Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night Book 1) (8 page)

                                                                      Chapter Twelve

Violet was sitting at home alone, her eyes staring hard at the phone. Her step-mom and dad had gone out for the night and her annoying brother was spending the night at a friend’s house. She realized she hated it when it was quiet. There were no distractions from her mind. Sitting in solitude had given her time to think. She realized that she owed Luna a favor for all the trouble she had caused.

She had thought about her friend’s exhausted face all day and then remembered that she had to go to the dance with Chance. She’d be so unhappy that she’d start to make herself violently ill. It would be all Violet’s fault just because she had wanted the chance to talk to the infamous Chance Welfrey.

Violet felt a stabbing guilt in her conscious all day. Luna didn’t handle social situations well, and she was beginning to worry that Luna might get ill. Violet knew she couldn’t fix the situation since the damage had been caused, but she at least wanted to admit to Luna that the whole thing was her fault.

Violet sighed, feeling exhausted with her continual lack of sleep. She forced herself to stand up and turn away from the phone. She was too tired to think right. She padded to her room to lie down to sleep confident (and overly hopeful) that once she woke in the morning her guilt would be gone.

                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Susan ran the final brushstrokes of blush over her sister’s cheeks.

“You’re beautiful, doll,” she said as Sarah blushed up at her appreciatively.

Sarah got up from the chair to look at her face in the mirror. Susan peeked around her sister to look at her own hair and makeup. She wasn’t going to lie…she was pleased with the way that she looked. She wouldn’t deny that she was a pretty girl. But obviously Chance didn’t think the same; that caused a slight frown on the corners of her lips.

“Are you really going to work on Luna?” Maddie asked from her spot in the room. Her arms were folded over her chest.

Susan sighed and looked at her. She winced a bit at Maddie’s makeup as she noticed a clump of mascara under her eye. It bothered her but there was nothing she could do because Maddie had been insistent on getting herself ready for the dance.

“I don’t think Luna’s so bad when you give her the chance, really,” Susan admitted. “She’s just quiet. That’s not so bad. I mean you like Sarah, right?”

Maddie nodded. “Of course. You’re sister’s sweet, quiet or not.”

“Luna’s the same way. Just give her a chance. You might like her too.”

“I doubt it, but I won’t be mean to her,” Maddie said.

“Chance wants me to help him because this means a lot. So what that he isn’t taking me, I found a date. So, yeah, I am gonna do it. That’s enough complaining Maddie,” Susan said.

“Just wondering.”

“Well, gather up the makeup so we can get going,” Susan said. “It’s almost time for Chance to pick up Luna and we still got a lot of work to do. I have the feeling that Luna won’t make things any easier with this stuff.”

                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~

Luna sat on the couch watching the TV once again. Only this time she was alone. David was sleeping in his room. It was Saturday, specifically the evening of the dance. A knock sounded on the door suddenly. Luna looked at it surprised and got up hesitantly to make her way over to the door.

She pulled it open and on the porch stood Susan and behind her was Maddie and Sarah. They were all wearing the dresses that they had picked out and their hair and makeup was already done.

“Um…hi?” Luna said.

“Hey, Luna,” Susan said cheerfully.

“What are you guys doing here?” Luna asked, wondering how Susan knew where she lived.

“We’ve come to get you ready for the dance,” she said holding up a bag. Luna realized that it was full of makeup, her worst nightmare.

She stared at it horrified, she wasn’t looking forward to being a human Barbie doll.

“We’re gonna make you absolutely beautiful for the dance,” she gushed. “Now where did you put that dress?”

“It’s in my closet,” Luna replied pointing towards her room.

Susan rushed towards it and Maddie and Sarah followed silently behind her. Luna closed the door after they stepped inside. What was happening to her? Was she really going to let them give her a makeover so that she could be presentable to Chance of all people?

“Okay, Luna, I found it,” Susan called and Luna turned to see her approaching with the yellow dress clutched in her hand.

She tossed the dress at her and handed the makeup bag to the quiet girl. “Sarah, can you set the stuff up in the bathroom? I’ll be in there in a minute.”

Sarah nodded and took the bag. She disappeared down the hall that led to the bathroom. Susan looked at Luna and then the dress expectantly. Luna sighed and went into her room; she closed the door behind her and looked down at the dress in her hands. She winced as once again she thought that she’d be wearing it for Chance.

She sighed and pulled off her clothes to slide the dress into place. She smoothed out the wrinkles and threw her clothes onto the bed. With one longing glance back at them, she opened the door and looked at Susan as she sat on the couch waiting.

She turned to Luna instantly. “Oh, you look great. Come on so Sarah and I can do your makeup,” she said as she pushed her towards the bathroom.

A chair from the kitchen sat inside and Susan pushed Luna to sit down. She sighed and sat down. She tilted back her head. Luna closed her eyes as she felt the light tickling of makeup brushes running across her skin. At the same time she felt pulling on her hair as one of them began to fix it. Inwardly she groaned as she wondered how long she’d be stuck in the chair. The time seemed to pass painfully slow.

“All finished,” Susan’s voice said finally.

Luna opened her eyes and sat up. She winced at the pain in her neck before she looked at her reflection. Her jet-black hair was wavy and flowed just past her shoulders. The light eye shadow made her green eyes glitter and the blush brought out her cheekbones. For the first time in her life she looked…somewhat pretty.

“Wow, that’s amazing, Susan,” she said finally.

Susan smiled. “I should hope so; I really want to do this for a living.”

Luna stood up and looked down at her dress and then back at her reflection again. She could hardly believe it. Susan walked past her and down the hall back towards the living room. She watched Susan curiously as she peeked into the room and came back.

“Okay, Chance is here. Luna get out there, I want to see his reaction.” She laughed.

Susan looked happy and for some reason, Luna couldn’t bring herself to say no to her. Did she actually feel a friendly bond towards one of the girls that before today had been her worst enemy?

Luna looked up at Susan’s green eyes as they stared at her expectantly. She couldn’t believe that her enemy was making her feel so guilty. Luna swallowed away all her thoughts and began to walk down the dark hall. She would be going with Chance; there was no denying it anymore. The night had come.

When Luna emerged at the end of the hall, she looked at Chance instantly waiting for his mean comments. He had been sitting on the couch next to Maddie but at the sight of her, he stood up. She was breathtaking, he hadn’t expected that. Behind her she heard light footsteps and turned to see Susan peeking over her shoulder.

Susan giggled and whispered. “I knew he’d be pleased.”

“Nice job, Susan,” he said finally and her attention snapped back to him.

He stepped up to her. “Hi, Luna. Are you ready to go?”

Luna pushed past him as she replied, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Susan laughed. “She’s not too eager to go.”

Chance laughed with her. “Yeah, I know.”

“We’re gonna get going now,” Susan said, laughter gone, “and give you two some time alone.”

With that Susan, Maddie, and Sarah all crossed the room to the door and left closing the door behind them. Luna turned to Chance knowing that since they were alone, his true personality would come out.

                                                                      Chapter Thirteen

“Well, go ahead and make your jokes,” Luna said to him.

“I wasn’t thinking of jokes. I wanted to say that you look beautiful. Susan did a good job,” he said admiringly.

“Why did you have her kidnap me?” she asked him agitated.

“Because if you were to be my date for the dance then I wanted you to look good,” he replied. “Everyone in the school is wondering why I’m bringing you.”

“Me too,” she snorted.

“I’ll
show
them why,” he said gesturing to her.

“But Susan wants so badly to go with you…why not take her instead of me?” she asked. “I mean she’s gorgeous, she doesn’t even need makeup.”

Chance shrugged uninterested. “If you say so. She’s my friend.”

“So, that means you can’t take her?” she asked looking up at him.

“It’s complicated.”

“How so?” she asked.

He sighed and pulled a beautiful long stemmed rose out of the back of his jacket. He straightened out the petals and handed it to her. “This is for you. I know you hate this stuff, but I think it really completes you.”

She took it slowly, careful of the pricks of the thorns. She stared at it for a moment then back at him. “What am I supposed to do with it?”

He shrugged. “I just thought you might like it.”

Luna didn’t want to admit it, but she
did
like it. She stared at it again, wanting to smell the gentle maroon petals but she didn’t want Chance to see that she liked it.

“We have to go; the dance will be starting soon,” he said and grasped her arm.

“Ouch, let go of me,” Luna said eyes still on the rose.

He didn’t listen as they walked towards the door. He opened it and pulled her onto the porch step. He closed the door and they walked towards the truck. Once they reached it, he let go of her and grumbling, she walked around the truck to the passenger door and climbed in at the same time that he climbed into the driver’s side door.

As he turned on the engine, Luna sighed and pulled the seatbelt across her. She looked at Chance and noted he was wearing a tuxedo that looked extremely professional. His hair looked carefully combed and she realized that he had actually prepared himself for the dance. She glanced down at the rose again to brush her hand across the petals as she thought up a question.

“So, how long do you plan on keeping me trapped there?” she asked him.

He smiled. “Don’t think of it like that, you’ll stress yourself out.”

“That wasn’t an answer,” she pointed out.

He yawned. “It was to me.”

Luna sighed and looked down at her hand as it clutched the stem. She realized that her nails were polished a deep blue.

“Don’t look so down. I’ll take good care of you,” he said.

They drove in silence. When he finally reached the school, he stopped the car and they sat there in silence. He turned to look at her and she looked back at him.

“What?” she asked him finally.

“You’re gonna be my date in front of the whole school, don’t you have some kind of remark about that?” he asked wonderingly.

“No, I just want to get tonight over with.”

He sighed and opened his door. “All right.”

She watched him for a moment. He wasn’t acting like himself again. He was being that strange boy that she had had dinner with a few nights ago. What was it that made him act like that when no one else was around?

“You coming or what?” he asked.

She nodded and opened the door to join him outside. She left the rose on the seat before closing the door. He stepped ahead of her and led the way to the door. He looked at the ground and took a deep breath of air before he pushed open the doors to the gym.

Luna followed behind him and looked around carefully. The lights in the gym were dulled. Balloons lined the walls and streamers hung across the ceiling. At the other end of the gym was a stage with a microphone, a drum set, and a guitar. She guessed that someone would be playing live music. She frowned at the decorations.

Chance walked across the floor towards the place where people had gathered to dance and the second that somebody noticed him, he wrapped his arm around her.

“Make room for us,” he said.

“Oh, my god, is that Chance Welfrey with Luna Ketz?” Luna heard someone mutter from the crowd.

Instantly, she looked down at the floor away from their eyes. There was no way that she could avoid drawing attention to herself now that people had noticed. Luna pushed him away from her and made her way over to a table that was covered in food where the crowd was sparser.

Chance stayed where he was and looked around the people near him. At the sight of him alone, a couple girls ran up to him and she guessed they were asking him for a dance. She smiled a bit to herself…maybe if he got distracted with the other girls than he would forget that she was there. As she watched, he shooed the girls away with a simple movement of his arm, and Luna sighed in disappointment. He walked over to her suddenly and looked at her through curious blue eyes.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like the paparazzi?” he laughed.

“You should dance with those other girls,” she said.

“Why?” he asked scrunching up his face.

“Because I want to go home.”

He shook his head. “No way, you’re not going home without at least giving me one dance.”

Luna frowned. “Do we really have to?”

“Do I have to tell David that you didn’t follow his orders?” he asked tipping his head to the side.

Luna gritted her teeth. She knew he’d keep his promise. “Fine, you win.”

He smiled and held out his hand to her. “Of course I did.”

Reluctantly, she set her hand in his. His skin felt clammy beneath her fingers and it was like he had been sweating. Luna wanted to pull her hand back but she forced herself to keep it there. He closed his hand around hers and pulled her onto the dance floor. The music turned to a slow, sappy song, forcing them to slow dance. He set his hands on her waist and forced her arms up onto his shoulders.

As he began to step to the music, she looked up at him. “Why do you do this to me?”

“Do what?” he asked calmly.

“Make me go to things like this. I mean, I know you don’t like me. What could you possibly want from me?” Luna asked him.

He looked back at her and for a minute, he didn’t speak. He looked like he had been caught off guard by her question. “I can’t tell you.”

“You can blackmail me into going on dates with you and you can have your friends kidnap me, but you can’t tell me why you do it?” she asked him in disbelief.

“Look, you’ll find out eventually and you won’t like it, I know. I try hard to get you to feel something towards me so that when you find that out, you won’t fight me,” he whispered in her ear.

“Find what out? What could be so bad that you won’t tell me? Do Susan and Kate and all of them know what it is?” Luna asked him as she pulled back to look at his face carefully.

“No, they don’t know. No one does. Just keep quiet, okay,” he said.

“Does this have to do with the thing that you hide in your pocket?” Luna asked him a bit louder this time.

A couple people around them turned to look as she raised her voice to him. Chance looked at them and smiled nervously before he looked back at Luna. He had to resist the urge to shake her into silence.

“I don’t hide anything in my pocket okay?” he snarled suddenly. “That’s all just your imagination, Luna. Now drop it.”

Luna looked back at him and part of her was frightened by his sudden anger. He was hiding something from her…and from everyone else as well.

“Okay, we’re setting up to play. Now we need a volunteer singer to help us out,” a voice called suddenly from the stage.

“How about Chance does it?” Luna heard a girl say.

Suddenly, the anger dissolved from Chance’s face as he turned to look at her. Luna realized that all of his rage had been solely directed at her.

“Yeah, I’ll do it. Why not,” she barely heard him say.

He let go of her and moved through the cheering crowd towards the stage. The band took its place and Chance stood at the microphone. He looked completely comfortable up there and normal. The band began to play “Every Breath you Take” by the Police and Luna watched Chance observantly. As soon as it was to the singing part, he began to sing the words gently and his voice was beautiful.

As Luna watched him up, she knew that he looked like any other teenage boy. The girls around Luna were cheering him on but she stayed silent where Chance had left her. His eyes flicked to her suddenly as he reached the chorus of the song and they flashed in the lights. As Luna looked back at him, she knew that there was something bad about him. Something that separated him from all the other teenage boys and made him a danger to the people that called him ‘friend’.