Cassidy Jones and the Seventh Attendant (Cassidy Jones Adventures, Book Three) (20 page)

I crawled into bed at quarter to three and woke up to my iPhone vibrating in my coat pocket at quarter past six.

Drowsy, I fished out the phone. The text was from Emery:
Doing a stakeout with Mickey today. Will text if we need you.

I frowned. I didn’t like Emery staking out his dad without me, but it was what we had agreed to. Mickey would look out for him.

I texted:
OK. Be careful.

Immediately after sending the text, I regretted doing so. I shouldn’t have told Emery to be careful of his own father, no matter how dangerous the man was.

~~~

My mind, for obvious reasons, was elsewhere all morning. I was on pins and needles, waiting for Emery to text and tell me he needed my help. Since I didn’t want to be annoying, I resisted asking for an update, but did check Emery’s location often on GPS. They’d been stationed at a marina on Elliot Bay for most of the morning.

By lunchtime, my resolve not to pester Emery broke down. I had to find out what was going on.

I texted:
What’s happening at the marina?

Emery replied:
We don’t know yet. Enjoy lunch
.

“Enjoy lunch,” I muttered. How could I possibly enjoy anything today?

Walking to the cafeteria, I absently swung my lunch bag, pondering. How much had Emery told Mickey, and did Mickey believe him?

At the table my friends occupied, I stepped over the bench and sat down next to Bren. Lost in thought, I was vaguely aware of Miriam, Carli, and Natalie Fletcher sitting across from me.

“What are you thinking about, Cassidy?” Miriam sang. “Or more precisely,
who
are you thinking about?”

I glanced up. She gave me a mischievous wink. As far as Miriam was concerned, brainpower should be utilized only to fantasize about boys.

“Why do you always look like you’re up to something?” I asked her.

“Because I am.” Miriam grinned and sank her teeth into her sandwich.

“Stupid question.”

Without warning, Chad squeezed in next me, sitting backward at the table with his hip pressed against mine. I recoiled and scooted closer to Bren.

With his back to my friends, he propped his elbows on the table, leaned back, and stretched his legs, gifting me a dimpled smile.

I tasted vomit in my mouth.

“Hey, Red Hot,” he said, trying to sound seductive.

I cracked up, as did Bren.

The dimples faded.

“What?” he demanded and sat upright, looking annoyed and perplexed.

Was he really
that
dense?

Still laughing, I flipped my palms up to my friends and shrugged. Miriam wore a fiery grin, while Carli and Natalie appeared uncertain how to react. This was Chad Dunham, after all, one of the most popular boys in school. Snorting with laughter, Bren dropped her head to the table and drummed it with her fists. She didn’t give a hoot about Chad Dunham or his popularity status, and wanted him to know it.

“What’s so funny?” he asked me, scowling.

“I’ll tell you,” Bren offered between laughs.

His haughty eyes didn’t waver from my face. It was as if Bren hadn’t spoken to him. Now I was getting angry. Who did he think he was, blowing Bren off like that and keeping his back to my friends?

“What do you want?” I snapped.

His dimples deepened into a cheesy smile. Clearly he lacked talent for interpreting tone and body language. If I moved any closer to Bren, I would be sitting on her.

“Have lunch with me, over there.” He gestured to the left with his chin. My gaze moved in the direction he indicated, to a group of kids I would rather swallow nails than eat with. Robin sat among them. Momentarily meeting my gaze, she gave me a death glare. I could hardly blame her. This was just plain cruel of Chad—but then again, remora Jessica Blanchet sat next to Robin. Chad had dumped Jessica for Robin.

Before I could tell Chad to “just shoot me instead,” Miriam took matters into her own hands.

“Cassidy eat with you? But, Chad, that would make me so
sad
,” she mocked in a cherubic voice.

Chad’s spine stiffened.

“I mean, I know you’re totally
rad
, but—”

“Miriam!” Carli cut her off. “Don’t be rude, or Chad might tell his
dad
.”

I sputtered into laughter, spraying spittle everywhere.

“Yuck,” Bren choked out in laughter, pretending to wipe my spit off her face. “Maybe you
should
eat with the
cad
.”

Chad got to his feet.

As he strutted away, Miriam called after him, as if devastated: “Chad,
please, please, please
don’t be
mad
! I know I’m
bad
, and not just a
tad
. But
bam
, you look hot in those skinny jeans, even though they’re no longer the
fad
.”

Chad flipped her the finger over his shoulder.

Giggling, Natalie shouted, “That’s not nice,
lad
. Say hi to
Brad.
”

We looked at her questioningly.

“Who the heck is Brad?” Bren barely got out.

Natalie shrugged. “I dunno.”

We laughed harder, if that were possible.

~~~

Because I was watching the little red dot indicating Emery in Mickey’s jeep as it drove east on Elliot Drive along the water, I didn’t see the door to the girls’ locker room swing toward me.

Bam!
The door smacked me, sending blood gushing from my nose. Robin stood in the doorway, hatred gleaming in her flat blue eyes and a challenging smile curving her lips. It caused her nose, which I had busted, to bend slightly to the left.

“Are we even now?” I cupped my nose to catch the blood.

“It’s an improvement.” Robin smirked and shouldered past me into the gym, a couple of remoras fluttering after her. They threw me disdainful looks, too, being the good little minions that they were.

In the locker room, concerned girls instantly came to my aid. Waving off their offers of help, I thanked them and said I was fine as I made my way to the restroom. I slipped my phone into my hoodie pocket, pulled open the door with my clean hand, and stepped inside. My vision adjusted instantly to the dark. I locked the door and walked to the sink, where I dumped out the blood cupped in my hand. There wasn’t much. Whatever damage Robin had done had healed soon after the door hit me.

“Hope you got it out of your system, Robin,” I muttered, cleaning my face. “Otherwise, we’re going to have an interesting time in P.E.”

Utilizing the mirror, I wiped the last of the blood from my face and frowned at the red spatters on my hoodie.
Now that just looks gross.
I shrugged out of the hoodie and used a clean portion to pat my face dry. Then I wandered back into the locker room and got dressed.

Robin didn’t even look in my direction when I straggled into the gym. I’d been sure she would greet me with a gloating smile. Even someone totally predictable can be unpredictable at times.

“Are you all right, Cassidy?” Mr. Saunders asked, obviously privy to my
accident
.

“Yes, thank you.” I stood next to my friend Josie.

“You can’t even tell it was bleeding,” she whispered as Mr. Saunders announced, “We’re running track today.”

Groans.

“But it’s cold,” whined remora Melissa Whipple.

“Well, it won’t be cold when you get your blood movin’,” Mr. Saunders replied. “You have thirty seconds to grab a sweatshirt from the locker room. Move!”

About three-quarters of the class scrambled for the locker rooms. I stayed put. I didn’t want to wear my hoodie.

A couple minutes later, we were on the track.

“Guys, I’m running ahead,” I told my friends, who shuffled their feet along the dirt, doing what I used to call “running,” too. None of us girls were athletes like Jared, Emery, and Robin—or more accurately, my friends
thought
we all weren’t athletes.

I could give a racehorse a run for its money around this track.
I took off at a moderate speed, promising my legs a real workout later that night.

Jared, Bobby, and their friends led the way, as they always did. I noticed with each extension of my legs, however, that Jared’s seemed to shorten.
Maybe he’s slowing down so I can catch up
, I humored myself, and was genuinely shocked to discover that that was exactly what he was doing. I caught up to him within seconds.

“Hey, Cass,” he greeted me.

“Hey.” I glanced at him quickly and then ahead again. Shyness, that strange creature I sometimes battle, descended upon me.

Jogging side by side, we fell into an awkward silence. I sensed Jared wanted me to say something. What, I wasn’t sure.

He chuckled.

I glanced at him, befuddled. What had I done to make him laugh?

“You’re going to make me drag it out of you, aren’t you?” he said, slightly out of breath.

“Drag what out of me?” I seriously had no clue.

He popped my upper arm with his fist, just like I had seen him do a hundred times with his buddies. “What did Jason say?”

“Oh, that.”
Duh.
Of course he was curious to hear Jason’s report. I could be so dense at times. But in all fairness, a lot had happened since we had crossed paths in the woods. “Emery’s dad ran errands. That’s it.”

“Hmm.” He shrugged and changed the topic. “I saw you with Dunham at lunch. Is he giving you a bad time?”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “If you call being extremely annoyed a bad time—then, yeah, he’s giving me a bad time.”

“Did you tell him to lay off?”

“Sure, but nothing penetrates his enormous ego.”

With a frown, Jared ruminated. I was about to tell him not to worry about Chad when he suddenly smiled. “Pick up the pace. It’s killing me,” he said, and sped away.

Grinning like a goofball, I took off after him.

~~~

Leaving the school that afternoon, I spied Emery slouched against the light post, backpack slung on his shoulder. I waved. He smiled in return.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be here,” I said, thrilled that he was. School days dragged without him.

“You weren’t tracking me on GPS? Haven’t I taught you anything?”

I hugged him. He hugged me back.

“I hate it when you’re not at school.” I gave him an extra squeeze. “Why are you here, anyway?”

“To walk you home, of course.” He grinned and jerked his head homeward. “Let’s go before someone sees us.”

On cue, Miriam bobbed up to his side.

“How’s it goin’,
ditcher
?” she said and hugged him, too.

Emery stiffened. His arms stayed at his side.

Miriam released him, looking none too comfortable herself. I felt uncomfortable for them both.

Collecting herself, she bestowed upon him a dazzling smile. “Next time, we’re playing hooky together,” Miriam announced. Despite her brazen demeanor, I could tell Emery’s uneasiness bothered her.

He grimaced in response.

Miriam began laughing. I figured this was her attempt to chase away the tension. What she did next eliminated that theory.

She gave Emery’s face a playful slap, taking him aback as much as it did me. His standard calm mask slipped into place, hiding whatever he was feeling.

“Dude,” Trevor Young said, coming up and giving Emery a high five. It provided Emery the perfect opportunity to extract himself from one of the most awkward scenes I had ever witnessed. He turned away from us to talk to Trevor.

Miriam looked brokenhearted, which broke my heart, too. I knew how unrequited love felt.

“Let him make the first move,” I advised her in a whisper.

Her face reddened. “
That
will never happen.”

“Why would you think that?” I challenged gently.

“I don’t know.” Miriam’s pretty blue gaze wandered. Her face suddenly erupted into a smile. “There’s Nate. Now we can go.” She flagged my brother down, shouting, “Nate, get your butt over here!”

“Yeah, like that’ll get him to do what you want,” I teased, and then had an epiphany. Beautiful, bold Miriam knew less about the opposite sex than I did.

I have to help her,
I thought.
I have to help her win Emery over.

Sixteen

Cat And Mouse

After leaving Miriam at her white picket fence, Emery, Nate, and I continued to our homes.

“Here.” I shoved my backpack at my brother. “Take this in. I have to talk to Emery real quick.” I was dying to hear what he had to report.

When Nate shut our front door behind him, I asked Emery, “Well? What happened at that marina?”

“My dad boarded a yacht named—” Emery’s front door opened before he could say the name of the boat, and our heads snapped to his house. His father stood in the doorway, smiling, with a small duffle bag over his shoulder. He waved. My stomach twisted, and I felt fear freeze on my face. Emery saw it, too.

“Hi, Dad,” he called, and then advised me through a smile, “You’d better stay here. You won’t be able to act naturally around him.”

“And you will?”

“Yes,” he answered, his face relaxed.

“Ready to practice?” his dad asked, coming down their front walk. The casual smile lingered on his face, but he watched us like a hawk. My stomach dropped another inch. His suspicion had most definitely been roused.

“Be right there,” Emery called back.

“Where are you going?” I asked in a low voice.

“To the shooting range, not that he needs practice.”

“Do you think he knows you were following him?”

“It’s possible,” Emery replied, unconcerned.

“This is like a cat and mouse game. Oh my gosh, I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Everything is under control.” Emery displayed not a shred of doubt. “This would be a good opportunity for you to see my mom. She can draw your blood today.”

“I can’t do it,” I said, unable to tear my eyes from Mr. Phillips as he loaded the guns into the trunk of their car. “And not because your mom’s blood-drawing is just shy of torture. You’re right. I won’t be able to pull off acting natural, not even with her.”