Tempest (17 page)

“So, is there anything good about your newfound freedom?” I asked.

“Everything. I guess that’s why I feel guilty.”

“Makes sense.” I turned a corner, not even caring where we walked, as long as it didn’t end.

Holly’s hand went into mine and she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. When I turned to face her, she had this look on her face and I knew the casual fun had just ended.

She stepped closer to me. “I have to tell you something.”

Uh-oh. Here comes the friend speech.

“Oh, yeah?”

Her light blue eyes gazed right into mine. “Happy birthday, Jackson.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. All I had wanted today was for my father to say those words to me. No expensive gifts or parties. Just one short statement. Maybe even something like,
I know Courtney’s gone, but she would have wanted you to be happy today.
That would have been more than enough.

Holly’s forehead wrinkled and she dropped my hand. “I’m sorry. That was the wrong thing to say, wasn’t it? I just thought after your dad left—”

My brain went into high-speed mode, focused on one thing. I gently nudged her backward until her shoulders touched the wall of the building behind us. Her eyes were wide open and pink crept up into her cheeks. I didn’t even hesitate, afraid she would stop me. I leaned down and kissed her, pressing my body to hers. She tasted so good, like strawberries and peppermint.

Her arms went from up against the wall to around my neck, yanking me even closer. Fingers were in my hair, lips moving across my cheek, hearts pounding. I wanted to tear off our clothes and let her crawl all over me.

Then her hands were on my chest, pushing me away. I backed up immediately and watched as she leaned on the wall for support, her chest rising and falling rapidly, eyelids fluttering. Nerves coursed through me. Had I misread her signals?

Then her lips pulled into a smile. “Wow.”

I sighed with relief and moved close enough to wrap my arms around her waist. “I’ve wanted to do that for such a long time.”

She opened her eyes and looked up at me. “I know what you mean.”

Of course, that wasn’t 007 Holly and that kiss was totally hot.

Future Holly
got
me. And no one else seemed to. Maybe that scared me after a while, being
that
exposed to someone. I did push her away a little once school started and we were both so busy. It was easier to make excuses than admitting to her (and myself) how I really felt. I guess my life was pretty simple then. No reason to clearly define things like relationships because there was always time for that.

Until there isn’t.

Back in the present, Adam continued to type away at his computer, allowing me some private time to think and rest. Maybe the best thing to do in 2007, with
this
Holly, was to let her get to know me. No more act. No more games. Just me.

Well, minus the I’m-from-the-future part. If that wasn’t enough for either of us, then I could back off and just make sure she was safe from a distance.

“Hey, Adam?”

I sat up when I heard his chair spin around. “I thought you were asleep,” he said.

“No, just thinking about what you said. I don’t really have an answer, but I promise to be careful with her.”

“Great. I’m glad to hear it, man.” Adam pointed at the desk. “I wrote something in your journal, on the back inside cover.”

I looked it over. “Is that more Latin?”

“Um … sort of.” He stared at me again. “Now, this is important. If you ever need to tell me something that you can’t say in home base because it’s too risky or you’re not alone, you can always jump back a day or two and I’ll teach you a way that we can communicate without anyone understanding. Then you can jump forward and use it.”

“What are you talking about? You can’t tell me now?”

He shook his head. “This is one thing even the CIA won’t be able to figure out and I’m not going to risk telling you in home base, when it actually has consequences.”

I nodded and stuffed the journal into my bag. “I’m going to head home and let you get to your afternoon plans.”

“If you want to come with me, you can. Seriously, I’m sure Holly won’t care.”

“No, I’ll wait till tomorrow to see her.”

*   *   *

I was really surprised when I got back to my computer at home and Holly had sent me an email. I just figured she would play it cool for a while, even if she was interested. Holly had more patience than any girl I had ever met. It was annoying as hell sometimes.

HOLLY: Just heard you’ve been hanging out with my friend Adam. Are you really a science geek?

ME: I’m a wannabe science geek. I’m not that smart. I just attempt to sound that way.

HOLLY: So basically you’re full of it?

ME: Yes, but I’m trying not to be. I might even start attending a support group.

HOLLY: What’s your greatest weakness?

ME: Steak, I really love a juicy New York strip with that crispy fat around the edges.

HOLLY: Lol! And yuck! But that’s not what I meant. What’s your favorite load of crap to feed people?

ME: You have such a delicate way of putting things, but I’d have to say quoting Shakespearean sonnets in French to impress a girl. I’ll need therapy to give that one up. It works really well.

HOLLY: Hmm
 
…
I’d love to say that wouldn’t impress me, but I think it might. Of course you’ve ruined the surprise now.

ME: Of course.

HOLLY: Adam just got here. Time to cram for my calc test. Later.

There. That was the beginning of honesty and a little bit of me exposed. It wasn’t so bad. Yet. I fell asleep on the couch, writing as many 009 Holly moments as I could possibly remember. Just in case I forgot. There were so many I never bothered to write down. I always thought there’d be time for that.

*   *   *

When I woke, it was dark and I had slept for most of the day. I spent nearly an hour keeping busy with random tasks, trying to decide if it was a bad idea to call or email Holly again. Just when I was ready to cave and send her a quick note, I saw that she had already sent me an email. Maybe seventeen-year-old Holly was a little less patient?

HOLLY: I know I’m such a dork writing you yet another email after only six hours, but I was just going to ask you if you had any good tips for SAT studying?

I sent her an instant message instead of an email reply.

ME: Yes, a ton. But what do I get out of it?

HOLLY: What do you want?

ME: Can I call you right now?

HOLLY: Why don’t you try and see if I answer?

I should have known she’d say that. I crawled into bed and flipped off the light before dialing her number.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

“So…”

“So … tell me something interesting about the world of school. I feel like I haven’t been there forever.” Again, another true statement. So far, I was on a roll.

“Well … I have this new project for AP English and it’s actually really cool. We have to keep a journal of song lyrics that represent our mood throughout the day, for a whole week.”

“What’s your song right now?”

“‘Vacation’ by the Go-Go’s. Do you know it?” she asked.

I sang the first line. “
Can’t seem to get my mind off of you.
”

“Is that cheesy?”

“No, I love it.”

“Tell me yours.”

The tone of her voice relaxed and I closed my eyes, imagining her snuggled under her white comforter, head pressed against the light blue ruffled pillow.

“Hmm … ‘All Mixed Up.’”

“Never heard it,” she said.

“It’s by a band called 311.”

“You know a lot about music, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m a music geek.”

“I have weird favorites. Stuff I’m embarrassed to say I like sometimes,” she said.

“Like what?”

“There’s this one Billy Joel song called ‘Don’t Ask Me Why.’”

I sang the first line of the song into the phone.

“I can’t believe you know that song.”

“I can play it on guitar.”

“No way!”

“Seriously, I can. I’ll show you sometime.”

“Cool.”

Okay, so I cheated a little with the song thing, but I couldn’t help it if I knew her favorite song and if I had already learned to play it on the guitar to impress 009 Holly.

I went to sleep that night feeling more like myself than I had in a long time. I’d let Adam wrap his much more capable brain around the new information acquired and do as he said, play along with my dad. For now, I was stuck in this strange purgatory, waiting for something or someone to tell me what to do next.

CHAPTER TWENTY

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2007

I know I’m not supposed to time-travel for a while. Considering the fact that I felt like death for several days after the last time jump, Adam’s orders needed to be followed. But this morning I woke up thinking about Courtney … things I wished I could fix … like seventh grade. Since we were not only siblings but also classmates, I knew everything that was going on with my sister. A lot of stuff I didn’t want to know.

Like her nervous stomach issues … anytime we had a test or band audition she’d get terrible gas and diarrhea. I’d see her running off to the bathroom and know exactly why. I really didn’t think much of it and never brought it up until one day my best friend, who had an obvious and unrequited crush on Courtney, watched her race out of the gym right before her presentation for the Science Fair. He asked me if she was sick and without even thinking about it, I blurted out, “She’s fine. She just doesn’t like to fart in front of people.”

As soon as my friend snickered, I knew exactly what I had done and there was a second where I could have said it was a lie. Or taken it back. But I didn’t. I just laughed with him and for several weeks after the Science Fair, Courtney had to deal with the nickname “Hershey Squirts.” It was horrible.

It’s hard to believe after everything that’s happened to her and to me, a stupid fart joke in middle school is causing me to feel like the world’s biggest asshole. The worst part is, I never told her it was me who unintentionally started that rumor. We never talked about it. Almost like she knew I wasn’t bold enough to stand up to my friends for my sister. Like she understood. But she shouldn’t have and I shouldn’t have been such a coward.

I tried to put the key in the lock on the gym door, but everything was spinning so much that I couldn’t get it to match up. After a few weeks of rest in my new home-base year, I’d broken Adam’s rules and spent a full four hours in the year 2003 with my sister. Now I was paying the price. I had only planned to stay a few minutes, but then I just couldn’t leave. Adam had also prescribed daily workouts to build myself up a little in case it helped with the time-travel side effects. I’d probably reversed the three weeks of running and weight-lifting in my four-hour excursion. At least that’s what it felt like.

The door appeared to open on its own and I stumbled through it, hearing a familiar voice.

“Jackson, what’s up, man?” Toby said.

“Are you okay? You look really … pale.” Holly’s voice, like it was coming from a distance.

Both of their faces spun in front of me and then I just closed my eyes and fell into nothing.

*   *   *

“You got any other shoes to wear home?” I heard Toby say.

“No, but I can drive barefoot,” Holly said.

I started to peel my eyes open and saw the gray lockers in the staff lounge and realized I was lying on the couch.

“Look who’s awake. Are you hungover, man?” Toby asked.

“He doesn’t smell hungover. I’m sure it’s that flu going around. I had it a couple weeks ago and barfed, like, every fifteen minutes for six hours straight.”

“Since you’re conscious now, I’m gonna take off.”

“See you later, Toby,” Holly said.

I felt a wet washcloth on my forehead. “What year is it?”

Holly laughed and sat down beside me on the couch. “Do you mean what time is it?”

“Yeah, that, too.”

“It’s five.”

I tried to sit up, but she pushed me back down. “Don’t get up. You’ll just fall over again and I’m not nearly as strong as Toby.”

“I’ve got to get my work done.”

“We took care of it.”

“Seriously? You guys didn’t have to do that.”

“You should have called in sick,” she said.

No, I should have saved the time travel for my day off
. “Yeah, I guess. How did I get back here?”

Holly smiled and shifted the washcloth on my forehead. “Well, you fell over on Toby, who caught you before your head hit the floor. Then, when he stood you up, you barfed all over my shoes.”

I covered my face and groaned. “Sorry.”

“It’s no big deal. Like I said, I had the same thing. All these kids in the gym wiping their snotty viruses everywhere, you’re bound to pick one up.”

“I’m just glad you were here. Otherwise I’d be passed out in front of the door. Probably with a big bump on my head.”

She laughed and brushed her fingers over my right forearm. Just that small touch from her made me crazy. Three weeks of email exchanges, mostly about nothing—jokes or stories about the crazy “gym moms” Holly had to deal with, but not one time had I seen her outside of work. I didn’t exactly plan it that way, but Adam’s words stuck in my head and I was afraid of being alone with her—starting something that was more than just friendly coworker stuff. Besides, 007 Holly was only seventeen. In 2009, I never, ever would have considered hooking up with a seventeen-year-old.

Her fingers moved over my scar. “What happened?”

“I fell out of a tree when I was six.” I reached out to touch her, just under her chin. “How did you get that scar?”

“Parachuting off the kitchen counter. Eight stitches.” She grabbed my fingers and held on to them. “Your hands are freezing.”

Her stare was so intense. I knew that look and as much as I wanted her to look at me that way, I wasn’t sure she should. “You’re probably ready to go home.”