Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (5 page)

I glanced
over
at Kyle
and cringed
.
Tammy was my ex’s name. I had sworn off speaking it ever again
.

“
I
’
m not interested in dancing
,”
I said.

“
I have plenty of friends who
’
d love to go with you
,”
Shani suggested.

“
Y-o
uch
,
Shani
. You think I
’
m date starved?
”
I asked.

“
Well
,
I don
’
t see anyone
waiting in line for you to ask them out. Or do you have a secret stash of chicks that I don’t know about?”
Shani replied. She really had a way of making you feel retarded.

“
See, t
here you go. Excuse
numero uno
is down the el draino
,”
Kyle teased.
“
Plus it
’
s unhealthy for a guy
to go so long without…well
,
you know what I
’
m saying.
”
He wagged his eyebrows
,
and I frowned.

“
Dude
,
seriously.
” I tossed a piece of bread at him. “
Shani
,
thanks
,
but I don
’
t need the
hookup
.
”

“
Uh
,
yeah you do
,”
Kyle corrected.
“
I know. What about
Erica Jensen
? You two seem
to have hit it off pretty good. Heard from Thorne, yet?
By the way, one of our teammates said
you’re on his ass-kicking list
.
”

I could
’
ve
knocked him out
—then again, not really. I would never hurt my friend that way. But Thorne was a different story.
Plus
, I was still mad about Erica
giving me the silent treatment over the past
few
days.

“
Erica Jensen is probably the most self-centered
,
too-much-pink we
aring girl in the entire school,” I began, “
Do you really think she’d
give you or me or anyone who
wasn’t born
to have
a doctorate
’s degree a chance?
”

I should
’
ve shut the freak up when I noticed my two friends giving me the wide-eyed
look. But no
,
that infamous
Wood
temper just had to keep on going. I wanted to say:
“
she
’
s standing right behind me isn
’
t she?
”
I
kept quiet
. Erica said it all for me.

“
Wow
,
Caleb. Try not to hold back on
telling us how you
really
feel
,”
a familiar female
’
s voice said. Every cell in my body froze
. I couldn’t even
bring myself to
turn around
.
Reigning
in my ego
,
I turned
in my seat
.

“
Erica
,
uh
,
what
’
s up?
”
I said
,
my face on fire
as I tried to put on a cheesy face
.

“
I mean
,
I knew you hated my guts at one point
; b
ut
geez
,
Caleb
.
I kinda thought we had this
bonding moment thing going on over the past few days
,”
Erica joked.

“
I didn
’
t—
”

“
Save it. I just wanted you to know I
’
d be back at defense class today.
”
She didn
’
t give me a chance to say anything before she turned around and walked out of the cafeteria.

I wanted to melt through the floor
.

“
Bonding moment? With Erica?
Uh-huh.
Is there something you aren’t telling us
,
b
ro?
”
Kyle asked
,
the largest grin ever plastered across his face. 

“
Caleb the traitor
,”
Shani chimed in.
“
No wonder you don
’
t think any of my friends are good enough.
”

I spun around to face her.
“
What
’
s that supposed to mean?
”

She shrugged.
“
It
’
s pretty obvious. You
’
ve got the hots for the lead cheerleader.
”

“
Hots? Update your vocabulary next time you find yourself studying the dictionary on nerd day
,”
I blurted.

“
Whatever
,”
Shani said.

“
My man
,
scoring with one of the pom poms,
”
Kyle said and held up his fist for me to punch. I did and then stood up before they could torture me anymore.
“
Have fun in defense class today,
”
Kyle said in a sing-song way.

“
Yeah
,
and you two have fun
tongue wrestling,”
I said and walked toward the doors
,
feeling all screwed up inside about defense class for the first ti
me since I started teaching it.

* * *

“
Where
’
s the rest of my class?
”
I asked Coach Pitaro
as I walked into the gym.

“
Oh
,
I almost forgot. Rick Jensen asked if I
’
d talk to you about that
,”
he answered.

“
Right, a
nd that means what exactly?
”
I asked
,
a creepy nervous feeling inching through my mid-section.

“
Erica
’
s uncle
wanted his
neice
to have
a couple of private sessions because she missed so many of the last few classes
.
I cancelled your other ones scheduled for this week.
You can handle that
,
right?
”
he said.

“
Do I have a choice?
”

He stopped and gave me the strangest look.
“
You always have a choice
,
Caleb. Do you have
a problem with Erica
?
Need someone else to fill in?
”

“
Nope.
”
Of course I
’
d say no. I had this little issue of college credit to handle. Pitaro was the one who held the key to that little tidbit of the physical education requirement
.

“
Then it l
ooks like you
’
re on
,”
he said
,
nodding toward
someone
behind me. I turned around. Erica was walking across the gym
floor
,
her light brown hair and super tanned skin
was
highlighted by all of the pink she was wearing.

“
I
’
m sorry I made you wait
,”
she said
,
coming to a stop in front of me. Nervous beyond reason
,
I glanced back to tell Coach Pitaro I
’
d see him around. He was already gone.
I faked a cough
and turned back to Erica.

“
Um
,
are you ready?
”
I didn
’
t give her the
chance to answer. Instead
,
I set up the mat
,
making a mental note to avoid situations like this one at all cost
s with my next class.

“
Caleb
,
I didn
’
t mean to
ignore
you these past few days. But
,
I don
’
t know
,
it
just
felt
super
strange to hear that you
knew
so much about me
,”
she said quietly.

My stupid chest g
ot
all funny feeling inside
as I pretended to be listening to everything she said. Okay, so I was freaked out because she was opening up to me, alright.
I
’
m supposed to be Mr.
Hungry
Stud in control of his raging
hormones
,
and not the other way around. After my e
x
moved away, I
made a deal
with myself
that the only
girl
who could
dominate the way I felt
ever
again would be a m
anga queen.

I shrugged and said
,
“
No big deal.
Wait. That’s not right. I’m sorry, okay?
”

She smiled and kept staring at me. I sucked at apologizing and I was also a crappy
liar.
“
No
,
it
’
s really a big deal. I don
’
t remember what happened that day. The psychs told my aunt and uncle that it
’
s me
who
’
s repressing
everything.
They say I don
’
t want to remember what happened.
”
A faraway look clouded her face. She was pretty in
a fragile, dainty
kind of way
. Plus there was
something else that I couldn
’
t quite finger.

“
They make me feel weird. Kind of like they don
’
t believe
the whole awful experience is over
. I mean
,
my uncle changed your entire class today. He
’
s hell bent on making me into a jujitsu
warrior
.
”

“
Yeah
,
well
,
l
ike I said the other day
,
your secret is safe with me
,”
I assured her.
I didn’t know what else to say.

“
I know. You
’
re the real thing. That
’
s what I like so much about you
,”
she said in a breathy way that made me get all brain tied.

I inhaled sharply and said
,
“
All right. Are you ready?
”

The session went a lot smoother than I thought it would. She
was a fast learner
. By the end of the class she had me on my backside a couple of times. To
be such a petite girl
she packed a lot of muscle. No wonder
Thorne
acted so crazed in the head about her.