“You’re a great dancer.” Michael’s body seemed to press closer to hers, and she wondered if he was doing it on purpose.
“I am?” she asked coyly, wanting to continue their conversation from this morning. Michael had watched her dance, but had that been while he was dancing with her? She liked the feel of his eyes on her, the way he was looking at her now.
“You know you are. You don’t need for me to say it. You got enough compliments.” The flyers fluttered in his hands.
“Your compliment is the one that matters.” She let her finger stroke the top of his hand. He had the long fingers of a musician. She wanted to clasp his hand and bring those fingers to her cheek.
He smiled, teasing. “You want to hear more about how awesome you were?”
She wished she could remember what had happened. “Did you think I was?” She tilted her head and let her fingers trail up his hand, until all four entwined his wrist. She liked the warm feel of his skin beneath her palm, the rapid race of his pulse. She had a sudden desire to slide her fingers up his shoulder, circle her hands around his neck, and pull his face to hers.
“So how’s everything going?” He stuffed the flyers into his backpack.
“Okay.” How could she tell him that she had awakened this morning with no idea of who or where she was?
“It seems like something’s bothering you.” He watched her carefully.
She bit her lip. Did she dare tell him? It didn’t seem right, but then, maybe he would have some idea of what to do. “Just things, you know.”
“How could you feel down with every guy in school trying to hook up with you?” he asked.
She looked away. “A guy’s not always the answer,” she said with a sigh. “In fact, I don’t think it ever is.”
“All right, I said it wrong,” Michael continued. “Have you met any guys yet that you think you could like?”
“I met you, Michael,” she said softly.
“I’m talking about guys you might like, you know, for more than just a friend,” he corrected her.
She eyed him slyly. “Why wouldn’t I like you that way?”
He blushed beneath his dark tan and started to say something, but before he could, Vanessa ran up to them. She was wearing yellow baggy shorts, a white jersey, cleats, socks, and shin guards.
“Tianna,” she called impatiently.
Tianna knew girls sometimes confronted each other over a guy, but this was ridiculous. She certainly wasn’t going to have a shouting match with Vanessa in front of Michael. She stood and placed her hand possessively on his shoulder. “What do you want, Vanessa?”
But Vanessa didn’t seem jealous. She didn’t appear to notice the way Tianna’s hand rubbed across Michael’s back.
“Why aren’t you over at the gym?” Vanessa raked back her thick blond hair and clasped it in a ponytail with a rubber band.
“Because I’m here.” Tianna felt completely confused. This was definitely not the fight she had expected from Vanessa, but her answer made Michael laugh.
Vanessa shot Michael a warning look. He raised an eyebrow and stopped laughing.
Then Vanessa put her hands on her hips in frustration. “The soccer game is about to start.”
Tianna looked at her dumbly. “So?”
“You’re not even suited up,” Vanessa continued, annoyance rising in her voice. “And we still have to do warm-ups.”
Tianna didn’t understand.
“You’re my lead player.” Vanessa seemed overwhelmed with frustration. “Come on.”
Tianna choked. “How did I get on the soccer team so quickly?”
“Would you stop playing around? This is no joke. Decca High is our biggest rival, and I want to beat them.” Vanessa was angry now. Her face flushed, and Tianna could see the vein in her neck throbbing. “Either you play or you don’t.” She turned and ran away.
“Come on.” Michael took Tianna’s hand. “We all want to watch you play, and Vanessa needs you.”
Tianna bit her lip. How was she going to pull this one off ? She wished now she had left school after the first bell. “I don’t really think I’m going to help the team, and I sure don’t understand what’s got Vanessa so upset.”
“Don’t get too aggravated with Vanessa,” Michael explained. “She gets crazy over soccer now. She and Catty used to play when they were little and she doesn’t like to be reminded of it anymore.”
Tianna looked up at him. She wanted to say “So?” sarcastically, but she had a feeling that there was something important in what he was trying to tell her. “Who’s Catty?” she asked. “And what doesn’t Vanessa like to be reminded of?”
He turned and looked at her. “You didn’t know?” Michael had a curious expression on his face. “I thought Vanessa would have told you. That’s the girl you’re replacing on the team. She and Vanessa were best friends and then…” His voice drifted away.
“And then what?” Tianna needed to know.
“Catty went away,” Michael explained.
“You mean ran away?”
“That’s what I thought at first, but Vanessa insisted it wasn’t so. Rumors started, but Vanessa won’t really talk about it. She and her friends act like Catty’s dead. So does Catty’s mother.”
“How do you know if they won’t talk about it?” Tianna studied his face.
He leaned in closer as if he didn’t want anyone to hear what he was going to say next. “I saw them putting flowers on the street a few blocks from Planet Bang as if they were making a descanso. It gave me the chills to watch them. I never told Vanessa that I saw them.”
“What’s a descanso?”
“It’s where people mark the place where someone has died by laying down flowers and candles. Usually it’s from a drive-by or a car accident.” He looked up, and his eyes followed Vanessa as she disappeared inside the gym.
“You think she was killed and they’re not telling anyone?” She had a sudden mental flash of the note she had found inside her boot. Maybe she wasn’t the first one who had been chased down.
“If she was, a body was never found,” Michael answered.
“That’s terrible.” Tianna suddenly felt sorry for Vanessa.
Michael shook his head. “You’ve got an important game to play.” He seemed determined not to stay down. “You need to suit up.”
“Are you going to watch me?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” He smiled down at her.
“Great,” she answered with faked enthusiasm. She was going to be the joke of the school after this was over. Even if she strained, she couldn’t remember how to play. Why had they put her on the team in the first place?
CHAPTER FOUR
TIANNA ENTERED THE gym, her boots scuffing on the cement floor. The steamy smells of damp towels and sweat confronted her as she looked down the long line of gray lockers. She didn’t know which one was hers. She had cut P.E. earlier in the day for the same reason; it felt too embarrassing to ask someone to help her find her locker, and she wouldn’t have remembered her combination, anyway. Besides, she hadn’t been in the mood to play. She had spent the hour sitting in the warmth of the sun.
“Hola.” The word echoed around her. She turned. Jimena sat on a bench, putting on her shoes. She was wearing fluorescent blue shorts and a shirt; her long black hair was braided and stacked on her head.
“Aren’t you and Vanessa on the same team?” Tianna asked, eyeing the uniform. She dropped her backpack and slouched beside her.
“I’m the goalie,” Jimena answered, and pulled long white socks over her shin guards.
“And?” Tianna ran her finger over the graffiti scratched into the bench.
“Goalkeeper’s uniforms don’t match the team,” Jimena explained impatiently. “You know that.” Then she looked at her oddly. “Are you all right?”
“Of course I am,” Tianna lied.
“Then why aren’t you suited up?” Jimena rubbed sunblock on her face. “This is the
big game.”
“I can’t remember my combination,” Tianna confessed. She didn’t bother to add that she also couldn’t recall which locker belonged to her.
Jimena tossed the tube of sunscreen. It hit the back of her locker with a loud metallic clank.
She turned and gave Tianna a derisive grin.
“What?” Tianna asked.
“Just strange you can’t remember your combination,” Jimena retorted. “Because we have key locks here.”
Tianna bit her lip. “Can you show me my locker, then? I can’t remember which one is mine.”
The scowl dropped from Jimena’s face and she laughed with understanding. “Yeah, this school is really big. I was overwhelmed when I first transferred in, too. Don’t worry about not remembering. I had to carry my class schedule with me for an entire week.”
Tianna smiled gratefully and followed Jimena down the row of lockers. Jimena’s cleats made a clicking sound on the floor.
“You were assigned Catty’s old locker, right?” Jimena asked as she turned and they walked down another drab line of metal boxes.
“Right,” Tianna answered, even though she had no idea if that was true.
Jimena stopped in front of a locker near a floor-length mirror.
“This one was Catty’s,” she said softly.
A watercolor painting of the full moon rising over an ocean was taped to the front. A beautiful woman hovered behind the moon, her purple robe billowing into the starry sky behind her. The image was haunting.
“Did she do the painting?” Tianna asked. “It’s really pretty.”
Jimena nodded. “She was a good artist.”
“I guess the locker is a hard one to miss. I should have gone up and down the aisles until I found it,” Tianna said, even though she knew she still wouldn’t have been able to recognize it as belonging to her.
“That’s okay,” Jimena answered with a shrug, and continued staring at the picture as if she missed Catty a lot.
Then another problem occurred to Tianna. “Is my uniform inside, or do I get it from another place?”
Her question jerked Jimena from her reverie. “You forgot that, too? Vanessa gave you Catty’s shirt and shorts. You’re the same size. I hope you kept them in your locker. You can’t play without a uniform.”
“What happened to Catty?” Tianna asked.
Jimena’s mood changed abruptly, and Tianna knew she had trod in forbidden territory.
“Long story.” Jimena tried to smile, but her look was more guarded now than friendly. “So I’ll see you out on the field.”
“Yeah.” Tianna tossed her backpack on the bench, unzipped it, and started looking for a key.
Jimena turned back. “You don’t have your key?” There was exasperation in her voice now.
“I have it,” Tianna answered. “I just have to find it.” At least she hoped she did.
“Hurry, then,” Jimena answered, and turned to leave.
“I will.” Tianna found a key chain with a couple dozen keys jangling from the ring. She stared at it, perplexed, and wondered what the keys were for.
“Why do you have so many keys?” Jimena asked, as if the same question had occurred to her.
Tianna shrugged. “Just things.”
Jimena stepped back to her. “You don’t remember which key?”
“I don’t.” Tianna tried the first key.
Jimena sat down beside her. “Are you doing this on purpose?” she asked. “The game with Decca High is really important.”
“I’m doing my best,” Tianna assured her, and pushed the next key into the padlock.
“I hope you’re not trying to make the game start late.” Jimena seemed dismayed. “We’ll get penalized. ¿Sabes?”
“I’m not trying to make us late,” Tianna answered. “And if you’re so worried about it, get a substitute.”
“Engreída,” Jimena muttered.
“What does that mean?” Tianna jerked around and glared at Jimena.
“It means you got a big head. You know we’re counting on you for this game Maybe Vanessa will beg you to play, but I won’t.”
“Leave me alone,” Tianna said, and the padlock snapped open. She unhooked the lock and pulled out a white jersey and yellow shorts that matched Vanessa’s. She placed the shoes with cleats on the bench beside her, then took out a clean pair of socks, a sports bra, and shin guards. She wondered if all these had belonged to Catty or if she had purchased some of them. The shoes looked new. She stared at them in wonder but couldn’t remember ever seeing them before.
“Warm-ups are starting,” Jimena reminded her. “I’ll see you out on the field.”
“All right.” Tianna took off her boots, then her jeans, stripped off her T-shirt and then her bra. She was about to put on the sports bra when she caught her naked reflection in the mirror.
It might as well have been the face of a stranger that stared back at her, but that wasn’t what was bothering her. Her body was covered with bruises as if she had been in a major fight. A thick black knot the size of a shoe was bleeding a pale green color into her ribs, and another long red welt crossed her back as if someone had hit her with a stick. Or a pipe. She felt suddenly chilled, and her skin broke out with gooseflesh. How could she not remember such a brutal attack? And then another thought made her wonder. Why didn’t the police believe that her attackers were real? Hadn’t they seen the bruises? She touched another one on the top of her thigh. It felt hot beneath her fingers, and she wondered if she was getting an infection as well.
Maybe she had been mugged. She had heard of people getting amnesia from blows to the head. Where that information came from she couldn’t say, but she knew it was true. That might also explain why she had such a strong feeling of impending danger. That would be natural after such a fierce attack, but it couldn’t explain the note. Unless whoever had done this to her had been trying to do more than mug her. Her heart raced.
Something moved behind her, and she caught Jimena’s reflection in the mirror.
“What are you staring at?” Tianna asked angrily as she grabbed the sports bra and tugged it on.
“You want to talk?” Jimena’s voice was gentle now, and she sat down as if there was all the time in the world before the soccer match would begin. “I’m sorry for getting upset with you. I know what was going on in your head now.”
“No, you don’t.” Tianna pulled on her socks, then the shoes.
“Who beat you up?” Jimena asked softly.
“I fell,” Tianna answered curtly, and slipped the jersey over her head.
“You think I haven’t seen what a kick to the ribs looks like the day after?” Jimena’s hand reached out to comfort her, and Tianna jerked her shoulder away.
“I don’t remember what happened to me,” Tianna replied. “Just forget about it.
“Whatever you say stays here with me.” She pointed to the two tears tattooed under her eye. “I won’t go to the cops.”
Tianna stepped into her shorts. “Like they could help, anyway.”
“But maybe I can,” Jimena offered.
“Right.” Tianna started walking away. “I got enough problems. Just leave me alone.”
She could hear Jimena’s cleats clicking after her.
“What?” Tianna turned on her.
“You forgot your shin guards.” Jimena handed them to her.
Tianna grabbed them. She sat on the nearest bench and put them on, hating the way Jimena hovered over her.
Finally she stood. “I don’t want your pity,” she said through clenched teeth. She grabbed up a ball and ran.
Outside, she set the ball on the ground and stared down at it. This was really bad. The game was going to be a total disaster if the team was in any way counting on her, and from what Jimena had said, she suspected that they were. She nudged the ball with the tip of her toe.
“Hey!” someone shouted.
She glanced up, and suddenly the guy with the red hair from this morning ran t
oward her. His foot kicked the ball, and he dribbled it away.
She had started after him when Vanessa yelled from the field, “Tianna, would you stop playing around? Bring the ball and get over here for warm-ups.”
Tianna whipped around, ready to scream I quit! But then she saw Michael standing next to Vanessa. He waved at her, his big, gorgeous smile covering his dark, perfect face.
Tianna turned back to the guy. “Just give me the ball.”
He grinned at her as if daring her to steal it back.
“Look, please.” Tianna frowned, her anger growing. “Do you want Vanessa to get more upset with me than she already is?”
“You’re her star player,” he teased. “You can be late.”
“Tianna,” Vanessa called again. “If you don’t get out here, I’m going to kick you off the team!”
“Like I care!” Tianna shouted back. Then she remembered Michael and how much he didn’t want to upset Vanessa because she was still getting over the death of her friend Catty. “I mean, I’ll be right there!”
She looked at the guy. Anger seethed inside her. “Give me that dumb ball. This has not been a good day, and I really can’t take any more.”
“Come get it, then.” He smirked and ran away from her, kicking the ball lightly with the inside of his feet. He didn’t look down, and he never lost control over it.
Tianna sighed and shook her head.
“Come on.” He taunted her, and picked up speed. “You afraid you can’t get it back from me?”
Something exploded inside her. She felt it like a hot fire flashing up to her face. She dashed after him and caught him in seconds. He seemed surprised by her speed but also delighted.
When she reached him, he darted away, changing direction, but it seemed as if her body had anticipated where he was going to go and she ran parallel with him, her feet tipping in and trying to steal the ball.
He laughed and shifted his weight in one direction, then took off running in the other, using the inside of his foot to roll the ball.