasn't going to hurt a single string. This was all a scare tactic. She remembered what Daniel had done and it strengthened her pranking resolve. Wasn't she the girl who'd once switched the push and pull signs on the doors at the famous Centre de Musique concert hall? Hadn't she cupped water in her hand and pretended to sneeze on her little brother's head? She wasn't a weak person. Plus, Daniel had started it when he dyed her uniform pink.

She straightened the violin, holding it gently. After she positioned herself next to the
instrument, she pulled out her cell phone and took a selfie of her stroking the fine strings. She sent the picture to Daniel and less than fifteen seconds later received a reply.

You little punk. I know where you took that picture. I'm coming right now. Don't think you can escape me.

Oh crap. He must have been waiting for something like this. She leapt to her feet and rushed up the stairs, clumsily holding the violin tucked under one arm. The violin case was left on the seat, but that was fine. It would just be more bait to piss him off. She rushed out into the hall. She rounded the corner by the gym and skidded to a halt when she saw a tall boy staring at her. It was Daniel and he was fuming.

"You
!" Daniel yelled, pointing straight at her. "I'm going to kill you."

She took off running. He chased after her, his feet pounding on the c
arpet. Even though she was in shape, he was faster than her. Every step she took, he took two. She headed around the corner and rushed up the steps two at a time. A hand closed on her arm and jerked her backward. Daniel's grip was strong. She broke his hold by twisting around like she'd learned in karate class, but then he shoved her against the wall and stared into her eyes. His warm breath covered her face and he used his whole body to push himself against her. She knew she could break his hold again, but she needed a proper plan of escape. Unfortunately, when she stared into his angry blue eyes, some of her creative energies were depleted.

"Let me go," she snapped.

"Not on your life." He snarled at her. "You took my violin."

"You can have it back,
" she said. "Just let me go or else you're dead meat."

"You're the one who
is dead meat." He growled.

"Really?" Her blood boiled
. "Then hurt me. I'll let you have one punch. I freaking dare you."

Silence fell. Daniel glowered at her
, but he didn't raise his fist.

"See." She scowled. "You're weak. You're scared
of fighting me."

"Please." He rolled his eyes. "Why
are you so freaking difficult? I'm not scared to fight you. You're a
girl
. I'd never punch a girl. That's the only reason why you aren't bruised from head to foot right now."

"Then what are you going to do, hot shot?" she asked.

Crinkles appeared in Daniel's forehead. He was thinking hard.

"See?" She
pushed him away. "You have no idea. Leave me alone. I'm going back to my dorm."

"
No you're not. I'll figure out what to do with you." He shoved her against the wall again.

"
Stop that." She writhed and tried to kick, but the angle was bad.

"
Quit squirming." His hands tightened on her skin.

While still cradling the violin protectively, it was hard to get Daniel in
a body lock, but she managed to wrap her arm around his neck and squeeze.

"What
are you doing?" Daniel sputtered. She hoped he was in pain.

"Do you like it?" she asked. "Do you?"

"Ugh." Daniel groaned, trying to break her hold.

His hands ended up on her chest as he tried to
escape her trap.

"Ahem,"
someone said.

Both of them went rigid.
She looked over Daniel's shoulder and saw Mrs. Carmichael glowering at them. She realized what the situation looked like. Right now, both she and Daniel were breathing heavy. Daniel's forehead was covered with a sheen of sweat. She had her arm wrapped around his neck and his hands were on her chest. To the casual observer, they'd been in the middle of the world's most intense make out session. The misunderstanding made her nauseous.

"
Get off of me, you slime ball," she said.

She shoved Daniel away and he stumbled straight into Mrs. Carmichael. When he met her beady eyes, the color drained from his perfect face. He looked back at
Annamarie. He too must have realized they'd looked intimate because he let out a groan of remorse.

"I'm surprised at you, Mr. Marino," Mrs. Carmichael said. "I never imagined you'd be doing such a thing with a young lady. And after curfew to
o."

If she was surprised to see
Annamarie making trouble, she didn't say it.

"It wasn't… I mean, we weren't…" Daniel sputtered. "I hate her guts, Mrs. Carmichael."

Mrs. Carmichael's lips curled. "It seems to me that you like her a lot more than you're letting on. Ms. Chadwick, Mr. Marino, detention for a week for both of you. If I see the two of you like this again, it'll be suspension. Students at this academy shouldn't grope one another."

Oh man.
Annamarie hung her head.
Grope?
Even the word left a bad taste in her mouth. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if Daniel had the sense not to put his hands on her chest.

Mrs. Carmichael scowled, then turned to leave.

"My father..." Daniel muttered.

Mrs. Carmichael stilled.

"This was all a misunderstanding," Daniel said, gaining confidence now that he had the principal's attention. "My father would be very unhappy to hear that I was treated unfairly, Mrs. Carmichael. I feel this punishment is unjust."

"Do you?" Mrs. Carmichael tur
ned. Her nostrils were white as they flared.

"Yes, I do." Daniel crossed his arm
s. "I believe my father was the one who recommended you for the position as principal even though you had a less favorable background than other candidates. Should I tell him I feel he made a mistake in recommending you?"

"
No. Don't do that." Mrs. Carmichael looked like she would like to punch Daniel just as much as Annamarie did. "No detention. Just don't do this again."

Did Daniel just win against Mrs. Carmichael? She'd never imagined he had so much power. The principal walked away, her back rigid. The moment the woman went out the front doors, Daniel whirled around and
took the violin from her.

"You can thank me now." He glared at her. "I should have made her give you detention for a year."

"I'd rather scrub toilets for the rest of my life than thank you." She scowled. "Next time, watch where you put your hands. Were you trying to cop a feel?"

"Pssh." Daniel rolled his eyes. "Like there was anything to feel to begin with."

That was it. He was dead. She punched Daniel so hard in the arm he staggered backward and almost dropped his violin.

"This isn't over,
Annamarie." Daniel spat.

She pointed her finger threateningly at him and then headed to the dorm.

****

Annamarie
was chest to chest with Daniel, breathing heavy. Time slowed down. His hands were on her hips and his blue eyes stared into hers. Her heart pounded and her lips parted. He leaned in closer and closer—she could smell his sweet breath on her face—and his mouth met her own. She wanted to move but something strange was happening to her. Tingles spread from limb to limb, tickling her skin. She closed her eyes.