The Phantoms

Chapter 11

Someone has been following me for over five minutes now.
My knife is concealed in my waistband,easy to whip out if I need it. I keep my gait unhurried,to conceal the fact that I'm aware of my stalker. Keeping my body angled to the front,I calmly reach for my knife.
The car that's been behind me for the past couple minutes has suddenly caught up with me.
I flex my hands,ready to attack.
It's a Hyundai that looks familiar. I pause.
A window rolls down. Evan Andrews sits in the front seat looking like he's trying extremely hard not to laugh. He inclines his head towards the passenger's seat. "Need a ride?"
My house is only a few minutes away.I don't need a ride. In fact,given the fact that I'd been careless about food lately,I could use the exercise. But this is clearly about something else.
Reluctantly,I climb into the car. Evan starts driving again,at the pace of a turtle. There's something royal about the way he sits,careless and lazy,like he's the king of everything around him. He catches me staring and bares his teeth into something that is not a smile.
I respond with an actual smile of my own,syrupily sweet. "So this is your aunt's car?"
"Nah. A customer's.My aunt owns a workshop,"he clarifies at my questioning look.
I snort. "You drive around in your aunt's customers' cars? Remind me to never use your garage."
"Test drive," he replies coolly.
"I doubt that." I curl the strap of my bag over my fingers. "What's up?"
He slows the car down even more,which I hadn't thought would be possible. "We found a second portal."
I hiss through my teeth. "What?"
"You heard right. There really are more portals. And we found one." He tosses a small hand-drawn map into my lap. I pick it up and smooth it out,my eyes roving around the paper unbelievingly.
"A train station?"
"The wall of a train station," he corrects,like I hadn't figured that out already.
I press my mouth against my sleeve of my hoodie and let out a pent-up scream. Our plans are progressing way faster than I thought they would.Then what? I search my brain for an answer. After we find the portal, what the hell are we going to do about it?
Evan casts me a suprised look.
"Thought you'd have been happy," he says.
"Yeah,I would have been,"I say,tugging my purple-tipped curls,unconciously.
If only I'd been getting enough sleep. If only my mother hasn't been dropping hints about her suspicions concerning my "accident" where I tripped and broke my arm. Her watchfulness worried me much more than my insomnia,whose the side effects could at least be fixed by  many cups of coffee and some pills.
She knows I'm too careful and light-footed to fall,although she doesn't know why. She probably just assumes that I have some of my father's military pose in me.
While,in truth,Lauren had taught me.
In abandoned dance studios,sneaking illegally into school gyms after they were closed and most often than the rest,in her and dad's appartment,where she lived and we lingered.
Hours and hours of twisting my body into every position existing,sweat covering every inch of my body,until those positions became a part of me.
At four,I could do a handstand.
At five,I could swing over bars and counters half  a foot taller than me with nothing but my hands.
At six,my reflexes were fast enough for a dagger to miss me.
At seven,I could sneak past the most alert man in the world and press that same dagger against his throat.
Evan taps me on the shoulder.  I've been too lost in my thoughts to notice we've reached my house.
I tuck the map into my jeans pocket,carefully.
"How do you look so cool about this?" I ask him,enviously.
"I take breaks. I sleep. I'm not too hard on myself." He looks at the bags under my eyes pointedly.
I roll my eyes. Easy for him to say. He wasn't alone in everything he did. He had Gail, and Fabien. He didn't have a manipulative mother who blamed him for an affair that happened nine years ago, and who would use any knowledge of his abilities against him. He had an aunt who comes close to crying when he leaves for a weekend and would cover up anything to help them.
"This week is going to be hell," I breathe out. Soon,I'd be facing a bunch of highly skilled murderers. And here I thought I had gotten a break,yesterday,when my arm had finally come out of the cast. Just.Fucking.Great. My life.
"I know. That's why me, Gail and Fabien are ditching school tomorrow. We're treating ourselves. You should come."
A very awkward silence descends down on us.
I can't hide my suprise and he can't hide his.I can tell he hadn't planned for those words to come out of his mouth.
Suddenly, I want to flee the car.
I play with the my bag's straps. "Don't know. Maybe."
Evan clears his throat. "Yeah. Uh...cool.Show up at Jordan's if you decide to."
I nod,swing my bag over my shoulder and jump out onto the pavement.
I pause to turn,a hand on the car door. "See ya."
He nods. "See ya."
*****
"Look who's here." Gail says,leaning against the red brick wall of Jordan's store. Amazingly,her tone isn't completely disappointed.
"Hello to you to." I reply,giving her just enough of a smile to reveal my dimples. She rolls her eyes at me, but I can see the smile fighting through her pursed lips.
"You girls ready?" Fabien yells through the window of Evan's Bugatti. I can see Evan behind him,lounging carelessly on the driver's seat.
"Just a sec," I say, nodding to the collection of art supplies on the open shelves of the store. "I need to grab a few things."
Gail groans.
A few minutes later I slide next to her into the backseat. "We'd spent enough time waiting for you to arrive." Gail sulks as I close the door behind me. "And now you waste it on art supplies?"
"Tools of extreme importance," I rephrase for her. "I call shotgun on the way back." I add to Fabien.
"Sorry,Lydia." Evan  replies,not meeting my eyes. Yesterday's awkwardness still hangs over us.
"Front seats are reserved for the hommies." He and Fabien bump fists.
Gail and I share an eye roll.
"Alright. The bakery or Oreos?" Evan asks. I can here the poorly disguised eagerness in his voice. It's befuddling.
"Both." I answer before anyone else can. Gail laughs.
We do end up getting both,the Oreos retrieved from the seemingly endless supply in the Bugatti's glove box. At Henry's, the local bakery,we order an assortment of cupcakes, and in the car Fabien and I have an arguement about who gets the last cupcakes,which ended in a tug of war,with Gail informing us the whole time about how childish we are.
"Where to next?" I ask,falling back to my seat,with my winning prize of a larger piece of a cupcake.
"Virginia Beach!" Gail all but squeals. The rest of us laugh.
"We're playing volleyball.  Girls against guys. Winners get the front seats,screw the whole hommies pact."
"We won't need to screw it," Fabien scoffs. "You two are so gonna be flattened.And you," he adds pointing at me, "Will pay for that cupcake."
"Your meds have you dreaming," I snicker, in false bravado. I am the farthest thing from a great volleyball player.
Through the review mirror, Evan gives me the slow,lazy grin of a winner as if he'd sensed my lie. Damnit.
The game turns out to be a success for the girls. Gail is no doubt the best player,and I'm a not-bad helping hand. Together,we manage to score 60 points on the guys,and at the game's mid-point, I score one by myself. Gail whoops,and holds out her hand for a high five,kicking up a ton of sand in her excitement. I oblige,pleased.
"Careful," I whisper to her. "I might begin to think you want me around."
"Whatever." She says,but she's not even trying to disguise her smile.
We keep playing till the sun starts to set, Fabien runs to get us juices from a nearby store before we leave. When he returns with them,we run to meet him halfway. I reach him first. He hands me a plastic cup with one hand,holding three precariously with another. "Here."
I check my pockets. "I don't have money on me," I say. "I'll pay you back later-"
"Lydia,forget it. Here." He presses the cup into my hand. I stare at it. Given without any expectations of payment.
When's the last time I had received something for free?
"I'm sorry," I blurt out. For being a bitch. For treating you like you were nothing. I couldn't say it,Gail and Evan caught up to us before I could. Fabien gives me a tiny nod and a smile as if he understood,and I was forgiven.
I suddenly feel ten times lighter.
We walk back to the car,with me dreading each step. Today was a easily the most carefree day I'd had in years. I don't want it to end.
Me and Gail take the front seats per the rules of the game. With a lot of reluctance,the boys get into the back. As we're backing out of the lot, I see a familiar redhead walking towards her own car,surrounded by her usual flock of giggling followers. Patricia.
From the corner of my eyes, I see Gail shrink back into her seat at the sight of them. I remember the things they say about her in school. Freak. Bitch. No better than an underdog.Anger flares in my chest,hot. It's a hazard that comes with liking people.I can't not care anymore. I roll my window down.
"Hey,Pat!" I yell.
She turns.
I fling my half-empty plastic cup at her. It hits her straight in the chest,making her and her girlfriends shriek and staining the front of her pristine white sundress orange.
I retreat back into the car,snickering. Stunned silence meets me.
I meet Gail's eyes,and I'm reminded of that first night,where I had used a skeleton to save all of us and this same silence had occurred. She looked at me the same way as well,as if she couldn't believe their eyes.
We start laughing,followed closely by Fabien and then Evan. We're still laughing as Gail shoots out of the slot and we drive out into the open night.