Riser (Teen Horror/Science Fiction) (Book #1 in The Riser Saga) ((Volume 1)) (6 page)

He kissed me.

I felt like I was going to explode and collapse. There was no way my knees were going to function much longer if he kept this up.

Ryan pulled away, his hands cradling my face. He smiled. “See you later.”

And then he was gone, down the hall, past the shocked observers and out of sight.

My whole body was shaky, including my brain. But as out of control as I felt, I didn’t want the feeling to end. In fact, it just hit me that Ryan was gone. Hey!

“Chelsan?! What are you doing with Ryan Vaughn? Are you guys dating or something?” Bill was looking at me with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. One second it looked like anger, the next like I had killed his puppy.

The bell rang for class to start. The crowd dispersed, heading to their respective classes.

“No, Bill, Ryan and I aren’t dating.”

“Then why did he just kiss you?” Bill was returning to his calmer demeanor as if me admitting that Ryan and I weren’t dating comforted him in some way.

“I dunno, maybe because you slammed him against the lockers? He had to save face somehow.” Damn it! That was probably it! It wasn’t me that he wanted, he just didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of the school. Uuugh! I felt like crap now.

Bill’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry about that. I really thought he was messing with you.”

“It’s okay. At least I know that you’ll always have my back.” And I meant it. Knowing
that
was the only thing keeping me from crawling into a hole and dying right now.

“Always.”

The halls were empty.

“Better get to class.” I smiled at Bill and he smiled back.

“I’ll pick you up from work and drive you home. What time are you done?”

“Nine o’clock.”

“See you then.” Bill hurried toward his class until I was alone in the hallway.

With a deep and loud exasperated sigh, I made my way to Physics, knowing that the rest of the day would be spent re-playing Ryan’s kiss. Well meant or not, it was still achingly unforgettable.

The rest of school was highly uneventful. At lunch, Nancy made me give her a play by play of the Bill and Ryan showdown. She was most interested in the kiss, which apparently had spread throughout the high school pipelines like wild fire. I didn’t go into too much detail, but I admitted that it was nice. Nancy seemed a little disappointed by my lack of enthusiasm, but I didn’t want word to get around that I was as flustered about it as I was. The only nice thing about the whole dramatic event was that Nancy appeared to have forgotten all about the conversation we were supposed to have about my gift. A small relief. I knew it was coming, but at least I wouldn’t have to deal with it today. It would give me a chance to do the research about this new study myself and hopefully have more answers.

Besides, I was still paranoid about the whole Ryan thing. I needed more information before I moved forward. Ryan may want to have nothing to do with me after Bill smooshed him against the lockers. Most likely he was licking his wounds and would never see or speak to me again.

Probably for the best.

I took the Hover-Shuttle to work.
Mel’s Ice Cream and Sodas.
It was still within my safety zone of the trailer park and it also happened to be the most populated by students from my school. They just loved to come in and have me serve them (like having money didn’t already equip them with a hefty superiority complex over me).

Mel’s
was located on a beautiful cobblestone road lined with maple trees. Even though the need for roads and highways weren’t necessary since all the vehicle traffic was sky level, they were still used as landing stations, decoration for shoppers, and more importantly, historical landmarks. I had to play sick my sophomore year when my history class took a field trip to a freeway called the 405, supposedly when people still drove land cars it was one of the busiest streets in the country and, according to my teacher, it was mainly a parking lot in its busiest times. As over-populated as our planet was, traffic wasn’t really a problem since we had seven levels of hover airspace. Sometimes there were so many hovers above one area that it looked like cloud cover, blocking out the sun completely, ‘But at least the cars are moving,’ my mom always said.

Mel’s was one of the many little shops that were reminiscent of small cottages. The rooftops were thick clay tiles that gave the street the appearance of something out of a storybook. I had to admit there were worse places I could spend eternity.

I entered the shop, which was packed with people. I nearly cringed when I saw Jill sitting in the corner booth with her pack of hyenas. There was no way I was getting out of a confrontation with her. Not after the whole
Ryan
thing. She’d feel like I was encroaching on her territory.

I made my way past the red and white striped booths and black Formica-topped tables, lifted the flap of the bar, dropped it behind me, waved at Roger behind the cash register and walked into the back of the ice-cream shop. Mel, the owner, was sitting at his desk in the corner doing paperwork with his usual large grin. He was heavy-set in a jolly way, balding (a rarity, but Mel started Age-pro at thirty-five and he was scared of hair implants), small features that made him look like someone placed a tiny face on a large round canvas which happened to be his mug. Mel was just about the nicest person I’d ever met. He considered his employees his family since he had none of his own. I’d do anything for Mel, including taking Jill’s abuse so as not to disturb the other customers. Oh boy. Better mentally prepare.

“You okay, Chelsan? You’re not catching what Jenny has are you? Just terrible, she’s been puking up a gut for two days now. You’d think with all the diseases they’ve cured, the flu would have been one of them! At least you can’t die from it, I suppose, but still... I sent matzo ball soup to her house this morning. I hope she gets better soon.” Mel looked very disturbed at Jenny’s bad health.

“I’m fine. I better get out there. Roger looks like he’s going to explode.”

Mel chuckled and nodded toward the giant-sized fridge next to me. “Better pull out more shake mix. I think we’re running low out there.”

I nodded, went into the freezing refrigerated chamber, grabbed a twenty-pound container full of shake mix and headed back to the melee of the shop.

Roger finished helping a customer and turned to me with a groan that could only come from someone who has worked in the service industry. Roger was a few years older than me and lived at a trailer park a few miles away from mine. He was a good solid guy, always helped anyone in need, volunteered for just about anything: just someone you could count on. His brown hair was short and curly, his face delicate, almost feminine-like in a pretty-boy kind of way. Very popular with the ladies. Even Jill would sometimes stoop to flirt with him.

“How long has it been busy?” I asked. Usually this time of day was pretty dead. Normally, it wouldn’t get crazy for another couple of hours.

“Since your school let out. I gotta warn you, I’ve been hearing your name come up
a lot
. Especially from your favorite.” He nodded toward Jill.

“Yeah. Long story.” I really didn’t want to get into with Roger. He’d find the whole thing amusing, of course, but if Jill overheard me talking about Ryan, she’d find some way of turning it against me and embarrassing me somehow. “I’ll tell you later when it’s not so crowded.” I gave Roger a meaningful glance and he nodded in understanding.

“Gotcha. Don’t you think it would have been easier if you went to regular school like the rest of us?”

“You have no idea, but Geoffrey Turner is one of the top schools in the country.” I gave Roger the usual spiel. I had it memorized. I literally had a double life, the
fake
one where everyone thought I was an over-achiever that planned on going to the best schools and would have an amazing career, and the
real
one where I brought dead things to life and couldn’t step out of a four mile radius from my home or my jerk step-dad would drop dead and rot on our trailer floor.

“I know. And just so you know, us
park people
are
really
proud of you. It’s always an inspiration to see someone succeed and get out.”

Roger smiled with pride, like he was living vicariously through me. My heart dropped slightly. There were a lot of people in the parks who saw me as an inspiration. I didn’t want to think of how disappointed they’d be when I ended up staying at the ice-cream parlor and doing nothing with my life.

“Hey, no pressure. Relax, you look like you’re going to cry.”

I, obviously, hadn’t perfected the art of hiding what I was thinking. I definitely needed to work on that. “I’ve just had a crazy day.”

“You’re killing me! What happened?” Roger was practically salivating for the gossip.

“Later. Trust me.”

“So, trying to sleep your way into money.” Jill’s voice came out of nowhere. How did she sneak up on me like that?

I turned to face her and there she was with Joan at her side sneering at me.

“Do you need a re-fill on that shake?” I asked in the most sickly sweet voice I could muster.

“Yes, but I don’t want your dirty hands touching my glass. What’s his name here will do just fine.” Jill gave Roger the empty glass and he took it with a wink of encouragement to me.

“What do you want, Jill?” I just wanted this to be over with.

“I want you to stay away from Ryan Vaughn. Stick to your own kind, like
Shake Boy
here.” Jill was getting angrier by the second. I couldn’t fathom why she hated me so much. She had everything: money, power, good looks. Why was she always so focused on making my life miserable?

Roger returned with Jill’s shake and handed it to her. He had his back slightly turned so Jill couldn’t see his lips and he mouthed to me, “Ryan Vaughn?” Then he made a face of genuine approval. “Nice.”

I almost wanted to hug Roger. He was a friendly lifeline in the midst of attack.

“Okay. Will do. Is that all?” I raised my eyebrows in emphasis of the desire to end this.

Jill stood there, frozen in body, but eyes livid. I had seen that look before. It was the same expression Bruce used to make before he…

PUNCH!

Right in the face. Jill actually punched me! And it hurt!

“Oh crap!” Roger was just as shocked.

Even Joan and the rest of Jill’s crew looked shocked.

And just when I thought that Jill got out of her system whatever it was that made her freak, she leapt over the bar and tackled me to the floor.

This time I was a little more prepared, but not much. It’s amazing at how awkward fighting actually is. In your mind you can imagine how you’d be, what you’d do, how you’d defend yourself, but when someone is actually on top of you, wrestling you to the ground, your basic instincts kick in.

Fight or flight. Those are pretty much your two options, and as I knew from Bruce, mine was fight.

I grabbed Jill’s wrists to stop her hands from wrapping themselves around my neck. Her face was distorted and snarling from anger. She had finally reached her limit. With the combination of being caught taking Age-pro, the fly that practically devoured her, Bill’s protectiveness of me and Ryan’s kiss had finally sent her over the edge.

Once I had a good hold on Jill’s arms I used my whole body to flip her over so I was on top and…

BAM!

I punched her hard in the face.

That was when I felt the strong arms of Mel pulling me off of Jill’s body.

Joan quickly ran around to the other side of the bar and started to help Jill up yelling, “YOU should fire her! She attacked Jill!”

“I did not! She punched me and then Amazon’d it over the bar!” I couldn’t believe Joan was actually trying to go there.

“It’s true, Mel, Chelsan didn’t do anything but defend herself.” Roger was obviously having none of Joan’s shenanigans either.