Arrows (5 page)

Day 1

My eyes snapped open, then squinted at the bright sky. Birds flew overhead. I didn’t follow any particular one as they darted across my vision, frantic black specks. The sky had never seemed so far away. Bursts of song, like bells screaming, came from the trees where the birds landed.

Tap-tap. Tap-tap.

The thud of my heart.

I rolled onto my side. Blades and blades and blades of grass slid from focus. A beetle. Flickering rays of sun. I winced as something dug into my leg. I pulled a wallet out of my pocket and slid the cards out slowly: a Florida driver’s license, a Social Security card, a bank card. My identity as Aaryn Jones was already in motion. My photo on the license was awful, one eye half closed, my expression lifeless.

With a sharp breath, I extended my arm and turned it in the light, my same olive skin, my same hand.

But I was human.

I froze at the sound of a girl’s voice.

“I swear, I saw someone. He was—”

I stood and the four teenage girls coming my way stopped dead in their tracks. They were wearing workout clothes, and two of them were twins. We stayed like that for a while, staring the way you might at an animal you find in the woods.

“Hi,” I said. I crossed my arms over my bare stomach, feeling exposed with no shirt on. “I’m Aaryn.” Then I added, “Aaryn Jones.” I made a quick scan of the area—lots of trees, a building, and a pond. I’d landed there for a reason. An unknown reason, but still.

“I know this sounds crazy, but can one of you tell me where I am?”

The twins had turned and started walking away. One of the two remaining girls pursed her lips. Her T-shirt said
I Live to Dance
. “Uh, yeah. We have to go.” She took the other girl’s arm. They didn’t waste time turning around.

I stumbled to follow them. “Is this your house?”

The other girl glanced over her shoulder, her red hair pulled back in a tight ponytail that fluttered in the wind. They kept walking.

Hmm. I knew her somehow.

Oh wow.

I half tripped, then snapped off the end of a wildflower as the memory got clearer. It was her! The girl Phoebe shot—one half of the tongue-war couple.

I rounded the corner of the building. The girls were standing on the porch. “If you wouldn’t mind helping me out for a minute.” I grimaced. “I was on a hike. Got a little lost.” I really wished I had a shirt.

“Wait here,” said the redhead. They all went inside.

“What do you mean, you found him…”

A woman pushed the screen door open and let it slap against the frame behind her. She was barefoot and wearing a sundress and sunglasses. She held a half-eaten carrot in one hand.

“Can I help you?” she said. She frowned.

“Hi,” I said, hoping to sound normal. “Nice place you have here.”

“Yes, well, you were just caught trespassing.” She whipped off her sunglasses.

“I got lost. Long hike.” I held out my hand. “Aaryn Jones.”

And the moment I said my name, her frown disappeared. She blinked. “Aaryn.” Took my hand. “Aaryn Jones, of course.” She smiled. “I had a feeling we knew each other from somewhere. I’m Juliette Girard.” She indicated the girls standing beside her. “This is Peyton and Monique. Two of my students here at Shining Waters.”

Both girls gaped at their teacher.

Diorthosis.
“Nice to, uh, see you,” I said.

“Now, how can I help you?” she said.

“I, uh, well, I don’t really know why—I mean how—I ended up here, but—”

“Do you have a place to stay? How about a ride? You’re a couple of miles from town, you know.”

Peyton grabbed Monique’s elbow. “How do you think she knows him?” she muttered.

“I lost my phone,” I said, thinking fast. “Maybe you could, uh, take me to the store to get a new one?”

“You must be hungry.”

“Yeah,” I said.

Whoa. I shifted uncomfortably. I’d never
needed
to eat until now. Food on Mount Olympus wasn’t eaten to survive—it was eaten for show, or for enjoyment.

“One of the philosophies here at Shining Waters is that we should feed our whole selves—body, mind, and spirit. If those things aren’t fed, you won’t be your best.” Juliette pointed to the steps. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

Minutes later she returned with a huge salad and a bottle of water. She perched on the other side of the steps and finished her carrot while I ate.

“Thanks,” I said, spearing a cucumber. “It’s really good.”

“Good.” She slid her sunglasses into the neck of her dress. “Remind me where you’re from?”

I had memorized my ID. “Tallahassee, Florida. That’s where I went to college. And I—” I stopped for a bit so the birds could fill in the silence. “I came here to simplify my life. I’m hoping to get a job at the high school.”

School would be my best bet for securing the most Danny-Karma face time. Where did they spend their days? School. It was time for Aaryn Jones to get a real job, arrows not included.

“So you wanted to leave the big city and move to a small town?” she said, helping me out.

I nodded. “Too much noise. I was lonely there.”

“Well.” She slid her sunglasses back on, like she didn’t want me to catch the sadness in her eyes. Too late. “Sometimes we all need to start over and connect with who we really are.” She cupped her hands over her knees. “I know a guy—he has a studio apartment above his bar, nothing fancy, but it’s furnished. I’ll take you to town. He’s an old friend of mine.”

“Wow. Thanks.” I felt a little bit like hugging her. I knew Diorthosis was behind the scenes, making her help me—but her kindness felt real. I’d take it.

“Lakefield’s a small town full of good people. You’ll see.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you have enough cash for a security deposit?”

“A what?”

“Money for the apartment?” she said.

“No, I, uh, need to get some.”

“We can swing by an ATM.”

No idea what she was talking about, so I just smiled.

“Is there anything else you need?” she asked.

“Yes. There is.” I cleared my throat. “How can I get this guy I know to fall in love with someone?”

“I beg your pardon?”

The air left me. Stupid. “Never mind.”

Karma drove up just as we were going to leave.

Juliette waved at her, the keys rattling, then followed Karma’s gaze to me, the person she was staring at through the windshield. Me, standing there shirtless, the sun going down, the privacy of the woods, four girls probably spying from the house—nothing could have prepared me for that.

The shock of meeting her eyes.

The clenching, my entire body registering that
she could see me.
It had been more than a year. My arrow had changed her life, yet she had no idea that I had once possessed the power to derail everything about her future.

Karma’s eyes tightened at the edges, and she was the one who smiled first. Obligatory. Her face, that familiar face from the photograph—one side of her hair curved over her eyebrow. The memories came fast—the way the arrow had felt, the way she’d looked at Danny after the kiss. Her following him into the truck.

“Mom’s babysitting,” Karma told Juliette. Guilt weighed on me, right in my chest. She could see me. She didn’t know who I was, couldn’t know, and yet—there was a chance to make things right. She could still be part of my first match.

“Glad she’s helping,” Juliette said. “This is Aaryn, by the way. I’m taking him to town. Aaryn, my niece Karma.”

Karma and I said hi to each other at the same time.

Juliette ducked into the car, which sent me fumbling for the door handle. “Start class without me,” she called.

Again Karma was giving me a curious look. It wasn’t long before the rest of the girls came out to greet her, which seemed more like an excuse to stare and gossip about the weird guy they’d found in the back of the school.

Juliette buzzed the windows down, blasted country music, and hit the gas. Once on the road, the trees sped by, shadowed trunks, lots of green. I let them blur past.

All right.

Day one and I’d already found her. Next up was Danny. Somehow I had to get close to him. Match them. The music was loud with twang guitar, the scenery speeding, but my head felt clear.

I had to get home.

“Why is she giving him a ride?” I asked. Dust rose from where Juliette had gunned it down the road, a soft haze between the trees.

“She said she knows him from somewhere,” Monique said. Her hair was shiny, slicked against her head and wound into a bun. “We found him outside the school just lying in the grass. He didn’t have a phone, or a car, or anything.”

“Seriously?”

“Juliette’s acting weird,” Peyton said. “Did she start smoking weed?”

“Peyton,” I said.

“Well, then what is her deal?”

“Who cares if she knows him?” Monique said. “He’s hot.”

“Very,” Svetlana said.

“So I guess the real question is—who’s going to date him first?” Monique said in a singsong voice.

“Not me,” I said, then immediately wondered why. They knew I had a boyfriend. Of course she didn’t mean me.

“I call dibs,” Svetlana said.

“Dream on,” Monique said.

“What should we do until she gets back?” Sofia said. She didn’t like fighting over boys. I wasn’t even sure she liked boys.

“Let’s watch a movie,” Monique said.

I smiled, feeling tired and old. It would be nice to relax for once. “I’m going to rehearse.”

The girls wandered back toward Kindred, the house with their bedrooms on the second floor, kitchen and living room beneath. Juliette had named the house in honor of her favorite book,
Anne of Green Gables.
Shining Waters, the studio, was another reference to the story. Peyton stayed with me. Stones skidded across the driveway as we crossed to the studio. She was quieter than usual and seemed to be studying me to find out what I was hiding. I wanted to tell her about last night, Louisiana, the whole thing.

And a big part of me didn’t.

If I never told her, she wouldn’t know how hurt I was, or how confused, or how pissed off I felt that Danny could ditch us without a second thought. He knew we belonged together. We had what every girl dreamed of—each other. A family. Love. We didn’t call dibs on other people, because we had already called dibs on us.

“Danny accepted a scholarship to a school in Louisiana.”

There. I said it.

“What?”

See, that’s why I hadn’t said anything: that look. That look she was giving me, her red hair all crazy in the setting sun, her mouth wide open like she’d just heard the most appalling news in the world. That look only deepened the hollowness inside.

I squared my shoulders. “And I’m going with him.”

“Oh, Karma.” The way she said it, like my mother had just died. The worst part was, it felt like losing someone. My dream was dying and I was at its bedside, helpless.

“What would
you
do?” I said. I wasn’t really asking her advice as much as I was asking her to see the situation from my side. “Could you honestly be that far away from Nick for four years?”

We stood in the entrance, that big, empty floor glaring white in the center. Peyton seemed really shocked. “No. I mean, I know you want to be with him. But, Karma. New York.” She pleaded the words
New York
as if she longed for the city as much as I did. “You won’t have the same opportunities in Louisiana.”

“But I’ll have Danny. That’s something.”

“Did he…?” She pressed her lips together.

“Did he what?” I fit my dance bag in one of the open spots under the bench, moving it around more than necessary. “You can say it, whatever it is.” We sat on the inspirational cushions, my butt on
Dream big,
hers covering
Be happy.

“Did he talk to you about this? Make plans with you? Anything?”

A flutter of panic shot across the top of my chest. “Yes. We talked last night, but I didn’t want to say anything. You’re the only one who knows.”

“You had to drive over to his house just to get him to talk about it?”

“You said so yourself, it’s better to talk about things face to face.”

“I just don’t want you to throw everything away if it’s not going to work out.”

“What do you mean?” My question echoed in the room. “Do you think we’re going to break up?”

Peyton decided to lie. I’d known her too long, which really sucked at the moment, because she did the thing she always did when she lied and studied her knuckles. “No.” The word was drawn out as when she didn’t believe something. “I mean, I don’t think so. Anything can happen. We’re only in high school.”

“I’m in love. You know how it feels to be in love.”

Peyton shot me a desperate, understanding glance. “I know.” She did know. She, of all people, did know. We were the friends who gushed about our guys and how much we loved them, and how awesome they were, and how we’d be together forever.

“Danny’s a good guy.” I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to defend him all the time. “He really is. Please don’t tell anyone else about this. I have to figure things out first.”

Peyton sighed and we sat there in silence, each of us picking at our nails, our shared nervous habit. “Do you think I shouldn’t go?” I held my breath. I’d still go, of course—I loved him—but if Peyton could honestly say that I should go to New York instead of follow Danny? That would be something.