Undead Much (11 page)

  “I don’t know, I couldn’t tell from hearing just Dad’s side of the conversation, but I did get this much, they’re totally planning to lock you up and throw away the key.” She paused and cocked her head to the side. “I’m actually sort of surprised to see you. I thought the Enforcers would have taken you into custody last night.”

  “What?” God, this couldn’t be happening! Everyone had lost their minds! Was there no sanity left in the world? I hadn’t done anything! What in the world could these “tests” have shown them, besides that I was completely innocent?

  “I mean, I could be wrong, but-”

  “No, you’re probably not wrong.” I sighed, swallowing the burnt rubber taste that had risen in my mouth. I couldn’t let Monica’s news make me lose it. I had to stay sane and focused so I could prove to all the crazy people how crazy they really were. “But maybe they figure the spies are keeping an eye on me for now.” I nodded to my right, in the direction of the beige sedan that had followed me to school.

  “Wow, you’ve got spies.” She made a sound halfway between a snort and a laugh. “Aren’t you a bad girl?”

  “This isn’t funny, Monica.”

  “Of course it isn’t. You’re screwed unless we figure something out. It’s a done deal. I mean, you’ll get a trial and everything, I guess, but it sounds like a formality. Everyone’s sure you’re guilty.”

  “I know,” I said, trying not to let my terror and confusion show. Did we really need to go over this? I
knew
I was in trouble, what I didn’t know was how to get out of it.

  “I don’t know what they have on you, but if it’s enough to totally discount the fact that no Settler has ever been convicted of-”

  “Nothing!” I yelled, then lowered my voice when a couple of guys in front of us turned to stare. “Nothing, I swear. They won’t even tell me what I’m being accused of. I mean, I know it has to do with raising those zombies, but I don’t know why I’m the only suspect. They’re supposed to be sending the formal charge to my house today, and hopefully that will give me something to go on, but-”

  “Well then, whoever really raised them must be a Settler, and probably a super-powerful one like you.”

  “Right.” Duh, Monica. I figured that one out a while ago.

  “And whatever forensic evidence they’ve got must prove that.”

  Okay, not so duh. She was probably on to something. Settlers’ Affairs’ tests must have implicated me in some way. But how? I knew I hadn’t done anything. At least… not on purpose, which made me wonder again if there was any way I could have made something happen without even knowing it. Of course, if that were the case, I was in as much trouble as if I
had
raised those zombies on purpose. If SA thought I was raising SRUs with my super-Settler mojo, I’d be stuck in a magical containment unit and never set free.

  “I didn’t do it. Not even by accident,” I said, panic making me babble before thinking.

  “Of course you didn’t. Don’t be a freak. You can’t
accidentally
raise zombies. Besides, those things the other day stank of wormwood. Someone raised them on purpose, and we’re going to figure out who it was,” she said, opening the door for me and letting me pass before following me to my locker. “We’ll just have to figure out what kind of evidence the Enforcers have and how it might make you look guilty even if-”

  “Hold on a second, I-”

  “I’ll do some research tonight and let you know if I find anything interesting.”

  “Monica, why are you doing this?” I asked, unable to help myself. I was suspicious of everyone lately. “Why are you helping me?”

  She froze, looking as surprised as I felt, as if she’d just realized helping was exactly what she was doing. She recovered quickly, however, and her surprised look turned into a glare. “Why wouldn’t I? You didn’t do this. You’re such a goody two-shoes it’s vomit-inducing. SA and the Enforcers are crazy, and I don’t want to see someone innocent go to jail.”

  “Even me?”

  Monica cocked her head to the side, like she was studying some strange bug she’d discovered under a rock. “I don’t hate you. You know that, right? I mean, I actually thought we were becoming friends.”

  “Friends,” I repeated, shocked to the tips of my new Uggs.

  “Friends who constantly rip on each other?”

  “That’s just kidding around, Meg. Toughen up. I make fun of all the sophomores on the squad.” She shrugged. “But I don’t want to see anything bad happen to any of them, and I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. Especially since the Enforcers are only here for you in the first place. They’ll be gone the second you set foot in jail.”

  Ah. Now it made sense. “And you won’t have a leg up on your competition if you don’t keep training with them. Nice to know your motivations are selfish, as always.”

  Monica rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face. “Whatever, Berry. I’ll text you after lunch to let you know what I find out at the cheer table.” Then she turned to flounce away down the hall.

  “Ditto.” I grabbed my English notebook and slammed my locker shut with a smile. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was glad Monica thought we were becoming friends. I could use a few friends, even ones who constantly insulted my lack of fashion sense and thought I was a vomit-inducing goody two-shoes.

  Hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

  I was in luck at lunch. Only four of the twelve cheer clones had first lunch, so I wasn’t nearly as intimidated as I had thought I’d be. Still, it was awkward figuring out exactly how to insinuate myself with people I’d never dared-or desired-to hang with before. Luckily, I tripped over my own feet and spilled spaghetti all over their table before I had a chance to get too angsty about my method of approach.

  “Oh my God, ew!” Kimberly shoved her chair back just in time to avoid a red-sauce splatter, while her twin, Kate, dodged a rogue meatball. Lee Chin just stared at me, her almond eyes clearly unimpressed.

  “I’m so sorry!” I blushed as I plunked down my now-spaghettiless tray and grabbed a bunch of napkins from the dispenser at the center of the table. “I just tripped and I-”

  “You did that on purpose.” Kate glared at me and snatched the napkins from my hand. “Are you pom losers so desperate to make us look bad that-”

  “It was an accident, Kay. Relax.” Aaron, the lone boy on the squad and the only person still smiling, grabbed some napkins and mopped up the noodles on his side of the table. “Hey, I’m Aaron. Megan, right?”

  I returned his smile, though I was already a little uncomfortable with the flirt factor of his grin. What was with me and boy-type attention lately? First Cliff and now Aaron. Of the two, most would say Aaron was the more tempting-what with the whole all-American hottie thing and being
alive
and all that-but he didn’t tempt me for a second. In fact, he kind of gave me a mild case of the “ews.” Now Cliff, on the other hand…

  Nope.
Not
going to think about that. Focus, Megan!

  “Yeah. I’ve seen you at the Honor Society meetings,” I said as I casually slid into the only seat not splattered with sauce, which happened to be right next to Aaron.

  “I’m vice president. Pierce usually insists on me being there,”he said. It was a smart-ass remark, but it was impossible to get my feelings hurt with the way he was looking at me. Aaron was obviously interested. Leaning-close-and-staring-into-my-eyes interested. How weird and uncomfortable was that?

  But at least it gave me an excuse to hang around the table, something that would have been difficult without him, given the glares of the three other cheerleaders at the table. The “you’re not wanted here” vibes were pretty intense. I was going to have to think fast if I was going to figure out a way to casually find out where these four had been Tuesday night just before dusk.

  “So, how has the fund-raising been going? I heard you all had a great turnout Tuesday night,” I said, my heart racing. I was such a bad liar! I didn’t even know if they’d done anything Tuesday night, let alone how the turnout was.

  “It’s none of your-”

  “It was pretty good.” Aaron interrupted Kimberly before she could tell me to mind my own business. “But nothing like that topless car wash.” He laughed and leaned even closer, until I could smell the peanut butter on his breath. It wasn’t a bad smell per se, but hello? Had the dude never heard of personal space? “You don’t know how many guys were disappointed to find topless meant you weren’t washing the tops of the cars.”

  “Yeah, well, my dad wasn’t disappointed. I thought he was going to bust something until I told him what was really going on.”

  “So you were there?” Aaron asked, obviously not getting my “back away from me” vibes. He scooted his chair even closer. “I came by but didn’t see you.”

  “Yeah, Aaron left us high and dry at our Parents’ Night Out to go give his hard-earned money to the competition.” Kimberly shook her head in disappointment while her twin sniffed her disapproval.

  “He’s a boy. He can’t resist the pull of the Slut Squad.” Lee Chin smirked.

  “I was there, but I had to leave early for a… family thing,” I said. “What about you guys, how long did you work Tuesday night?”

  “From five thirty to almost midnight. Some of those parents really took that night-out stuff seriously. I couldn’t believe it. We still had two five-year-olds at eleven thirty,” Kate said, warming up as the whining about kids ensued.

  “It was crazy. I had no idea kids were so much work,” her twin agreed.

  “I’m never having children.” Lee Chin shuddered. “They’re so… childish. And they smell funny.”

  I did my best not to laugh, but almost lost it when I caught Aaron rolling his eyes. He thought the girls at his table were crazy too. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. Maybe he had no depth perception or something, or there was some other reasonable explanation for his weird closeness.

  “And the whole squad was there the entire time, except Aaron?” I asked.

  “Why do you want to know?” Lee Chin glared in my direction. “Were you sent here to spy on us or something?”

  “No! No way, I mean, what would be the point, right?” I shrugged and took a bite of my cake.
Just act casual and they’ll calm down, and nothing’s more casual than cake eating.
“Whoever has the most money Friday wins, so it doesn’t really matter-”

  “It matters if you’re trying to psych us out. And if that’s the case, you’d better back off.” Kimberly added her glare to Lee Chin’s.

  “Ladies, chill out. Megan here is cool.” Aaron wrapped his arm around the back of my chair and squeezed my face with his free hand. “Look at these chubby little cheeks. Is this the face of a spy?”

  “Thanks.” I laughed and acted like I was comfortable with the touchy-feely stuff, but was relieved when Aaron let go.

  Until he started running his finger along my lips, of course.

  “You had a crumb,” he said, holding the finger with said crumb on it up between us.

  “Oh, thanks. Well… guess I should go get some more spaghetti before they close the line.” Aaron was starting to skeeve me out, and it seemed I’d gotten as far as I was going to get with the cheerleaders anyway. “See you guys tonight.” I grabbed my backpack and made a beeline for the entrance to the hot line, pretending I didn’t hear Kimberly call that I’d forgotten my lunch tray and better come back and put it away because she wasn’t in charge of cleaning up my messes.

  After all the crap the cheerleaders had pulled lately, leaving them at a spaghetti-splattered table seemed the very least I could do.

CHAPTER 9

  “
I
’ll pick you up around nine,” Ethan said as we pulled up in front of Pizza Pie just before the dinner rush. “I think I found someone at the hospital who’s willing to give us the four-one-one on why the cops were there. She gets off her shift at nine thirty. Sound good?”

  “Sounds perfect, I’ll see you then.”

  “Bye, love you.”

  Sigh. Hearing those words coming from his lips still made my heart flip over and do a cannonball into my stomach. In the good way.

  “Love you too,” I said, smiling as I opened the car door. I really had the best boyfriend ever. He had skipped all his college classes, gotten someone to cover his Protocol shift, and devoted himself completely to keeping me out of jail.

  God. Jail. It seemed more likely with every passing second.

  I waved goodbye and trotted across the parking lot toward the entrance, trying not to think about the deep poo I was in. Though, after the past two days, it wasn’t easy.

  “You look like heck. Did you eat anything today?” Monica looked me up and down with a critical eye as I joined her and the other girls at the rear of the pizza joint. Geez, it almost made me wish I’d headed to the opposite corner to hang with the cheerleaders. “You didn’t, did you?”

  “Yeah, I did,” I said, though I honestly couldn’t remember consuming anything other than a few bites of oatmeal and one nibble of cake. They were out of spaghetti by the time I reached the lunch counter, and I’d been too freaked to think any further about food, which was saying something. I was usually a stress eater. Give me Doritos and sour cream and onion dip in a time of crisis and I can usually find a way to live another day.