Walking in the Shadows (8 page)

“Friday? Busy…sorry,
” I stuttered
very aware of his arm around
my waist. I knew if he removed his arm
there was a
chance I would
fall
, so I let it stay there
.
We were close enough to the classroom that everyone could hear our conversation, and I hoped this would keep him from pressuring me further. I figured that his arrogance wouldn’t let him drop it though.

“
After I saved you?”
h
e pushed
,
and his arm went slack around my waist.

“You brought me to the
nurse’s
office
,
and if you hadn’t snuck up on me I would have never done it in the first place
!
” I
snapped
.
His expression went from concern to disappointment.
“Sorry…i
t’s the migraine getting to me—
I have to work Friday.”

“Some other time?” h
e
suggested
with an awkward crooked smile.

“I have to get to class…
you know Mr. Knightley can be a gr
ouch when his students are late,
”
I
said,
avoi
ding
the question
and before
he could respond
,
I was walking
shakily
in
to
the classroom
.

“
Vera
, ni
ce of you to
join us,
” Tad observed as he stopped writing on the board and turned to face me.

I handed him the
note and turned my head
so he could see the
ice pack I was hold
ing
.
An eyebrow rose in question. 

“Don’t ask,”
I muttered in embarrassment
.
It
really was his fault, but I couldn’t be mad at him when his brow crinkled in obvious worry.

When I
sat down
Jaz
turned her head to whi
sper,
“Did y
ou
just turn down Carl
? I mean seriously?”

“I can hear you
,
and I don’t need to know about any of your dating preferences. So I would appreciate it if you reserved that sort of gossip for the h
allways and F
acebook
,
” Tad scolded
,
his jaw clenched in marked jeal
ousy, or what I hoped was jealousy
.
When the class ended I rushed out as I tried to avoid the thousands of questions Jaz would no doubt ask me about my love life. As I practically jogged out of the door Lily cut me off and slammed her shoulders into mine.

“What the hell…” I huffed under my breath.

Lily smiled apologetically. “Sorry, V—can I call you that?”

“No, it’s Vera,” I growled as I gritted my teeth. She hated me, so why was she pestering me now?

She shrugged. “Oh, alright… so, I heard a tasty bit of gossip about Knightley…”

Now she had my attention, “Yeah?”

“He’s the youngest teacher to ever work here—even younger than Jennings…He’s only twenty-two
.
” Lily stopped in front of me and cocked her head.

“And…?”

She smiled, and inside I cringed. “It’s too bad he’s a teacher, his age would mean he was totally up for grabs.”

I nodded my head stunned and she continued, “Aww, you know, now that I think about it, you two would look really cute together.”

Her smile widened into a smirk that made my stomach curl, and she turned on her heel. I could feel the blood draining from my face as I stood there staring at her back.

“Earth to Vera.” Jaz waved her hand in my face
making me
turn to face her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, but all I could see was Tad standing behind her. His brow wrinkled as his eyes met mine, and he shook his head in question.

“Hello, Vera—what’s wrong?” Jaz waved her hand in my face, and I finally let my eyes meet hers.

I shook my head
.
“I don’t really know.”

“Jeez, for not knowing, you sure as hell look like you just saw the devil,” Jaz teased, pinching my upper arm.

I glanced back over my shoulder, my eyebrows up as I watched Lily laughing with Miss Jennings, and I couldn’t help but feel like I had.

“Well, you’re not the only one—
Knight
ley was
a total grouch today,”
Jaz
commented as we walked to my locker
.

“I guess my being late
really set the guy off,” I replied
,
taking a color coded book and notes out of my locker.
The thought of how irritated he had been, and how worried he had just looked conflicted inside of me, he was my
teacher
. I needed to get that through my head.

“I don’t think it was you if it makes you feel better
;
he was in a wicked bad mood the second the first bell went off. You would have
sworn
hell froze over or something, he
wouldn’t even let us settle in. He
w
ent all military on us.”

“Yeah, he does that when he is mad…closes himself
off—I mean I guess he does that,
”
I caught myself and thought that I deserved another slam in the head with my locker.
If
Lily suspected something than opening my mouth too much to Jaz was not a good idea.

She raised an eyebrow
before shrugging off my mistake
.
“Super hot though
,
isn’t he?”

I looked back over my shoulder at his classroom
door
where
Miss Jennings was now standing
Lily-free
.
“What’s with Jennings?”

“She totally has the hots for
him;
it doesn’t seem
his temper has given way
,
though,
”
Jaz
responded as we began walking
. We stopped at the entrance to my next class
,
and I could
still see Miss Jennings flip
her straight blonde hair at him.
M
y stomach sank at the scene.
Jaz rolled her
eyes,
adding,
“She
sure is lathering it on th
ick, huh?”

“She’s
pretty;
I wonder why he doesn’t date her?”
I asked
,
feeling jealous and anxious all at once. It
wasn’t a nice feeling, and he wasn’t even trying to make me feel this way.

“I think he has a girlfriend? Not sure th
ough, he just seems to be
off limits to all women here—well
,
you know
,
the other s
ingle women teachers. Maybe he’
s gay?”

“I s
eriou
sly doubt that one,
” I responded
as I struggled
not to laugh.

“That would be
a
serious punishment to woma
n
-
kind. I wonder what he looks like without that vest and tie teacher getup…I bet he looks amazing naked.”

“Holy crap
,
Jaz
!” I yelped,
but
I
could feel that
I was blushing
. I knew what he looked like with his shirt
off and
it was damned good.

I had never had an interest in what had happened to my parents, or what had truly caused their deaths until now. I knew it would be disturbing to
know
what others thought and said about the events that led up to their demise. I had always had a good grip on what was the truth and what wasn’t, but now I was questioning the whole thing. I couldn’t escape my past, so I should at least understand what had led me to this place. I didn’t even know what the books that had inspired the murderer were about. It was all just so sick, but now I felt the need to know why.

“Literature’s effect on the schiz
ophrenic mind?”
Kirsten
commented as she leaned over my shoulder
.
I could tell from the way her eyes widened and the frown on her face that she had
dis
approved of this as much as I thought she would. She took a deep breath and shrugged,
“It’s
weird how this
revolves around
a
fictional book about
vampires.”

“I guess it’s like Romeo and Juliet
—
except with vampires. The weird part is the main
characters;
the ones e
veryone loves are good vampires,
” I explained
,
pointing to the screen.

“In the third one isn’t there a
vampire army created by the only survivor of the bad coven—Faye
?”
Kirsten
asked
as she
smiled at a customer who came in the door.

“I’
ve never read them
,
altho
ugh I think every other teenage girl
on the planet has.”

“Read what?”
t
he customer asked
.

I
evaluated the girl standing in front o
f me. She looked as though she had spent far too much time at the beach and had dipped her head in a vat of bleach.
What the hell could it hurt? “Any of the
Crimson
Reign
books
,
”
I remarked, off-handedly.

“You haven’t read them? O-
M
-G
,
you are
so
missing out!”
s
he shrieked.

“Not really into it
—
bes
ides
it’s
connected
to that serial
killer over in Norfolk
County, which is disturbing,
”
I mumbled back.

“Yeah, that is super freaky! You go to Amherst?”
s
he asked
,
and
by the way she easily changed the subject,
it
was obvious she
didn
’t
think anything
of the murders
.

“Umm…yeah
,
”
I replied
,
looking around the room.

“
You should read the
Crimson
Reign
books
,
or see
the first movie at least. They’
re
super
good, not
sure how it connects to those mu
rders though,” t
he girl said
,
browsing t
he jewelry in the
clear
counter
display
.

“I
thought maybe it had to do with the vampires that are
after that
Naria chick
?”
I commented
,
prying into her knowledge of the
series.

“
The Cabes, the bad vampires that hunt humans and have them as pets?
”
Kirsten
suggested
,
turning to the dressing room and pulling some clothes off the rack that needed to be put away.

“You’re joking right
?”
I mocked as I closed my lap top and lifted it off the g
lass counter so the girl could see the jewelry better.

The girl nodded her head, “
No,
it’s true. In the first book th
e bad vampires are the Cabes. Naria Cabe doesn’t agree with the way they live. Naria tries to escape her family
and she meets Colby Gray from the good vampire coven and they fall in love. Then in the second book
,
the Cabes find that the Grays have Naria and when Evan
,
the leader of the Cabes finds out
,
he fights Colby. It was so awesome to see the fight on the big screen
!
So then
,
Colby kills Evan
,
sparking a war between the two covens that won’t end until every last person of one or the other coven is dead.
It’s really good—you should go see it when the
new
movie comes out. I know I
’ll be there the first night,
”
t
he girl gushed
,
an enthusiastic smile washing over her face.