The Candidates (13 page)

“Esther, hang on a sec.” I covered the receiver with one hand, walked as far toward the door as the cord would stretch, and yelled, “I’ll see you Monday.”

He looked back and smiled, then threw his bag over his shoulder and kept walking. I watched him go, with only an ounce of regret and a pound of relief.

I FOUND
myself glancing repeatedly in the side mirror as we drove to Delcroix early Monday morning. It was dark and cold outside, and I had that creepy feeling you sometimes get when you think someone’s watching you. For a few blocks I thought a beige sedan was on our tail, but then it turned off the road, and I cursed Jack for getting me so wound up.

We arrived at the parking lot fifteen minutes early, but there were already half a dozen cars sitting in the lot. I went to stand under the foggy glow of one of the streetlights. Paul and Alessandro were the first from my team to arrive, and they joined me. We exchanged halfhearted waves, but didn’t say much. I liked them both, but we hadn’t spent much time together since orientation. Marika got there next. I still couldn’t look at her the same way, after the incident in pottery class. In her defense, I don’t think she liked Catherine that much either. She mostly hung out with Allie and Emma.

I was wearing the pink hoodie and an old pair of jeans that hung low on my hips. When we’d talked the night before, Esther had persuaded me to leave my hair loose. This seemed like a huge mistake to me, but she was always complaining about how it drove her crazy that I kept my hair locked up in a ponytail. She believed in being natural and loving yourself the way you were, and she kept telling me how beautiful my hair was.

I thought this was complete nonsense, but it seemed to work for Esther. Besides, she was persistent, and I couldn’t help but wonder what Cam would think. So there I was, in a tight pink shirt with crazy blond curls spiraling out from my head in every direction. The real Dancia, exposed for all the world to see.

The crowd got bigger and the sky turned pale gray as the Silver Bullet appeared up the road, making its way toward the parking lot. I looked around for Esther or Hennie but didn’t see them. More people had gone home this weekend than usual, I guess for Halloween, and there were lots of cars and parents milling around. The iron gates creaked open to let the bus through. I suppressed a shudder as Jack’s words rang in my ears again.

Keep the bad guys out, or us in?

He’s paranoid, Dancia, I reminded myself. Of course he’s going to think weird things about the gates.

The Silver Bullet rolled to a stop, and Cam jumped out. They always sent an older student to make sure that all the freshmen who had left school over the weekend were accounted for Monday morning. I don’t know what they’d do if you weren’t there. Sound the alarm and call your parents, I guess. No one had missed the bus yet.

My heart did that little flip-flop Cam always inspired. Everyone seemed to want to get on the Silver Bullet at once, so I hung back and let them find their places. I joined the line at the very end. Esther and Hennie waved from the front. There was no sign of Jack.

When I passed Cam, he looked up from a list in his hand. His mouth was tight. He ran his fingers through his hair and said, “Hey, Dancia, you haven’t seen Landry, have you?”

It was the first time I’d seen Cam in days. I was freezing in my pink hoodie and my hair was down, and all he could do was ask about Jack?

“No. Haven’t seen him.”

From the way he shook his head, I could tell he was irritated. He pressed his lips together, then shook his head and gave me one of those blindingly adorable smiles. “I guess some people have to learn the hard way,” he said. “Trevor wasn’t kidding about them being pissed if you miss the bus.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I’d better get on, then.”

Cam nodded, still scanning the parking lot for signs of Jack. Esther and Hennie were sitting together at the back of the bus, but all the seats near them were full. I took the first empty spot near the front, and slid over to the window.

Cam jumped on and nodded to the driver, who tugged on the handle to close the doors. As we pulled away, I caught sight of a black car crossing the parking lot. I was pretty sure it was someone dropping off Jack.

I felt horrible, watching that car speed across the lot. I thought about how mad Mr. Judan had been when Jack missed his adviser appointment a couple of weeks ago, and how he’d told Jack something needed to change.

This was not the kind of change Mr. Judan had in mind.

The bus made a slow circle around the lot and stopped at the gate. Cam and the driver were looking at each other and laughing about something as the driver opened his window and held out his security card. I didn’t mean to do it, I swear, but I had this feeling, this crazy feeling that Jack needed me. It was just like when I saw him being chased by Sunglasses Guy. I had no choice. I had to do something.

I stared at the card and pictured it flying into the air even as the whoosh filled my head. The strange thing was, instead of the card doing just what I pictured, it only moved a couple of inches. And then, as I watched, it shimmered and seemed to lengthen. I’d never seen anything like it—the whole thing turned pale and foggy, almost as if the card were made of smoke. The edges that had once fit squarely in the guard’s hand curled like a snake several inches above and below.

And then it disappeared.

I sucked in my breath. I hadn’t pictured
that.
I’d never made anything disappear before.

Cam flinched, then spun around in the aisle as if looking for something. His eyes found mine, and then moved past, searching. He whipped his head around and looked behind him, out the door, toward the parking lot.

The driver swore under his breath. “What the—that damn thing jumped right out of my hand!” He peered out the window, then pulled his head in and swore again.

Cam stepped back. “I’ll get it,” he said grimly.

“No, it’s my fault. It must have fallen under the bus.” The driver stomped off the bus, leaving the doors open. The black car flew past my window toward the exit, kicking up gravel as it went. The minute it disappeared, Jack’s black hair appeared in the doorway.

“I hope I’m not late,” he said to Cam.

Cam stared at him, his eyes slowly narrowing from surprise to suspicion. “When did you get here?”

“Just now.”

Jack and Cam faced off. They were almost the same height, but Cam had a good twenty pounds of muscle on Jack.

“That means you’re late. Next time there won’t be a convenient
accident
to slow us down.” Cam spoke quietly, his eyes locked on Jack. The rest of the bus was filled with laughter and the rumble of thirty conversations all happening at the same time. I doubted if the others even noticed we had stopped.

Jack shrugged and tried to push past. Cam put one hand on either seat and blocked the aisle. “I mean it, Landry.”

“Sure, whatever.” Jack turned his shoulder and barreled into Cam’s arm. Cam lifted it, shaking his head as he watched Jack make his way down the aisle.

I sank deeper in my seat, hoping Jack wouldn’t look at me. He scowled and slipped into a seat next to Allie.

Still swearing under his breath, the driver took the steps two at a time and slammed into his seat. “Had to crawl under the damn bus,” he muttered. “And now I’m off schedule.”

As the gates retracted, Cam sat down next to me. I should have been thrilled, but I couldn’t stop picturing that card rising like a curl of smoke out of the guard’s hand. The whoosh and the power had left me. It had come and gone so quickly, I never really had time to get worked up about it. But what had happened? Had
I
done that to the card? Had Jack? What kind of power did he have, anyway?

Needless to say, however confused I had been earlier that morning, I was infinitely more so now.

Cam sighed and pushed his hair away from his eyes. His brows were drawn together in a look of concern, or maybe sadness. I couldn’t tell. “Hey, Dancia,” he said.

All the noise in my brain stopped as I lost myself in Cam’s nearness. “Hey.”

“You okay?” The concern deepened. Those incredible eyes connected with mine, and he turned his body so his shoulders blocked the rest of the bus from my sight. “You look freaked out. Not because of that, I hope.” He jerked one thumb in Jack’s direction but kept his gaze pinned on me.

It was amazing, but somehow as he spoke, my nerves started to dissolve. “No, I’m okay,” I said. “Just out of it. It is Monday, after all.”

The worried line between his eyes eased, and he gave me a slow smile. “Good. I wouldn’t want you worrying about Landry.”

Landry? I thought fuzzily, my brain turning to goop as Cam’s smile radiated through my body. Who was that? “How was your Halloween?”

He leaned closer and knocked his shoulder against mine. “It was okay. But I missed you. You should have stayed for the party.”

Was he trying to send me into heart failure? I looked out the window, hoping to catch my breath. The sun was just starting to break over the trees, and the gray-green lawns rushed past as the red brick of the school drew closer.

“Did you get in a workout this weekend?” I asked, once I’d regained enough composure to look at him again.

“Yeah, I went to the gym and lifted, and then played a few games of soccer with Trevor and the guys. We played pickup against Anna and her girls. They almost crushed us—but they really need a new forward. I can’t wait for you to start playing soccer this spring. They’ll be psyched to have you.”

I stifled the surge of jealousy and forced myself to sound casual. “I guess I’ll have to see how things go. I’m getting nervous about report cards. Grandma won’t let me play unless I get at least B’s. I got an English paper back last week, and I swear, there was more red ink than black.”

“You and me both. I turned in a physics lab Monday, and I don’t think I got a single thing right. Not even my name.”

I giggled. “I don’t believe it.”

“I’m not kidding.” He shook his head solemnly. “If Trevor didn’t let me copy his homework, I’d never make it to soccer practice.”

We chatted for a few more minutes before the bus rolled to a stop. Cam slid out of his seat. “You should find me at lunch today,” he said. “I keep inviting you and you keep ignoring me. I’m starting to think you don’t like me.”

A huge grin spread across my face. “Right. As if.”

“Well then … ?”

“Okay, okay, I will!”

“Good.”

The driver opened the door and said good-bye to Cam as he jumped down the steps. I let the crowd fill the aisle and flow out of the bus.

I stared at the green back of the seat. Cam really seemed to want to eat lunch with me. He wasn’t just saying it to be nice. He truly wanted it.

This could not be explained by the fact that he was my recruiter. I’d been downplaying things for weeks, but the fact was, he kept seeking me out. He was definitely paying more attention to me than to anyone else, and now he was going to introduce me to his friends? Could Esther be right? Could he really be interested in me? Was it possible that something could go so absolutely, wondrously, perfectly right in my life?

A sense of terror mixed with my initial jolt of delight. What in the world would I have to say to a bunch of juniors? What if I said something stupid, and he changed his mind and decided I was a complete loser and he never wanted to speak to me again?

Esther grabbed my arm and practically hauled me out of my seat. “What did he say to you? Does he like the new hairdo? You have five minutes to spill the beans, or else.”

“Esther’s being a bit dramatic,” Hennie breathed, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “We’ll let you tell us over lunch, if you prefer.”

We walked off the bus. I made sure Cam was otherwise occupied before I casually said, “Actually, I told Cam I would meet him at lunch.”

Esther squealed. Loudly.

I looked around, desperately hoping he wasn’t within earshot. “Shhh!” I said. “He’s going to think we’re a bunch of idiots.”

“I don’t care!” she said gleefully. “That’s it—you
are
getting together! I knew it!”

I glared at her. “Keep your voice down.”

She didn’t look the least bit repentant, but she did give me a whispered, “I’m sorry. Now, tell us what’s going on!”

I pulled her and Hennie up the stairs and into the Main Hall. Once we were in a relatively secluded spot next to the office, I sighed with relief. The words spilled out of me like a flood. “I wish I knew. The truth is, I have no idea what’s going on.”

Hennie pursed her lips. “You don’t know what’s going on, or you can’t tell us?”

“I don’t know,” I insisted. “Honestly, I can’t believe he could possibly like me. I mean, I’m just a freshman, right? And hardly a beauty queen.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re tall and you have a great body. And boys love that blond-hair-blue-eyes thing,” Hennie sighed. “I’m just a short little Indian girl. Yashir will never notice me.”

Esther waved a dismissive hand. “That’s ridiculous. You’re gorgeous, and boys go for the sweet, quiet types. It’s a well-known fact.”

“He didn’t even look at me on the bus this morning,” she said.

“That’s because you never talk to him,” Esther said logically. “Which we are planning to change as soon as possible.” She pinned me with her gaze. “Now, Dancia, let’s get real. You’re smart, you’re funny, you’re tough, you don’t let anyone push you around—basically, you’re hot, regardless of whether you’re a freshman, and Cam knows it. He’s been watching you since school started, you guys hang out after school, and now he asks you to have lunch with him …” She let her voice trail off suggestively. “I think it’s obvious what’s going on here.”

“Well, it’s not obvious to me,” I wailed. “Half the time he looks at me like I’m his little sister, and the other half I feel like we’re just friends. And you know he and Anna spend tons of time together. What if they’re going out? I don’t even know!”

That was the truth. I’d never really figured out exactly what his relationship with Anna was. I knew they were close friends, but I didn’t know exactly what that meant.

A bell rang and we all jumped.

“I still need to go to my locker,” Hennie said, looking nervously at the crowds now streaming around us. “We’ll have to catch up later. Tell you what, Dancia. We’ll do some research and get back to you, okay?”

I nodded gratefully. Was high school always so complicated?