Arrows (14 page)

“He’s at Dmitri’s,” Karma said.

“Good.”

Karma’s mood seemed to be darkening by the second. I hung back as she walked to the center of the room, hoping she’d sense that I didn’t want to hurt her, only help her.

The music blasted and Juliette didn’t waste time, clapping beats and shouting at us, but Karma lost her footing once, then twice. Touching her felt wrong when she was mad at me. I moved my arms the way Juliette had shown me and held Karma for the pirouette, but it was hard to focus on her, especially when she might meet my eyes.

“This isn’t working,” Juliette said. “Let’s take ten.” She faced Karma with one eyebrow perked, mouth in a sour circle, like she expected her niece to leave all her emotion at the door and focus. Like it should be simple. Juliette left. Instead of shrinking when Karma tried to walk by me, I moved into her way.

“What?” Karma asked. She rolled her eyes.

“Something’s bothering you. Are you pissed at what I said?”

“I just wish everyone would leave me alone.”

“You know we can’t. I’m worried about you. A lot’s happened.”

Karma stretched her neck and eased onto the floor in a split. She picked at an imperfection in the wood with her fingertip. “Danny told me about the school meeting.”

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and shrugged a couple of times to help shake off the reality of the past twenty-four hours. “Walt fired me.”

Losing my job for punching Danny was bad, but not as bad as things were between us now. If we did cross paths again, which was pretty unlikely given that I wasn’t his coach, he’d probably want to beat me up. Plan B? I had nothing. What I did have was a growing realization that my mission on Earth was totally screwed.

“He shouldn’t have said anything,” Karma said. “I mean, the fight was a total misunderstanding. I tried to tell him that, but he didn’t care.”

“Well, too late now.”

Big shock here: getting Danny to propose by punching his face hadn’t worked.

“I don’t like fighting,” Karma said. “It’s unattractive.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me—when I saw you were hurt I just snapped, out of instinct.”

“He wanted me to kick you out of the competition.”

“He did?” And, wow. The thing that scared me the most? For a second, all I cared about was not being able to spend time with her. Something was really wrong with me, especially since I only had seventy-two days left on Earth.

She brushed her hair forward until it covered half the mark. “I told him it was too late. You’re the only one who knows the piece.”

“I don’t want to come between you and your boyfriend,” I said. Being reasonable. Karma was nodding really fast.

“Oh, I know. I agree—yes. We’d have to stop if he asked me to.”

Well. He
had
asked her to kick me out. “I guess he probably hates me, huh?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was soft. Almost afraid. “But he won’t come back here again. He promised.”

“I’m sure he’d like to land a few punches on me.”

“He’s not going to do anything.”

Neither of us was too sure.

“Well, whatever. I’m not going to worry about it,” I said. I tugged her up, liking the fact that she bumped against my chest. Danny couldn’t stop us. He’d tried and she’d said no. “The most important thing we can do now is focus on your scholarship. We can do better.” I held my hands out. “We can win this.”

A little smile lifted her mouth. “Oh?”

“Yes. I’ll work harder. You deserve to win.”

You deserve a life.

“Hmm.” Karma sauntered over to the sound system and pressed play, then tiptoed in front of me fast. Her waist fit against my hand in a perfect curve. “Ready?” I felt the vibration of her voice. She twisted and I held her, softened my grip, and pulled her back with my hands. Strong girl. Beautiful girl. Dancing with me. Maybe Danny hated me, and maybe he’d never be nice to her, but this was nice. She spun again, talking through the steps to stay in sync.

There had to be a way to fix things with Danny. I’d think of a plan. Soon. We stumbled a little but found our places again without mentioning it. We went on like that for many moments. She fell back and caught herself on my arm.

“I’ve got you,” I said. She shook her head, smiling, and tested her balance as she rose. It was a while before we realized Juliette was watching.

“Oh, hey,” Karma said, and for some reason she took two steps away from me.

“That was good.” Juliette sipped her tea. “You two look great out there. Really great.”

“I’ve got a ways to go,” I said, and chuckled, though it didn’t change the electric mood in the air. Why did it feel like we’d been busted? Karma practiced her way to the big windows and acted very interested in whatever she’d found outside.

“It’s such a nice night,” she said. Then the room got so quiet it seemed to roar.

“I’m heading out,” Juliette announced. She tipped her cup against her mouth. “You two work as long as you like.”

“Where are you going?” Karma asked. Her eyes were round when she turned.

“Just out. The other girls went to a movie. They’ll be back before nine.”

“Oh.”

“We can work on the lift tomorrow. You don’t need anything from me, right?”

“I guess not.”

Juliette looked at me, then left, the door closing softly behind her. The sound of her car tires crackling against the gravel gave me a chill.

“I guess we better get back to work,” Karma said.

“Yeah.” Were my hands okay? I shook them out, but my heartbeat only got more ridiculous. Okay. Enough. I had to focus. Make a new plan and get Danny to marry her. Get back to Mount Olympus.

My hands slid onto her waist.

—

An hour passed. Karma danced hard all the way through and grabbed us a couple of waters when she noticed the sweat on my face.

“I think that’s enough for tonight,” she said. She held up her phone. “Danny texted. He’s picking up Nell for a sleepover. Giving me a break. Isn’t that nice?”

“Is he okay watching her?” I asked.

“He’s her dad. And Judy will be there to help. She’s raised four boys.” She was still breathing heavily from practice.

“Oh.”

“Can you kill the lights?” she asked. “I want to show you something.”

I turned the light switch off.

“Isn’t that cool?” she asked.

The pond behind the studio danced with light. The strands were strung around the dock pillars, creating an outline. I tried to ignore the fact that I wanted her in my arms again.

“Sometimes I dance out there,” she said. “It was my favorite place to go when I was little. Just me and the water and the dock under my feet.”

“Sounds like a great childhood.”

“It was, for the most part. I just wish my mom hadn’t struggled so much, with Dad being gone. Raising two girls by herself wasn’t easy.” I felt her face turn to me. “I’ve never really known my father.”

“Oh. Wow. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not that big a deal. I mean, it is, obviously. I probably have deep-seated daddy problems, but between my mom and Juliette and Nell keeping me busy, I’ve never had much time to think about the bad stuff.” She seemed to be convincing herself more than me. Her hands clapped together. “I should teach you how to swim.”

I guess Danny had filled her in on my inability to even tread water. “Sure.” My adrenaline shot up. “I’m game.”

“Come on, Jones. The next lesson begins.”

Before I could do the foolish thing I was thinking and pull her close, she headed out of the studio and led us to the pond.

The school grounds felt really wild in the dark, like we were going on an adventure. Crickets sang from the woods.

“What do I need to know?” I asked.

She was wearing her dance clothes—spandex—and as always, they looked good. They’d probably feel amazing in the water, all slippery and smooth. No.

There would be none of that.

I took off my shirt and kind of hoped she’d notice, which officially made me a freak who didn’t listen to common sense. Getting into the water with her seemed more and more like a terrible idea. She was staring at my bare chest. Decision made.

Water sloshed around me as I walked in, my toes sinking into the sediment.

“Look at that,” she said. There was a line of silver in the water from the moon, but I didn’t spend much time admiring it. The water came up to her chest, curving there.

“I love it here,” she said. “This is my place.” She grazed the water with her hands.

“Are you cold?” I asked. I didn’t think, I just moved right behind her until her shoulder blades pressed against my chest. “Maybe we should practice in the water.”

“What?” she said. I heard the smile in her tone.

“Let’s try it.” And I placed my hands on her hips, noting that the spandex did feel as good in the water as I’d thought, and a way crazier idea of tracing her neck with my mouth practically choked me with desire. Just as my cheek brushed the side of her hair, she dove under and swam away.

“Hey!” I said. The feel of her wake rippled against me.

She bobbed up, grinned, and made a bad attempt to splash me.

“There are only two things you have to remember,” she said. Her voice sounded small. “The first is not to panic. The second is to move your arms and legs like you’re dancing. That way you won’t sink.”

“But I’m not good at dancing!”

“You know how to dance.” She demonstrated the swim stroke above the surface. “Go a little deeper and try it.”

The water came up to my neck. She was out there in the reflection of the lights, the dark woods—there was no denying the moment between us.

Go to her.

I did, though not as gracefully as I’d hoped, my eyes just above water. She smiled as I drew closer and rolled away from me in the water, twisting, and I began to paddle, splashing to keep up with her.

“You’re swimming!”

The water didn’t feel cold at all.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Awesome.” But water got in my mouth. I imagined I looked pretty stupid half thrashing around. So much for my cool act.

“What are you going to do if I drown?” I asked, coughing a little, not great at avoiding the drink.

“Drag you to shore and give you mouth-to-mouth?”

I held my breath and faced her, my head going under.

“Not falling for it,” she said.

I thought I had the whole swimming thing figured out, but when I finally burst through the surface I was coughing, and Karma had to pull me along and smack my back a bunch of times.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “You shouldn’t mess around like that.”

“Well, you dragged me to shore,” I said. “Next part?” I let out a whoop as she smashed water toward my face. I started to swim strong, back toward the center of the pond.

“You’re bad,” she called. Then she ran in and began to power swim toward me. I met her, churning water as fast as I could. We were laughing and out of breath. Water beaded on her face and gathered in her eyelashes, both our heads bobbing. When I ducked for shore, she joined me, and once we could touch, I took her hand.

“Spin for me,” I said, like I wasn’t just trying to hold her hand.

She twisted, slippery thing that she was, and looked really, really happy. “The water feels good after dance, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” There was a lot that felt good about our swim lesson, and a lot that felt scary, but I wasn’t about to elaborate. The water swirled as she turned again, using my hand for support.

“There’s something forbidden about this, like we’re Johnny and Baby,” she said, but her tone was light. “Like we shouldn’t be spending time together. I don’t know.” She seemed fine with hanging on to my hand.

“Wait—who and Baby? Your baby?”

“Baby from
Dirty Dancing,
” she said. “You know, the old movie with Patrick Swayze?”

“Never heard of it.”

She splashed my face, which kind of annoyed me until I opened my waterlogged eyes to find her shaking her head.

“You’re kidding me. That’s tragic. Come inside. Juliette has the collector’s edition.”

—

The chill space, as Karma called it, had one huge couch, lots of pillows, and soft lighting. I tried not to think it was romantic, because Karma wasn’t like that with other guys, and I wasn’t thinking romantically about her. So, yeah, where was I? Right—the gigantic, too spacious couch.

I sat on one side and Karma sat on the other. She’d dragged her backpack along and had a sheet of homework ready to start. The distance between us, every damn inch, felt like a wall of bricks pressing against me. It was just blank space—fabric and cushions and air—but I felt it. The divide came with instructions:

Do not move.

Do not pass this place.

Don’t act like an idiot.

Something I wasn’t exactly known for.

“Peyton and I love this movie,” Karma said. She tossed me a blanket, which felt good since I was wearing a pair of thin athletic shorts Karma had found in Juliette’s closet (I didn’t ask) and had left my T-shirt at the pond. “You’re in for a treat. This movie is the best.” She lit up when she was that happy.

She handed me a bowl of popcorn and a huge jar of ice water with lemon, then settled in across the Great Divide with the same things. The screen glowed. At least I could hear her munching popcorn over the sound of my heartbeat, which was stupid, the way it hammered like something was going to happen between us.

Nothing was going to happen. Maybe I just had water in my ears.

“Is this a super-girly movie?” I asked, pretending to be annoyed.

“Shhh.”

I aimed and tossed a piece of popcorn at her head. Direct hit. She brushed it out of her hair.

“Can you act civilized and watch the movie, or is that too much to ask? I have homework.”

“Maybe.”

“Danny says it’s a boring chick flick, but I call it a classic.” Her pencil scratched the paper for a few seconds.

I decided to love the movie no matter what. Homework had her full attention for five minutes. I lobbed another piece, pretending to be really into the movie as it scuttled across her assignment.

“You!” she said. The paper fell. She whipped a piece back, which I popped into my mouth, eyebrows up. She laughed, and we took turns aiming for each other’s mouths, but then she got a little weird and fidgeted until she was straight-faced and bent over her homework.