Darker Days

And why would you wait for me?”

Glaring at Lukas, he said, “I see you still have your shadow.”

Shadow? Since when did Garrett give a damn who I hung with?

He shrugged and stuffed both hands into his pockets. “Whatever. Can we get a few minutes of stalker-free time? I need to talk to you.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

Five minutes wouldn’t hurt, right? What could possibly happen in five teeny tiny minutes? I turned to Lukas. “You remember where we sat yesterday?”

He nodded once, but never took his eyes from Garrett. Garrett, in turn, glared at him.

“Mind giving us a sec? I’ll meet you in there.”

The second bell rang as Lukas reluctantly headed for the cafeteria. I waited for him to disappear around the corner before turning to Garrett and asking, “Okay, what’s the emerg—”

Without warning, he zoomed in and pressed his lips against mine. I did my best not to gag at the taste of Newports and orange soda, and pushed him away immediately.

“—ency…” I finished, blinking. “What the hell was that?”

A sly smile—the Garrett Girl Charmer, it had been famously dubbed around school. “A kiss.”

“Obviously, but why did it land on my lips?”

“That’s what I need to talk to you about. Us.”

This was not happening. “What are you talking about? We’re not even friends!”

“I think we’d be good together.” He leaned in again, breath tickling my cheek. “I want you to be with me.”

Back pressed against the locker, I sucked in a quick breath. I could face down an entire nest of rampaging harpies, but the idea of brushing off the sudden amorous advances of a sort of friend made me almost pee my pants. Where was the balance in that?

“Aren’t you, like, dating Holly Gillman?”

“I quit her this morning,” he said, voice dark and sweet. He grabbed my hand, thumb stroking circles just below my wrist. His palms were clammy and calloused and scratched my skin in a way that gave me sick chills. “I’ve heard the talk. I know you don’t date—”

“You’ve heard the talk? What talk?”

“The guys—they talk. I told them they were wrong, that you weren’t an icy bitch—”

“Icy bitch?” I didn’t know what pissed me off more. The fact that, apparently, my lack of interest in climbing into the back seat of Harry High Schooler’s Chevy to let him shove his tongue down my throat classified me as icy, or that they’d taken the time to discuss it at length.

“It’s okay. I set them all straight. I told them we’d hooked up.”

Oh. This kept getting better and better. Now I wasn’t just an icy bitch—I was an icy whore.

“I’ve always thought you were a hottie—I just didn’t realize until yesterday how much I wanted us to hook up.” He brushed a strand of hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “I know you’re rockin’ the big ‘V.’ It’s cool. I wanna be your first.”

I was usually pretty level headed. A smidge impulsive, but calm in a crisis. At that moment, though, coherent thought ditched. Garrett’s fingers brushing my skin in a so not platonic way turned the bagel I’d scarfed during English to lead in my stomach. I wondered how turned on he was going to be when I yakked all over the front of his shirt.

A bubbling knot of panic formed and the words flew from my mouth before I could stop them. “Sorry. You’re not my type.”

Eyes on mine, his lip twitched and he shook his head. Several seconds of silence passed before he snapped. “I don’t believe this shit!” Letting go of my hand, he began stalking back and forth like a rabid animal.

All I could do was stare because the whole scene was surreal. “Where is this coming from anyway? Since when are you crushing on me? I mean why…” He hadn’t realized until yesterday how much he’d wanted us to hook up… Duh!

Vida. She’d touched Garrett yesterday at lunch. Hit him with her nookie ray or something.

“Wait! I get it now. This is a misunderstanding. You don’t really—”

“Don’t tell me how I feel!” He stopped and whirled on me. Striking out, he slammed the wall next to my head, fist passing so close, it sent my hair fluttering.

To our right, a dangerous growl filled the air and the stench of sulfur drifted down the hall.

Seriously? Today was approaching cataclysm, and I hadn’t even had lunch yet.

Garrett spun around. “What the hell is that?”

“Where is it?” I pushed him away. Mom would kill me if the damn demon doggie I let get away from me started munching on students.

“What is it?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I slipped to the left, putting some distance between us. God only knew what Mr. Happy Hands would try to grab next. I had no interest in finding out.

Soft plinks filled the air—nails tapping against the tile floor if I had to guess—stopping a few feet away. The growling came again, followed by a foul-smelling breeze. Wonderful. Apparently, in addition to Garrett, I had a demon dog stalker.

Garrett jumped back, flattening himself against the lockers as the blood drained from his face. I held my breath, wishing I hadn’t left my bag—with all my supplies—in the locker. If the thing materialized, I could grab it, but otherwise, I was flying blind. When Garrett didn’t move, the growling faded, along with the smell.

I scanned the hall one last time before accepting the inevitable. He was gone. Hopefully for good this time. “I’m going to lunch.”

“Wait.” Garrett reached for me, but I dodged him.

“No way. We’re not having this conversation right now. Or ever. Trust me—you’ll thank me for this later.”

“I think I love you!”

“No you don’t,” I called over my shoulder, hurrying away from him. Ten steps, give or take. That’s what it took for me to walk from Garrett to the cafeteria. When I rounded the corner, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Pandemonium.

I stepped across the threshold and ducked just in time to avoid a rogue carton of chocolate milk. It smashed into the wall behind me and exploded, sending liquid chocolate missiles in every direction before falling at my feet.

“You slept with him, didn’t you, you whore!” Simone Mills screamed as she launched herself across the table at Kelly Kline—her best friend. The two collapsed to a chorus of enraged screams as the rest of their table ignored them. Simone, being the larger of the two, wound her hand around a chunk of Kelly’s long brown hair and yanked hard. The smaller girl let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead as a portion of the hair pulled free. I reached the girls, pulling them apart just as Simone geared up for another go.

Just beyond them, Jack Harding and Mark Gotten exchanged blows as the crowd around them cheered. Mark was clearly winning, having grounded Jack. There was blood trickling from under his nose, and his lip was already starting to swell. To their right, the new math teacher Mr. Hipsey watched the fight with hungry eyes. It was like he was doing all he could not to dive in and join the beat down.

“Jessie!”

It surprised me to see Kendra in the corner next to our normal table. As I walked in, she pointed to the floor underneath it where, tucked in a ball, Lukas was huddled and looking like a raw nerve about to explode.

I raced across the room, dodging flying objects as I went, and skidded to a stop in front of her. “Kendra?”

“I think there’s something wrong with your cousin!” She leaned a little closer, arms folded. “The Seven Deadly Sins, Jessie? Really? You kind of left that part out!”