Over the Moon (15 page)

The rest of the day and the rest of the week dragged by. Jordan
kept begging me to go to the petroglyphs. I kept telling him I would
go if Tiffany and the other girls at our party wanted to. He kept
doing the winking thing until I finally asked him what was wrong
with his eye. I suggested it might be a nervous tick and told him
that he should have it looked at by a doctor. I even suggested my dad might look at it for free. I don't think he liked that, but I didn't care.
He did stop winking at me after that.

I started running in the evenings just after the sun went down.
I always took Andrew's cell phone with me and stayed on the golf
course behind my house. I desperately needed the endorphins, but I
wanted to be safe. I didn't want to run into any homicidal maniacs,
serial rapists, Gila monsters, or rattlesnakes. I realized the last two
creatures were more common here than the first two. I didn't think
they'd had any murders or rapes for at least a decade, if ever, but a
girl couldn't be too careful.

I had heard that Gila monsters were exceptionally poisonous. If
they bite you, they will never let go. They are determined little suckers, and they keep chewing on you because that's how they infuse
their poison into your body. You can't shake them off, so you just
have to die, and there isn't anything you can do about it. I thought
I could outrun one. I was still afraid that one might sneak up on
me and bite me before I even saw it. They do have those bright
orange and black stripes that make them stand out from the red dirt.
I resolved to be aware of my surroundings at all times in order to
avoid them. They were probably a rarity on the golf course, as they
liked more of a xeric landscape.

I was also worried about running into snakes. My motto has
always been no snake is a good snake if it's anywhere near me. I can't
even observe them in their glass cages at the zoo without cringing.
I had been walking along a canal when I was five, and I stepped on
a very large water snake that was hiding in the tall grass. I was so
scared I think I trampled the poor thing to death. It didn't help that
Mark knew about my phobia and chased me with snakes whenever
he found them.

Rattlesnakes are at the top of the list of my worst fears. They
make that awful warning sound. I'd heard that sound twice in my
life, and I never wanted to hear it again. Luckily, I had escaped being
bitten. Once, I had nearly stepped on one while hiking in the Grand
Canyon. The other time, we were camping at Rocky Mountain
National Park in Colorado. I saw the snake that time rattling at Mark. I ran off in the opposite direction. He did too. Rattlesnakes
are not to be trifled with. They are deadly. I hoped they stayed clear
of the golf course and hung out with the Gila monsters in more
desolate, wilderness areas.

On Wednesday night, as I was running, I saw a man practicing
his putting on the ninth hole. When I approached him, he glanced up
at me. He appeared to be in his early thirties with a pleasant face and
kind eyes. He was well dressed and didn't seem to be at all menacing. I
was pretty sure he wasn't a homicidal maniac or a serial rapist.

"Tiana, stop a minute. I want to talk to you about Andrew Martin," he calmly announced. I was stunned. How did he know my
name? How did he know I was dating Andrew? It must be the curse
of the small town again. I still wasn't used to complete strangers
knowing my name.

"Don't be alarmed. I'm harmless. My name is Bob Zimmerman.
You need to ask Andrew who he is. He isn't who you think he is,
and there could be danger ahead if you continue to align yourself
with him. I thought you should be warned." He turned back to his
practice. "Enjoy your run," he added.

"What are you saying? Could you be a little less vague? I have no
idea what you are talking about." I was astonished by his words.

"Ask Andrew," he replied. "Tell him you met an agent from the
Zariba." He picked up his clubs and ball and walked off through the
Tamarisk trees, leaving me alone and puzzled. It was crazy enough
that he knew my name, but how did he know who I was dating?
What else did he know about my boyfriend that I didn't know? How
dare he walk off without an adequate explanation? That was just
plain rude.

I finished my run with all these perplexing questions spinning
around in my head like clothes in a dryer. Who was the Zariba?
Who was this mysterious man and why was he warning me about
Andrew? Was I aligned with Andrew? What did that mean? What
was the danger he spoke of? Who was Andrew Martin anyway? It all
sounded utterly demented.

At exactly ten, the cell phone rang.

I answered it, not knowing how to ask him about the warning.
"Andrew?"

"Is something wrong?" I guess he could hear my confusion. I
related my conversation with the man on the golf course.

"Do you think I'm dangerous?" he asked. "Do you honestly think
that I would ever harm you?"

"No, but it was a little disconcerting having him warn me like
that. What was he talking about? What is the Zariba?" I wanted
some answers.

"He didn't scare you, did he?"

"No, he wasn't scary. He seemed more concerned for my safety.
I don't know what to think. Why would he say that you're not who
I think you are? Why would he care about our relationship? This is
giving me a headache." The flood of questions came marching out
of my mind all at once.

"It is strange. I'll try to find some answers for you when I get
home. Don't stress out. It's got to be a misunderstanding. Don't let
it worry you. It's probably nothing at all. Stop thinking about it,
and your head will feel better, and please don't lose any sleep over
it. We'll figure it out later." He was using his soothing voice that
made me feel like he was trying to placate me or hypnotize me into
complacency.

He did his best to distract me by asking me about school and telling me about the convention. When he hung up, I was still alarmed.
He seemed to be evading my questions. Was he hiding something
from me? What would he want to keep secret from me? I couldn't
break free from his powerful magnetism, and frankly, I didn't want
to. He was fast becoming my sun, moon, and stars. Maybe I should
be afraid. I still didn't believe he meant to harm me. He had already
saved my life, and now I couldn't imagine my life without him. I was
having a hard time getting through this week alone, and I got to
talk to him every night on the phone. I really was in over my head. I
wished I knew what this was all about. I decided to file it away in a
drawer in my overworked and overly inquisitive brain until Andrew
came home.

Friday night, I met Tiff's three "best friends forever." I had met
Emily before at lunch. She was a cowgirl who rode horses and roped
steers and raced around barrels. The very idea was completely out of
my realm of experience. I had never even been to a rodeo. She said
there was a big one held in St. George, the "Dixie Round Up," every
year and I should go. She would be competing in the barrel races,
and she was in the running for Rodeo Queen this year.

Raven was Native American and a cousin to Skylar. She was
beautiful with eyes the color of ebony that sparkled when she smiled
and flashed when she was annoyed. Her black hair was cropped
short, and her high cheekbones and long, straight nose gave away
her proud Indian heritage.

Jenna was tall, Asian, and very athletic. She had shiny, straight
black hair that fell to her waist. She was in my gym class, so she knew
my physical limitations. She was kind and told the others that I was
the fastest runner in the class, next to her, of course. She was on the
cheerleading squad with Alexis. I tried not to hold that against her.

We ordered pizza and talked about what all girls talk about at
girl's night sleepovers.

"Jordan still has it bad for you," Raven told me. "He remembered how interested you were when Skylar suggested going to the
petroglyphs, and he cooked up this whole trip for your benefit. He
even made peace with Skylar so he and I would act as tour guides,
and that involved a lot of groveling."

"Why would he do that?" I said. "He must know I'm with
Andrew. I told him I wanted to just be friends, and he agreed. I
thought he understood."

"He actually thinks he can steal you away," Jenna explained.
"He has an abnormally high opinion of himself. For some reason he
thinks everyone else does too."

"Oh my gosh. He is completely delusional if he thinks he can
compete with Andrew. I think he's finally lost touch with reality."
Emily snorted.

"He can be charming at times, when he isn't checking his perfect hair in the mirror. He is way too concerned about the clothes he wears. Appearance is everything to him. He's such a poser. Speaking
of posers, that reminds me of Skylar. Can you believe that Bret decked
him in German, right in front of Mrs. Buehler?" Raven asked.

"He so deserved that! Kyra was so mad; I thought she might
hit him too. That will teach Skylar to stop lying about the girls he
dates," Jenna said. "All that stuff he said about Jillian last year came
back to bite him. You'd think he'd be smarter now, but no! Some
guys never learn."

"What did he say about Jillian?" I asked, thinking about our
recent disturbing conversation in Spanish class. Maybe he had said
all that because he was bitter.

"Oh, he just made up a lot of junk like: `She's hot for my body'
and `she can't keep her hands off me.' Nobody believed him because
Jillian is so not like that and we never saw her say or do anything
that would make anyone think she liked Skylar more than a friend.
Then she started avoiding him like he was some kind of terminal
disease. Everyone knew he had been dumped except him. Since that
fiasco, she's been really shy."

"Well, I hope Nate Taylor is going tomorrow. Now, he is uber
hot! He has the most delicious full lips. I would really like to try
them out." Emily changed the subject, licking her own lips like she
was imagining how his tasted.

"Down, girl! You are so bad," Tiffany squealed. "Stop that! What
will Tiana think of us?"

"How does Andrew kiss?" Raven asked me. "I just love his
accent. He has this James Bond persona going on."

"Sometimes I do lose my ability to think clearly when he's
around," I admitted.

"He only has eyes for you. You can tell he's hopelessly in love.
Alexis is positively lime green with envy! Now, tell us how he kisses,
or we'll all have to go and find out for ourselves," Jenna demanded.

"He's good at everything he does, and kissing is no exception."
I blushed. "I never want to kiss anyone else, and I don't recommend
that you find out by kissing him because I might get violent."

Raven warned, "Watch out for Jordan tomorrow. I think he has
plans to get you alone."

"Puh-lease, you've got to be kidding," Tiffany spoke up. "Doesn't
he know Andrew will kill him? He wanted to kill him after the
dance when he rolled his car. Andrew saved Tiana, and the car blew
up. Jordan said his dad was going to kill him, and Andrew said, and
I quote, `Only if I don't kill you first!"'

"Wow, he must really like you!" Jenna exclaimed. "Alexis hates
you because both Jordan and Andrew like you. She wants Jordan
back, but she would much rather have Andrew, and he positively
hates her. He's the only boy who ever blew her off. She won't be
writing any more threats on your locker though. If she crosses that
line again, she's off the cheerleading squad."

"I feel bad about that whole Jordan thing. I wouldn't have agreed
to go with him to the dance if I had known he was her boyfriend. I
didn't really want to go with him. I just couldn't think of a reason to
say no. Alexis would have been a good reason if I'd known. I don't
want her to hate me." I hoped Jenna would tell Alexis.

"Don't worry about Alexis. She hates everybody. She lives to
create drama. She has a different enemy for every day of the week.
She also has a very short attention span," Tiffany interjected.

At ten, Andrew called. Every time I heard his voice, my heart
did a double backflip. We talked for an hour, but it seemed like five
minutes. I tried to get some answers about the agent from Zariba
again, but he refused to talk about it, saying we'd discuss it when
he got home. I told him I was going to see the petroglyphs on the
Arizona Strip. I had learned this was the term that referred to the
piece of Arizona that was separated from the rest of that state by the
Grand Canyon. I didn't say anything about Jordan. I didn't want to
upset him.

"Be sure to take the cell phone with you," he told me. "And
please don't let Jordan get you alone. I was wrong when I said he was
a good guy. He is a snake. You can't trust him."

I promised I would be careful. I really do hate snakes. I was a
little irritated that he thought I would be stupid enough to let myself be alone with Jordan, and I still wanted answers about the man who
warned me on the golf course. I had a nagging suspicion that he was
intentionally withholding important information from me.

After I finished talking to Andrew, the girls and I gave each
other pedicures, and I learned a lot of juicy gossip about my fellow
students at Hurricane High.

Raven liked a boy named Coty who rode bulls in the rodeo.
One gored him with its horns, and he had to spend two weeks in the
hospital. He still rode them sometimes. However, he was more into
roping steers now. I hoped that was safer. It all sounded frightfully
risky to me. This rodeo stuff was like a whole different culture. I still
had a lot to learn about Hurricane. It certainly wasn't as boring as I
had originally thought.

We went out in Tiffany's backyard to see the meteor shower that
was supposed to be visible around one a.m. As we watched the falling stars shoot across the blackened sky, we heard the lonely howl of
a single coyote. Raven asked if we had heard the Paiute legend that
tells why the coyote looks up when he howls. None of us had heard
it before, so she related the story as we looked up at the sparks that
flew through the universe and then disappeared into darkness.