Crossing the Barrier (8 page)

“What’s wrong?” he asked again, his thumbs caressing her cheeks.

Panic quickly replaced her inner peace. She couldn’t tell him what was wrong. She barely knew him, and she certainly didn’t know him enough to trust him with a secret as big as hers. Besides, what would he think if he knew?

The next thing that came to her mind was also unbelievable. She couldn’t very well say the crowd made her uncomfortable as she had played numerous times in front of a full stadium during the football halftime, and Malakai knew it.

“Is it the heat?” Malakai asked, taking his hands away from her cheeks and putting them on her shoulders.

While disappointed at the loss of his touch against her skin, Lily was so grateful for his offering her an out she could have kissed him.

“I know it’s hot in here,” he continued with a smile, taking her silence as confirmation. “I reckon the AC must be out or something. How about you head to the lobby, and I’ll get you something and meet you there? I know it’s a lot cooler over there.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Yeah,” he answered with a grin. “Fruit, salad, milk, and something from the fast-food menu, right?”

“Sounds good,” she answered.

“Okay. Now go; I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

As quickly as she could, Lily walked away from the cafeteria and its waves of emotions. As she made her way to the lobby, a new worry crept into her mind. What would she do at the game that coming Friday with all those people in the stadium, all those different emotions that would be assailing her? The thought of it choked her, and by the time she reached the lobby, she was trying to take deep breaths to calm the panic in her heart. Slowly, she slid along the wall and put her arms around her legs, holding them tightly against her chest. She had been there for a few minutes when Malakai arrived, a package in his hands and a smile on his face. His presence alone made her situation more bearable.

“I got you a BLT with an apple and salad. It’s one of my favorites,” he said, sitting next to her and giving her the lunch bag.

Lily smiled gratefully at him and unfolded her arms from around her legs. She loved her fast food, but a BLT sounded wonderful. She took the sandwich out of its aluminum wrapper and began to eat.

“It’s good,” she said, between bites.

“I’m glad you like it. Feeling any better now?”

“Yeah. I was hungry too and—”

“Hey, Malakai?” a voice called, approaching them.

Lily looked up.

Wes.

Like Beatrice had taught her, Lily plastered a smile on her face, a smile she didn’t feel at all. In fact, she wanted to curse Wes for first interrupting her, and second, spoiling the little time she got to spend with Malakai. Then Lily wondered why Wes was alone. That was not like him. He was usually surrounded by his football buddies.

“Not in the cafeteria?” he asked Malakai, with a raised eyebrow.

He threw a quick glance at Lily. Lily didn’t have to be an empath to see Wes didn’t approve of her.

“No. I wanted to spend some time with Lily.”

To Lily’s surprise and delight, Malakai was telling the truth.

“Hi,” Wes said, waving at Lily. “You’re in the band, right?”

Despite his light tone and easy smile, the condescension coming from him made Lily want to gag.

“Yes. You’re on the football team, right?”

Malakai chuckled, amused.

“Yes,” Wes said with a smug smile. “Malakai, you coming? I want to talk about the game.”

Lily knew this was pure deception; Wes had no intention of talking about football.

“Yeah, in a little while,” Malakai answered, glancing at Lily.

Malakai was divided, and from the way he talked to her about football, Lily understood Wes had used the perfect excuse. How she hated liars and manipulative people. Wes had definitely gone down in her opinion.

“You can go, you know,” she told Malakai, with a smile. “I’ll be okay.”

She didn’t want to see him go, but telling him Wes was lying was not an option. First, he wouldn’t believe her and second, it would make her the bad guy. She had learned a long time ago, at Beatrice’s knees, watching her playing people against one another, that you didn’t get between two friends. It always backfired.

No, Malakai would find out soon enough.

As he stood up, Malakai gave her a grateful smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure.”

With one last look at her and a crushing feeling of guilt Lily didn’t quite understand, Malakai left with Wes.

Chapter Fourteen

MALAKAI

Malakai had seen
his lunchtime as a chance to get to know Lily a little more, but football was football, and the season was short enough as it was. Come November, he would be done with his high school football career, and he really wanted to get the most out of it while he could.

“Zoe said the new restaurant next to the grocery store is awesome. She said…”

As they made their way to the cafeteria, Wes kept on ranting about Zoe, and Malakai wondered when he would finally get to the point. They were almost at their destination when it hit him.

“You didn’t get me to talk about football, did you?” he asked, stopping in his tracks. Malakai resented making the accusation, but surely Wes would have mentioned the game by now.

“You shouldn’t be seen at school with a band geek,” Wes said, turning to Malakai. “Heck, you shouldn’t be seen with her at all!”

Malakai clenched his fists at his side. How dare anyone tell him whom he should or shouldn’t be seen with? He stared intently at Wes. He had changed, a lot.

Malakai remembered when he and Wes had first met. He had just moved to the area and didn’t know anybody. His father had enrolled him in football, just like at his old junior high school, and Malakai had timidly made his way to the field for his first practice as a freshman in high school. He was skinny and small back then, smaller than most of the kids in school, as he was yet to get his growth spurt. A lot of kids had looked at him and laughed, but not Wes. Wes had come to him and begun talking about football as if they had been longtime friends. The others had turned around and ignored them until Malakai took the field and showed them what he was capable of. He was fast, even back then, and caught the ball nine times out of ten. That had gained him quite a measure of respect from his teammates, respect he still had to this day.

But the Wes who was now talking to him was vastly different from the Wes Malakai had met in freshman year. He had grown distant and judgmental, things he had never been before he began dating Zoe.

Zoe. Of course…

“Someone said something,” Malakai said, already knowing the answer.

“Zoe saw you talking to her earlier. She figured you’d gone with her when you left with a second lunch.”

“Zoe?” Malakai asked coldly, an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah.”

Malakai took three deep breaths and willed his fists to stay at his sides. If he didn’t, he would fly off the handle. But the breaths were not enough to get all the anger out of him. Not this time.

“Let me get this straight. You came to get me because Zoe saw me leave with a girl she doesn’t approve of. Am I getting this right, Wes?” he asked calmly. “Well, Zoe may treat you like crap and manage your life, but she won’t be managing mine.”

“Dude, don’t take it that way,” Wes defended with his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “She means well.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Malakai said through clenched teeth. “I’ve always remained quiet about her. I’ve always had your back, but let’s face it, Wes. Zoe is a self-centered bitch who cares about no one but her own little self, and you know it. I’ve never let her get between us before, but now that she wants to run my life, I will.”

“Think about what people will say,” Wes tried, not even contradicting Malakai.

“I don’t care.”

Wes shook his head in defeat. “What about the drama?”

“You’re not in a good position to talk to me about drama, now are you? After all, with Zoe, you have more drama than the entire team combined.”

Wes glared at Malakai. “Don’t be an idiot. Think about Andrea. She likes you.”

Andrea again.

What did Wes imagine was going on that was just not there?

He thought Wes might be more in love with the idea of Malakai with Andrea then Malakai liked the girl himself.

“I’m done with this conversation,” he said quietly. Shaking his head, Malakai walked away. Wes was definitely not the friend he used to be.

Malakai made his way toward the lobby in hopes Lily would still be there. He wanted to go back to her. For a reason he could not explain, she called to him and made him feel good and happy.

“Malakai, wait up!”

With a sigh, Malakai turned around. David was jogging toward him. A few moments later, he stopped in front of Malakai.

“Dude, you okay?”

Malakai frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I overheard,” David admitted, his eyes never leaving Malakai.

Malakai admired that about the younger player. He was not afraid to look someone straight in the eye when he was talking to them, never mind how hard or uncomfortable the conversation was.

“Did he send you to try to change my mind? It won’t work, you know. I won’t let anyone tell me who I should or shouldn’t see.”

“No, he didn’t.” David shook his head to emphasize his point. “My sister’s in the band, remember? And I don’t like it either when people talk about them the way he does. You know, maybe I should tell people about her. Then again, I’m not as popular as you, so I’m a lot more likely to remain under the radar, if you know what I mean.”

Malakai sighed again and wondered if he would spend the entire school year sighing.

“It’s sad really,” David continued. “I think Sandra’s a cool enough girl and all, and so are her friends. Actually, sometimes I think they’re a lot cooler than we are,” he added with a frown. “They do all sorts of stuff with the band, and they spend a lot of time together, a lot more than us, I mean. And you can see during the games they’re having a lot of fun, maybe more than we are sometimes. In any case, who’s the girl?”

“Lily Morgan.”

“Really?” David asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Why? You know her?”

“Of course I do. She’s my sister’s best friend. She lives across the street from me. Wanna visit in the near future?” David asked with a grin.

“I don’t know,” Malakai said, scratching the back of his head. “I…girls, they confuse me.”

“Then imagine having a sister, dude. Not obvious. But since I do have one, I can share with you my knowledge. You’ll see; I know quite a lot about giggling, squeaking, PMS, menstruation cycles, and what not.”

Malakai winced. “I think I’ll pass.”

“Oh, but it’s very interesting,” David said with a grin. “Anyway, let’s go eat.”

Malakai hesitated a moment, looked toward the lobby, and then followed David to the cafeteria.

Chapter Fifteen

LILY

Two nights later,
Lily was exhausted. She had hoped to find the house empty when she got home, but it wasn’t to be so. She had planned to read ahead for her classes, especially since she had such a hard time concentrating, but Beatrice was here, and even if she was in her office with her door closed, her negative and unhealthy feelings plagued Lily and gave her a headache. Keeping her cool with her mother was also becoming increasingly difficult, which made Lily long for her shields, badly.

Sitting on her bed, she closed her eyes and tried to meditate a moment before trying to set her shields up yet again. Every night since she had lost them, she had tried, but she was yet to succeed.

After a few moments of calm concentration, she imagined building a huge red wall, brick by brick, and, once it was done, she opened her eyes slowly.

The wall held.

It wasn’t powerful or anything—in fact, it felt wobbly—but it held nevertheless, making Beatrice less of an annoyance.

With a sigh of relief, Lily slowly took her book from her bed and flipped through the pages. She didn’t want to move her head for fear the shield would break apart. The thing was so unstable Lily was convinced a wisp of air would make it crumble like a house of cards.

“Elizabeth,” Beatrice called, banging on her door.

The wall collapsed into a heap, and the full force of Beatrice’s displeasure slammed into her.

“Come downstairs, right now!”

Lily glanced at the clock. It was eight, and she wondered what could be so important at this time of night. She got to her door, and by the time she opened it, Beatrice was halfway down the stairs, a fake smile plastered on her face. Her mind screamed at her not to go, but this little part of her, the one that still hoped for her mother’s approval, made her follow nevertheless.

As she walked down the stairs, Lily felt other presences, and she plastered the same fake smile her mother sported. A moment later, she saw Zoe standing in the foyer with an elegant blond woman who could only be her mother. Lily fought the urge to turn around, knowing she would hate what was coming next. Why, now of all times, didn’t she stand up to Beatrice and refuse to be ordered around as she had intended to do?