More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) (18 page)

To say the following weeks
were stressful was putting it mildly. I knew I was being watched, but I didn’t have a clue what to do about it. I think the fact that they never actually made contact with me made it worse. No one ever talked to me, but twice I came home to find my room had been bugged.

Ryan was so busy with his practices and workouts on top of classes and homework that we didn’t get to spend much time together during the week, and since I knew it was dangerous for my friends to be around me at the moment, I spent the entire week doing nothing but going to class and going out as Chelsea’s Angel. (The name had stuck.)

Being a superhero was kind of amazing. I loved being able to help people. I loved knowing that I was doing something good for once, making people’s lives better instead of worse. I also really loved being able to use my powers without worrying that someone was going to see me. As Chelsea’s Angel I didn’t have this deep dark secret part of me that I had to suppress all the time. I felt like I was finally able to really be myself—my
whole
self.

My mind was made up. I was going to keep being Chelsea’s Angel no matter what. Nobody was going to stop me. Especially not some stupid scientists who wanted to lock me up just so they could figure out how I did the things I did. Who cares
how
I did them? The important thing was that I
could
do them,
did
do them.

It was really easy to lose the people following me. They were watching all the exits to my building except for the roof. I guess they didn’t think I could jump off a three-story building.

I’d come home from class, listen for new bugs, do all my homework, and then turn up my radio or TV and sneak out. I hoped that this gave the illusion to the people following me that I was home being boring and not out, you know, doing things that shouldn’t physically be possible. I hoped it made them think that someone else was Chelsea’s Angel, though I doubted those creeps were that dumb.

Playing superhero did give me something constructive to do with my time and had the added bonus of keeping me away from the people I loved so that I wouldn’t put them in any more danger than I already had. I tried to tell myself that these Visticorp people weren’t interested in them, but I knew once they were ready to come after me that they would use any means necessary to make me do what they wanted. Hurting the people I loved most was probably at the top of their list of acceptable methods.

Three weeks after the whole thing had started I was stressed out, lonely, exhausted, and frustrated as I came home from classes Friday afternoon. I needed a night off from hero work. I went and took a nice, long, hot shower as I debated whether to go out and confront the people making my life miserable or climb into bed and get a good night’s rest for once. My plans were decided for me when I came back to my room and found Becky and Teddy standing there, arms crossed, reeking of grim determination.

I pretended to be clueless. “Hey, guys! What’s up?”

Becky’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what we’d like to know.”

Teddy’s tone was pleasant when he said, “We haven’t seen you much this week.”

“Or last week.” Becky was a lot more suspicious, but she knew me better. “Or the week before that.”

“I’ve just been swamped with work,” I told Becky. “Midterms and all that.”

Becky frowned, but she couldn’t really argue. She’d been busy too, and she didn’t have anywhere near the class load I had. She wanted to be angry, but couldn’t stay that way. After huffing a few times, she sighed. “Well. No excuses this time. The game tomorrow is at UC Davis, so, since we’re not traveling, Ryan and I have the night off. That means we’re going out.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but before I could think of an excuse Becky shook her head. “Nuh-uh. I don’t want to hear it. I have just learned that a great injustice has been done. Teodoro has never been dancing before and tonight it is our duty to change that. I’m not talking about the sorry scene that passes for eighteen and up nightlife in Sacramento. We’re going to San Francisco.”

My mood brightened considerably. I couldn’t help it. I love dancing. I may have been a cheerleader, but I also took gymnastics and hip-hop for years until my accident. Since then I’d only been to one dance: prom. I’d had a great time, but that wasn’t the same as going dancing.

As adorable as Ryan is, he is not a dancer. He’d had no problems slow dancing with me at prom, but anytime the music picked up he gravitated toward the punch. Mingling at a chill party is more his style than hitting the club scene. I’d been eighteen for almost a year now and I’d never been to a real club.

Becky saw the light go on in my eyes and squealed. “Yes!” She turned to Teddy and said, “She’s in. You must now go home and make yourself as sexy as possible and then meet us back here in an hour. We will be here doing the same. You and Ryan are going to have the two hottest dates on the planet tonight.”

Teddy grinned. “I can’t really say no to an offer like that.”

I waited until Teddy was gone before I turned on Becky. “Not that I don’t want to go, but are you sure you’re ready for a club?”

She understood my meaning and sobered up a little, but still smiled. “I think so. I was talking to Teodoro a couple days ago and I sort of asked him out. Like on a real date.”

Oh man, I was the worst best friend ever. “You did? I can’t believe I missed that. Beck, I am so sorry. I suck as a best friend.”

Becky smiled. “It’s okay. You’re making it up to me tonight.”

“For sure!” And I meant it. I was going to be the world’s best, most attentive friend ever, and we were going to have fun. “So? What happened?”

“I was tired of all the waiting and wondering, so I called him up and asked him if he wanted to go on a date this weekend.”

I held my breath, waiting for what I knew was coming. “And?”

“He told me he wasn’t really interested in me that way, but that he really liked me and hoped we could be friends.”

“Oh Beck, I’m so sorry.”

Becky shrugged, but I could see how she was hiding her disappointment. I felt awful for her. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’d kind of suspected as much and I’m glad he was honest with me. I’m a little bummed, but I think this is good for me. He’s a good guy, and I need more of those in my life.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Anyway,” Becky continued, “we talked for a long time after that. He straight up asked me about Mike and I ended up telling him the whole story. I told him about you, too. I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t give him details about Derek or anything, but I told him that you’d had bad luck with guys in the past too and that’s how we became such good friends. Then of course I ended up telling him the whole story about Ryan and I being best friends and you being the Ice Queen.”

“Wow. He got the entire history, didn’t he?”

Becky cringed. “I’m sorry. It’s just he’s so easy to talk to and I really needed to talk. You’re not mad, are you?”

I thought about it and then shook my head. My first instinct was to be upset—my past is a touchy subject—but then I decided this was for the best. The only thing my story proved—well, Becky’s version of it, anyway—was just how much Ryan and I had been through together. Maybe Teddy understood how much Ryan meant to me now.

“It’s fine. I’m just sorry you didn’t get your man.”

Becky shook off my remorse. “This was a good first step for me. I think it opened a door. It made me see I don’t have to be afraid.” She paused and then groaned. “Ugh, now I sound like my therapist. I bet she’d love that.”

I smiled. “Bet not. Because it sounds to me like maybe you’re ready to be done with therapy, and now she won’t be able to make money off you anymore.”

Becky rolled her eyes, but then turned to me with a hopeful look. “You really think I’m ready?”

“Beck, I think you’re ready to take on every guy at that club tonight. Especially after I do your makeup. I have totally perfected the smoky eyes thing.”

“Awesome.”

I pulled out my phone to call Ryan, and Becky snagged it from my hand. “Hey, Ry!” she chirped after a minute. “Get your adorable self dressed to impress. We’re going clubbing in San Francisco! Our friend Teodoro—you met him—has never been dancing. Can you believe that? Jamie and I are going to break him in.”

Her excitement made Ryan laugh. “Awesome. It’ll be fun to watch you guys make fools of yourselves.”

Becky and Ryan’s banter always made me smile. It was something akin to sibling rivalry. “Shut up!” Becky laughed. “We will not. Have you ever seen your girl bust a move?”

I gasped, knowing where this was going. “Becky, don’t you dare!”

Becky grinned evilly and then scrambled away from me as I made a swipe for the phone. “It is a little known fact that Jamie Baker has got mad dancing skills. You know that scene in
Charlie’s Angels
that you love so much?”

Ryan’s voice sounded extra perky when he said, “Cameron Diaz dancing in her undies?”

“Yes, that one,” Becky said and blew me a kiss from across the room. “That is what it’s like rooming with your girlfriend. She’s always dancing, and she’s amazing at it. She is going to kill it on the dance floor tonight.”

I could feel the blush creeping up my face. Everything Becky said was true, but it was a fact that I hadn’t shared with Ryan because I knew what his reaction would be—and the harassment would never end.

“Please tell me you are not joking,” he said.

I snatched the phone back from Becky. “Do
not
go there!” I warned him.

“How did I not know this about you?”

“What a girl does in her own bedroom is private.”

“Oh, no way. I am so getting a show as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen the day I bust out the Wonder Woman costume.”

“That could be arranged.”

I groaned and then stuck my tongue out at Becky. “This is all your fault, traitor!”

She glossed her lips and blew me another kiss. “You love me. Tell Ryan to hurry. He takes longer to primp than I do, and we’re leaving in fifty minutes!”

“Tell Becky it’s physically impossible to primp longer than she does,” Ryan said, having heard Becky yell. “She’s just jealous because my hotness is natural and hers requires all the effort.”

“Whatever. Tell her yourself when you get here. Meet us at my dorm in fifty minutes.”

“I’ll be there in thirty with my dancing shoes on.”

I snorted. “You own something other than cross trainers and cleats?”

“Funny, babe. Just make sure you doll yourself up extra sexy. Wouldn’t want you to feel insecure standing in the presence of my hotness all night.”

I snorted again. “Who could even notice your hotness with your ego taking up all the space?”

Ryan laughed, proud of his arrogant ways. “Half an hour,” he said, and then kept that promise.

Becky and I were just about ready to leave when Ryan showed up.

“Look who’s still getting ready,” he taunted Becky.

“You will not gripe when you see what I have done to your girlfriend.” Becky pranced out into the middle of the room, dragging me with her, and made us both take a spin. “What do you think?”

Ryan blinked. “Wow. You guys look…” His voice drifted off as his eyes trailed up my body. The hunger he blatantly displayed made me shiver. Maybe we could skip the dancing.

“Hot, right?” Becky asked after clearing her throat.

Before Ryan could shake himself fully from his trance, Teddy knocked on the door. I waved him in and he tripped over his own feet when he saw me. “Whoa.” His eyes lingered just long enough to make me glare at him. He met my frown with a smile and then flicked his eyes to Ryan and shook his head. “You have got to be the luckiest jerk on the planet.”

Ryan laughed and clasped his hand on Teddy’s shoulder. “It’s not luck, buddy.” He stepped forward and gathered me into his arms. “I wore her down fair and square.”

When he then proceeded to kiss me breathless, I muttered, “I wouldn’t say you ever played fair.”

Teddy sighed. “Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to Becky. “Let’s go before they get gross again.”

After Teddy made a fuss over Becky’s beauty as well, we finally crammed into my Toyota and headed for San Francisco.

. . . . .

I wanted to have a great time at the club, I really did. I needed to let off some steam and remember that I could have fun every now and then. But here’s the thing: superpowers and nightclubs do not mix. I should have realized this long before I was trapped inside the crowded club, but I’d been so excited to go out that I never considered what I was getting myself into.

First of all, I do not do loud. Hello, superhearing? I spend half my life fighting headaches and the other half running off to the middle of nowhere just to escape noise. Yeah, I can focus my hearing, but I can’t really tune it out completely. The noisier it is, the harder it is for me to concentrate on anything.

Second of all—and this one may be worse than the migraine-inducing chatter and techno beats—I have a heightened sense of smell. Hundreds of sweaty people all drenched in perfume, cologne, or aftershave packed into one room is no trip to Sephora, if you know what I mean. Not to mention the overwhelming stench of alcohol.