Beyond - Volume 1 (YA Paranormal Romance) (7 page)

Why does he feel so familiar? And why does he look at me like it’s the same for him?

I can’t get any words out of my mouth, and neither can he. Until someone bumps into him.

“I’m Damian,” he stammers and
puts his hand out for a shake.

“Raven,” I reply and take his hand.

This is the guy Joey said is lazy. The guy on the motorcycle, the guy who saved me from those awful phantoms, the guy who sits next to me in class. Damian Hayes.

“You
… ” I stammer.

Why do I get so nervous around him? It’s not like I never talk to guys, but it feels so different with him.

“What?” He runs his fingers through his hair.

“Thanks,” I say and blush. What am I supposed to say? I’
m flabbergasted and so embarrassed because of it.

“For what?” he asks. His
eyebrows naturally slant toward his nose, but I think it looks cool. It almost looks like he’s always serious.

“For that night
… on the street … ” I stutter.

Oh, why is that the first thing I
talk about with this cute guy?

That night, when I fainted like a
scaredy-cat and he had to take me home, isn’t something I’m proud of. But I wanted to thank him, and now I had. Even if it took me some time to get the words out of my mouth.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” His smile makes me speechless. “Yo
u’re the new girl, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.” I put my hand on the faucet and lean on it to look cool, but it slips because of the s
lick surface. I almost fall over, But Damian catches me. The brief moment I’m in his arms feels like an eternity. The intoxicating aroma of his aftershave is titillating.

I push myself
off him. “Oops, I’m so clumsy.” I try to laugh it off, but I’m so embarrassed right now. “That’s the second time you’ve saved me,” I say.

The left corner of
his mouth goes up and forms a lopsided smile. A very cute and sexy smile.

“I know how
you can make that up,” he says.

I take a strand of my dark red hair and
tuck it behind my ears. “What do you mean?”

“Want to
get together and talk this afternoon?”

I almost choke.
The guy who saved me wants to hang out with me!

“Is that a no?” he says.

My mouth hangs open. I realize I look ridiculous and close it. “No, yes, no, I mean yes,” I stutter.

He laughs.

“Yes,” I say again, to make my answer clear.

“Here’s my number,” Damian says while
writing on a piece of paper and handing it over to me. The handwriting looks familiar, but I don’t know why.

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

I look at him and realize I’ve been staring at the note. “No, it’s nothing,” I reply and I take out my cell phone and put in the numbers.

“Meet me at the fenc
e, after school. I’ll text you the time,” he says and winks.

My eyes follow him
into the classroom, until I can no longer see him.

I feel hot
and I’m sweating. This is ridiculous.

Why
am I meeting up with someone I don’t know? I just met him. And why do I feel so excited?

I c
an barely keep my eyes off him. There’s some kind of unexplainable chemistry between us. I don’t understand it. I’ve been through some weird stuff these past few days. I just moved to a new town and have more hallucinations than ever before. And I’m going to have a get together with Damian Hayes, the hottest guy I’ve ever laid eyes on.

“Wow, is this
for real?” I hear Lillian’s voice behind me.

I turn around
and see her standing behind me. “Are you hanging out with him?”

“Just for a talk, yeah
. Why? Is that a problem?” I ask, even though I do agree it’s kind of weird.

“No, but he’s
a bit … strange. That guy never talked to a girl before. As in, the first move. Ever. To Damian it’s like we don’t exist.”

“Now you’re exaggerating
,” I say and shrug.

“Really, I think you melted his stone cold heart.” She chuckles and then walks into the classroom.
My heart skips a beat.

I
walk after her, feeling radiant, and I throw the paper in the trash. I already have his number safely locked away in my cell phone.

***

Damian’s waiting for me at the fence after school. He hasn’t fetched his motorcycle yet. As I walk up to him, I run my fingers through my hair, so it looks decent. Under normal circumstances I would never worry about my looks, but I keep on fiddling with my hair.

“Hi,” he says and
greets me with a smile that makes my heart jolt.

“Hi!”
I say with a high pitched voice. He makes me so nervous. “Don’t you want to take your motorcycle with you?” I ask.

“No, I’ll get it later. It’s kind of hard to talk with you when I’m on my motorcycle and you’re riding your bike.” He gestures his hand
toward the sidewalk and invites me to walk with him. It’s a clear day, not a speck in the sky. A beautiful day to take a walk. “Nice motorcycle you have,” I say to break the silence.

“Thanks. It’s an
Aprilia RS125. Second-hand, but still works.”

“I don’t know anything ab
out brands, but it looks cool.” I laugh uncomfortably and blush when he smiles back. We walk into town. I don’t know what he’s up to or where he’s taking me, but I hope to find out soon.

“So
… what did you want to do?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Hmm
… nothing much. Walking. Talking. You know.”

“Hmm, okay
.” I don’t know where to look: the sidewalk or his handsome face.

“You don’t want to do that?” He seems genuinely worried that I might not be interested in the two things he mentioned.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I just wondered where to and what about.”

“I just want to get to know the girl I brought home.” The corners of his mouth go up when he looks at me,
while I blush. This is an obvious flirtatious move, and I like it.

“So, where are you from?” he asks while we walk through the main avenue, past all the shops.

“Idaho, Twin Falls. It’s a beautiful city and has nice weather, but I didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy it.”

“Why not?”

“We move all the time. Sometimes even every year or every six months. It’s been like that my entire life.”

“T
hat doesn’t sound like fun.”

“No, I know, but I have to accept it. This is where I live now, in Piney Hollow
, and I’ll just have to make the best of it.” I’m not in the mood to confess my entire life history to Damian, so I change the subject. I clear my throat. “Well, I think this place is kind of interesting.” When I say that his eyes enlarge.

“
Yes, I think it’s ‘interesting’ too.” He smiles and jokes about my words a bit. “Want a hotdog?”

I look around
and see a fast food place on the corner.

“Yeah, why not,” I say as we walk across the
street. We go inside.

“Two hotdogs, please
,” he says to the waitress, and then he adds, “Oh, wait, I need to give you something.” Damian rummages through his pockets and takes out a piece of paper, just like the one he gave me before. “Can I borrow that for a second?” He points at the pen in the waitress’s pocket. Damian uses it to scribble something on the note. His handwriting is swift, full of streaks and hooks. Just like the handwriting of the text that was written on the inside cover of my diary.

They are real.
The words rage through my head. Since that night I totally forgot about my diary.

He
’s the one who wrote on the inside cover.

I get upset and accidentally bump the ketchup bottle
off the counter. I look at Damian handing over the paper with his handwriting on it to the waitress behind the counter. She gets a towel and cleans my mess.

“Sorry,” I say.

When the employee is finished cleaning, Damian says, “Can you give that to her?”

“Sure.” The employee walks away
, and Damian takes a bill out of his wallet.

I straighten my back and lean
away from Damian. “Who is ‘her’?”

“My foster-mom. She works in this place,” he replies
. “What’s the matter? You look kind of shocked.”

The note
with his handwriting is stuck in my head. I bite my lip. “Did you write in my diary?”

D
amian looks at me with a blank face and then asks, “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” I say. “That night when you found me, you wrote these words in my diary: ‘they are real’. Don’t lie to me. Nobody else was in the room.” I
fold my arms together.

“
’They are real’? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your mother was with you the whole time I brought you upstairs and until I left. Didn’t she tell you that? She didn’t leave you alone, not even for a second. Don’t you think she would have noticed me writing in your diary?” Damian says with his eyebrow raised.

I sigh and roll my eyes. If that’s true, he couldn’t have done it. My mom
should have seen him do it if he did. And I didn’t ask her about what happened either. Maybe she did it herself.

“Maybe.”
I push my hair behind my ears. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have accused you like that,” I say.

He laughs a bit and then
shrugs. “It’s okay. It happens,” Damian says and he taps his fingers on the counter repeatedly, waiting for the hotdogs.

We’re quie
t for some time. I look around at my surroundings and take in everything, just so I don’t have to think about the slip-up I just made.

“I mean it,” he says and smiles at me again.
“Let’s just have a good time.”

“Yeah,” I sa
y. For some reason I always smile when looking at him.

When the employee
comes back Damian waves a bill.

“I passed her the note. Here you go.” The employee hands over the hotdogs and takes the bill. Damian gives me my hotdog
, and our fingers slightly touch. A tingle goes through my hand and travels through my body. “Thanks,” I say, and I pull my hand back swiftly. I fear he will see my flushed face, so I just take a bite to mask it.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a girl eat like that!”
He bares his teeth and laughs.

I can’t say anything, because my mo
uth is filled with hotdog, so I pretend to look ahead.

“You must like hotdogs as much as me
.” Damian takes a huge bite and smiles with his mouth closed. His cheeks are bloated, making him look like a hamster.

I giggle.

We walk to the park and sit down on a wooden bench.

“So … you’ve got a part-time job too?” I ask, to break the ice.

“At the place where we just bought our meal. Yeah, definitely something to be proud of.” He laughs while shaking his head. “But it’s for a good cause. I bought my Aprilia with the money I saved from working there. I just had to get one of those babies for myself. Even the most worthless job in the world couldn’t keep me away from motorcycles.” He leans backward. “Oh, I just love riding mine. With the wind blowing through my hair, the bright sun shining down on me, all by myself; it’s awesome.”

I smile and swallow. “Sounds wonderful. I enjoy the outdoors a lot too.”

“And you?” he asks. “Where do you work, since you asked me if I had a part-time job too?”

“Cheng’s Groceries,” I answer. “But only since a couple of days
ago.”

“Well, it’s better than working with your mom.” He laughs and crams the last piece of hotdog into his mouth.

“Why? Cheng’s glare alone could break your bones, so to speak.”

“Well, I work with my
foster mom the entire day, and I just can’t really get along with her. Sometimes she makes me want to throw a bucket of water over her head. Not that I would actually do it. Anyway, I don’t have a choice in the matter. I should be happy with my job. I owe them, even though they hate me too …”

I almost choke on my hotdog. “Foster parents?” Immediately
, I put my fingers in front of my mouth, realizing I sound rude. “Sorry.” He’d said it before, about his foster mom, but I was so focused on the note that I’d forgotten.

“I don’t mind
,” he says. “Almost everyone has that reaction when I tell them, but I’m used to it. I’ve been moving from foster family to foster family ever since I was eleven, so it’s nothing new.”