Phoenix: The Rising (10 page)

Charsey hugged her books to her chest. “I’m just trying to make it through high school, Jules. You have no idea what it’s like to be beautiful
and
brilliant—no idea about the kind of pressure that puts me under. So I pretend. It’s a matter of self-preservation. And besides, I bet you have some secrets you haven’t told me, don’t you?”

Julie leaned against the locker and closed her eyes. Now it was her turn to become red-faced. “Of course.”

“Self-preservation, right?”

Julie nodded. “I guess you could say that.” She opened her eyes to find Kas standing behind Charsey. The rush of fight-or-flight adrenaline immediately pumped through her veins, and she flattened her body against the locker.

“Kas has something to say, too.”

Kas glanced down at Charsey. Julie could swear she heard him growl. He had to be part Grizzly. He looked at Julie, then dropped his eyes away from hers.

“Sorry about the other night. I was drunk.”

Julie looked at the bandage draped across his nose. Fading bluish crescents underscored his eyes, remnants of the broken nose. When he spoke, Julie could see the corner of his left front tooth was gone. Sullivan really did chip it! Julie could feel the adrenaline in her blood settling back to a normal level.

“Thanks.” Julie didn’t know what else to say. She still didn’t trust him, but she didn’t know how to read anybody lately, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Charsey’s eyes widened. “Oh, man! I just had the greatest idea! Why don’t we double date for Homecoming? You don’t have a date yet, do you? Remy’s looking for one.”

“Yes, she does.”

Eli Sullivan seemed to appear out of nowhere. Julie’s mouth dropped open as she looked up into Eli’s smiling face. What did he think he was doing?

Eli winked, then used his index finger to push up on Julie’s chin, shutting her mouth.

“You gotta watch out for those flies, Julie.”

Julie bit her tongue, holding back an expletive.
D
ecid
ing
a pinch on his side would be more effective
, s
he caught a bit of skin between her thumb and index finger and squeezed
, giving herself a good dose of Eli electricity in the process
. Eli flinched and grabbed her hand.

Charsey looked from Julie’s face to Eli’s, and then back to Julie’s. “You’re kidding, right?”

Julie looked up at Eli. He wriggled his eyebrows at her. She smiled to herself.
My hero.

“Nope. We’re going. I even picked out a dress.” That wasn’t true, of course, but it made the ruse even
more believable
.

Charsey’s smile faded.
She looked like she was going to throw up.
Julie couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty.
She knew Charsey had lied the other night about how she was feeling about Eli. She might have said she’d decided he wasn’t her type, but it was more likely that Eli had decided
she
wasn’t
his
type. Her ego must have taken quite a bruising. Maybe that’s why she’d acted so strangely the night of the party! And now Julie was making it ten times worse by breaking the cardinal rule between girlfriends: you
never
date a guy the other one likes. Time for some damage control.

“Of course, we’re just going as friends.” Julie raised her eyebrows, willing Eli to play along. “Right, Eli?”

Julie dared to look at Charsey. Her friend’s eyes were fixed hopefully on Eli, as if she were holding her breath, just waiting for the right answer.

Eli responded without missing a beat. “Well, of course.” He looked at Julie and raised a perfect eyebrow. “What other kind of
date
would it be?”

Ouch!
That actually hurt. Knowing in her own mind that it was true was one thing, but hearing Eli say it, out loud, in front of other people, was surprisingly painful.  But, it was worth it when Julie saw a relieved smile flit briefly across Charsey’s beautiful face. Damage control was a success! She still had her best friend, and she wasn’t about to risk losing the only best friend she’d ever had over something as fleeting as a high school crush, even if it was with the local immortal. She’d gone the last few days without Charsey—her confidante, her compadre, her partner in crime—and it felt like she had lost a part of herself. That was a feeling she never wanted to experience again.

Kas cleared his throat.
Julie had forgotten he was even there.
“How about if we just meet up after the dance? We could go swimming at Julie’s.” He turned to her. “Your pool’s heated, isn’t it?”

Julie crinkled her brow in confusion. “Yes, but how did you know I had a pool? You’ve never been to my place.”

Kas crossed his massive arms. The angel tattoo on his arm seemed to take off in flight as his bicep flexed. “My father helped build it a few years before you moved in. I helped, too.”

Julie looked at Eli. She was hoping that he would give her a cue that would mean “no way”, but he just shrugged.

“I guess that would be okay. I’ll need to clear it with my dad, first. But you have to promise me that you won’t invite anyone else.”

Julie could swear she saw a smirk on Kas’s face. “Don’t worry. It’ll just be the four of us.” Charsey stood silently throughout the whole exchange
between Kas and Julie
. She looked like she was on the verge of throwing up
again
, but at the last moment, she smiled.

“Sounds good.” Kas put his arm around Charsey’s waist. “We’ll see you guys at the dance.”

Kas and Charsey headed down the hall.

Julie turned to Eli. “I don’t know whether to thank you or kick you in the shin.”

Eli wriggled his eyebrows at her again. “Well, I could tell them that you changed your mind and you want to go with Remy.” Julie grabbed his arm as he made a move to follow Charsey down the hall. That familiar zap of electricity shot up her arm.

“Stop!”

“What? You mean you’d rather go with me?”

“I’d rather not go at all.” Julie turned and walked down the hall, then turned back. “But if it keeps me from having to go with Remy, then I guess you’ll do. Besides, we need to look out for each other.” She moved closer and whispered, “The Nephilim thing, remember? And if Kas can swim, then we can rule him out. Nephilim can’t swim, right?”

Eli shot Julie a lop-sided grin. “And here I thought you just wanted to see me in my Speedo...”

Julie rolled her eyes. “No Speedo’s allowed, Sullivan.”

“Rats, I just bought a new yellow one.”

Julie covered her mouth with her hand. “I think I just threw up a little.”

Eli looked above her head. “Umm ... this has been fun, but according to the clock, we have about twenty seconds to make it to American Lit. Wanna race?”

Julie turned and looked at the digital clock above her head. Fifteen seconds. She turned back to Eli, but he was already halfway down the hall. She took off after him and slid into the seat beside him as the tardy bell sounded.

“Sullivan,” she said breathlessly, “you are a jerk!”

Eli smiled and lifted an eyebrow. “Yes, Miss Mason, I am.”

****

Julie had no intention of going to Friday’s game, but it was only at Eli’s insistence that she agreed.

“You’ll be safer in a crowd, especially since I won’t be able to get to you if you need me. Besides, it feels kinda good to have a fan up in the stands.”

Julie sighed. “Okay. I’ll go. But who’s this fan you’re talking about? Is your Aunt coming?” Joking had become commonplace between the two of them over the last few days, but Julie welcomed it. It kept things a little less personal, a little less serious. She couldn’t risk showing her true feelings.

There was silence on the other end of the cell. “As a matter of fact, Liana and Simon are both coming. Liana went to school here, but it was when the Paiute had to attend a separate school on the Bishop Reservation. Come to think of it, we graduated together, but we had a different last name then. Liana’s going to be wearing my practice jersey, unless of course you want to wear it?”

Julie’s heart began to race. “No. That’s okay. If people think we’re going together, then they might expect us to really act like we’re going together ... and that’s just not going to happen.”

Eli was silent for too long. What was he thinking? Was he disappointed? He answered her question right then. “You’re right, of course. But you do realize we’re going to have to dance, don’t you? Because if we don’t dance, then you risk having Remy or somebody else ask you.”

“Oh ... right. Dancing should be okay. It’s just for one night.”
One long night
! How on Earth was she going to survive slow dancing with him with the way she reacted when she was near him? This was going to be pure torture!

“Right. One night, and then it’s over.”

Silence.

“I’ll see you at the game then?”

“Yes.”

“Good enough. Gotta go.”

Julie stared at the phone in her hand. What had she gotten herself into?

****

By the time Julie made it to the game, the stands were completely full. She was actually relieved. Now she had an excuse for not staying. Just so she could report to Eli that she looked for a seat, she took a moment to scan the bleachers for an open spot, and when she was satisfied that there was no possible way that she could squeeze in between people, she headed for the exit.

“Julie?”

Julie turned back around. A petite Paiute woman with streaks of silver in her once-ebony hair stood smiling behind her. The Warrior practice jersey with Eli’s number on it was a dead give-away that she was in the presence of Liana, Eli’s “aunt”.
Crap
.

“Um ... yes?”

“Eli told us to watch for you.” She placed her hand on Julie’s elbow. “Come sit with us.”

Before Julie had a chance to protest, Liana was leading her up the bleachers. She didn’t stop until she reached the top.

“Simon, this is Julie. Scooch.”

A grizzled old man, his thick silver hair brushed back away from his high, noble forehead, sat staring straight ahead with his arms crossed. Even though he was sitting, Julie could tell he was gargantuan by the size of his torso and massive biceps that bulged out of the sleeves of his Warrior t-shirt. Simon Sullivan was the closest thing to a giant she had ever seen, next to the Penemue brothers. She smiled slightly as Simon’s eyes flitted over to her and then returned just as quickly to watch the game. He sighed and then moved over a few inches.

“Sit.”

Julie didn’t want to sit. She wanted to run down the bleachers and out the gate. What would they ask her? What would she say? Do they know that she knows? Before Julie could escape, Liana nudged her into the small spot between herself and her husband. She grabbed Julie’s hand in hers.

“I’m so glad Eli has a friend. One that he trusts, I mean.”

Julie forced a tight-lipped smile and then looked out on the field as Eli went out for a long pass. He jumped, stretching out his long arms towards the ball. And then it happened. Just as he caught the ball, the lower half of his body was hit. Hard. He flipped through the air as if in slow motion. Julie could feel Liana’s hand tighten around hers as Eli’s head slammed into the ground, his neck bending at an ungodly angle.

Eli lay motionless as the crowd became silent. The coaches and referees gathered around Eli. He still wasn’t moving.

“That boy’s gotta have a broken neck,” someone close by whispered.

No!
Julie’s heart began to pound out of her chest. Eli was really hurt.

“Shhh,” Liana whispered in her ear, “don’t be afraid. Just watch.”

As the paramedics ran out with a backboard, Eli raised his hand in the air, giving a thumbs-up. The crowd roared. He started to sit up, but the coaches pushed him back down and the paramedics put a neck brace on him and strapped him to the backboard. Julie sighed in relief.

Liana stood. “Come on. They’ll be taking him to the hospital. You can come with.”  Liana took Julie by the hand. Julie hoped Liana couldn’t feel her hand shaking, but by the smile on her face, Julie was sure she felt it.

“He’s going to be okay, Julie,” Liana whispered reassuringly as she led Julie down the stands. Julie looked back. Simon was still sitting. He looked over at Julie. She saw his shoulders heave in a sigh and then he stood. He really was gargantuan.

As soon as they cleared the bleachers and were out of earshot of other people, Liana spoke. “Simon hates having to leave the game, but he knows it’s a necessity. We have to keep up appearances.”

Simon’s long strides brought him alongside Julie and Liana, and then he passed them by and headed out the gate. As the distance between them widened, Julie couldn’t help but think of Laylah seeing the giant off in the distance. Was Simon a Nephilim? No. Impossible. Eli loved him.

Just as Julie and Liana made it out to the parking lot, Simon pulled up in a beat up, yellow,
Toyota
pick-up. Before Liana could make a move, Julie opened the door for her. Liana smiled knowingly and slid in beside her husband, with Julie following her in. Simon’s massive frame took up half of the bench seat. It was a good thing Liana was so petite or the three of them wouldn’t have fit. Thankfully, they rode in silence to the hospital.