Watch Me: Teen Paranormal Romance (A Touched Trilogy Book 3) (3 page)

Chapter 3

Hiding out wasn’t exactly a long-term option. Tonight was my night for dinner duty and I’d promised Nadine I’d go over later. Why couldn’t I be more irresponsible? Phoebe wouldn’t have bat an eye at skipping out on either commitment, but that wasn’t me. I needed to do everything according to plan. If I didn’t…well, it would still happen.

“Please tell me we’re not having some tofu crap again,” Phoebe said as she came into the kitchen later that afternoon.

Giving a few more turns on the salad spinner, I rolled my eyes at her. “Tofu is not crap, and no, we’re having salad and baked chicken.”

“Ugh, why can’t you ever make pasta or pizza? Or even burgers?”

“Carbs are not thy friend, Phoebs.” I pulled off the spinner lid and tossed in the veggies I’d precut. “One day all the junk you eat is gonna catch up to you.”

“When that day comes, I’ll hit the gym. No way I’m giving up the good stuff.”

“Is this where I’m supposed to tell you that by the time you’re fifty, you’ll weigh fifty pounds more?”

“See, I’ve got over thirty years before I have to start worrying,” she said as she pulled a half-opened bag of chips from the cabinet.

I snatched the bag away from her, slapping her hand as she reached for it. “No snacking. Dinner’s ready.”

“Hey! I need something other than rabbit food.”

“Fine, there’re some buns in the pantry.” I carried the salad to the table, unable to keep a smile from my face as she moaned around the dinner roll she’d shoved into her mouth.

“Lils!” I yelled down the stairs. “Dinner’s ready!”

“Who’s this lady Dad’s out with?” Phoebe asked as the three of us settle around the table.

“She’s a lawyer with a different firm,” Lily answered.

“Ugh, just what we need in our lives, another lawyer who’s going to put me on trial every time I’m a few minutes late.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s their first date. I don’t think you have to worry about her moving in and taking control of your life anytime soon.”

“So she’s not the one?”

The one, meaning the woman our dad would eventually marry. When I first saw her in my future, I had no clue who she was, but after backtracking future events in my life, I’d finally seen their wedding.

“No. This lady will last a few weeks and then they’ll both move on. He won’t meet the other one for a couple of years.”

The three of us let out collective sighs though for different reasons. While Lily and I were ready for Dad to find someone to spend his life with, Phoebe found the idea of him dating and doing “other stuff” as she called it completely disgusting and was more than happy for him to stay single a while longer.

Silence fell over the table left a gaping space which my mind quickly filled with the vision from Sebastian. After reliving those moments when the visions had taken over, sitting across from my sisters at the dinner table became one of the most difficult things I’d ever done. For once I prayed my vision would be wrong.

I was just glad Dad wasn’t home. Now that my sisters had made peace with their gifts, he was picking up on some of my frustrations. Honestly, I couldn’t have handled his concerned stare.

Lily looked happy. Until Dylan’s death, I’d never thought of her as being unhappy. The depths of her depression had shocked me when I learned about the choices she’d been making. A few weeks ago, I’d never even considered how sad she’d always been. Today though, she was happy. It radiated from her. Her shoulders were thrown back, free of the pain she’d carried for everyone for so long, her skin glowed and, as cheesy as it sounded, there was a little sparkle in her eyes.

Even Phoebe was in a good mood. She and Nathan had plans later, and while I normally would have told her Dad was going to walk in on them just to watch her squirm, I kept the vision to myself. Besides, it would be more fun to have her raging at me for not warning her than listening to her pout all night.

“Are you all right, Chloe?” Lily asked, her eyes squinting to focus in on me. “You haven’t eaten anything.”

It shouldn’t have surprised me that she was the one to notice my lack of appetite. I’m sure she felt the panic that had risen in me again even before we’d sat down.

For a split second, I contemplated telling my sisters about the vision, but as quickly as the thought came to mind it was gone. I couldn’t do that to them. Neither of them deserved to live a life full of fear. Besides, it couldn’t be real.

“I’m fine. I’m just not hungry.”

“You’re such a crappy liar. I don’t even need a voice in my head calling you out to know that.” Phoebe rolled her eyes and tossed a chunk of buttered bread in her mouth. “Please don’t say you’re on some new diet.”

“I don’t do diets.”

“Says she who hasn’t touched bread in a decade.”

“It’s called healthy eating. And not eating bread has to do with not liking the taste, not because I can’t eat it.” To prove my point I picked up the half of the dinner roll she hadn’t finished eating and took a giant bite.

My diet and exercise routine where a constant point of contention between Phoebe and me. I liked to think I was a healthy thin. I worked out and ate well, and even though I wasn’t on the squad anymore, I still had the muscle strength to be a base. Phoebe was more of a skinny fat. She wasn’t overweight and was actually pretty close to my size, but she ate crap food and refused to do anything even remotely resembling physical activity. When she gained a pound, she figured it was somehow my fault for not doing the same. As for muscles, well I was pretty sure Lily, who was almost seven inches shorter, could take her on and win one handed.

“Phoebs, drop it, please.” Lily glanced back and forth between us.

Ah, Lily the peacemaker. It was nice to know that no matter what she’d gone through she would still do anything to end a fight. That constant attitude had solved a lot of my problems with Phoebe over the years. It was also a trait Phoebe and I both admittedly manipulated.

Phoebe shot me a snide look and I barely managed to keep from sticking my tongue out at her. She could be the petty one and I’d act as if I were above such a thing. It would drive her frustration level up much more effectively than retaliating.

As much as I loved her, Phoebe and I never got along. At least not for long. She’d grown up without her truth telling ability and she’d had a lot of jealousy towards Lily and me. Yet, while Lily tried to heal that hurt, I’d shoved it in Phoebe’s face how well my own gift worked. It wasn’t nice of me, but we just rubbed each other the wrong way. Nanna liked to say it was because we were so alike, but I didn’t see it. Phoebe was a loud mouth. I was just loud.

We finished eating without any more arguing and since clean up went along with dinner duty, I carried the dishes through to the kitchen. I was wrapping leftovers when Lily came in. She stood watching me from the doorway, her hip propped against the frame.

“Are you going to tell me what you saw?” she asked.

“What do you mean? I didn’t see anything.”

“Come on, Chloe. I could feel how scared you were when you collapsed in the hall. How scared you still are.”

“I can’t,” I said.

“You mean you won’t.”

“Same thing. There are some things people are better off not knowing. This is one. Knowing would only destroy everything.” I scraped the scraps of food into the garbage and put the dishes in the dishwasher, ignoring the clattering of glass hitting glass.

“And you don’t think knowing might help change whatever you saw?”

I closed the dishwasher and rested my elbows on the counter, running my fingers through my wavy hair. Keeping my back to her, I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. Lily stepped closer, the pale pink haze of her future slipping around me, and I let myself open to it.

The vision was sweet. Lily and Micah playing at the park with his little girl, Hannah. The three of them cuddling on the couch.

But Hannah was older. She wasn’t the little toddler she was now. This was further ahead than what I’d seen from Sebastian, which meant what I’d seen from him couldn’t have been the future. The future was exactly as I’d seen so many times before. Relief had my shoulders sagging and I smiled.

Turning around, I leaned back and put my hands on counter top, jutting my elbows out behind me. “The future doesn’t change,” I said.

She stared at me and I nearly started squirming under the heat of it. Finally, she shook her head. “You know that’s not true. The future isn’t as set in stone as you’ve always thought. You’ve been wrong more than once and not only little things.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my gift.” I pushed away from the counter and drew myself up to my full height, using my six and a half inch height advantage to tower over her.

For a moment, I thought it worked. Lily slumped, her eyes darting away. Then it was like she became possessed by Phoebe. She cocked her head to the side and looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“Then where’s Dylan? How did you not see him killing himself? How did you see him here for Christmas? For prom? If your gift is always right, why were you so wrong? If it worked perfectly, Dylan would be here today. I’d be with him and Micah wouldn’t even have a clue that I existed. Maybe it’s time to accept the fact that your ability isn’t as flawless as you’d like to think it is.”

That hurt, mainly because I didn’t expect it from her. Phoebe had no problem speaking her mind and hitting me where it hurts most, but Lily was the gentle soul. She pursed her lips as she struggled against my wounded emotions. Her face lost the attitude, but even then there was still frustration.

“You can’t keep hiding from this, Chloe. Your gift of prophecy isn’t fool proof. And if it’s not then you need to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing with it, because I don’t think you were given this ability for the sole purpose of tormenting Phoebe and Nathan.” She spun around and stomped down the stairs to the basement.

She didn’t understand. My gift had to be right, because it was me. It defined me and directed every aspect of my life. Without the future I knew was coming, I didn’t know who I was.

I’d never had what Lily had. A boyfriend devoted to me for years. Regardless of how her relationship with Dylan had ended, she’d been loved. Now she had Micah, and theirs was a love that would surpass anything she ever had with Dylan. All I would have was Andrew, and even then it would only be a handful of memories that turned sour soon.

That kind of love was never going to happen for me. I knew that.

I refused to wallow in self-pity. My future was set in stone. I had known every part of it since I was seven. Well, at least the vital stuff: where I would go to college, my career as an English professor at a small college in Oregon, how I would die alone at home when I was sixty-eight from a heart attack. The little stuff I hadn’t seen yet wouldn’t matter in the long run.

My life was black and white. It gave me comfort in knowing there were no gray areas. Even though my life might not turn out the way most girls hoped, I would be happy. If I accepted the possibility there was gray within my visions, that there was a chance of changing things, then who was I?

The sound of the doorbell put an end to my wallowing. I shoved the leftover plate in the fridge and slammed the door shut then threw the plastic wrap into the drawer before going to answer the door.

Nathan stood there just as I knew he would be. I held the door open for him and as he passed me, I let myself enter the haze of his future.

There again was the image of my dad walking in on Phoebe and Nathan along with more images of them dancing at Lily and Micah’s wedding in six years.

“She’s in her room,” I said and motioned him inside. He smiled and strode past me. I pulled on my shoes, grabbed my jacket and purse, then called down the stairs, “I’m going to Nadine’s.”

I didn’t bother waiting for a response. Lily would be the one to tell Dad where I was when he got home. I headed out, locking the door behind me. As much as I wanted to go veg in my bed and read a book, I’d promised Nadine. I really was trying, but it was hard to be enthusiastic about another night of painting our toenails while watching The Hunger Games movies on repeat. Besides, it’s not like I had a choice; the future was already decided.

Chapter 4

Nadine epitomized the perky high school cheerleader minus the cattiness typically associated with them. She made everything funny and loud. I’d been like that before my visions started going wonky. Now I found it impossible to be in a good mood when I was too busy questioning everything I thought was true about myself.

For the past few weeks, I’d been doing a pretty good imitation of Lily’s somber attitude. Depressing was the best way to describe it. I seriously needed to get back to having some fun. I wanted to be that happy girl again.

“Oh, my God! I totally forgot to tell you.” Nadine froze, her hand holding the nail polish brush suspended inches above her toes. “Bianca dumped Logan. She said when he came over this afternoon to meet her parents he cleaned up and took out the nose ring and the tongue stud. They said he was nice.”

We laughed at Bianca’s failed attempt to shock her parents. Bianca was in constant rebellion against her tradition-minded parents who dreamed of her becoming a doctor like her older brothers. She was lucky she was so fun to be around otherwise I’d never consider befriending anyone who was also friends with Phoebe.

“Do you think she even liked him?” Nadine asked.

“I think so. I mean, she was really into him and was always talking about him.” I snickered, knowing any real interest she had in Logan disappeared the moment he tried to impress her folks.

“Owen thinks she tries too hard.”

“Owen?” I raised an eyebrow in question then leaned to the side to avoid her swatting hand.

“Yes, Owen. And you can stop pretending not to know who he is. Phoebe’s been friends with him for years.”

“Oh, right.” I rolled my eyes. “Are you sure it’s not because you’ve been secretly dating him the past three weeks? Or because you dated him last summer and never told me?”

She blushed with guilt. “How did you find out?”

“Uh, as you said the guy is one of Phoebe’s friends and when has she ever kept her mouth shut about anything? Why didn’t you tell me?” I swiped a toe with the dark purple polish.

“I was going to, but then it was over and I felt kinda stupid. Owen is smart, like super smart. I didn’t even know why he went out with me. I still don’t know why.”

Her lack of ego was probably one of the characteristics that attracted him. And Andrew. I put the finishing touches on my nails before tightening the lid on the polish bottle.

“Hello, you’re the best cheerleader on the squad, you’re hot, and you’re sweet and funny. Why wouldn’t he want to go out with you?”

She shrugged.

“So, I get why you didn’t tell me the first time, but what about now?”

“I didn’t want you to tell me we wouldn’t last. You have this freaky way of knowing what’s gonna happen and I didn’t want to spoil it.”

I didn’t know what to say. There’s no way I could tell her it wouldn’t last, that by the end of the year Owen and Bianca would figure out they were more than best friends, and that in three years he’d be dating some hippie chick he meets while in college. How could I tell her the reason she and Owen don’t work out is because she’ll hook up with Andrew before Christmas?

Would it even faze her? Or was she already putting Owen behind her and focusing on Andrew?

“Andrew and I are going to the beach on Saturday.” I watched her from the corner of my eye. It was pathetic how I was gauging her reaction, searching for any clue, no matter how miniscule, that she was jealous.

She stilled and concentrated on adding another layer of pale pink nail polish. Her lack of reaction had me trying to decode any hidden meaning in her movements. Sometimes I wondered if being her friend was worth it. But ultimately, it didn’t matter anymore if I chose to hang out with her. She was my best friend and the hurt wouldn’t be any different when she betrayed me.

“That’s a good thing, right?” she said. “I mean, you’ve had the hots for him for years now. I never got why you dumped him at Homecoming anyways.”

I didn’t want to read anything into her words, but having seen the decisions she’d make it was hard not to.

“I don’t know,” I said and blew on my toenails. “I freaked. I really like him, but I just felt he wasn’t serious about me.”

Nadine didn’t say anything. As much as she’d beg for my forgiveness in a few weeks, the seed of her actions was already there. Sucked to be Owen and me. If there were anything I could change about my future, her and Andrew’s decision would be it.

Lily’s question about using what I saw to change the future nagged at me. It had been years since I tried to change things. The last time had been five years ago when Phoebe broke her leg jumping off the shed roof.

In my vision, she climbed the ladder behind the shed and jumped from the roof to the trampoline Dad bought us for our tenth birthday. I devised an elaborate plan to hide the ladder and even arranged to get both of us grounded so she’d be stuck inside. Phoebe still managed to sneak out the next afternoon and all my effort was wasted. With the help of her best friend, she made it to the top of the garage without the ladder, breaking her leg when she bounced off the trampoline onto the ground. That was the day I realized that no matter what I did the future was set.

But what if my ability had changed? Phoebe’s had. One minute she’d been normal and the next a voice was whispering in her head. And while Lily’s gift was the same, she’d finally figured out how to use and control it. Could that be happening to me? Was I supposed to start trying to change things again?

I looked at Nadine. The soft pale blue haze of her future wafted around her nearly invisible. Scooting a bit closer to her, I let my foot cross through and focused on the now. If I let myself go too deep, I’d see further than I wanted. If I was going to test Lily’s theory, I needed something soon.

Almost instantly, I had flashes of Nadine reaching for the phone, her foot hitting the bottle of nail polish that sat on the couch and spilling it across the carpet. The picture faded nearly as quickly as it came.

That was an easy enough event to try and change. Reaching over, I picked the polish up off the couch and placed it on the coffee table away from her foot. Then I waited. It wouldn’t be long before the phone call, but it felt like hours, each minute ticking by as I waited to see if I had managed to alter the future.

What I would do if it didn’t work was an easy enough question to answer. I’d go on the same as I always had. Doing what the future expected me to do. The flip side was different. What would I do if it worked? Some of the things I’d seen…

The phone rang, scaring the crap out of me, and I jumped up. So did Nadine. Her foot kicked out, smacking the nail polish off the table and sending it careening to the floor.

“Shit!” she yelled as the pink liquid seeped onto the carpet. “Oh God, my mom is gonna kill me!”

She ran to the kitchen and came back with a wet cloth. Dropping to her knees, she began scrubbing frantically at the globs starting to soak into the beige carpet.

“Grab another cloth from the kitchen,” she said, glancing up at me. I hadn’t moved, frozen in place at the confirmation that there’d been nothing I could do to change the outcome. The panicked look she gave me finally sunk in. I got up to find another towel, joining in her efforts to clean up the stain.

Maybe it hadn’t been exactly what I’d seen, but the ending had been the same. There was my black and white. I was torn between relief and frustration that nothing would ever change.

We scrubbed at the stain and Nadine even tried to use nail polish remover, which seemed like a good idea, until the carpet started changing color again.

She groaned in defeat. “I’m so dead. Mom’s gonna totally freak when she gets home.” She tossed the cloth on the table and flopped back on the couch. I sat beside her and we stared at the stain.

“She might not notice.” Actually, I knew she wouldn’t. Nadine’s mom wouldn’t be home until late and when she did arrive, she’d be so plastered she wouldn’t even make it upstairs. But again, it’s not like I could tell Nadine.

If it had been me facing my father after destroying the carpet, I would have mourned the expected loss of my freedom for a few weeks. Nadine however was not me and in her typical fashion, she didn’t’ stay down long.

“Let’s go do something,” she said, bouncing up.

“Like what? It’s a Tuesday night,” I said, unsurprised by her shift in mood.

“We could go to a late show.”             

“Too expensive, besides I’m going to the movies with Andrew on Saturday.”

“Starbucks?” She giggled at the look I gave her. “Okay, no more caffeine for me. But come on, I’m bored and I might be grounded after my mom sees the carpet, so I have to live it up while I still can.”

“There’s nothing to do. It’s Beachgrove on a Wednesday. Everything’s been shut down since six.”

“Oh my God! We should totally try out the laser tag room that just opened in the bowling alley.”

Doubtfully, I said, “You want to play laser tag?”

“It’ll be fun. Please?”

“Fine.”

Apparently, we weren’t the only people tired of movies, bowling, or staying home. The line was long, so we paid for three rounds upfront.

Thanks to our longer legs, we absolutely slaughtered the group of eight-year olds we played against first. Unfortunately, round two pitted us against a bunch of preteen boys who obviously had nothing better to spend their allowance on than laser tag. The brats managed to corner us on the bottom level as they shot at us from every angle possible.

“You know, my dad would probably have some major issues with all these kids shooting guns, even if they are pretend.” I wiped at the fine film of perspiration settling along my forehead as we sat waiting for our final round. “Violent play begets violence, desensitization and all of that.”

“Actually,” a voice said behind me. I turned to see Bastian staring down at us. “There have been studies that suggest there is in fact no correlation between violent crimes and exposure to violent content. As sales of video games, including graphic games have increased there has been a decrease in violent crimes.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked. I tensed and felt my back cracking under the pressure of the tightened muscles.

“Well, I heard if you make it to the top platform without being shot, you win a kiss from Princess Peach.”

“Who’s that?” Nadine asked.

“She’s the princess from Super Mario.” Bastian smiled at her.

“Oh.” Her eyes widened, intensifying the innocence she naturally wore, before breaking into one of her typical friendly grins.

“Are you playing?” I asked him.

“Yeah, my brother wanted to try it out. We’re up after this group.”

“Us, too!” Nadine grabbed his arm and tugged him down into the empty seat between us. “We should team up. See those boys over there? They need to go down. Like. Seriously.”

“Seriously, huh?”

Nadine, Bastian, and his younger brother, Jayden, launched into an intense strategy conversation and I zoned out, focusing on the haze Bastian still carried around him. I considered leaning in for a glimpse of his future, but knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my cool when I saw the same old tragic end to our relationship.

“Chloe?” Nadine snapped her fingers in my face.

I jerked my head away from her hand. “What?”

“You weren’t even listening were you?” Bastian shook his head sympathetically. “When the door opens, we break to the right and follow the ramp to the first tower. Jayden will secure that position while we make our way up to the top platform. Once we’re up there, I’ll guard the entrance. You and Nadine patrol the walls and take out the little punks.”

“Sounds good. To the right, up the ramp, and to the top.”

“Whatever you do, don’t stop moving or shooting. If you freeze, they’ll corner you like a dead rat.”

The attendant called our group number and we filed into the prep room. I grabbed a vest and slid it on, buckling the strap around my waist. Once I was ready, I gripped my laser gun and checked out the competition. The punk tweens were jumping up and down, bumping into each other in some lame way to pump themselves up.

The doors opened and we took off running. I tried to remember the plan, but the second I entered the black light room adrenalin had me scrambling for cover.

Nadine was calling my name and I shouted back at her, trying to peek through the slats to the level above my hiding spot.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped at Bastian’s question, spinning around as my finger tightened automatically on the trigger. His vest flashed as my laser hit its unintended target.

“You do realize your failure to follow the strategy we formulated is causing us to lose, right?”

Did he actually suggest I failed at something? I don’t do failure.

“Who says I’m losing?” I arched a brow and proceeded to shoot him a few more times before I made a break for it.

I ran up the ramp, getting off a few shots at Jayden as I passed him. My heart thundered in my chest, adrenalin flowing freely. I reached the top of the platform and crouched behind a half wall. Nadine gave me a curious look as I burst out in a breathless laugh.