Riser (Teen Horror/Science Fiction) (Book #1 in The Riser Saga) ((Volume 1)) (20 page)

“Were you here all night?” I asked.

“No. I just snuck in the window this morning. No one knows I’m here, Nancy would freak. I’ll climb out when she comes back up,” Ryan whispered. His breath was minty fresh and I realized with sudden horror my breath probably smelled like the sewer.

“I think I need a mint.” Wow. I amazed myself at what came out of my mouth.

Ryan didn’t even blink as he reached down in his jeans pocket and pulled out his personal metal gum container. He took out a piece of gum and placed it in my mouth. This guy really made my mind turn to jelly.

“Better?” he asked with a smile and put his forehead back to mine.

“Better.” I needed to get past this “school girl crush mode” that made me paralyzed around him. “Why do you like me?” I blurted out.

And to my surprise, he just smiled. “Anyone would be crazy not to like you.”

“Then everyone’s been crazy my whole life. You’re the first one.” Being a leper at school was pretty much common knowledge.

Ryan rolled his eyes. “I know
a lot
of guys who like you, they’re just too scared to do anything about it because of Jill.”

“Yeah right.” I couldn’t believe him. I saw the way people looked at me, like I was going to eat their pets or something. Jill didn’t have that kind of power. Did she?

“You don’t even know how beautiful you are, do you?” Ryan’s hand stroked my cheek again and then his face turned serious. “Ever since I tutored you last year I wanted to be with you, but I let my fear of being a social outcast make all my decisions for me.”

“But you’re so popular. No one would have cared who you dated.” I was both excited to hear him say that he’s liked me since last year and hurt that he didn’t like me enough to do anything about it.

He leaned in and kissed me.

Mush. Pure mush. I couldn’t think straight. All I could do was kiss him back. I didn’t want to stop. The more we kissed the tighter I held onto him.

Eventually he pulled away. His stare was so intense I couldn’t keep eye contact with him for very long. It scared me how much I liked him.

“I shouldn’t have cared what people thought.” Ryan’s face was full of hurt and embarrassment. I could tell it was a decision he had struggled with.

“We could have kept it secret.” We could have. No one would have needed to know. And I certainly knew how to keep a secret. Until recently anyway.

He held my face with both hands so I had to look him straight in the eye. He was almost angry he was so passionate. He accentuated every word, “I would
never
disrespect you like that.”

“It wouldn’t have been disrespectful. I get it. People don’t like me because I’m trailer trash. I wouldn’t expect you to…” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. He silenced me with another kiss.

Ryan pulled away. “You are
not
trailer trash. You are the most amazing human being I’ve ever met. You can do things with your mind that scientists all across the world have been trying to do for centuries. Besides myself, you’re the smartest person that I know. And you’re drop dead gorgeous. And I love it when you make that confused little face of yours. You get this cute little crinkle on your forehead.” He was smiling by then and it made my heart spin. “And I’m shocked that you’d even be interested in me. I’m a weak jerk for not telling everyone to
F
themselves when I wanted to ask you out. I treated you like crap and I don’t deserve you.” He was hurt again.

“Hey.” I held his cheeks in my hands like he did to me. “Don’t beat yourself up for trying to fit in. If I thought I had a remote chance of having a
normal
High School existence, I wouldn’t date you either.” I smiled at my own joke, but Ryan wasn’t having it.

“Don’t brush this off. I was mean.” Ryan was more serious than I’d ever seen him.

“Okay. I get it. But that’s over now. Everyone pretty much knows we’re going out. You made that quite clear last Friday.”

“Why are you trying to make
me
feel better for being a dick?”

“Fine. Feel like crap, just don’t break up with me.” A part of me liked the fact that he was beating himself up about the way he ignored me, but another part of me just wanted him to shut up already and kiss me.

Ryan smiled. “I’m never going to break up with you. In fact, even if
you
break up with me, because you probably will you know, I’m very boring, I’ll stalk you forever.”

I snuggled in closer. “Boring? Yeah right. You’re only the smartest kid alive. I’m surprised my grandpa hasn’t snatched you up to enlist you in his services.”

“He’s tried.” Ryan looked at me cautiously. He wasn’t sure how I was going to react and I could tell he was scared.

“What do you mean he’s tried?”

“You know how I get recruitment offers on a daily basis?”

“Yeah?” It was crazy how basically the whole
world
wanted a piece of Ryan. When someone tested off the charts like Ryan, it made him a very popular guy. He received job offers from every science research lab in the world. When he was eleven years old he figured out the missing piece of some unsolvable math equation that had stumped mathematicians for centuries. It’s no wonder Turner would want him.

“No. I don’t mean he tried to recruit me recently. He tried to recruit me when I was eight. Three years before I solved Trildion’s theorem.” Ryan paused, “Chelsan, Turner kidnapped me.”

I couldn’t say I was surprised considering what my mother showed me in her visions. Turner was ruthless and kidnapping kids to serve his interests seemed on par with what I knew about him already.

“He must have had access to my test scores. That was the first time I tested above the genius level. Some men in suits arrived at my house two days after I took the test and told my parents that I was selected for a special government program for the gifted.” Ryan paused.

“You don’t have to tell me…” I could see how hard it was for him to continue.

“No, it’s alright.” His face was determined. “Anyway, my parents asked me if I wanted to do the program and I told them “no.” When they told the men my answer they said it wasn’t an option and took me anyway. My mom was screaming, my dad tried to tackle them with a fire poker, but one of the men pulled out a gun and put it to my head. That stopped them in their tracks. I was shoved into their hover-limo and taken away.” Ryan swallowed hard.

“I’m so sorry.” I did the only thing I could think of to make him feel better, I kissed him gently. “How did you get out?”

Ryan took a moment to re-group then looked me in the eye. “I was taken to some sort of research facility. It was a giant single room with ten-foot ceilings and row upon row of computers and electronics. There were kids my age everywhere either on the computers or strapped into virtual reality gear poking the air in front of them like they were writing on a chalkboard or something. That’s when I met Turner. He came over to me and welcomed me to the facility. He said he’d been watching my test scores for a while and that this would be more of a home to me than with my parents.” He paused thinking, “He scared me more than anything, Chelsan. It was like I was talking to the Boogieman. He looked at me like he was the hunter and I was the prey. My instincts kicked in and I started to cry. I lied and told him that I had cheated on all my tests. I told him how I stole the tests from my teacher’s computer and memorized them, that was why I didn’t want to come here because I knew they’d find out about me. I couldn’t tell if I had convinced him or not, he just stood there staring at me as if judging whether or not I was telling the truth. I told him that I’d study hard and I’d try and prove that I could be smart. If I could memorize the tests then maybe I could actually learn what was on them. I hoped that by pretending that I actually wanted to be there, he’d believe my lies more. After staring at me for what felt like an eternity, he sent me back home. My parents and I were so relieved, and when I told them what happened they said I should mess up my schoolwork to back up my lie. Just to be safe.

“The men in suits came to the first couple of tests, waiting to see my scores. I made sure that I missed half the questions. Eventually, they stopped coming all-together and I felt safe again. I slipped back into my normal behavior and started to forget all about Geoffrey Turner.” Ryan took a deep breath.

“About three years later, I was in math class and the teacher put Trildion’s theorem on the board. He gave us all a crack at trying to solve it, not expecting any true results since we were all eleven and no one had solved it in three hundred years. But I just saw the answer, you know? That’s how things work for me. I see problems and equations and the answers just form in my brain as if they were already written down for me. My teacher flipped out. He called the news. I was the poster child for geniuses. They had a national dinner for me with the President and everything.

“That’s when I saw Turner again. He looked at me from across the room with such venom and hatred I nearly pee’d my pants. I was suddenly grateful for my teacher announcing the fact that I solved the theorem to the world. I think Turner would have taken me again if it had been kept quiet. The only interference we’ve had since is the government telling my parents in no uncertain terms that I was to go to Geoffrey Turner High. To keep an eye on me, I guess. I’m still scared of him. And now knowing what you told me about what happened to you and the exterminations, I don’t feel so ashamed about that anymore. Any sane person
should
be afraid of Turner.” He stopped and looked at me.

“I’m related to him. The man is a monster and we share the same blood.”

“You’re nothing like him. I’m telling you, I’ve looked into his eyes. That guy is as evil as they come.” Ryan cupped my face with his hands again and kissed me. “I just wanted you to know my history with him, and a little bit of who I am before you decide I’m a boring idiot.” And he smiled his disarmingly charming smile.

I smiled back, then a thought hit me. “What do you think he wants all those kids for?”

Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to block it out of my memory for so long, I never really thought about it.”

“We should. I’ll tell Jason, maybe he knows something.”

Ryan looked away, his face suddenly distant.

“What’s wrong?” Oh boy. He thought he could handle Turner being my grandpa, but I bet he couldn’t. What happened to him was too traumatic.

“Do you like him?” he asked quietly.

What?

“What?” I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Jason Keroff. I know you had those holo-pictures of him before you actually met him, and he obviously likes you…” Ryan trailed off.

I covered my mouth to hide my laugh.

Ryan didn’t find it funny at all. He started to sit up in Nancy’s bed, preparing to leave.

I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back down so we were forehead to forehead again. “No. I don’t like Jason Keroff. I only started liking him to keep my mind off of you.”

Ryan eyed me suspiciously, but I could see the relief in his eyes. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” I played on his guilt strings for fun. “I mean, after you ignored me as soon as I didn’t need tutoring anymore, what was a girl to do?”

Ryan kissed me again. The kind of kiss that makes the hair on the back of your neck raise and your toes tingle.

I pulled away. “And how did you know I had holo-pics of Jason anyway?”

Ryan’s face turned red. “When I met your mom. I could see inside your bedroom. They were kind of plastered everywhere,” he teased.

“Stalker.” I smiled.

“You know it.” He kissed me again.

We heard a noise outside Nancy’s bedroom and he pulled away.

“Better go.” Ryan snapped up from bed and headed for the window.

“Nancy won’t mind. Stay.” My mind was still numb from his kiss and the last thing I wanted him to do was leave.

“She wouldn’t, but her parents would. Better to come through the front door.” As if he couldn’t stop himself, he ran over to me and gave me a quick kiss. Then he leapt to the window and opened it wide.