Dare (23 page)

It was loud where Brynna was.

She could hear things humming and whirling, the rhythmic crash of the surf. And then a hand found hers and squeezed it gently.

“Can you open your eyes, Brynna?”

Brynna did as she was told, her eyelids fluttering open without much effort.

“Mom?”

Her mother smiled down on her then called over her shoulder, “She's awake, Adam.”

Her father came through the door and went straight for Brynna's other hand, holding it gently around the needle.

“Am I in the hospital?”

“You are, hon, but everything's going to be okay. We can even take you home today.”

Brynna tried to sit up then blinked at the sea of flowers around her bed, balanced on the sideboard and meal tray. “What happened?”

“You nearly drowned.” Her father's eyes were rimmed in red and his voice was soft.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“Evan did. When we couldn't find you—when someone said you had gone off with friends—we called everyone in Point Lobos. Then we started with your friends in Crescent City.”

“Evan didn't know where I was. He wasn't even speaking to me.”

“You didn't make it easy…” Evan was standing in the doorway, Lauren, Darcy, and Teddy behind him. “We went back to the café where you and I had coffee. I remembered what you told me about that night, about Erica. Can we come in, Mrs. Chase?”

She nodded, tears streaming down her face.

“I thought he was crazy,” Lauren said sheepishly. “I mean, I know how much you hate water, so…”

“But I never told you it was Harding Beach. How did you know?”

“Darcy told us.”

Brynna looked at Darcy as she shyly avoided Brynna's gaze, instead studying the edge of the hospital blanket.

“She showed us the pictures,” Teddy said. “We made her.”

Darcy's cheeks blazed a fierce pink.

“I knew why you hated the beach but I thought that…” Evan paused. “I thought that maybe you would be able to make peace with Erica and you'd want to do it there.”

“We all went,” Lauren volunteered. “We saw two people struggling in the surf when we got down there. You went under and Mr. Fallbrook—or whoever he really was—was yelling your name.”

“Lauren and Teddy took off at a sprint,” Evan said. “Just dove right in.”

“Lauren found you,” Teddy said. “She swam you back most of the way.”

Brynna felt tears misting her eyes. “Thank you, all of you.” She glanced at her parents. “Christopher?”

Her father shook his head. “They never found him. Assumed he'd been swept out with the riptide.” He turned toward Evan, Teddy, Darcy, and Lauren. “You know, we're going to go downstairs and grab a couple of coffees. You mind keeping an eye on the patient?”

“Sure.”

Brynna's father rounded the bed and held a hand out to her mother. She took it, blew Brynna a kiss, and they disappeared out of the room.

“I—I can't believe, after everything, that you guys would come find me.”

Darcy sat at the edge of the bed while Evan and Lauren fought over the single chair. Teddy pulled Brynna's hand into his.

“We're your friends, Bryn. Real friends never really let go.”

Brynna thought of all the times she “saw” Erica. In her mind's eye, she could see her smiling now. “No,” she said, “they never really do.”

No book is ever written alone. I'd like to thank the amazing team at Sourcebooks Fire for everything they do to make our books the best and cheer them along every step of the way. Thank you! Thanks to my wonderful agent Amberly Finarelli for seeing this puppy through its infancy and all the way out into the world. I owe a debt of gratitude to my Club One gang for keeping me going—Shirley, Penne, Marilyn, Nadine, Gary, and Dave. Thanks to my parents for not sending me directly to the nuthouse when I told them I was going to write books for a living (I was seven). Thank you to my Rogue girls with an extra special nod to Marina Adair who has actually seen me cry (probably over this book), and to all the wonderful “resources” who've turned into invaluable friends: Lee Lofland, Dr. Jonathan Hayes, Kasey Halcon, Chief L. Scott Silverii, PhD, and Dr. Cyrus Yocum.

And most importantly, to all you amazing fans out there who keep reading and writing—I love you guys! Thanks for letting the nerdy book girl into your world.

“Thank you for coming.”

The words rose and fell on the soft pile carpet, and Sawyer wondered whether she should brush the small ball of fuzz from Kevin's earlobe. It stuck there, stark and white against the dark navy blue of his suit.

“I couldn't have gotten through today without you,” Mrs. Anderson said, squeezing Sawyer's ice-cold hand.

Sawyer knew she should say something comforting, something warm and thoughtful, but all she could focus on was that little bit of fuzz on Kevin's left ear.

“They said it was immediate,” someone whispered. “They said he was drunk.”

Sawyer had heard those words tumble over and over in her mind every minute for the past forty-eight hours.
It
was
immediate,
Kevin was drunk, he didn't stand a chance
. She wasn't crying—couldn't anymore—as she stared down at Kevin. His eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted, and his hands were gently crossed against his chest. Sawyer couldn't help but think from somewhere dark, somewhere deep inside of her, that at least he couldn't hurt her anymore.

“You must be devastated.”

Sawyer felt Mr. Hanson, her Spanish teacher, lay a gentle hand on her shoulder. She shrunk away, the smell of lilies suddenly overwhelmingly cloying. “I'll be right back.”

She took the stairs two at a time, her black ballet flats falling soundlessly on the carpet. She paused on the top floor landing when she saw the girl at the end of the hall.

The girl blinked at Sawyer.

She was tall and thin—unfortunately so—with a boyish body that was all edges and angles. Her long brown hair was looped in a herringbone braid that fell over one shoulder, and baby hairs stood up in a static-y halo around her head, shot out from the loose weave of the braid. The girl's eyes looked like they may have been velvety brown and deeply alive once, but they were sunken and flat now. Her full lips were barely pink and pulled down at the edges. This girl wore her mourning black like a second skin.

Sawyer swallowed; the girl swallowed.

Sawyer paused for a full beat before tugging self-consciously at her braid, then averted her eyes from the mirror that reflected a girl she scarcely recognized. She continued down the hall, moving quickly.

She knew from nights lying to her parents and sneaking, shoeless, past his parents' room that Kevin's door was the last one on the left. She slipped in there on a sigh, clicking the door shut softly behind her. A curl-edged painting was scotch taped to the back of Kevin's door and Sawyer, stunned, fingered it softly. It was a beach scene she had painted the first day Kevin spoke to her. They were in art class and she was lost in her own brush strokes, squinting, leaning close to make the crush of the waves as realistic as possible.

“You're really good,” he had said, his chin jutting toward the scene. Sawyer could still feel the overwhelming heat in her cheeks as her index finger followed the curl of foam on the forever-still water.

She heard a soft breath in the yellowing light that filtered through the blinds and cracked across the painting. “The recruiter came to see him, you know.”

Mr. Anderson said it without turning around. Kevin's father was perched on the end of his son's bed; his head was bowed and his back was toward her, but Sawyer could see that his fingers were working the silky fabric of Kevin's number twenty-one Hawthorne Hornets football jersey while an army of gold plated football trophies looked on.

“He talked about marrying you.” Mr. Anderson looked over his shoulder then, his watery blue eyes finding Sawyer, a reminiscing half smile on his chapped lips. “He said that he'd get into Cal and you'd get into the Art Institute and that would be it.”

Sawyer tried to smile, tried to remember the moments when she and Kevin would sprawl in the grass, her hand finding his as they talked about a future that was far off and pristine, that sloughed off divorce and jealousy and high school pressures and rivalries. She remembered telling Kevin that she wanted to go to the Art Institute, remembered the far-off look in his eyes when a smile snaked across his lips.

“What?” she said, barely able to keep the grin from her lips.

Kevin
shook
his
head
and
squeezed
Sawyer's hand gently. “How perfect is that? I'll go to Cal, be the dashing football star, and you'll be across the bay at the Art Institute painting portraits of your beloved.”

“Portraits of John Lennon? I think I'd get tired of that.”

Kevin
tugged
at
her
arm—gently, softly—and Sawyer slipped into his lap, loving the feeling of his arms wrapped around her. She felt so safe, so warm, and when his lips nuzzled her ear, she felt the spark move low in her belly.

Now the memory caught in her throat.
That
was
when
things
were
good,
she told herself.

Mr. Anderson sucked in a sharp breath that brought Sawyer back to the present; she looked up just in time to see Kevin's father double over himself, heavy hands hugging his sides. There was no sound except the ragged tear of his breath as he cried.

Sawyer felt her bottom lip quiver, and when she pinched her eyes shut, she saw Kevin, cheeks pink and alive, lips pressed up into that half smile he shared with his father. In her mind's eye, that grin turned into a snarl. She heard the sickening smack of skin against skin in her head. She reeled, feeling the sting again.

“He loved you so much.”

Sawyer felt Kevin's warm breath, heard the deep rumble of his voice as he told her he loved her for the first time. She remembered the shiver that zinged from the top of her head to the base of her spine, amazed, delighted, enraptured. Kevin—Kevin Anderson, the most popular boy in school—loved
her.
She was everything in that moment when Kevin's fingertips brushed against the small of her back, when his lips pressed up against hers. Her life—her family—had splintered. Her mother had moved across the country, her father loved another woman, but Kevin Anderson wanted Sawyer. He wanted Sawyer Dodd, and that made her feel
real
. She wanted to hold on to that moment, was desperate to hold on to that moment and nothing else—not when he got angry, not when she made him mad, not the tear-racked apologies that followed.

Sawyer nodded, the tears slipping over her cheeks. “I loved him too.”

•••

The mood at school on Monday was somber, and Sawyer was tired of people averting their stares when she walked by. Third-period choir was her favorite escape, and when she slipped into the band room, she couldn't help but grin when Chloe Coulter, seated on the piano with long legs kicking, caught her eye.

“Sawyer!” Chloe vaulted off the piano, her blond ponytail flailing behind her. She tackled Sawyer in an enthusiastic hug, not caring as students shoved past them.

“How are you?” Chloe's eyes were a bright, clear blue, and today they were wide and sympathetic, framed by too-dark black lashes and heavy brows. “Are you okay?”

Sawyer nodded slowly, and her best friend squeezed her hand, then blew out a sigh. “Did you just get back in town?”

Chloe waved a pink late pass. “Yeah.” Her eyes searched Sawyer. “I'm so sorry, Sawyer. I wish I could have been there. Was it awful? It was awful, wasn't it? I should have been there with you. God, I suck.”

Sawyer swallowed hard. “It was your grandmother's ninetieth birthday. No one expected you to come back.”

“But I would have,” Chloe said, blond ponytail bobbing.

“I can't believe he's gone,” Maggie Gaines said, her ski-jump nose a heady red. She was flanked on either side by stricken onlookers who offered condolences and Kleenex as Maggie murmured to them in a voice just loud enough to be overheard. When she caught Sawyer staring, Maggie's glossy eyes went immediately hard and sharp.

“Look at her,” Chloe spat. “Kevin was your boyfriend, but Maggie needs to be the inconsolable center of attention. That should be you.”

Sawyer shrunk back into her baggy sweatshirt. “Let her have her moment,” she mumbled. “They dated for a while too.”

Chloe snorted. “Like a hundred years ago.”

Mr. Rose kicked open the side door and shoved a costume rack into the choir room. The student chatter died down and kids leaned forward, eyes glued to the new choir uniforms.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mr. Rose started, “I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to see what you're wearing for this year's regionals.”

The group groaned as a well-tuned whole.

The Hawthorne High Honeybee choir was known for only two things: being four-time back-to-back national champions and having the ugliest uniforms known to man. Sawyer's freshman year featured an army green taffeta number with balloon sleeves and lace inlays for the girls, and equally unattractive green velvet blazers for the guys. Sophomore year the budget was cut, and the Honeybee choir showed up looking like an exceptionally well-tuned army of white-vested waiters. At the end of last year, the school had taken “pity” on the choir and offered up some leftover graduation gowns onto which the costume department had stitched fighting hornets and musical notes. That was what the group was expecting when Mr. Rose began his excited introduction.

“So, without further ado…” Mr. Rose pulled the black sheet off the costume bar and a collective “ah” sailed through the classroom. Maggie stopped sniffing into her Kleenex, Chloe gasped, and Sawyer sat up straighter.

“OMG!”

“They're gorgeous!”

With one hand, Mr. Rose held up a simple black satin sheath dress, its waist cinched with a thick red satin sash. In the other hand, he offered a black blazer with a red tie. The Honeybees cheered.

Mr. Rose, apple cheeks pushed up into a full-face smile, beamed. “The school board heard your fashion protests and decided—finally—that the Singing Honeybees should look like
five-
time regional champions!”

Once the students had dropped back into some semblance of order, Mr. Rose handed out the plastic-wrapped garments. When he got to Sawyer he paused, giving her the sympathetic smile she was so quickly growing tired of seeing. He rested a soft hand on her shoulder, cocked his head. “Are you doing okay, Sawyer?”

Sawyer took her dress and offered him a small smile. “Yeah, I am. Thanks Mr. Rose.”

“You know, I'd like for the Honeybees to add a small tribute number to Kevin in our set list. He was such a big part of the Hornet community.”

Sawyer felt a lump growing in her throat and she nodded. “That sounds nice. Kevin would have liked that.”

“I'd like to feature you in a solo for that number.” Mr. Rose's eyes were kind, his puffy gray eyebrows high, expectant. “Would that be okay with you?”

Sawyer nodded mutely, dread, excitement, sadness, and anxiety welling up inside her all at once. “Thank you, Mr. Rose,” she finally managed.

Mr. Rose passed Sawyer and Chloe, continuing his costume distribution to the other Honeybees. Chloe leaned in, excitement evident on her face.

“A solo?” she asked breathlessly. “Oh my God, that's awesome! It just sucks that—” Chloe avoided Sawyer's eyes, looked at her own hands folded in her lap. “It just sucks that Kevin couldn't be here to hear you.”

Sawyer tried to form a response or a cohesive sentence, but nothing came out.

Mr. Rose took his spot behind the piano, and the Honeybees did their warm-ups. At the last note, he beckoned to Sawyer. She made her way to the front of the class, feeling the heat of all eyes on her. When she turned, it was just Maggie, her eyes narrowed, challenging. Sawyer offered a small noncombative smile that Maggie ignored.

We
used
to
be
friends,
Sawyer heard herself plead silently.

Maggie's hate rolled off her in waves.

When the bell rang, Sawyer and Chloe gathered up their backpacks and new uniforms, and headed toward the door. Maggie, arms crossed in front of her chest, stopped Sawyer dead in her tracks.

“A solo?” she said. Her eyes raked over Sawyer, the distaste evident.

“Can you move, please? I need to get to my locker before fourth.” She was too tired to deal with one of Maggie's jealous rages.

But Maggie remained in Sawyer's way.

“Do you think I'm going to fall for you and your stupid little ‘woe is me' act? Doubtful. You don't deserve this solo, and you didn't deserve Kevin. A real girlfriend wouldn't be able to pull herself together, let alone do a solo.”

Sawyer wanted to fight back, but she was exhausted and emotionless. Maybe Maggie was right—she didn't deserve to be Kevin's girlfriend—didn't deserve to be at the blunt end of his anger, a small voice inside her head nagged. Sawyer shook it off and shoved Maggie aside with more force than she meant.

“Lay off, Maggie.”

“Get over yourself,” Sawyer heard Chloe growl. “Sawyer doesn't need to play the chick who can't get herself together—you do it too well. It's just too bad you've been doing it ever since Kevin dumped you. When was that exactly? Nine, ten months ago now? Little long to be carrying a flame, don't you think?” Chloe flicked a lock of Maggie's long hair, then wrinkled her nose. “It's probably time to drag your obsessively depressed ass into the shower. It'll make us all feel better.”

Chloe shoved past Maggie and linked arms with Sawyer, steering her down the hall.

“You didn't have to do that,” Sawyer said, hiking her backpack over one shoulder. “I can handle Maggie.”

Chloe's blue eyes went wide and baby-doll innocent. “Oh, honey. I didn't do it for you.” She blinked, a wry smile spreading across her passion-pink lips. “I did it for me.”