Relax, I'm A Ninja (15 page)

We stopped when we opened our eyes. What little breath I had left disappeared as I stared at Amy’s glowing skin. I couldn’t reason it away this time—she was freaking
glowing
. We jumped apart.

“You’re…you’re glowing!” she said, her eyes wide. At least she wouldn’t call me crazy for saying it.

“
You’re
glowing!”

She looked down at her hand, and I looked at my own. I glowed like she did. I recognized the light. It was the same soft green color of that
kami
. Shimmering like the light at the bottom of a pool, it radiated and pulsed under my skin in soft currents. It slowly faded, but the zinging sensation hadn’t let up.

“I think you might have been right about us being special.” Amy crawled toward me.

“No kidding. Are you okay?” I felt okay, way better than okay, but I had to check.

“I feel great. Can we do it again?” She smiled wide. “It can be my reward for beating you.”

“That does deserve a reward. How’d you do it?” I traced her jaw line with my finger. I really should have kissed her sooner, because it was the best thing I’d ever experienced.

“I don’t know…I just stopped thinking.” She grabbed my waist and pulled me up against her.

We kissed again. Not only was it better than the first time, but we glowed even brighter. That resonating sound filled my ears so much it hurt, and I had to force myself to push her away. We stared at each other as the glowing dissipated.

“What do you think that is?” she asked.

“Not sure. It kinda reminds me of that light the Akuma took from that girl …”

She nodded. “But why would we glow like
kami
?”

“No clue.”

“We need to get Courtney now.”

I shook my head. “Not until you can disarm me with sai. She’s well-trained in swords.”

She sighed. “Fine, but we’re not waiting a day after that.”

“Deal.”

“All this fighting and kissing is making me hungry.” Her stomach growled on cue, and I laughed.

“One more—?” Before I finished the sentence her lips were on mine. When I managed to pull myself away, we were like neon signs on the Vegas strip. It was weird, but I didn’t care.

“Let’s eat.” Once the glowing went away, I held out my hand for her. We walked to the back door and I turned the knob. Except I didn’t actually turn it, I crushed it in my hand and ripped it off the door.

“Tosh…how did you do that?” Amy said as we stared at the jacked-up handle in my palm.

“I don’t know.” Something clicked. The Akuma ate
kami
for power, and we glowed like
kami
. I didn’t know how, but maybe we got power from
kami
in a different way. “Amy, hit something.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay, okay.” She let go of my hand and punched the metal door in front of us—leaving a
huge
dent. “Holy crap!”

“Whoa.” I didn’t feel different, other than the fact that I had kissed Amy and it felt like fireworks on my lips. Yet there we were destroying a door.

“Is that from us kissing?” Amy squeezed my arm, but it didn’t hurt. I put my finger to the door and pressed, making a little dent.

“I think so. I guess just be careful?”

“I’ll try, after we get the door open at least.” She dug her fingers into the frame and pulled it open. “Wow.”

“I think they’ll know something happened.” I laughed as we climbed the stairs. As lightly as possible, I turned the doorknob to my apartment. Still dented it.

Luckily my mom was watching TV, because if she was in the kitchen she’d have seen how I accidentally bit off the end of my chopsticks. Amy broke her first plate. We could hardly stop laughing to eat. We probably should have been scared, and maybe we would have been if we were alone. But we’d just
kissed
and got powers from it. There wasn’t a downside at this point, though somewhere in the back of my mind I knew there had to be.

“How was practice?” my mom asked when we took our usual place on the couch.

“Fine.” Her nosiness sucked out some of the high. She was probably waiting for what had happened downstairs. I didn’t want to tell her if she wasn’t telling me about her life. It was petty, but that was how I felt. Amy and I could figure this out on our own, and we could protect each other fine now. All we had to do was kiss.

19

My parents didn’t ask about the busted dojo door. They thought someone broke in. At least, that was what they said. We figured they were lying, but we were too distracted with each other to care.

The downside to kissing Amy? We glowed. It didn’t seem like a problem at first, but we couldn’t sneak a peck in public without turning into human-sized fireflies. Sometimes cuddling got a good glow, too. It wore off after a few seconds, but we couldn’t risk anyone noticing. I could see it now. Eddie would catch us glowing and freak out. Amy would accidentally break his arm as she tried to restrain him. Then tabloids would jump all over the glowing couple who betrayed and then maimed their friend.

The strength wore off like the glowing. It seemed directly proportional to the length of time we kissed. Short session? We’d get maybe five minutes of Herculean strength. Long session? We’d have to be careful for hours.

The dance was tonight, so I stood in the bathroom trying not to rip my stupid tie. Amy had left thirty minutes before to get ready. I reminded myself I wasn’t going with her. Sarah Parkins was my date, technically. But we were going as friends, so I hoped the lines would blur.

“Eddie’s here!” my mom called.

“Coming!” I checked myself in the mirror one more time. I cleaned up pretty well. My hair was a little long, but I liked it. When I got it cut too short it would stick up in the back. Zits were in the past, for the most part. The charcoal gray suit fit well.

I waved to my mom as I left, even though she expected more. I wasn’t being such a good son these days, and she was starting to notice. Maybe if she told me what was going on I could be nice again.

When I got out front, I tried not to roll my eyes. Eddie got one of those massive SUV limos—for the
Winter Ball.
Not prom. Not homecoming. The semi-formal Winter Ball.

The door opened and Todd flashed his metallic smile. “Get in, man! Then we can get the girls!”

I laughed. Honestly, as much as we all liked girls, they hadn’t been part of our past. If Eddie hadn’t been lab partners with Amy our freshman year, I’m not sure we’d have ever talked to girls on a regular basis.

“Sweet ride, huh.” Stu straightened his tie and looked at the corsage he’d gotten for Maddie. I’d forgotten about all that stuff, and a pit formed in my stomach. Was I supposed to get one for Sarah? Oops.

“Not sure how you’ll top this for prom, Ed,” I said.

“I was thinking like a hot air balloon or something.”

We stopped at Amy’s house first, and I almost went to get her before I remembered that was Eddie’s job. He got out, and I couldn’t help but feel jealous. Moving to Eddie’s spot to get a better view, I watched as he climbed the stairs and knocked. Eddie went through the door for a second, and my heart thumped as I waited for them to come out. Would she be wearing some pink dress again? Would she have her hair all fancy?

Then they came out—and Eddie’s whole freaking body covered her! I caught a glimpse of a hand and some of her hair. Talk about a rip-off. I slumped and folded my arms. Stu and Todd stared at me curiously. I should have hid my disappointment better, but by then it was impossible to mask how I felt about her.

The car door opened. I clamped my lips together so I wouldn’t smile like a fool. Amy wore black—much better than pink. There was glitter in the fabric, and it twinkled in the low light as she came toward me. She smiled wide, and I wanted to kiss her so badly. Her straight hair draped past her bare shoulder. She’d put on makeup, though not a lot.

“Hey guys!” She sat next to me. Only an inch separated us, but it felt like the Grand Canyon.

“You look nice!” Todd said.

She laughed. “You say it like I don’t always look nice.”

“No! I didn’t mean …” Todd fumbled over his words.

“You do wear a lot of pajamas,” I said.

“
Urusai
!” She slapped my arm when she told me to shut up, but then said I looked hot. At least we could flirt in Japanese.

“Hey, you know it’s true.” I couldn’t help but take in every detail of her. She wasn’t showing that much cleavage, but this was the most I’d seen. Too bad Eddie’s stupid diamond necklace ruined it.

“You always look nice.” Eddie swooned over her. I clenched my fists, wishing I could tell him to stop checking out my girlfriend.

“Thanks.” She shifted and grazed my arm.

This was going to be a long night.

After we picked up Maddie and Eva, the limo slowed in front of Sarah’s house. It was my turn to get out.

“You must be Tosh,” Sarah’s mom said with a smile just as bleached as her hair.

“Yup.”

“Sarah! Your date is here!” she yelled toward the stairs.

I was surprised at how well Sarah cleaned up. She wore a nice green dress, and her blonde hair didn’t look so greasy. She didn’t smell bad either. Nothing to Amy, but definitely respectable.  

When I opened the car door for her, I told myself not to be upset if she took my seat. But Sarah went all the way to the back, leaving enough room for me by Amy. I sat between them, and Sarah leaned forward to talk to Amy. “That’s such a pretty corsage!”

“Thanks!” She waved the massive flower bracelet back and forth. She probably hated it. “Looks like your date was too cheap to get one.”

“Sorry, I totally forgot,” I said.

“Oh, it’s okay.” Sarah waved it off, but she did look a little sad. I felt like a jerk for not thinking about this date at all, especially since she’d obviously put work into looking (and smelling) nice.

“You should wear it, Sarah.” Amy took it off her wrist. “You don’t mind, do you, Eddie? I already have this gorgeous necklace and all.” She smiled up at him, that familiar glint in her eye. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but I got the sense that she’d planned this.

“Not at all. Sarah can wear it.” Eddie would have let Sarah wear the necklace if Amy asked. He probably would have been Sarah’s boyfriend if Amy asked. Maybe that should have been our tactic.

“You’re so nice!” Sarah said. Amy put her hand on my knee and leaned over to give Sarah the corsage. She glanced up coyly as she pulled back.

“It even matches my dress.” Sarah’s clever grin implied she was Amy’s accomplice tonight. The other girls, who made small talk with Todd and Stu, took their turns glancing at us. This was when I realized the innate ninja nature of girls. They used subtle, almost undetectable, maneuvers to get what they wanted all the time. No wonder the
kunoichi
were so powerful. They were born that way.

At dinner, Sarah switched seats with me because she was left-handed and kept bumping my elbow. I ended up next to Amy, of all people, who hooked her foot around mine.

Luckily, no one paid attention to what was going on under the table. Stu was entranced by Maddie, who seemed equally happy to have found someone who could carry on an intelligent conversation about books. Eva and Todd went on about their honors English teacher. Sarah made sure to chat with Eddie about D&D. She was a writer, and he got caught up in discussing how he’d turn her book scenes into campaigns. I pretty much had Amy to myself.

She put her hand on my knee under the table. “Glad you came.”

“Me too.”

Lots of schools took their dances off campus, but it was a known fact that Greenburg Academy had a rocking ballroom. People paid to have their weddings there. When dinner was over, the limo took us to the school.

The ballroom had gotten the professional decorating treatment. No sappy snowflakes and Christmas lights. The massive crystal chandelier flooded the room in a warm light, making the floral inlay on the floor sparkle. Panels of sheer blue and cream fabric draped over the balcony railing. Rose flower arrangements guarded the doors and refreshment tables. The student council had splurged on a pretty hot local band, too.

I was more nervous to dance than excited. I’d never seen Stu so much as bob his head, even at the solo dances. Todd shuffled. Eddie flailed. The four of us combined had racked up about six slow dances with a girl. I would have been pumped if I could spend the whole night with Amy, who already bounced to the music.

“Let’s dance, guys!” She laughed as she carved out a spot in the back for us. The cooler people stayed closer to the band. We knew not to go up there.

The dancing was atrocious, but it kind of worked out. Maddie said she didn’t dance, and Stu was perfectly fine leaning on the wall with her. Todd and Eva acted like dorks, pulling fake tango moves and cutting between couples. Sarah wasn’t bad, probably better than me. Eddie looked hilarious, but he seemed to be having the time of his life.

And then there was Amy. How did she get pinned as a nerd? She sure didn’t look like one in that form-fitting, strapless dress. She could have walked right up to the popular kids and they would have welcomed her. Her hips swayed to the beat, every move perfect and beautiful. I shook my head. I had to stop staring.

When I turned to Sarah, she had a quizzical look on her face. “Amy’s pretty cool, huh.”

“What? Oh yeah, she’s really cool.” The song changed to a slow one, and Sarah came closer. I took her by the waist, maintaining a good distance.

“Don’t worry, I totally won’t be offended if you say yes, but do you like her?” Were all girls ninjas? She’d timed that perfectly. These feminine plots made my friends look dense.

“Um …” I looked at Amy, who danced too close to Eddie for my liking.

“I won’t tell anyone, promise.”

I sighed. Maybe the ninja girls would help us if I confessed. “Yeah, I do.”

“I knew it!” Sarah smiled as wide as her mouth could go. It was kind of weird to have your date be happy you liked another girl, but I wasn’t about to complain.