Part 3
It does take a few weeks for the bruises to fade. I haven't worn a collared shirt since that first day, mostly to show people that I can't be pushed around. Partly because I want to keep rubbing it in Amber's nose. She hasn't spoken to me since Nathaniel showed her to be a liar in front of the entire school but I can feel her glaring death at me in class and in the halls. Nathaniel says she isn't speaking to him either but apparently this isn't unusual so their parents aren't questioning it. I still don't trust him but he's trying to earn it by being a good friend.
Castiel and I haven't come close to kissing again in weeks. The last time was when we were hanging out over a weekend. We were in the park with our dogs when I tripped over his dogs' leash, fell and skinned my knee pretty bad. If it wasn't for the pain every time I tried to stand I would have found the situation way more amusing. He kept fluttering around me with a panicked look on his face. Eventually he found a band-aid and smoothed it into place. When he was done he smiled at me but then his face became more intense. I really thought he would kiss me then but he just picked me up and carried me to a bench to sit and rest while he played with the dogs. My pit bull mix, Maisie, had gotten along great with his big shepherd Demon. We now met every Sunday afternoon to let them play, but always at the park. I never go to his house and he never comes to mine.
We are spending a ton of time together. He even eats lunch with Iris and mine's group of friends almost every day, though he doesn't talk much. We still spend our study period up on the roof by ourselves. He doesn't let anyone else up here. I have mixed feeling about this. One the one hand, it's one of the few places I can get any real peace (I live with a six year old brother and a snoopy mother. Privacy barely exists). And I get to spend some time with Castiel without an audience. He's so much sweeter when no one else is around.
But on the other hand, hanging out with him this much is causing some unwanted feelings. Yes, I acknowledge he is really, dare I say it, sexy. He's sweet and patient with my math problems. But when other people are around, he's aloof and sarcastic in a mean way. I don't like this conflicting actions thing. My ex was like that, but the opposite. He was sweet and kind in public but behind closed doors he was mean as a snake and just as poisonous to my psyche. So Castiel acting this way causes some emotional turmoil for me. That and he hasn't even come close to kissing me in weeks and I still feel like I know nothing about him. Le sigh.
"What's up?" Castiel asks, forcing me out of my thought zone. We are sitting up on the roof on top of a blanket I brought as it is starting to get colder. He is reading from his Lovecraft book again while I work on the rough draft of an English paper. I must have sighed out loud.
"Paper," I say lamely. "This paper is killing me with boredom." He chuckles and goes back to his book. We sit with our backs to the sun-warmed wall, legs spread out in front of us. I grumble and go back to my paper. 19th-century literature really does bore me. The bell rings and we pack up. Castiel takes the blanket, shakes it out and folds it neatly before handing it to me. "Thanks," I say. "I'm going to go run and put this in my locker before home ec. We're making cherry pie today."
"My favorite," he says with a grin. "You willing to share?"
"Sure, better you eat it than me. My mom already makes so many pies at home I'm starting to get fat."
"Nah, I think you're perfect just the way you are," he says casually. Before I can respond he has disappeared down the stairs.
"Why does he always have to have the last word?" I grumble as a blush rises to my cheeks. I sigh and follow him down the stairs, losing him in the sea of students at the bottom. I fight through them to get to my locker but I notice something is off from down the hall. Someone has sprayed a bunch of rude words on my locker door in bright red paint. People stare as they walk by and I am frozen in shock. I mean, seriously? Spray painting my locker? This one wins no originality awards. I try to open the lock but someone has superglued it shut. I can't get in to put the blanket away or get my books to do my homework tonight. Peachy.
"Nico, what happened?" Melody, a girl from my English class, has a locker a few down from me and has noticed my predicament. She gasps and blushes as she reads the words on my locker. "Oh my..."
"That's a mild way to put it," I growl, jiggling my lock to try and get it open. "Any chance you know how to break into lockers?" She shakes her head no. "Yeah, I didn't think so." I sigh as the bell rings. "And now I'm late for class. Wonderful." I say goodbye to Melody and sprint down the hall with the blanket still clutched in my hands. I dash into the classroom but Mr. Houle has already started lecturing about different pie doughs. He frowns at the blanket and my dishelveled entrance.
"Are you cold, Miss Grey?"
"Sorry, Mr. Houle," I say as I take my place next to Iris, stuffing everything under the table. "My locker wouldn't open." A giggle from the back makes me turn and glare at Amber and Lin. Bet my bottom dollar Amber is behind this. I say as much to Iris once we start working and I can explain why I was late. She agrees with me.
"I just want to get back at her somehow," I mutter as I take the pits out of cherries for the filling.
"But that just brings you down to her level," Iris says. "You don't want to be like her, do you?"
"No," I say begrudgingly. "But I can't just let it slide! She'll think she can keep doing this sort of thing."
"Maybe you should talk to the principal?" Iris says as she rolls out the crust.
"I don't want to look weak," I say.
"But you don't want to be like Amber either."
"Yeah...I'll talk to Nathaniel. See what he says."
"That's a good idea," Iris grins. "Always be the better person, Nico."
"Yeah..." I grumble, stirring the cherry filling a bit harder than I should and splattering juice onto my white shirt. "But being the better person only gets me bruised and stains on my new shirt."
"The universe works in mysterious ways," Iris says serenely.
"Well the universe can kiss my shiny metal a-"
"Ashley!" Mr. Houle shouts. "Put that out before you burn the school down!" Ashley, a football player and one of the few boys in the class, has somehow set his crust on fire. And it isn't even in the oven yet.
"I love home ec. Cooking is so relaxing."
Iris giggles. "Just wait until we start the sewing section. Bet you a dollar someone sews their fingers together on the first day."
"I hope it's Amber," I grumble, dabbing at the cherry juice stain on my shirt.
I meet Castiel after school to give him the pie and complain about my locker and Amber. "I can't believe she did that! After all the trouble she got in for choking me and then pretending she was the victim she would have just left well enough alone."
"She's a tenacious witch," says Castiel, taking a bite of the small pie. Cherry juice drips down his chin. "Always has been. When she wants something she takes it or keeps trying until she gets it."
"So why doesn't she have you?" I ask, broaching a topic I've stayed away from out of fear of either him going off on me or hearing an answer I wouldn't like.
He smirks. "Who said she hasn't?"
I shudder. "That image is far too nasty to process. You and the mean queen of Sweet Amouris High."
"Some would say we're a perfect match, since we both have problems with being nice," he says while licking cherry juice off his fingers.
"I've never thought you guys were alike," I say. "So far as I can tell, she's always a witch. You're at least nice when we're alone." He stares at me after that. His gaze is intense and it makes me blush so I look away. "So, what do you think I should do about my locker?"
"I'll find the maintenance guy and see if he can cut your lock off. Meet back by your locker?"
"Yeah, sure." He starts to walk away but I notice something first. "Hey Castiel?" He turns back around. "You have cherry juice on your face." He grimaces and tries to wipe it off without success. I watch for a few minutes as he tries and fails a few more times. I sigh and act without thinking. "Here. Let me." I lick my thumb and use it to wipe off the red smudge right on his jaw. I freeze. Oh crap on toast, what did I just do?! I stare up at him, scared to move. He stares back at me, his lips slightly parted in surprise. My hand is still on his jaw and neither of us are moving. Finally, after what seems like a century of use standing and staring at each other, I pull away and pray the setting sun is hiding my blush. "There you go. All clean." Aanndd I sound like I'm talking to my little brother. Hellfire and brimstone.
He jolts a little at my voice, like he wasn't really hearing me. "Oh. Ah, thanks, Nico."
"No problem." We're still staring at each other. "Um... Maintenance guy?"
"Huh? Oh, right, yeah, ok...Um, see you at your locker then." He stuffs his hands into his jacket pockets and marches away, back rigid like he's expecting an attack. I watch him until he disappears behind a corner.
"Smooth move, Nico," I whisper to myself. "Now you're never going to be able to look him in the eye without blushing again." I sigh and head back inside. Maybe I can try cleaning off some of the paint while I wait. And try and erase the memory of how warm Castiel's face was in my hand.
I find some spray and towels in the janitor's closet (which is never locked for some reason) and go to work, furiously working out some tension as I scrub. The paint is stubborn and won't come off unless I really put some muscle behind it. Thankfully, the physical exertion puts Castiel at the far corner of my thoughts. I keep scrubbing, focusing on getting off the paint and keeping my thoughts clear, when a loud bang from down the hall startles me into dropping my spray bottle. Of course the top opens and my Converse are doused in cleaning solution.
"Triple hellfire and bloody brimstone!" I curse, shaking my feet to get most of the liquid off. I look up to try and see the source of the noise and see a figure turning a corner away from me. "Hey!" I yell and start to jog that way. "What are you doing here?" Most everyone should be gone by now. It's Wednesday so there are no club activities. It's getting dark and the lights have been turned off on this side of the school. So why is someone walking quickly away from me? "Hey!" I call again, running now. "What- Oh for goodness sake."
I've run into a dead end. There's nothing down this hall but more lockers and a door that I assume leads to a classroom. I check the door but it is locked. Unless that person had a key there is no way they're on the other side of this door. And it's really dark down here. There are no windows and the lights are off. I'm starting to freak out. Dark places aren't really my thing. Then, just when I'm starting to calm myself down, something grabs my elbow. I scream like a little girl and sprint down the hall as fast as my short legs can carry me. I keep running until I'm back in the main hall where the lights are on and the bottle of cleaning solution I dropped has spread into a shiny puddle all over the floor. I am panting, out of breath when I hear Castiel's voice.
"Nico, I found the- what the hell did you do?"
I glare at him, still trying to catch my breath. "Not-" gasp "My-" gasp "Fault-" gasp "Someone-" gasp "Scared me-" gasp "and I-" gasp "dropped the bottle."
He grins wryly at me. "And that made you out of breath?"
I take one deep breath. "I ran after them but I lost them and it was dark and then something grabbed me and I ran back here." BIG GASP. He and the maintenance man are looking at me like I'm insane. The maintenance man just shakes his head and takes his huge pair of bolt cutters to my lock, muttering about crazy kids and their horror movie obsessions that make us jump at the smallest things.
Castiel chuckles softly and hands me a wad of paper towels. "Here. Since you made the mess you can clean it up." I glare at him again and start mopping up the mess while he watches. He speaks softly to the maintenance man about getting me a new lock and some paint-dissolving solvent in the morning. It seems the most I've done to the paint is irritate it since the words are as bright and rude as ever. Then the maintenance man leaves, saying he will turn off the lights in a few minutes and we should start heading out. Castiel nods but just keeps watching me clean up the floor. Finally I get tired of this and snap at him.
"You could help instead of standing around like a lawn ornament."
"I'm not the one who spilled the whole bottle," he says with a smirk. "Besides, you're doing such a good job on your own."
I growl at him. "Then could you at least grab my books so I can get home sometime before it gets really dark?" He sighs dramatically but does as I ask, putting all the books and the blanket into my bag much neater than I would have. He even swings it over his shoulder and offers me a hand up.
"You ready?"
I eye the floor. It's fairly clean and doesn't look slippery anymore. I nod and take his hand. But as soon as I pull myself up I slip and fall right into him. Fortunately he is strong and catches me before either of us can fall to the floor. He holds me for a moment with his arm around my shoulders, making sure I am steady. "You're a bit of a klutz, aren't you?" he whispers against my hair. I blush and instinctively hide my face in his chest so he can't see. He smells like warm leather and the sun with a hint of cigarette smoke. I can feel him tugging at one of my green strands of hair. "Your color is fading."
"Yeah, I know," I mutter. "I'm thinking of dying it back."
"To what?"
"Brown."
He thinks a moment before replying. "Brown is too plain. It wouldn't suit you."
I nod. "I think so, too. But it would make my dad happy." I pull away from him, not looking at his face. "I should get home before he sends out the National Guard." Castiel grunts an agreement and starts walking towards the exit, my backpack still over his shoulder. I follow him to the gate and silently take my bag. I go one way, he goes the opposite. And my heart is still pounding from when he caught me.
All that night I am bothered by what had grabbed me in that hall. And by Castiel holding me. But mostly by what had grabbed my elbow. Really.
I know I had seen someone walking down that hall. That door was locked and no one has keys but the faculty, Nathaniel and Castiel. I can rule out Castiel because he was with the maintenance man at the other end of school. I don't think it was a teacher because they all like to leave as soon as the bell rings on Wednesdays since no one has clubs. That leaves Nathaniel. But I really doubt it was him. Why would he have scared me like that? He would have at least said my name to warn me he was there first. Maybe it was Amber trying to play another prank on me. But she isn't the type to stick around school that late on a Wednesday. So my final option is (I hate to say it) a ghost. And I believe in ghosts about as much as I believe in the Tooth Fairy.
As soon as I get to school I am looking for that hallway again. I'm still not used to this school, rarely venturing out of the places I haven't been. But I wanted a closer look. Maybe I had just brushed up against something I hadn't seen and freaked out because it was dark. I can't find the hall and am getting amazingly frustrated when I run into Nathaniel coming out of the teacher's lounge. "Good morning Nico," he says with a happy smile. "How are you?"
"Been better," I mutter. "Do you know where I can find a dead end hallway with one door?"
Nathaniel blinks at me, confused. "Here or somewhere else?"
I roll my eyes at him. "Here, of course. I saw something last night and followed it to a dead end hallway with some lockers and one door. Something grabbed me and I want to find out what."
"It wasn't Amber this time," he says thinly, like he expects me to accuse her again. "She's grounded so we went straight home after class."
"I didn't think it was," I lie. Shoot. Another good suspect ruled out. "And you don't need to keep defending her. Unless she does something to me again I plan to just ignore her until graduation."
Nathaniel blushes and tugs at his tie. "Sorry. But she's my sister. Old habits, you know?"
"Yeah, I've got a little brother. I know how it is."
He smiles at me. "Thanks Nico."
"But you wouldn't happen to know if she was the one who vandalized my locker, do you?"
He shakes his head. "I wouldn't put it past her but I doubt it was her. She's in enough trouble right now, I don't think she wants to be suspended or expelled on top of it."
"Wouldn't stop her from asking someone to, though," I say. Nathaniel shrugs. "So, hallway?" I ask.
"The only place I can think of is right behind the stairs on the first floor. It dead ends and there's nothing but an old storage room and lockers."
"Sounds like the place." I smile at him. "Thanks Nathaniel. I'll let you know if I find anything." We say our goodbyes and I'm off, jogging down the hall so I can look before the first bell rings. Sure enough, there is the hallway, tucked behind the stairs so it's barely noticeable at first glance. How the heck had I found my way here in the mostly dark? The hall looks unused with lockers that are faded and rusty from disuse. The door is still locked and there are no windows that someone could have snuck in by. All in all, I don't think someone could have gotten grabbed me without my noticing them first. "Get a grip, Nico," I mutter to myself. "There is no such things as ghosts." Just then the lights flicker and a clicking comes from one of the lockers. Not wanting to press my luck, I bolt, flying up the stairs and knocking into people as I go. I arrive to class a full ten minutes early, sweaty and shaking. Yeah, I don't believe in ghosts. That doesn't mean they don't scare me.
I was so distracted in class even Castiel couldn't get my attention. He had to whisper-yell my name three times before poking me with the pointy end of his pencil. This makes me yelp loud enough that Miss French stops talking and the whole class turns to stare at me. I blush and slide down into my chair, praying I'll spontaneously become invisible. Castiel has to fight back laughter and I'm thinking maybe if I kill him no one will remember that noise I made that sounded like a dog being stabbed. As soon as class is over I flee the room and head to the bench where we usually sit to have lunch. Iris and Kim are there already with Travis and Luke. Travis is Iris' cousin and Luke is Kim's new boyfriend. They are disgustingly cute with each other, always holding hands and giggling and calling each other weird nicknames like cuddlebear and smoocher woocher. I try to imagine calling Castiel by a name like that. He would probably laugh until he passed out.
I flop down on the grass near the bench and try not to shiver. It's cold today and the ground if freezing but there's no room on the bench. "Anyone know if there's a ghost here at Sweet Amouris High?" Everyone stares blankly at me for a moment. Even Kim and Luke stop feeding each other bits of fruit to look at me. Finally Travis breaks out laughing and the rest soon follow.
"Seriously Nico?" he asks. "A ghost?"
"I'm serious!" I say, throwing my balled up napkin at him. "Now stop laughing before I turn you over my knee." Travis is a sophomore and is even shorter than I am. He and Iris have the same eyes but his hair is light brown to her red. And despite the lack of height, he's built like a barrel and could probably throw me over a fence with no problem.
He grins at me and takes a huge bite out of his sandwich. "As if you could," he mumbles around a mouthful of banana and peanut butter.
"Watch me," I say, grinning back at him. "But seriously, here's what happened..." I tell my story yet again and everyone keeps their attention on me. Iris even jumps a little when I tell them how something had grabbed me. However, I leave out the part about Castiel catching me. Private feelings are private, ok?
"I think someone mentioned a ghost my freshman year," Kim says as she tickles Luke's nose with a blade of grass. "Some student who failed a test and jumped off the roof rather than go home in shame."
"Man, if I jumped off the roof every time I failed a test I would be dead at least twenty times by now," Luke jokes, his grey eyes crinkling at the corners. Kim giggles and gently strokes his dark hair away from his face.
"I heard it was a teacher who taught for so long when she died she just kept coming back," Travis says.
"I don't think there's a ghost at all," Iris says, ever the practical one. "Are you sure someone didn't sneak up on you?"
I shake my head. "I don't think so. The hallway is a dead end and the door was locked."
"Maybe they had a key?"
"The only ones with keys are teachers and Nathaniel. And he wasn't there because Amber had to go home right after school."
"What about Castiel?" Travis asks.
I shake my head. "I think his key only works on the door to the roof. Besides, he was on the other end of school with the maintenance guy."
"But it couldn't have been a ghost!" Iris exclaims. "There's no such thing!"
"Yeah..." I mumble, poking at my salad with my fork. "I guess."
I get nothing done during bio or study period. Castiel tries to help me with my homework but just gets frustrated when I start talking about ghosts for the third time in twenty minutes. The fourth time makes him snap. "Christ, woman!" he growls, throwing his pencil down. "You're going to fail the test tomorrow if you don't concentrate!"
"Well if I fail I won't throw myself off the roof in shame. Like that one ghost."
"That's it," he growls. He stands and starts heading towards the door.
"Hey!" I shout. "Where are you going?"
"I dunno. Anywhere. Not like you're paying attention to what I have to say anyway."
"Aww, come on, Castiel," I whine, grabbing the hem of his coat before he can walk away. "I'm just curious about what happened. I am paying attention, truly!"
"BS," he mutters, trying to pull away. "Tell me about supplementary angles."
"Uh... Well, they're the things that make a triangle?"
He makes a noise like a fail buzzer. "Nope. See, you're not paying attention." He's still trying to pull away. "Now let go of me."
"No," I say, pouting. "Come sit back down with me. Study period isn't over yet. Please?" He sighs and sits back down but at the other end of the blanket, as far from me as he can get without being completely off. If he were my little brother I would say he's pouting. Time to break out my secret weapon. I had planning on using these to bribe him into exploring the hallway with me again after club but this seems to be a better time. "Oh Castiel," I say in a singsong voice. "Look what I have for yyooooouuuu..." I ignore his wince from my cutesy tone and pull out a container filled with miniature hand pies in all different flavors. "It's piiieeeeesss... Made especially for yyoooouuuuu... All you have to dooooooooo... Is stop being a grumpy Giiiiillllllllll...Because it's a wonderful day for piiiieeeeeeee!"
He stares at me for a moment before he breaks out laughing, a great deep belly laugh I can only get out of him if I make a complete fool of myself. Eventually he stops, actually wiping a tear from his eye from laughter. "Christ, Nico, you really can't sing."
"Yeah, but I like to pretend sometimes." I hold the container out towards him. "Seriously. Pie. Cherry, lemon and chocolate." I rattle the container gently. "I know you want them."
His gaze switches from me to the box and back a few times before he makes up his mind. He reaches out and grabs the other end of the container, pulling it gently away. "Thanks Nico."
I smile. "You're welcome." I don't think I'll bother him about helping me find the ghost tonight. I'll go on my own.
Home ec passes quickly (we're making real food now; chicken curry and rice today) and with no major fires or burns. I leave quickly to get all my things out of my locker before I'm late for club and frown at the nasty words still painted on the metal surface. Guess the maintenance man didn't have time to paint over them today. But at least the lock isn't superglued shut this time. I grab my things and head to the gym to change, meeting up with Wendy and June halfway there. We've struck up an easy friendship since that first day of club and we chat as we get ready.
Once we've arrived, Dajan has us warm up and start practicing our passing. As usual, I pair with Castiel. He's way better than I am but he swears that I am improving. At least the ball doesn't go careening off in random directions anymore where I try to pass it. I keep glancing at the clock, waiting for club to end so I can explore that hallway again. Fortunately I don't take a basketball to the head despite my wandering attention. As soon as club is over I bolt, grabbing my things from the locker room and running back towards the school. Hopefully the clubs that meet indoors aren't done yet and the school isn't locked up. Fortunately one of the side entrances is open and I slip in. The lights are still on but it's getting darker outside. I head for that hallway and see nothing I haven't already seen. I sigh and absently tug at my hair. "Come on, ghost. Where are you?"
"I can assure you, there is no ghost." The bored-sounding voice comes out of nowhere and makes me yelp in surprise and drop my backpack with a loud 'thunk'. The door to the supposedly locked classroom stands open and frames a tall boy with silver hair in a long coat. He's wearing what looks like a shirt with a ruffled cravat and long pants with low-heeled boots. He looks at me with an expression a cat might have when looking at a slightly interesting toy. "Only me."
"If you're not a ghost then why are you wearing something that belongs in the nineteenth century?"
He stiffens slightly and his voice has even less inflection than before. "How I prefer to dress is not your concern or your business. Now tell me, what are you doing here at this time of evening?"
"Looking for whatever grabbed me yesterday. And I could ask you the same question. Do you even go to this school?"
"Yes. I am Lysander. And I apologize for startling you last night, that was not my intention."
Yeesh, the guy sounds like Mr. Spock but with half the charm. "Lysander. Nice to meet you, I guess." Then his words sink in. "Wait. YOU grabbed me? But that door was locked! How did you sneak by me?"
"I unlocked it," he says simply. "I tried to call after you but you were running and did not hear me."
I fight back a blush. "Apparently. You really shouldn't go around scaring people like that."
"Indeed."
"Where did you get a key, anyway?"
"From me." I whirl around and there is Castiel. He's still in his club uniform of red basketball jersey and shorts, his hair pulled back into a low tail to keep it out of his face. "Yeesh, Nico, when you said abandoned hallway you should have mentioned it was this one."
"Like there are a ton more at this school," I mumble, making Castiel chuckle.
"Ah. So you are the girl Castiel keeps talking about," Lysander says, the ghost of a smile crossing his face. "So nice to finally meet you."
I smirk at Castiel, enjoying his blush. "Been talking about me to other guys, huh?"
"Lysander's my band mate," Castiel says, avoiding the question.
"I didn't know you were in a band."
He smirks now. "You never asked." I roll my eyes and slip past Lysander into the open door. The room it leads too looks like an abandoned music room. There is soundproofing material on the walls and no windows. A drum kit, guitar, keyboard and mike are set up in the middle of the room, along with some speakers.
"Nice," I say. "But why practice here?"
Lysander shrugs. "Whyever not? It suits our purpose."
"Plus it's free so long as no one else knows about it," Castiel says, leaning against the doorframe. "If you catch my drift."
I sigh dramatically. "Wow Castiel. This makes two of your secret places you've shown me. What's next? An abandoned amusement park? A secret lab where you piece together monsters out of small animals?" Lysander actually laughs, albeit very softly and with little expression, at this and Castiel has to fight to keep the smile off his face. "Fine, I won't tell. On one condition." Both boys raise an eyebrow at me, almost in perfect sync. "Let me jam with you sometime. I miss playing with other people."
"What do you play?" Castiel says. "And how come you never mentioned it before?"
"Piano, but I can pick out a few chords on a guitar. And you never asked."
He grins and holds up his hands in defeat. "Got me there, Nico."
"A pianist would be a welcome addition," Lysander says. "Thus far it is only Castiel and I. Castiel plays guitar and I sing."
"Cool," I say with a grin. Before I can say more my phone vibrates from its pocket in my shorts. I pull it out and see I have missed a call and three texts from my mother wondering where I am and do I know it's getting dark young lady? I sigh and flip my phone close. "Not tonight though. My mother is freaking out. I gotta get home before she convinces Dad to send out the national guard for me."
Castiel grins and gestures for me to follow him. "I'll walk you. Lysander, I'll be back in a few. Start warming up." Lysander nods and murmurs a brief goodbye to me before he starts humming. I assume it's part of his warm up routine.
I follow Castiel out of the school. He glances around a few times to make sure no one sees us. At the gate (which is thankfully still open) he reaches down and takes my hand. He starts walking towards my house without a word, his gaze fixed firmly on the road ahead. I stumble along behind him at first, shocked that he's holding my hand, but I quickly lengthen my pace so I'm walking beside him. I think about speaking a few times but the words all die in my throat. Finally I decide to just walk. Hopefully the blush is hidden by the lack of light.
He stops lets go of my hand at the end of my street. "Listen, I won't be in school tomorrow." He must see my confused look because he actually explains. "Family stuff. Mom and Dad are gracing me with their presence. But Saturday is the school Halloween fair. Want to meet up?"
"Um, sure," I stammer. "I'll be helping Iris at the snack booth in the afternoon. But I'm not doing anything in the evening."
"Cool. I'll text you." He smiles and starts walking away. "See you then."
"Yeah, see you then," I whisper. I watch him until he turns the corner back towards the school. He doesn't look back at me at all. I stand outside in the cool air a few minutes more so my face will cool down and my hands will stop shaking.
"What the hell just happened?"
