“That sounds great!” She reached down and squeezed my forearm really quick and shot me a smile before she headed for Carter again.
Without looking away from his laptop, Oliver said quietly enough for only me to hear him, “Where are you two going to dinner?”
I shrugged.
“I need to know so I can be sure you’re safe.”
My fingers stilled on the keys and I slowly turned to look at him. “What?” I snapped.
“Keep your voice down. I just want to make sure you’re safe, that’s all.”
I rubbed my forehead in frustration and took a deep breath. I steadied myself and grumbled, “I don’t know, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted.” I went back to work on a multiple choice quiz, something to do with mitosis.
“You don’t have to be rude,” he murmured, but I pretended like I didn’t hear him. We still hadn’t spoken much since our little blow up the previous day.
I heard Carter’s door close.
I guess they need to make up for lost time
.
I was just about done with my quiz when Kiera burst out of Carter’s room in tears. She flung open the front door and ran off down the path. We both just sat there staring after her for a long moment. Carter sulked out of his room soon after. “What happened?” I asked.
“I broke up with her.”
I tossed my laptop onto the couch beside me as I jumped up. “You what?”
He ran his hands through his already messy hair. “I can’t be with her Laney. I have no idea what’s going to happen to me in the next couple weeks and I don’t want to hurt her.”
“Pretty sure it’s too late for that!”
“You know what I mean.”
“Explain it to me when I get back.” I was out the door and running down the steps only minutes after Kiera but she was already peeling out of the parking lot in her parents’ white Volkswagen Passat. “Crap!”
“He was right to let her go.” I spun around to find Oliver just behind me.
“How so?” I snapped.
“Think of all the pain I have caused you. If I had just left that first night you told me to…things would be very different right now.”
Ah crap.
Although my life had been turned upside down and I’d lost the last of my family (not really going to count my absent father and the bonus grandparents right then) I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it or my future without him. It just wasn’t possible. What really didn’t make sense was if this was the life I wanted, why was I so damn angry towards him? “I’m glad you didn’t leave that night.”
He reached for my hand. “Me too.” He squeezed it and led me back up the stairs to his apartment.
“Well, I guess I’m free for dinner tonight.”
“I imagine you still have plans. Just in the form of a hysteric phone call.”
And wouldn’t you know it. He was right. Just about the time I stood and stretched after finishing my homework, my cell rang and I ate my dinner while on the phone with my heartbroken friend.
Chapter 35 - Life As We Knew It
So much had changed and life would never be the same for any of us. And this was only the beginning.
Our first day back to school was nothing but interesting. Felix was on campus when we arrived. Carter’s schedule hadn’t been sent to him. There was some trouble with his records and Felix was trying to get it settled. Only minutes before class was due to start, Carter finally got his new schedule. We’d all received new ones, and several of our classes had been combined. A few of the buildings and classrooms had yet to reopen so they were cramming us in together for a while. Our first class was now biology and Carter had it with Oliver and me. Oliver told us he’d catch up and we left him standing there with Felix as we headed off for class.
Our lab and lectures were being held in the same room for the time being due to the lack of classroom space. The last two lab tables in the back were vacant. I took one and Carter took the other. I scooted up onto the stool and watched as the last few students filed into the room. To my distaste, Ashton and Avery strolled in just as the second hand hit the hour mark on the clock. The teacher closed the door and a wave of panic rippled through me as Ashton eyed me and my half-empty desk.
Where the hell is Oliver?
“Hey dude,” Carter said. “I’ve got an empty seat.”
Ashton’s eyes slithered away from me and he did some weird fist and chest bump thing with Carter. I saw relief cross Carter’s face as he watched me relax. I mouthed thanks while Ashton’s back was still to me. Avery had found a seat at one of the desks closer to the front. But I still wasn’t safe. There were too many people at a couple of the tables and to my horror the professor, Mr. Morgan, began rearranging us. Because Ashton was on the aisle seat Mr. Morgan told him to move to my table as the crowded table in front of theirs was separated and one of the girls was moved back. Apparently Mr. Morgan was all about boy-girl seating. I thought I was going to freak out. There was no way I could finish out the semester with Ashton as my lab partner. No way! It was bad enough he was in my class.
“Actually sir,” a familiar voice began, “I was just about to move over there.” It was Carter.
“Fine, fine. Just be quick about it,” Mr. Morgan said.
Ashton’s arrogant smirk faded and his eyes narrowed on Carter. But as Carter brushed by him I heard him say, “It’s for your own good dude.”
Carter dropped his bag next to mine and took the stool beside me.
“Where the hell is he?” I whispered.
He shook his head and shrugged.
The door swung open and Oliver stepped inside, scanning the room for me. When he found me in the back with Carter he slipped his sunglasses off and we both shrank back at the look of death we got.
“Come inside son. We’ve got one seat left here in the front.”
I thought I was going to vomit. The only seat left was right beside Avery. She smiled at Oliver like she’d won a prize and I felt pure hot rage pulse through me. Carter took one of my balled fists into his hand and whispered, “Calm down Laney.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “I would rather be stuck with him,” I gestured to Ashton. “Then let her get her claws anywhere near Oliver.”
“There in the back. Is there a problem?” Mr. Morgan asked.
“No sir. Everything’s fine.” Carter answered.
I caught Oliver shoot me a quick glance and then I heard my phone chime with a message. I slipped it from the front of my bag as the professor announced he’d be passing around a seating chart for us to fill out; to make this arrangement permanent.
It was a text from Oliver:
Why didn’t you save me a seat?
From me:
I did and Ashton tried to steal it so Carter saved me. Where were you?
Him:
Damn it! I’m stuck with his sister now. I had to talk to Felix
Me:
I know! I’m not happy
Him:
I’m sorry
I stuck my phone back into my bag and glared at the seating chart Carter was filling out with both our names.
“How nice. The sleaze-bag filled out both hers and Oliver’s names.”
“How do you know she did it?”
“He doesn’t dot his I’s with a heart.”
Carter ended up spitting all over the seating chart when he laughed. I wasn’t amused. Far from it.
There was still an hour left of this torturous class and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it. Carter slipped a sheet of paper across the table to me as Professor Morgan began his lecture. He’d drawn out the hangman game and I needed to guess a letter. I did and wrote it across the top. We did this back and forth until my little hangman guy had a head, body and one leg. Underneath his hanging half body were the words “Fake Boobs” and a sharp laugh escaped me. The teacher shot me a look as did Oliver and a few others. My phone chimed quietly.
Oliver:
What’s so funny?
Me:
Fake Boobs
I was still trying not laugh and Carter was having a hard time too. Someone shushed us. I think it might have been Ashton but I didn’t check or care.
Oliver:
??
Me:
We’re laughing at your partners boobs
I saw him turn his head just enough to quickly look at Avery’s chest and then he shoved his phone back in his pocket.
We played another game of hangman. The second one wasn’t as funny because Carter lost. Then we moved on to tic-tac-toe until class was over.
I was in better spirits when we left the class. Oliver was leaning on the wall just outside the door. He had his sunglasses on and his backpack slung over his shoulder.
“I’ll see you guys later,” Carter called over his shoulder as he strolled off to his next class.
“Bye.” I waved him off.
“What’s with you two?” Oliver asked.
I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“You’re in a better mood after you’re alone with him.”
“Whoa, wait. When was I alone with him? He was trying to calm me down because of that stupid Avery.”
“Yeah, about that. I don’t think I can stay in that class. Not if I have to be her partner.”
“You’ll probably catch something sitting that close to her.”
He chuckled and threw an arm around my shoulder. “You know that’s not possible.”
“You never know. She’s nasty. That stuff probably sticks to anyone.”
He chuckled again and we headed to our next class. “She does smell a little weird.”
It was my turn to laugh.
Our new schedule had us hitting English second where we found a crowded class with an unfamiliar professor. We took our seats near the rear of the classroom and overheard two girls talking. “Did you hear what happened to Professor Stuart?” one of them asked the other.
“Yeah, my mom told me he’s been on life support for weeks. She said he’d been mauled by rabid dogs.”
We shot each other knowing glances and I replayed the whole thing in my head. It so easily could’ve been me or Oliver. I reached under the desk and tugged on Oliver’s sleeve. He intertwined his fingers with mine and I felt my body begin to hum in that familiar way he made it do. Kiera came in just before class started but she passed us and headed toward an empty seat down in the front. I shot Oliver another look and he shrugged in response. English was much easier to tolerate with Oliver beside me. As was math. Our last class was astronomy. The class size didn’t seem as if it had changed, nor did the students or location. Professor Amber was as elegant as ever. So captivating, she made the class seem to breeze by in no time. Once she’d dismissed us and almost all were gone she called Oliver up to her desk. I waited by the door while they spoke, very quietly I must add. Once we left the class and we were almost to the parking lot I asked what she had wanted.
“Her brother is flying into the country this week and she’d like me to pick him up.”
I stopped. Okay, I had always had my suspicions about her. I was just about to say something when Oliver said, “We’ll talk in the car.”
I hopped into the passenger seat and clicked my seatbelt into place and then started firing off questions.
“She’s a vampire, isn’t she?”
He nodded with a smile.
“So she wants you to go where to get her brother? He’s a vampire too right?”
“I have to drive to the Sacramento airport to pick him up. We can’t have any aircraft coming in this close with things the way they are right now. And yes, he’s also a vampire.”
“Where are they from?”
“Somewhere across the Atlantic.” He smirked like he thought his answer was so clever. I rolled my eyes at him, not like he noticed.
“Can I go with you to pick him up?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s safer for you here even if I’m not here. Felix will stay with you.”