Claire’s bubbly voice came in from the other side of my bedroom door. “Let’s get vertical, sunshine!”
With Lilith out there looking for me, Nate had figured it would be wise to stick together. I couldn’t lie—it was nice having them with me. The house didn’t seem nearly so scary when I wasn’t alone.
I could never understand how Claire could be so upbeat when we had gotten less than four hours of sleep. School would be a long chore in hell today. I would have to deal not only with Amy’s usual crap, but with Avan, whom I wanted nothing else to do with. He had known from the start what she was to me, yet he went ahead and hung out with her when I needed him the most. Getting out of bed, I dragged myself into the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush.
By the time I made it downstairs, breakfast was on the table, and my mood had begun to improve. I decided to drive Dad’s old pickup to school and catch some time by myself. A little bit of silence could help with all the thoughts running like wild horses through my head; Claire’s constant babbling would not.
When I got to school, Avan was waiting by his car. I passed him and parked in the closest slot to the gates I could find. It was too early to have to deal with this. Sliding off the seat, I pulled my backpack after me, and my leather jacket—it was chilly out.
I walked past Savannah, who was looking at the little mirror she had stuck with chewing gum on the inside of her locker door, putting red lipstick on. I bumped her elbow, causing for her to draw a thick red stripe across her face.
“Looks great,” I told her as I walked by.
“You are such a bitch!” she moaned as she slammed the locker door and hurried off to the restroom to repair the damage.
“Jade, that was not nice.” Claire, my self-appointed conscience, was walking behind me now.
“She deserves it,” I huffed.
I got to my locker, where I decided to use my newfound powers to my advantage. The lock opened on its own.
“Can you please be careful with that?” Claire whispered, looking around to make sure no one had seen. “You can’t just go around doing stuff like that.”
I made it to class early. No one else was there except for two boys who were deep in conversation about some graphic novel that they thought was too cool for words. I decided to use this little windfall of free time alone to practice some of the manifesting Claire had shown me last night. I started by wishing for a pencil—simple enough and nothing that would be too noticeable. It took me a few tries to get it to manifest all the way. At first it appeared as a see-through image that I couldn’t grab. But then I cranked up the power and made it come all the way. I picked it up, pulled my notebook out, and started doodling with the manifested pencil. It worked, and I was a little surprised at how unsurprised I was.
Students started to trickle in and take their seats. Some were sitting a little too close for me to continue with my experiments. One in particular was too close for comfort.
I was leaning over the side of my seat, digging into my backpack, when I felt the air stir as it always did when he came near, and I turned toward the door. I caught sight of him as he walked in. A slight smile crossed his lips when his eyes met mine. I didn’t return it. I wasn’t so easily bought. It would take much more than an “aw, shucks” smile for me to forgive him.
He walked toward his seat, and as he was sitting down, he leaned over to kiss me. I moved away, my eyebrows shooting up.
“Hey,” he said, moving away and putting his bag on the floor.
I simply nodded at him.
A few girls in the front row turned and scowled at me. I could see that Avan was truly concerned about what had happened. A little flash of guilt came through his eyes. “I’m sorry about last night,” he said.
“Don’t be. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“What does that mean, Jade?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. After all I’ve been through, I see you hanging out with her?” He tried to reach for my hand, but I pulled away. “Just, leave me alone, okay? I have enough on my plate to deal with. I don’t need the added drama.” I did need him, but he wasn’t helping me right now. He was only another source of pain, which I could do without.
Claire and Nate walked in then, effortlessly taking the spotlight off me, probably without even knowing it. Avan kept looking my way, searching every inch of me, as if trying to find something that was out of place. Claire twisted on her chair as she sat down and looked at me. I knew that look. She thought I had gone off the rails. I was crazy. Hell, maybe I was—I couldn’t tell anymore.
“What was that?” she asked the moment the bell rang and we walked to our next class.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, well . . .” She blew on a strand of hair that fell onto her face. “That seems to be your answer for everything lately. And just so you know, it’s not an answer at all.”
We had reached lit class. She stopped me at the door and made me face her. I could tell she was truly worried about me, but I really didn’t want to talk about it. Talking wouldn’t help. Nothing would.
“You can’t shut us all out, Jade,” she said. “There’s still a lot you need to learn about . . .” She looked around, making sure no one could hear her. “. . . about who you are. Avan has done nothing wrong. He’s been there for you all along—”
“Really?” I cut her off. “It sure didn’t seem that way last night.”
Walking past her, I dropped into my seat. I threw my bag onto the floor and hid my face in the hoodie as she took her seat beside me.
A few kids approached me. They had suffered Amy’s bullying as well and were happy to hear what I had done to her. Some even said they wished they had been there to see it for themselves. Oddly, though, no one mentioned anything out of the ordinary about it. Maybe their mortal eyes weren’t capable of seeing some of the things we did.
Amy and Savannah looked my way and rolled their eyes in disgust. Claire’s eyes widened as if she saw something around me, as if there was some sort of invisible bubble. Her mouth fell open and she touched my hand. Seconds later, the darkness fell over me.