Instant disgust. He and Yvonne had been best friends for years. Val didn’t know whether to defend Yvonne or change the subject. All he could get out was; “Um, what?”
“Well, OK, she’s not that bad. But who laughs at something like this?”
Jen placed her hands on her hips and her chest pushed forward. Man she looked hot. Maybe she was trying to look out for him in some disturbed way. Probably nothing to worry about.
“I know she wasn’t laughing at this because we talked about it before you got here. She was smiling because she wants you two to be friends. That’s all.”
The lie came easily. She said nothing and he hoped she would swallow it. Her forehead wrinkled and she pouted.
“I guess I blew it, didn’t I?”
“I doubt it. Yvonne gets over things quick. By tomorrow she won’t even care.”
“You really think she wants to be friends with me?”
The hopeful note in her voice made him cringe. She sounded desperate. It made him think of Bianca’s obsession with getting in with him and his friends and where had that left her?
“Yeah, sure.”
“I should apologize. Maybe we can go find her?”
“Don’t worry about it. You can tell her later. She’s fine.”
Jen grinned and took a step toward him.
“Why would the ridiculously popular Yvonne Terry want to become friends with me exactly?”
He blushed. They’d only been talking on the phone for a week or so. He had no intentions of telling her he sort of hoped something might happen between them. “Uh, because I’m, uh, friends with you.”
“Just friends?”
“So far.”
She stared at him with her slightly lopsided smile, saying nothing. He hated the awkwardness. He had no comfort zone with her and wasn’t used to dealing with new people trying to push his buttons.
“Well maybe…” she trailed off.
“Wow that’s pretty brutal. I had to check it out as soon as Yvonne texted the pic. Hi, Jen.”
Val hadn’t noticed Sal’s approach, but was grateful at his friend’s sudden appearance. Val took note of Jen checking out Sal. He felt a twinge of jealousy over the Surferboy. Lots of girls liked Sal’s shoulder length blonde hair, deep tan and blue eyes. The jealousy passed quickly and he wondered where it had come from. They’d been friends for years and besides, Sal had a hottie of his own.
“Can you believe this?” she asked the newcomer. “I mean who would be so stupid to threaten a cop’s kid, and in writing?”
Val flinched at the mention of his dad’s job. He hadn’t been sure, until she said it, she even knew who his dad was.
“Never mind cop’s kid. Who would be stupid enough to threaten Val? It’s not like you’ve got any enemies. Oh wait, you don’t think this has anything to do with that thing we’ve been talking about lately, do you?” and there it was, Sal on a nervous ramble in front of someone who didn’t know about ‘The Beast’.
Val grasped for any words to throw Jen off, but she pounced; “What thing you’ve been talking about lately? Come on, Ivan, you’re already keeping secrets from me?” she forced her bottom lip out, pouting.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Sal turn bright red. At least he seemed embarrassed over the slip. Jen seemed to have her full attention focused on Val.
Val shrugged innocently. “No secret. It’s just a dumb guy-thing and I doubt it has anything to do with this nasty bit of artwork.”
Jen folded her arms over her chest. She wasn’t buying his lame excuse. He would have to come up with something better… or maybe a good distraction.
“Hey Sal, could you give us a minute?”
He noticed the relief on his friend’s face as Sal nodded. Immediately Sal wandered off down the hall. Val would have to remember to thank him later for his little foot-in-mouth moment. Jen stared at him through a scowl, looking like a cross between someone betrayed and someone who had been left out. She actually looked kind of cute.
“Um, Jen, do you, um, well, uh, do you want to hang out sometime?”
He felt heat in his cheeks. Her expression brightened.
“You mean, like, just us?”
“Well, yeah.”
He tried his best not to look at the floor. Standing in the hallway at school wasn’t how he pictured asking her out. Especially not with people continually stopping to check out his newly decorated locker.
She smiled coyly, managing to radiate suspense for a moment and then blurted; “Of course I would!”
“I’ll call you later and we can figure something out.”
He spun and practically ran off before she could say another word. No more questions about ‘that thing we’ve been talking about lately’ and no awkward in-person chat trying to decide the when and where of their first date.
Their first date. He’d actually done it. He managed to ask her out. What a morning.
Chapter 2 (VAL)
Val brooded over how rough his day had turned. If only it kept on going as well as it started. He’d been so distracted by his morning, floating in a sea of bliss, he hadn’t been able to focus on what had actually been happening. Teachers called on him and he’d been embarrassed because he had no clue what the questions were, never mind the answers. He got nailed during rugby practice by a tackle he should have been able to avoid, by a freshman no less. He couldn’t place whether ‘The Beast’s’ threat or Jen had been the bigger distraction.
The icing had been missing his ride home. Not that home was that far, but the cold pouring rain definitely sucked. The odd trickle breaching his collar seared like ice as it slithered down his skin.
The fall weather was slowly giving itself over to winter. He would have been happy about it, if he wasn’t so cold and wet. Not even thoughts of Jen could pull him out of his misery.
As he cut behind a strip-mall, from his place behind some parked cars, he noticed a person trying not to be noticed. She leaned against a wall holding a black umbrella tipped low enough to cover her face. He couldn’t quite say what drew his attention to her, but his intuition told him she was up to something she shouldn’t be.
His curiosity beat out the cold and he stopped to watch the woman. Her body language could have said she was cold. He studied enough of his dad’s police training videos to know that much, yet a little voice nagged him that it wasn’t the case. Oddly enough the little voice also told him she wasn’t about to commit a crime.
The woman hadn’t become aware of his presence. He almost wished she had, so maybe she would look his way and he could see her face. He sensed a certain familiarity about her. What was she doing hanging out at the back of a store in the rain?
Shivers ran through him as another bead of ice-water slipped beneath his shirt. The warmth of home asserted itself. She hadn’t moved and wasn’t doing anything. Her mystery began to fade, replaced by the need for heat.
Val turned to go and detected the faint squeak of an unoiled hinge. He looked back to see a man stepping out of a service door. The umbrella swallowed his head as the two embraced. Boring. Even though the umbrella bobbed as the two became more passionate, he no longer cared.
Until he heard her laugh. Then mere caring was a completely inadequate sentiment.
Chapter 3 (VAL)
He sat on the edge of his bed shuffling hockey cards into a protective album. Val had done this countless times and the near mindless act soothed him. The woman’s laugh still echoed through his mind. As hard as he tried to push her away, she drifted back to him. His mother’s laugh was unmistakable.
What was she doing with that man? Thoughts of his parent’s happy marriage shattered as the laughter rang through him again.
He set the album aside and tried to think of something that would require more of his attention. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled to the picture Yvonne had sent of his locker. ‘The Beast’ had sent him a message. A threat in bold red paint. Even ‘The Beast’
couldn’t stifle the laugh he heard earlier.
He thought about calling Yvonne or Cam, but decided he wasn’t ready to talk about it. Both of their parents were still together and he didn’t need their pity. The others: Sal, Sandi and Tamyra may be more understanding, but he didn’t want to sound pathetic. It struck him as odd that Jen wasn’t on his list of shoulders.
Maybe he would call her anyways. She made him laugh and could certainly carry a conversation. He regarded the phone in his hand as one would a poisonous snake and knew he wasn’t calling anyone.
Yvonne messaged everyone; an urgent meeting of the minds was mandatory tonight. The appointed time loomed. Maybe some time with friends would help. Everyone would be excited and nervous and ‘The Beast’ would surely be the main topic. Perhaps it would be enough to silence the laughter in his head.
*-*-*
Val entered the old paper mill first, through a window, as customary. He scraped his palm on the lip of the sill and cursed. Blackness encompassed him as he landed inside and unlocked the door for his friends.
Tamyra entered first, followed by Sal whose fingers interlaced hers. He thought it cool how she’d only hung out with his group of friends for a couple of months, but it felt as if she’d always been there. She gave him a shy smile. Val smiled back, taking her in. She had curves that most women would kill for and her light coco skin gave her an exotic look. She slipped past his side to let the others in.
Yvonne clicked on a flashlight as she stepped past him, as did Sandi coming through the doorway. Cam came in last, holding out his dirty hands from Val’s shoeprint and shut the door behind him. Val heard the snick of the deadbolt and let out a sigh.
“I’ll lead.” Yvonne said.
Images of a knife-wielding maniac sprung up and he couldn’t let her go first. Val knew saying anything would be pointless. Instead, he glided past the rest of his friends and fell in at Yvonne’s side.
“Always gotta be the man, huh?”
Not wanting to piss Yvonne off, he said; “Hey, I’m probably more freaked out than you. Maybe I’m the one who needs protecting.”
“Uh-huh.”
He couldn’t see her face to tell if she smiled or not. A foot shorter than him and ready to take on the world, he had to admire her.
They reached the bottom of the stairs without incident. No crazies sprung from the deep shadows to get them. Val didn’t want Yvonne to go up the stairs first, but he couldn’t figure a way to stop her that wouldn’t cause a fight. He stayed on her heels up the staircase and inched up beside her as she walked down the corridor to their special room. He dangled a key over her head and she stepped back to let him open the door.
“Light please.”
Instantly the lock became visible. He swung open the door and Yvonne made a big show of sweeping the flashlight back and forth inside. Threadbare couches and the makeshift desk-table were the only things occupying the room. She giggled and slipped inside. The others followed.
Val stood in the archway of the door while everyone settled onto the furniture. Maybe it had been a bad idea to go out tonight. His mother’s indiscretion still lingered on his mind.
“Get in here and shut the door. We don’t need anyone seeing the lights.” Sandi said.
She stared at him expectantly, so he stepped in and tugged the door behind him. Sandi’s head tipped to one side and she gave him a look, her freckled face full of concern. No one else paid him much attention. Damn, he’d known these people for too long. At least one of them was bound to notice he wasn’t himself.
He gave Sandi a reassuring smile and sat on the arm of the couch next to her. Someone had lit a candle and it made her long red hair look like fire. Cam perched on the couch next to her. In the low light he looked somehow smaller than his 5’8” athletic frame. Also, Cam’s hair and skin seemed to absorb the light somehow. His normally dark Asian hair and features appeared to shimmer copper. Strange.
“So? What’s everyone thinking?” Yvonne asked.
All at once his friends were chatting over each other. It seemed they all had a theory about the locker graffiti. The general consensus pointed to ‘The Beast’. Only he and Tamyra said nothing. Not unusual for her.
“Val? You with us?” Sal the Surferboy had asked the question, but everyone waited for a response.
“Sorry, long day.”
Sandi coughed, then asked; “What do you think of the threat? I mean, I think we should back off.”
“No way. We’re getting somewhere. We’ve just got to be careful.”
“Bianca is dead.” Tamyra spoke with a haunted expression.
“And that’s one of the reasons we can’t let this go.” Val’s mind tripped back to the morning conversation with Yvonne. “Has anyone been talking about The Beast outside of these walls?”
He heard murmurs of “No” and saw most of his friends shake their heads.
“We’ve got to figure out how ‘The Beast’ caught on to us. Anyone? Anything?”
Sitting in the leader’s seat took the edge off his day. Too bad no one came up with anything.
“Cam, Sandi maybe you two were somewhere you thought it was just you two. Or maybe Sandi discussing this with the dead in the open?”
He kept the sneer off his face as he asked about Sandi talking to the dead. He realized he’d hidden his thoughts on her hobby well when she didn’t react to his second question. Both took a moment to think and then said ‘No’ with confidence.
“What about you guys? Sal, Tamyra?”
Tamyra shook her head “no”.
Surferboy looked wounded. “We promised, Val.”
“Well I haven’t had any conversations outside of this room and this morning. Thanks by the way, Sal. What were you thinking? That thing we’ve been talking about lately and in front of Jen.”
“Yeah, uh, sorry about that.” Surferboy blushed.
“So you haven’t told Jen about ‘The Beast’?” Yvonne asked.
Val shot her a look. “You know me better than that. I hardly know her.”
Yvonne gave him her own disapproving face. “But you like her.”
“That has nothing to do with anything. We swore to keep this secret.”
Cam shifted forward in his seat. “So we’re back to trying to figure out how ‘The Beast’ learned about you.”
“Maybe this has nothing to do with ‘The Beast’.” Tamyra shrank back into the couch and Sal’s side before she finished talking. Even amongst friends she didn’t want to be centre of attention.
The rest of the group respectfully rejected the idea and when Sandi pulled the six-pack from her bag, wild theories flew; everything from ‘The Beast’ being psychic to being one of them. Laughs were had by all, but nothing solid came from the discussion.
*-*-*
Val, having abstained from the booze, drove most of his friends home. When he pulled into his driveway only Cam remained, who looked next door to his house and then back at Val.
“So, you wanna tell me what’s up?” Cam asked.
Val shifted in his seat, tapped his fingers off his keys and pulled them from the ignition. He hadn’t processed his mother’s actions.
“It’s cool, man. You don’t have to tell me.” Cam opened the car door. “But you know the girls will drag it out of you.”
“That obvious?”
Cam unclasped his seatbelt. “Yeah, I guess.”
“No worries. I’m alright.” Val said, yet hearing his voice he knew it lacked conviction.
Cam climbed out of the car, so Val did too. He wanted to talk to someone, he just didn’t know what to say.
Cam smiled. “Pretty cool threat on your locker, huh?”
No pressure, one of the things he liked about Cam. Val ran a hand through his hair and laughed.
“Way cool. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m actually flattered by it.”
“You would be. Anyhow, I’m heading home. Sandi wants me to log on when I get in.”
Val made a ‘whup-c
hee’ noise and pretended to whip the air. He thought Cam’s face flushed and they both cracked up.
“Enjoy your cyber…” Val let the last word go unspoken.
“Don’t even.”
“I’m going in before I go too far.”
“Uh-huh. Night man.” Cam called over his shoulder as he headed home.
“Later.”
Val crossed the driveway to the porch and wondered if his mom was home. Her car sat out front. He didn’t take that to mean she was home because earlier he didn’t see her car. He held his breath as he turned his key. The breath whooshed out of him as he spotted a black umbrella drying on the porch.
*-*-*
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