Mindspeak (4 page)

A title like that made medical
research sound glamorous. Definitely not the case. Doctors and scientists
worked long hours, sacrificed time with their families, and gave up any
resemblance of a normal life. That’s what I knew about Dad’s “glamorous” life.
Growing up, I hardly saw my father, often only getting leftovers. Friday, I
didn’t even get that.

Another article discussed the
various controversies of embryonic cloning and the many organizations that are
currently protesting any use of such technology. The article said, “Geneticist
and reproductive specialist, Dr. Peter Roslin, announced in a private meeting
before the dinner that he was on the verge of declaring a monumental scientific
discovery.”

Monumental discovery?
“What
kind of discovery?” I wondered.

The article went further to
speculate that this announcement was the reason the host of Friday night’s dinner
hired private security for Dr. Roslin during his stay in the United States.

What had my dad discovered that
would warrant the hiring of security? I rubbed my fist in circles over my heart,
massaging the ever-increasing anxiety there. Was he in danger?

There was no mention in any of the
articles of Dr. DeWeese punching Dad in the face.

Next, I clicked on a link within
the article that brought up an old feature story about the work Dad did long
ago while still in the states.

“Can I join you?” Jack stood above
me.

I pulled out my ear buds. “Um,
there’s no other chair. Sorry.” I tried to keep my tone light and breezy when
the pounding of my heart was anything but.

He walked away and returned a
moment later with a chair. “Thanks for showing me around this morning.” He
placed the chair beside me and sat backwards, chest against the back, facing
me. “It’s tough. Starting a new school. Not knowing anyone.”

I cocked my head. “Seriously?” I
pictured Briana draped across his books and in his face only minutes before.

He smiled. “No.” Jack nodded at the
computer screen “That’s a nice picture, don’t you think?”

I glanced at the picture on my
computer screen of my father and his. I turned back. “What do you want Jack?
Why are you here? And why did your father hit mine last night?”

“Wow.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Which
one of those would you like for me to answer first?” he asked, teasing. Daring
me to choose.

I considered the weight of each
question. He stared, his eyes steadfast on mine. Again, his face lengthened.
The smug smile that usually brightened his eyes was gone.

“Fine. Why did Dr. DeWeese punch a friend
he hadn’t seen in years?”

Jack glanced over his shoulder and
leaned in closer. I studied the slight stubble on his chin and breathed in a
subtle scent of shower gel. “I can’t tell you that,” he said and leaned back.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re not ready.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
My words echoed through the library.

“It means exactly what it sounded
like.” His voice took on a more serious edge.

Blowing out a breath of air, I
stood and began stuffing my laptop into my satchel. My hand shook. He must have
noticed because he covered it with his palm, pushing my hand to the desk and
stopping me from zipping my bag. His hand was cool over the heat of mine. I
lifted my head and met his gaze. “You knew me before you arrived at this
school. How?”

“I overheard part of a conversation
my father had.”

“With whom?”

Again, Jack smiled, cocking his
head.

“Fine. Whatever. Don’t tell me. Look,
Jack. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing but I’m not interested.
Stay away from me. Got it?”

Before he could answer, or I gave
into the urge to slap the grin off his face, I left him and took off for the
pool. I had missed enough practices and needed to clear my head before dinner. Besides,
it was just easier to run from life’s distractions. From Jack.

~~~~

I folded my clothes into my gym bag
and started to close the locker door, but my phone sounded. Instead of ignoring
it like I should have, I dug deep into the side pocket and pulled the phone
out. A text.

“Lexi, honey, please send the
address of the storage place to this number. Thanks. Love, your father.”

I didn’t recognize the phone
number. It wasn’t the number I had for Dad, and he didn’t sign texts with “your
father.” Daddy, maybe. Or just Dad. As if that wasn’t weird enough, I had
already emailed him the information he wanted.

What was so important in that
storage anyway? As far as I knew, he hadn’t touched anything in that storage in
more than five years. Why now? Some old journals? I let the phone slide back
down in the pocket and slammed the locker door.

The warm steam of the heated water
and the strong smell of chlorine accosted me when I stepped onto the pool deck
into a puddle of water. I left my goggles and cap sitting on the edge of the
gutter and dove through the water like a bullet. The only thing better than
early morning team practices was having the entire pool to myself. I pretended
to swim in the ocean. The open water. Free. Without limits. For more than an
hour.

Although my mind wanted to get
stuck on such things as absentee fathers, mysterious quests for some old
journals, and Jack, I pushed hard against them. I imagined winning the high
school swim championships, being accepted to a college where I could become
whatever I was meant to be, and life after college as a doctor. I dreamed of
freedom away from this school. I dreamed of spending time with Dad.

After pushing my workout to the
limits, I stood under the hot shower and attempted to further drown the tension
in my shoulders. The heat of the shower soothed my tired muscles, but something
about the text I’d received earlier bugged me.

After the shower, I slipped into
some sweats, brushed the tangles from my hair and tied it up in a knot on top
of my head. The locker room was quiet except for the constant drip echoing in
the showers. I wriggled my headphones into my ears. The soft strains of Yo-Yo
Ma played, a soothing sound after a hard workout.

I wrapped my damp towel around my
neck and lifted my bag. My sliders flopped against my heels as I walked toward
the exit, my mind already shifting to the trigonometry test I had yet to study
for that day.

Suddenly, a loud bang interrupted
the soft music and my distant thoughts. I spun toward the sound. A shadow moved
along the far wall near the door between the locker room and the pool.

I pulled a headphone form my ear
and listened. I heard only the drip of a leaky faucet, so I shook off any
paranoia. The sound must have been a locker closing. Another swimmer getting in
an evening swim.

Shrugging, I started toward the
exit again. The lights went out. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. My
body froze, muscles tightened. Swallowing hard, I removed my ear buds and
stuffed them in the pocket of my hoodie. “Hello?”

Nothing. The door to the pool area
creaked opened and closed. The only light shone from an exit sign above the
door to the hallway.

I stood, unmoving. Listening for
footsteps. Anything. Maybe a custodian who didn’t realize someone was in here.
I took another step.

The crashing of lockers cracked the
silence, like a sudden clap of thunder in the dead of night. I flinched. My heart
raced as if I had just finished a fifty-yard sprint. Paralyzing fear never won
races. With my eyes finally adjusted to the dim light, I ran.

I swung open the door and almost
pulled it from its hinges. I flew into the hallway, plowing into someone walking
by. The person grabbed my arms and attempted to stop my forward motion, but it
was too late. I knocked into the figure so hard that we both tumbled to the
ground, tapping heads along the way.

I reached out a hand to break the
fall and my arm got trapped beneath both bodies.

“Ow,” I moaned. “I’m so sorry.” I raised
my head and met stormy blue eyes. “Jack?” Of all the people… A lightning bolt
of pain shot through my arm, and my head ached.

“What is wrong with you?”
Irritation wove through each word. He lifted his head, our faces only inches
apart. The annoyance slowly faded, replaced by a bemused smile.

I breathed hard. Rolling off, I
held my arm close to my body. “Ow,” I groaned again. The pain was enough to
make me lightheaded. Had I just broken my wrist? Heat spread upwards to my
cheeks.

Jack pushed himself up and then
lifted me easily. “Why are you in such a hurry?” he asked.

“Someone was in there.” I inhaled
and let the breath out slowly. Embarrassed, I pretended to cross my arms, while
in actuality, I cushioned my arm against my ribs. I didn’t want Jack to know I might
have just broken it.

Concern blanketed Jack’s face. “What
do you mean? In there?” He thumbed toward the locker room. “Who?”

“If I knew, do you really think I
would have bulldozed you?”

“Well, let’s just have a look,
shall we?” His voice was calm. He pushed through the door to the girls’ locker
room.

I followed close behind him. A cold
sweat broke out across my forehead and down my arms.

He flipped on the lights. “Is
anyone in here?” We searched around every corner until we reached the opposite
side of the showers and through the door to the pool.

“No one’s here.” He turned his eyes
on me. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?”

By then, my heart had slowed.
Whoever had been in the locker room was long gone. Then it dawned on me. “I’m
such an idiot.” I laughed. “Great. That’s just perfect.”

“What’s perfect?” he asked. A line
formed between his eyes.

Briana. Exactly the sort of thing
she would do. Put me on edge; try to knock me off my game. “Nothing. I’m sorry.
Someone was just playing a bad joke on me. And I think I know exactly who.”

“Who?” he asked, not convinced.

I shook my head. “Not your problem.
Really. I think someone was just trying to scare me. Do you mind if we just
forget this?”

He seemed to let it go. We walked
back the same way we came. “You missed dinner,” he said when we reached the
door to the hallway again.

“I’ll live.” I hated my aloof tone.
But what? He was tracking my eating habits now?

I entered the hallway, followed by
Jack.

“Well, well, well. What do we have
here?” Kyle Jones, captain of the swim team, stopped in the middle of the
hallway. A smirk spread across his face.

“Hi,” I said, cringing. Though Kyle
was a friend, he was also friends with Briana, and I didn’t really need anyone
knowing I had paranoid fears of that girl. “Have you met Jack?”

“I don’t believe so. Hey, man. You’re
the new guy, right? How’s it going?” Kyle shook Jack’s hand.

“Great. Nice to meet you.” Jack
stuffed both hands in the front pockets of his khakis.

“Kyle is on the swim team with me.”
As I’m sure Jack could tell by the Wellington Swim Team sweatshirt he had on. “And
my really good friend.”

Kyle nodded, his dark brown hair
hung in a messy shag around his face. His grin and the way he folded his arms
across his chest told me he couldn’t wait to get me alone and ask me what was
going on between me and the new guy.

“Lexi was assigned to be my tour
guide.” Jack gave me a sideways glance, answering the question I suspected Kyle
had. His eyes drifted down to my arm that I still held close to my body. I squirmed
under his scrutiny.

“And she was showing you the girls’
locker room?” Kyle asked.

Fire crept up my neck and exploded
across my cheeks. “You know me. I like to be thorough.” I flashed an unspoken “thank
you” to Jack for not telling Kyle what had happened. I didn’t need Kyle joining
the growing list of members in the Lexi’s a Freak Club. Jack was already
president. That was enough.

“Well, I’ve got a trig test to
study for,” Kyle said. “I’ll catch you two later.”

I gave him a low wave with my good
hand as he passed us and continued toward the boy’s dorms.

Alone again, Jack brushed his
fingers along my hurt arm. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I tried to keep
my tone even. The truth was my arm radiated fire. “Thanks for not revealing to
Kyle that I’m an idiot.”

“What? Because someone purposely
tried to scare you while you were alone in a locker room? That makes you an
idiot?”

“And they were quite successful. I
feel stupid, that’s all.” I looked down at my pink toenails peeking out from my
sliders. When I lifted my head, Jack’s eyes burned into mine.

“How’s your arm?”

I squeezed my eyes tight. Caught. I
tried to move my fingers, but pain stopped me. “Broken?” I sighed. “Which is
just perfect. How am I supposed to swim with a broken arm?”

“Your face is pale.” He reached his
fingers to my face. “You’re clammy. And you have a knot on your forehead where our
heads hit.”

Thank you for that thorough
examination.

He reached for my other arm. “Let’s
go.” He glanced down the hallway in both directions before leading me back into
the girls’ locker room. His eyes were wide, crazed.

“What are you doing? Where are we
going?”

He said nothing as he led me around
the corner close to the bathroom stalls and I let him. This guy, who showed up
yesterday, was going to murder me right here inside this locker room, and no
one was going to find my body until morning. By then, he’d be long gone.

I wasn’t usually one for melodrama,
but…

Jack faced me. “I’m sorry. You’re
not ready for this, but you’ve left me no choice.”

“Not ready for what?” My chest rose
and fell.

“Sit.” Jack walked over to the
sinks and splashed water on his face. He stared at himself in the mirror like
he was mentally preparing for something.