Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) (22 page)

Lori’s face was flushed and she didn’t say a word as she stared at me.

“Excuse me,” I said as I moved past her. Then I dropped my voice to a whisper as I turned back toward her. “I’m going to eat some sandwiches with my date.”

At the look of fury on her face, I wondered if I’d pushed the wrong buttons, but couldn’t seem to help myself. I
wanted
her to feel jealous. I wanted her to know she couldn’t control me. I knew it was stupid. After all, I would be gone in a few weeks.

Maybe that’s why I was being so bold—because I knew I wouldn’t be around to deal with the consequences. It gave me a feeling of invincibility. All my life I had been relatively careful, never rocking the boat. It felt invigorating to do the things I was never brave enough to do before.

“Let’s go,” Lori said to the three girls that had apparently been waiting for orders from her.

“See ya, Lori,” Connor called after her as she walked away.

The look of fury I’d seen moments before fled as she smiled at Connor. This time I was the one rolling my eyes, but my attention quickly turned away from Lori and toward Connor and the boys. I slid into a seat at the table and grabbed a napkin before picking up one of the sandwiches.

We enjoyed our snack and a short time later we were back to bowling. Connor grabbed his bowling ball and had just rolled it down the lane when we heard his name called out over the speakers.

“Connor Matthews. Please come to the main guest area.”

“I wonder what’s going on,” he said.

I watched him walk away, a bad feeling beginning in my gut.

A few minutes later he was back, a worried look on his face. “We need to go.”

“What’s up?” I asked, starting to feel worried too.

“I don’t know. They got a call saying there’s some sort of emergency and I need to get home right away. I tried calling my house, but there was no answer.”

I felt my forehead crease in concern, wondering what was going on. “I wonder why they didn’t call your cell phone.”

“I don’t know.”

I turned to my brothers who were rolling the bowling ball down the lane, oblivious to this new drama. “Hey guys,” I said as I walked up behind them. “I’m sorry, but we have to go now.”

“Awwww,” Brandon said. “How come?”

“Connor has to get home.”

“Connor, we don’t want to go,” Zac said.

“Sorry guys,” he said. “But the fun has to end sometime. I promise I’ll bring you bowling again though, okay?”

“Okay,” they said, obviously resigned to leaving.

We quickly gathered our things and headed toward the exit. Just as we turned toward the door, I glanced to the side and saw Lori sitting a short distance away, watching us, a smirk on her face and I suddenly felt like I had lost this battle.

Chapter Twenty-Six

We pulled up to my house and as Zac and Brandon raced to the front door, I sat in my seat, waiting to see what Connor’s next move would be. He climbed out of the driver’s seat and came around to my side, opened the door and held out his hand. As our fingers touched, anticipation coursed through me. He smiled down at me as I allowed him to help me from the car. He held on to my hand as we walked toward the front door and I thought my heart would burst from happiness.

“Come on, guys,” Zac said, clearly exasperated at our slow pace. “I need to pee.”

I felt my face redden and had to let go of Connor’s hand to dig the keys out of my purse. A moment later I let the boys into the house. Connor stood next to me on the porch and I turned to face him. “Do you want to come in?”

“I’m sorry, Morgan. But I’ve got to get home and see what’s going on.”

I nodded. “Okay. I had fun bowling with you.” I bit the inside of my lip and glanced at the ground in anticipation of what would come next, but when I looked back at Connor, he wasn’t even looking at me and seemed distracted. “Connor?” I felt forgotten and unimportant.

“Yeah?”  Then he seemed to remember I was there. “Oh sorry. Hey, I had fun too, but I’ve really gotta go. I’ll see you at school on Monday, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

He smiled for a second, but it was quickly replaced by a look of worry. “Bye, Morgan.”

I frowned as he turned his back and hurried to his car. Not wanting to watch him drive away, I went into the house and closed the door before he’d even turned on the engine.

“That was so fun, Morgan,” Brandon said. “I want to go again. Make Connor take me again, okay? Okay, Morgan?”

His excited voice dug under my nerves and I had to use what little self-control I had not to yell at him. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly and smiled as best I could. “I’ll see what I can do. Now, why don’t you go play in your room for a while?”

“Okay,” he said happily before speeding up the stairs.

As I sunk onto the couch, I sighed dramatically, allowing myself to feel pity that my date had gone so poorly. First, it was hardly a date and more like a babysitting job. Then we had to cut it short because of some kind of family thing, and to top it all off, there was no kiss at the end. I leaned my head against the couch cushions and reminded myself that I should stop being so self-centered and instead I should be worried about Connor’s family emergency. I mean, what if something had happened to Anne or one of his parents?

I sat up straight as I imagined something happening to someone I loved. Of course I wouldn’t be thinking about dates and kissing. I’d be worried about my family. Especially if I had no idea what was going on. No wonder Connor was so distracted. Now I felt like an insensitive idiot for only thinking about myself. And Connor probably thought I was a jerk for not asking what I could do.

I felt myself sinking into self-pity again but then I remembered how distracted Connor had been and realized he probably hadn’t noticed my lack of sensitivity. In fact, it seemed he’d barely thought about me at all.

Maybe he won’t think I’m a jerk, I consoled myself. And I can make up for it by calling him and seeing if I can help. Plus I really do want to make sure everything is okay at his house.

Feeling better about myself, but now beginning to worry for Connor, I went into the kitchen and grabbed the phone before dialing Connor’s cell phone. He answered immediately.

“Hi. It’s me, Morgan.”

“Oh, hi.”

I frowned at the obvious disappointment in his voice. Maybe I shouldn’t have called. “I, uh, I was just wondering if everything was okay.”

He sighed. “I don’t know. No one was home when I got here and I don’t know where they are. I called my mom’s cell phone, but then I heard it ringing in the kitchen. She must have left in a hurry because she left it here. And my dad’s just went to voice mail. I have no idea what’s going on. If they took the time to track me down, they could have at least left a note.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. Several scenarios flashed through my mind, but I didn’t want to share them with him since it would just make things worse. “Is there anything I can do to help?” I finally asked.

“Thanks, but I don’t think so.”

“Will you call me when you find anything out?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later then.”

“Bye, Morgan. Thanks for calling.”

I hung up and went back to the couch, then picked up the TV remote from the coffee table and flipped through the channels. I wasn’t able to focus on any of the programs as I waited to hear something from Connor. After an hour I was tempted to call him again, but didn’t want to hear the disappointment in his voice again when he realized it was only me.

Patience had never been my strong point, but I forced myself to wait. When the phone rang two hours after I’d talked to Connor, I jumped, startled. Then I hurried to the phone and answered.

It was Connor.

“So what’s going on?” I asked, skipping all small talk.

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean? You haven’t found them yet?”

“No, I mean my mom and Anne came home a few minutes ago and had no idea what I was talking about. They’d been out shopping.”

“What about your dad?”

“My mom said she’d talked to him a little while before and he hadn’t mentioned anything.”

“Well, that’s weird.”

“Yeah. I wonder if the guy at the bowling alley got me confused with someone else.”

“I guess. But that’s annoying. It kind of ruined our afternoon.”

“That’s for sure.”

The image of Lori smirking at us as we were leaving the bowling alley suddenly came to mind and my eyebrows pulled together and I wondered if she had anything to do with the mysterious phone call to Connor.

I shook my head, not able to believe she would do something so transparent. That would be just plain mean. Was she capable of something like that?

I opened my mouth to tell Connor my suspicion, but then decided against it. It would sound crazy and he might think I was implying that Lori wanted to interfere with our relationship. But since we didn’t really have a relationship, that would just make us both feel awkward.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of exhausted,” he said. “I’ve spent the last two hours driving myself crazy with worry. Now I just want to chill for a while.”

I frowned as I’d been hoping he would suggest we continue our date. “Yeah, okay.”

“I’ll see you Monday then, okay?”

“Okay. Bye, Connor.”

We hung up and this time I allowed myself to wallow in pity for a while. But then I thought about Lori again and wondered what she would say if I asked her about the phone call.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

On Sunday Mom wanted to take all of us on a picnic. She said she felt bad that she hadn’t spent much time with us lately. We drove to a nearby park and we all helped to carry a large blanket along with the food she’d brought. It wasn’t like the picnics I was used to having where Mom made thick sandwiches and a large bowl of potato salad, and then brownies for dessert. Instead she brought sliced vegetables, whole-wheat pita bread stuffed with a tofu-based mixture, a thermos of cold water, and for dessert, fruit.

Though the food wasn’t what I was used to, I still enjoyed spending time with my family. Mom had also brought a Frisbee and we threw it back and forth for a while, then the boys played on the nearby play equipment while Mom, Amy, and I watched. As I sat with them on a bench, I realized that in the two weeks I’d been there I’d spent more time with my family then I had in a long time.

It’s true that I was eager to get home to the world I had come from, but I had to admit that it hadn’t been too bad here.

Monday morning when I got to class, Lori was in her usual seat and I slid into the seat next to her. I’d been gearing up to mention what had happened at the bowling alley but wasn’t sure how to begin. It turned out I didn’t have to, because Lori brought it up first.

“How was your date?” Her expression didn’t betray any secrets she might be hiding.

“It was fantastic,” I lied, a smile plastered on my face. There was no way I was going to admit that once Connor had received that message, our date had become a complete disaster. If Lori had been behind it, then I certainly didn’t want her to know that her plan had been wildly successful.

“Is that so? Connor sure seemed in a big hurry to leave.”

“Well, my little brother got sick, so we had to take him home. But it all worked out because by the time we got to my house, my mom was home from work so Connor was able to take me out, just the two of us. So it was actually a good thing.” Wow. I sounded so confident that I even began to believe it.

“That’s not what I heard.”

Lori obviously didn’t buy it and I wondered if she’d followed us and seen Connor dump me off at my house before he rushed home.

“I didn’t know my dating life was a topic of conversation.” I paused, gathering my courage, wondering if my next words were a good idea. But when I thought about the ways she’d interfered with my time with Connor, I felt so mad that I couldn’t help it. I wanted to push her buttons. “I guess when you don’t have a life of your own, other people’s lives can be fascinating, huh, Lori?” My heart pounded as I watched her face turn beet red.

When she spoke her teeth were clenched so tight that her lips barely moved. “You’d better watch yourself.”

I hesitated, feeling adrenaline pulsing through my veins, but then said what I was thinking. “Or what?”

She stared at me for a moment, then her fury melted away and a serene expression appeared on her face. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

The look of calmness on her face scared me more than the rage because I had a feeling she had already thought of a way to punish me. Even so, my curiosity got the better of me and after a short pause, I said, “You said you heard something about my date. What was it?”

She stared right into my eyes. “I heard Connor couldn’t stand being around your little brothers OR you, so he took you guys home.”

“What?” I said a little too loudly, getting the attention of the students sitting nearby. “That’s not true!”

Lori just smiled.

“Where did you hear that?” I asked.

“You know. Around.”

The teacher chose that moment to stand in front of the class. I shook my head in frustration and turned away from Lori. I was certain she had made that up to get back at me for what I’d said. After all, nobody had even known that Connor and I were going on a date.

“Lori, I’d like you to lead us in the pledge today,” the teacher said.

“I’d love to.” Lori glanced at me, then strode to the front of the class.

I stood along with everyone else and said the words without even thinking. “I pledge to always follow the rules and to take care of my body. I will strive to put the good of all above the desires of one. A healthy me is a healthy world.”

As we sat down I ignored Lori and half-listened as the teacher spoke.

When class ended I gathered my things and left the classroom as fast as I could. What Lori had said had really bothered me. I knew it wasn’t true, so I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because I didn’t want anyone else to believe it either.

As the morning went on, I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but it seemed like people were looking at me funny. By the time lunch came around I felt completely paranoid that people were talking about me. I saw Anne sitting at a table and sat next to her.