The next couple of weeks flew by, and before I knew it, we were several basketball games into the season, and not only was the homecoming dance less than a month away, Valentine’s Day was just around the corner. Lucy and I had found a way to get Emma to “hypothetically” join in our conversation, and while all three of us were now having weird dreams, I was pretty sure it was due to the fact that we kept talking about monsters and not because of any actual bloodsuckers infiltrating our thoughts, though I couldn’t one hundred percent rule that out.
On game days, we wore our uniforms to school, and the boys on the basketball team all wore matching shirts. I was standing at my locker thinking about whether or not Liam would notice I’d curled the ends of my hair when I heard what sounded like a cheer coming from down the hallway. Puzzled, I looked around and caught a few other narrowed eyes before I grabbed my books and headed in that direction.
<My eyes probably resembled dinner plates, and for a moment, I thought Elliott was going to tell them he has a friend who fought in the war, but while everyone else puzzled over what he meant, he continued, “You see, as long as you continue to think about all of the things these men and women did for us, all those years ago, it’s like they’re still alive. I mean, think about it. George Washington died, like, two hundred years ago, right? But you’re still talking about him. Why? Because he was one awesome dude.” Most people couldn’t pull off that phrase the way that Elliott could. I looked around the room, and a lot of the kids were nodding. “Abe Lincoln? What do we know about him? Tall dude with a stylin’ hat, right? But… he made changes to our country that still impact us today. It’s important to know that stuff so we don’t screw things up. If we don’t know about the Emancipation Proclamation, we might do somet
“What are you doing here?” I asked as he sat down.“Nice to see you, too.”“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said, wondering if my tone had been harsh. “It’s just… Mrs. Neely has a class right now, doesn’t she?”“Yeah, but they’re good. They’re reading chapter twenty-seven and answering the questions at the end like good little robots.”“Ugh. Glad you didn’t make us do that,” Lucy said, pushing her tray aside.“Something tells me we’ll have to do it tomorrow,” I replied. “Class was fun.”“Yeah, sure was,” he agreed. “What time’s the game tonight?”“Seven thirty,” Lucy answered before I could get it out. “You comin’?”“Of course,” Elliott replied. “Drove all the way from Kansas City just to see it.”
We were getting cremated—and I don’t use that term lightly due to recent events—by the time the fourth quarter rolled around. Honestly, I don’t think anyone even cared, though. The cheerleading squad was on fire, and for the first time in forever, whenever we’d turn to the crowd to get them to participate in a cheer or chant, every single person in the audience was with us. It might’ve had something to do with the large, curly-haired man who was encouraging them from his seat about halfway up the section closest to the end of the court where our squad cheered. Every time I looked over at him, he had a huge smile on his face. Even Emma looked happy, and I couldn’t remember ever seeing her happy at a sporting event.My parents were sitting near Elliott, though not right by him. There’d been such a rush of students who wanted to sit next to him, he’d had to demand they scoot down so Emma could find a seat right next to him, a
We ended up losing by a pretty big margin, which was no surprise. In the locker room, I decided I would just throw my warm ups on over my uniform and go. I didn’t know if Elliott was planning on heading back to KC right then or if he’d come back to our house. While we’d had a nice dinner, I hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk to him without my parents, except for in the car, and he’d been pretty quiet then. Now, I at least needed to tell him thank you. I was surprised to find him waiting for me outside without a crowd around him but then realized he could easily convince anyone that they didn’t want to talk to him right now.It was dark and the wind was blowing, but he didn’t look cold at all as he stood beneath one of the many lights that illuminates the walkway to the school wearing the hat I’d given him for Christmas. He had his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and a grin on his face. I felt like I was rushing to
Valentine’s Day is a big deal at my high school. Maybe it is at every high school, but at mine in particular it’s a day when teachers don’t even bother to try to do anything, even the strictest ones, because they know none of us are paying attention.Throughout the day, students are called to the office over the loudspeaker whenever flowers arrive. Almost everyone gets something because all of our parents know this, so if you get your name called more than once, it means someone really likes you. You go up, read the card, and then put your bouquet, or balloons, or whatever on the table marked for your grade level and come back after school to get your stuff.So, my name was called during second period, and I went up to see that my parents had sent me pink roses, which was nice. And then my name was called again during third period, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Cadence had also remembered the tradition and sent me some red roses. Her note
“What if…” Lucy began and then stopped, biting her lip for a second before she continued, “what if I didn’t like Jason, and I said no. Do you think Jess would be mad at me because the guy she likes asked me out?”I scrunched up my forehead and stared at her for a long while. “No,” I said. “How would that be your fault? You can’t help it that you’re gorgeous and awesome.”She gave me a cynical smile. “Still, I think she’d be mad. It’d be human nature to be jealous.”“I agree,” Emma said, nodding. “I think she’ll be mad at you no matter what you say.”“You think?” I asked, turning my gaze to Emma.“Yeah, I mean, if Liam asked Lucy out, you’d be mad, wouldn’t you? Even if she said no?”I expected Lucy to say her usual comment when it came to Liam, “barf,” but she was only
I nodded, thinking my mom likely assumed Elliott was going to brainwash me into believing that whatever had happened wasn’t so bad, and maybe, if it was as awful as she had me thinking it might be, he’d have to. He was sitting in her chair when I walked in, though he stood up as soon as he saw me. “Hi,” I said, hearing my mom fumbling with flowers and balloons behind me but not stopping to help her. “What’s going on?”“Let’s go outside,” he said, heading toward the backyard. I turned to see my mom making what would apparently be the first of a few trips inside, dropped my backpack by the door, and followed behind him.Despite the fact that it was still February, it was a fairly nice day. The sun was out, there was no snow on the ground, and only a light breeze rustled the remaining crinkled leaves in the yard. Elliott dropped into a chair on our back deck, and I sat next to him, doing my best to give him time
Elliott managed a small smile and then leaned a little closer to me. “This isn’t over yet, though, Cass. Your sister might be out there hunting down other demons, but eventually, we will have to find Giovani and figure out what’s going on with Laura. If she did that on purpose, well, then….”“She needs to pay,” I finished for him. “Absolutely. Do you think there’s a chance she meant to hit Cadence?” My voice nearly cracked at the end of the question, it went up so high.“I don’t know,” he said quickly. “But… the fact that she used to date Aaron makes me think there’s a possibility.”“What?” I almost flew out of my chair. “Just how many ex-girlfriends does this man have? And are they all nuts?”“I know,” he agreed, putting his hands out as if to tell me to calm down. “I don’t know that it was on purpose.&rd