Relax, I'm A Ninja (12 page)

“Because you’re beautiful and smart, silly!” Amy said. “He was staring at you the whole night.”

“Speaking of staring …” Eva giggled, and the others joined.

“What?” Amy said.

“You and Tosh? What’s going on with you guys?” Eva said. My heart stopped. Amy had to know I was still there.

“I don’t know, he’s just so, so cute.”

“I thought you said he was stuck up,” Sarah said.
Thanks, bring that up.

“Things…change.” I was willing to bet she bit her lip. “He’s actually really nice.”

“You like him!” Eva said in a sing-song voice.

“Maybe.”
Meaning YES.
They giggled more. “Goodnight!” Amy shut the door.

I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed. I felt numb—a good numb—as I waited for her to come.

The roof door swung open. Amy had traded in the dress for a thick sweater and jeans. She looked right to my shadowed spot. I stood up, unable to keep my face straight as she broke out in a run. I scooped her up so her feet weren’t touching the ground, and she ran her fingers through my hair. I shivered. She smelled so good, like citrus.

“Thanks for saving my party. Scrabble—genius.” She pulled back and looked into my eyes. Our faces were so close. Her breath smelled like mint.

“I guess you’re rubbing off on me.” I set her on the ground, and she moved her hands from my neck to my waist. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you about Eddie and the dance. I don’t know, maybe I should have—”

She put one finger to my lips. “I should have told him to back off a long time ago. I didn’t realize he was
that
into me. I guess I was distracted with my awesome secret life.”

I smiled. “Awesome, huh?”

“Yeah, way awesome. I can be myself, beat people up, and there’s this really hot guy who might like me.” She bit her lip and looked down.

“Hot? That’s pretty generous. You must really like him.”

She sighed, smiling slightly. “I really,
really
do.”

I probably looked like a total idiot as I processed the words. I was giddy inside. As unmanly as that sounded, that was the best way to describe the current running through me.

“Want to know a secret?” I whispered.

She smiled wider. “Sure.”

“I really like you, too.”

She came up on her tiptoes, and I realized she really did want to kiss me.
She wanted to kiss me.
It was all I wanted, and yet I couldn’t believe it at the same time. I didn’t think I’d ever have a girlfriend, let alone one as incredible as Amy.

As I leaned toward her lips, I worried for a split second that I’d do it wrong. I’d never seriously kissed a girl. What the hell was I supposed to do? But as far as I knew, Amy had never dated anyone either. Maybe she was just as nervous, and we could mess it up together and not even know.

But as the slightest part of her lips touched mine, a girl’s scream hit the air. We instantly pulled apart and ran for the edge of the roof.

15

I knew what had to be going on, but my dad’s directions about the evil ninja were the furthest things from my mind. Some innocent girl was getting attacked. Something deep inside me couldn’t run away and let it happen. Amy must have felt the same, because she fearlessly scaled down from her roof right behind me.

When we hit the street, we ran toward the scream. It wasn’t far, but I pushed hard. We didn’t have much time with the Dragon’s Bile. I had no idea if we could take the ninja, but maybe we could save the girl with our antidote.

That was what mattered.

We found them in a narrow alley. The hulking ninja, clad in black, stood over the girl’s body with his hand hovering above the crescent-shaped wound. A green, glowing light sprang from the gash like a vine. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It looked like something straight from a video game.

The string of light squirmed and writhed, trying to escape the evil ninja. My dad was right about dark arts, because this guy had to be some kind of demon, or at least something not entirely human. Akuma—that’s what Courtney had thought I was. That’s what this evil ninja was.

I froze. What was I supposed to do? We would both die tonight with that girl.

The light freed itself and zipped toward us like a snake on caffeine, but the ninja grabbed it. It let out a strange, resonating cry that rippled the air. Whipping at his arms, it fought until he had it gripped firmly in his hands. Then it went limp. He saw us watching. And laughed. It didn’t sound right. There was an animal quality to it that made my insides tremble.

“You’re next,” he said in a deep, malicious voice. Amy shrank behind me as the ninja put the light to his mouth. He was going to eat it? I totally freaked out. Now my dad’s admonition to stay away from this guy set in. We had to run fast. I was about to push Amy back to the street when someone else showed up.

“
Yamero
!” I knew that high-pitched voice. Courtney, dressed in full blue ninja gi. She kicked the Akuma in the back. The green light broke free and she pointed at it, shouting, “
Modotte kite
!”

The way she spoke the Japanese words was different than I’d ever heard them said, like they carried more power and weight than a simple command. The light froze in place, then zoomed back into the girl’s body. It was hard to believe, but I was sure Courtney did that with her words…almost like a spell.

The evil ninja was on his feet again. He snarled at Courtney, and she charged with her sword at the ready.

If all that wasn’t weird enough, instead of fighting, he turned and ran from a five-foot-two cheerleader. Courtney stopped when she got to me. She didn’t say anything, but I knew it was her by the blue eyes. She took my hand and stuffed something into it. Then she went after the monster.

I opened my palm—Spirit’s Grace. All ninjas knew that Spirit’s Grace countered Dragon’s Bile, so she must have assumed I’d know what to do even if she did think I was an idiot.

We didn’t have much time left, so I sprinted toward the lifeless body in the alley. I ripped off the cap from the vial, opened the girl’s mouth, and poured it in.

“Swallow, swallow,” I whispered. She did. But she was bleeding badly. She needed medical attention fast.

Amy pulled out her phone, but I grabbed her hand. “No, not your phone. They’ll think we’re involved if they find us here again.”

She nodded. “There’s an old pay phone down the street, I think.”

“Go. I’ll catch up.”

“Okay.” Her footsteps pounded the pavement as she went.

I pulled off my coat and then my shirt. I ripped it into long pieces to bind the wound, hoping that would give her more time. Then I threw my coat back on and ran for Amy. She was waiting at the bus stop and grabbed on to me the second I was close.

“What
was
that?” Her voice shook.

“No clue.” I couldn’t make sense of it for myself, let alone anyone else. “My house—we need to tell my dad.”

I took her by the hand and ducked into an alley. We waited for the ambulance to come to make sure the girl would be okay. There was no way I was taking the long way tonight, so after that we hopped fences and cut through alleys until we made it back to the dojo.

Dad wasn’t home when we got there, and I didn’t know when he would be. It was past midnight, but there was no way I’d let Amy out of my sight after that. We sat on the couch in the dark. I held her tight and listened hard for any signs of trouble.

“He’s going to come after us, isn’t he?” Amy whispered.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t know who we are…but we saw him do…I don’t know what the hell he did.”

She breathed hard. “I’m scared.”

“Shh.” I stroked her hair. I wanted to be strong for her. “I’m scared too, but that other ninja went after him. Did you see how he ran? Someone’s trying to fight him, which means he can be killed.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “How come you can always calm me down when everything is so scary?”

“Ninja powers?” I leaned my head on hers, and she laughed a little.

“That must be it.” She slid one of her hands under my coat. When her fingers hit my stomach, I remembered I didn’t have my shirt anymore. She pulled her hand away. “Um, where did your shirt go?”

“I used it on that girl’s wound. Let me, uh, go get another one.” I stood up, and so did she. “You’re coming?”

“I’m not sitting out here alone.” She still looked freaked out, so I let her follow.

She’d seen me shirtless before, so I don’t know why it embarrassed me more now that we were officially dating. Maybe it was because I was aware that it could actually go somewhere. When we came back out, a dark figure stood in the living room. I jumped in front of Amy before I realized it was Dad. We’d come out of my bedroom, and he looked like he might kill us for it.

“What’s going on?” His voice was hard as steel.

“It’s not…Dad, we saw him by Amy’s house.” I pulled Amy closer at the thought. The evil ninja’s voice chilled me still.

The news only made him angrier. “Tell me.”

I told my dad what happened, except the fact that I knew it was Courtney who saved us. I don’t know why I didn’t say it was her. Maybe I doubted myself. Maybe I was afraid he’d get even angrier because I didn’t tell him about her sooner.

“Take Sato home and come right back,” he said. “I will investigate.”

I stared at him until he disappeared behind the front door. Take her home? Why did that make me sick? I didn’t want to go back out there, leave her alone at her house, and worry all night about that evil ninja finding her.  

“Don’t make me go,” she whispered, burrowing into my chest. “Please.”

“I won’t.” I’d never directly disobeyed my father, but the idea of that guy showing up and killing her scared me more than Dad’s wrath. Besides, he only said not to use seduction tactics in sparring. I didn’t know why he was so mad about us being close. “But what about your parents?”

She shrugged. “I’ll text my mom and tell her I’m staying at Eva’s. I sleep over there all the time when they’re both gone.”

Nodding, I tried not to betray how awkward I felt. I really must have been a nerd, because I already knew I wouldn’t mess around with Amy. We hadn’t even kissed. “You want my bed or the couch?”

She pouted. “I want wherever you’re sleeping.”

I shook my head. She had no idea what she was saying. Not that it didn’t sound great, but she had no clue what that would do to me. “Take my bed—you’ll be safe. I’m a light sleeper.”

“But …” Her lip quivered.

I sighed. She was killing me here. “What if I sleep on the floor?”

She nodded into my chest.

I rolled out a sleeping bag as she jumped into my bed. My. Bed. I didn’t know how to feel. Maybe if we hadn’t witnessed the freakiest thing I’d seen with my own eyes, I would have been happy. As it was, I was just relieved that I could look over and see that Amy was safe.

16

Now that we were back in school, the real charade began. I couldn’t hold Amy’s hand or hug her goodbye. I had to pretend I didn’t care, which meant even my staring had to be limited.

“Hey, Tosh!” Eddie called as I shut my locker. The guys were with him. So was Amy, who looked beautiful even in her uniform. “Maddie and Eva said yes to Stu and Todd. You figure out who you’re taking to the dance? It’s in two weeks.” He smiled, which made me sick. He was taking
my
girlfriend. Did he have to push me into going so I could watch?

“I don’t think I’m going,” I said. Amy’s smile dropped. I grabbed my backpack straps and reminded myself to keep it together.

“C’mon, man! You gotta come!” Todd punched my shoulder. I noticed he was wearing his expensive sneakers again. Eva had said she liked them at the party. They’d been chatting a lot online since then, and it was a constant barrage of “Eva said” every time we talked.

“It won’t be the same without you.” Amy pursed her lips. I stared at her. How could she want me to take another girl?

“Eva said Sarah doesn’t have a date yet,” Todd mentioned right on cue.

Eddie nodded. “You should take her! You guys got along good at the party.”

“She’d love to go, even as friends,” Amy said. It was weird, but I saw her thinking. Sarah knew that Amy liked me—she wouldn’t mess.

“Um, sure, maybe I’ll do that. Sarah’s…nice.” The word I actually thought was “smelly,” but she really was nice.

“Awesome! This is gonna rock!” Todd pumped his fists. “Eva said she’ll probably wear red—should I wear red too?”

I shrugged.

“It’s dorky to match too much, right?” Stu looked to Amy, and she nodded. I didn’t feel like talking. I couldn’t care less about this dance or Sarah Parkins. But this was the first time my friends were going to a dance with dates. It was like we were suddenly less nerdy. I had to admit that was cool, even if I couldn’t go with Amy.

The bell rang, and the guys headed off to math, leaving Amy and me alone. I looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out what I could get away with. I had to touch her, so I punched her shoulder. “Let’s get going.”

She laughed a little. “Okay.”

“The whole dance thing will be awkward,” I said as we walked through the main hall. Greenburg would have been too elegant were it not for the black lockers. They stuck out like a sore thumb against the carved molding and intricate ceiling.

“I think you might be surprised.” She bumped my arm. “I have plans.”

“Plans? What plans?”

“That would ruin the surprise!” When she laughed it sounded a touch maniacal.

“Fine, I’ll wait.”

“That’s a good boyfriend,” she whispered as she snuck a hand squeeze. She walked through the classroom door, and it took all my willpower to tear my gaze from her.

When I walked into history, I froze. Courtney Petersen was alone. It was a miracle—or maybe Logan wasn’t back from break yet. I didn’t think she could get tanner. That Caribbean sun must have had special powers. This was my chance, so I moved to the empty seat next to her.