Good vs. Evil High (15 page)

He didn’t need to finish. Ever since the
slaughter of his parents, he’d had these two horrifying nightmares.
One where his mother is tied to a chair and the man who killed her
has different things lying on the table in front of him—an axe, a
chainsaw, a scalpel, and so on—and he’s just standing there, trying
to decide what to kill her with. His mother is terrified and Luke’s
frozen in a corner of the room, watching it all. He wants to save
her, but his body won’t move. He always wakes up as the psycho’s
getting started, and it takes him a minute to realize it’s over.
The feelings of terror linger long after. The dad-dream’s even
worse.

I pulled the blanket up over us and stared at
Luke. We had to lie on our sides in the little twin bed.

“You’re a hero, you know,” I said. “You
probably saved Rose’s life. That makes you North Haven
material.”

We both looked up when we heard Harmony roll
over.

“I wouldn’t have been much good to her if I
hadn’t seen her on your con...Everyone’s saying a Northerner’s
footprint was found in the boiler room. Is that true?”

“Yeah. A lot of people think a Cinder put on
one of our suits and did it to make us look bad.”

“What do you think?”

“I think it could go either way. I figure a
Cinder wouldn’t go anywhere near our stuff, since they hate us so
much, but I can’t imagine anyone from North Haven hurting Rose.
Headmaster has us checked out before we get recruited.”

“How’s she doing?”

I yawned and stretched my legs before I
answered sleepily. “She’s still sedated for the pain, but she’ll
live. Hopefully when she wakes up we’ll know who attacked her... A
lot of people are scared. Whoever did it’s still out there.”

“You probably shouldn’t go anywhere
alone.”

“The buddy system—That’s a good idea. I might
bring it up with Headmaster.”

Luke put his arm under his head and stared at
me for a minute. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Waking up from
one of my nightmares with you around isn’t so bad.”

“You wanna watch cartoons?” I asked, sitting
up on my elbow.

“It’ll wake everybody up, won’t it?”

“Not if we use my earphones.” I turned my
light out and opened the curtain beside me enough to pick up my bag
from the floor. I shut it back tight before I rummaged through my
bag and pulled out the tiny headphones.

Then I felt for my con and let my bag slip
off the bed as it began to open. “Kristine Con, silent.” When
Connie’s face appeared, a message began writing itself across the
bottom of the screen. “What can I do for you, Kristine?”

“What do you wanna watch?” I asked Luke.

“SpongeBob used to be our favorite.”

I plugged my earphones in and said, “Kristine
Con, please turn on the Hash Slinging Slasher SpongeBob
episode.”

“That used to be my favorite one,” Luke
said.

“I know.”

He put one of the earphones in and held an
arm out for me to lie on. That way we had enough room to lie flat
on our backs and watch.

As the pirate painting began singing, “Are
you ready, kids?” I couldn’t believe how much I’d missed these late
night incidences. It almost felt blissful to be snuggled up close
to him like that.

My eyes were soon heavy. I tried to fight off
sleep so I could remain consciously with Luke for as long as
possible. But it eventually won out and I let my eyes close.
Somewhere between the world of slumber and wakefulness, I felt him
kiss my forehead and whisper, “Good night, Kristine.”

* * * *

The sound of my curtains being opened woke me
up. “Rise and shine, Kr—” Harmony gasped.

I realized someone was lying beside me, his
arm draped over my waist. Luke was lying asleep in my bed.

“A Cinder’s trying to get Kristine!” someone
screamed.

“No!” I sat up as Luke opened his eyes. The
curtains on the other side of my bed were ripped open by Tracy, who
slept in the bed beside mine. “He’s not trying to hurt me. We fell
asleep watching my con.”

“But he’s a Cinder,” Tracy said.

“So? Luke, you have to go.”

He looked at me and moved his arms under the
blanket—and then he was gone. I could feel him climb out of bed,
but he was impossible to see until the light hit him. He looked
like a shapeless shadow moving across the room. Everyone moved as
far away from the strange apparition as they could, like he had
some infectious disease. Once he entered the hallways, he would
become invisible.

“What was he doing here?” Harmony asked. Any
girl within earshot stared at me for answers, including Sassy and
Nadine.

I got out of bed and went to my roommate’s
bunk, deciding it was no one else’s business. Harmony and Nadine
stood beside me and Sassy leaned in. “He had a nightmare, so we
were watching cartoons. We must have both fallen asleep.”

“But he’s a Cinder,” Harmony said. “Second
floor’s for North Haveners only during competitions. We don’t
bother them, and they don’t bother us.”

“Headmaster said it was okay,” I said.

“Well, it’s not.” I looked at each of their
faces, firmly set in agreement with what Harmony was saying.

I let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t like the
Cinders much either, but Luke’s different. He’s changed a lot since
we were separated, but he’s still the same guy inside. You’re just
going to have to trust me on this.”

“So you’re going to keep seeing him?”

“Yes.”

“Aw, forbidden love,” Sassy cooed. “How
romantic.”

“Forbidden friendship, you mean.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Nadine said.

“We’re your sisters,” Harmony said, “and
we’ll stick with you no matter what. But any of us getting too
close to a Cinder is a bad idea.”

But it was too late. I got too close to that
Cinder when I was still in grade school, and there was no turning
back now.

I reached out for a group hug, because this
was proof that I could count on them no matter what. “Thanks,
guys.”

Chapter
Nineteen

~ Suspicious Character ~

I hoped everyone wouldn’t find out what had
happened, but I didn’t know how gossip worked here. Hopefully,
North Haven students were above that.

I was surprised when I walked into the gym
and found Coach Ling and her two remaining runners standing beside
Coach Beckham, who looked a little happier than usual. “Fayre!” he
boomed. “I’m turning you over to Coach Ling. You’ll be training
with her from now on.”

“What? But I don’t want to join the Tracers.
I already have activities committee meetings with Harmony.”

“You said you would run if anything happened
to Rose. You’re not backing out on your word now, are you?”

My mouth went dry. I began to panic. “I said
I would run, and I will. But I really don’t want to join the team
and have to put all my time into training. And what if Rose can run
again before you need her? Don’t bones only take a few weeks to
heal?”

“We run next Friday,” Coach Ling said,
causing even more dryness and panic. “Winter Competitions are
always kicked off with the fifty yard dash. Tracers run three
nights stretched out over the winter, one in each month. You score
us a point for every one you win. Rose might be ready to run in
time for the last one, but we can’t be sure.”

“Are you saying you’ll run, but you don’t
want to join the team as temporary head captain?” Coach Beckham
asked, all happiness gone from his face.

I gulped nervously. “Yeah.”

His face got kind of purple as he spat out,
“Rose Jennings is in the hospital. We don’t know if she’ll ever run
again, and you can’t do this for your school. It needs you,
Fayre—”

I took a step back as Coach Ling cut in.
“Calm down, Charles. We should be grateful she’s willing to run at
all. Kristine, you meet me in the hall outside here this Friday at
two. You run at five.”

Feeling a bit petrified, I nodded.

* * * *

Twice during the day, my fear that everyone
would find out about the previous night was confirmed. First a
group of kids stopped talking to stare at me when Harmony, Sassy,
and I walked into the game room. And later in one of the bathrooms,
two girls came in talking about it, not realizing I was in one of
the stalls. But at least their story of what happened was accurate
and hadn’t been twisted into something ugly and humiliating.

So I wasn’t really surprised when Headmaster
placed a hand on my shoulder and said, “Can I have a word with
you?” as I walked into the dining hall later that evening.

“We’ll save your usual seat,” Harmony said,
she and Sassy going to sit with Nadine.

I followed him silently to his office. Since
the dark half of the room didn’t turn to stare at me when I walked
past them, I assumed they hadn’t heard what happened. All eyes were
on me as I walked through the rest of the room, though.

Once we were in the office, the door shutting
behind me was like a condemning voice reminding me that I was about
to face a man holding my fate for a very serious offense in his
hands.

“There’s a rather important matter we need to
discuss,” Headmaster said as we sat down.

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“I think so.”

“One of the teachers overheard a student say
Luke Knight was found in your bed this morning. Is this true?”

“Yes, sir.” My head sank so low, I could
hardly see over the desk.

“Would you care to explain yourself?”

“I’ll try...” Out of respect, I sat up
straight and told Headmaster about Luke’s parents’ death, the
nightmares, and how he used to come over when he had them. His
expression never changed as he listened.

When I was through, Headmaster sat back in
his chair and stared at the blank wall to his left for a couple of
minutes. Then he turned back to me. “I hope you realize how serious
this is.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But I do believe this young man needs you.
No one should have to wake up afraid and alone. I’ll need to speak
with my brother about it, but perhaps we could arrange something
where Luke could send for you when he has one of these nightmares.
If it was supervised, I don’t see the harm in a few late night
cartoons. Would you mind being woken up in the night?”

“Not for Luke, but I don’t want to get him in
trouble. His headmaster might not know what happened.”

“I’ll speak with Tobias and see if we can
agree on something tonight. And don’t worry; I won’t mention the
little incident.”

“Thank you, sir...Has Rose woken up yet?”

“Not yet. Her doctor is keeping her asleep
for a few days due to the extent of her injuries. If there’s
nothing else you wish to discuss, you may be dismissed.”

I couldn’t believe my luck as I walked out of
the office toward my friends. I wasn’t in trouble! At least not
with Headmaster.

Roman rose from a chair against the wall and
stood in front of me. “Did you really wake up next to Knight this
morning?”

“Yeah, but nothing happened. We were just
talking and we fell asleep.”

He grunted angrily as he gripped my arm
firmly. “You can’t have other guys climbing into your bed, and
Knight’s the worst one. I go up against him in the Winter
Competitions.”

“Who cares? Luke’s not just some guy. He’s my
best friend. It’s the same thing as Harmony climbing down to talk
to me in my bed.” It hit me how wrong what I’d said was, as I
thought about the way I felt lying beside Luke the night
before.

“No, it’s not. I’m your boyfriend and I say
this can’t happen again.” He was still on the boyfriend trip? I
wanted to say something, but I wanted the conversation to end
more.

“Don’t worry, it won’t. Why do you think I
was in Headmaster’s office?” I tried to walk past him, but his grip
tightened and refused to let go. “Ouch. Let go.”

“Are you in trouble?”

“Well he wasn’t happy.” The less he knew, the
better.

“I don’t want to fight, and I believe you,
but will you promise me this won’t happen again?”

“It won’t.”

He finally let go of my arm, which was
beginning to throb, and followed me to sit with my friends. Harmony
was telling Nadine what happened in physical fitness today.

“You know what I think?” Sassy said, leaning
forward with a mischievous smile on her face. “I think Coach
Beckham attacked Rose.”

“What?!” Harmony asked. “Are you crazy?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but think about it.
He’s seriously competitive and Kristine stands a better chance of
winning next week. And did you see how happy he was when he told
Kristine she was joining the Tracers, and how mad he got when she
refused? It was like his evil plan had been foiled. He ran her
harder than anyone all morning.”

“You’re still not going to join the Tracers?”
Roman asked me.

“Sassy,” Harmony said. “Coach Beckham’s one
of us. Only a Cinder would attack someone so brutally.”

“But the footprint was one of ours, and I
heard they think it’s a guy’s.”

“You seriously believe it was one of us?”
Nadine asked. “And you think it’s Coach Beckham? Aren’t you afraid
he’ll attack you after class or something?” She and Harmony laughed
at the idea.

“Why would he attack us? He has nothing to
gain from it.”

“Actually, the Coach Beckham thing’s not so
crazy,” I said, remembering last Saturday morning. I didn’t really
think it was him, but I wasn’t ruling it out either.

“Why?” Harmony asked.

I didn’t want to tell them in front of Roman,
because I felt better shutting him out of my personal life to some
degree. “Let’s talk about this back in our room when we’re not
surrounded by the whole school.”

We ate quickly, Roman keeping his arm
annoyingly around me the entire time, and then went up to our room,
knowing hardly anyone would be there so early. We all climbed into
my bed, turned my light on, and pulled the curtains shut. There
were a few girls in the room, so, as quietly as I could, I told
them everything I’d heard Coach Beckham say and how he’d kept going
around the tower when he wasn’t supposed to.