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I looked at her. She was transfixed.
Lena, did you?
“It wasn’t me.” Something was wrong. The old Lena would have bitten our heads off for even asking.
“You think it was Ridley or—” I looked over at Link. I didn’t want to say Sarafine’s name.
Lena shook her head. “It wasn’t Ridley.” She didn’t sound like herself, or sure of herself. “She’s not the only one who hates Mortals, believe it or not.”
I looked at her, but it was Link who said the one thing we were both thinking. “How do you know?”
“I just do.”
Over the chaos of the parking lot, a motorcycle gunned its engine. A guy in a black T-shirt swerved through the parked cars, blowing exhaust into the faces of angry cheerleaders, and disappeared out onto the road. He was wearing a helmet, so you couldn’t see his face. Just his Harley.
But my stomach balled itself up, because the motorcycle looked familiar. Where had I seen it before? Nobody at Jackson had a motorcycle. The closest thing was Hank Porter’s ATV, which hadn’t worked since he rolled it after Savannah’s last party. Or so I’d heard, now that I no longer made the guest list.
Lena stared after the motorcycle as if she had seen a ghost. “Let’s get out of here.” She headed for her car, practically running down the stairs.
“Where
to?” I tried to catch up to her, Link jogging behind me.
“Anywhere but here.”
6.12
The Lake
If it wasn’t Ridley, why weren’t your tires slashed?” I pushed again. What happened in the parking lot didn’t make sense, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Or the motorcycle. Why did I recognize it?
Lena ignored me, looking out at the water. “It’s probably a coincidence.” Neither of us believed in coincidences.
“Yeah?” I grabbed a handful of sand, brown and gritty. Except for Link, we had the lake to ourselves. Everyone else was probably lined up at the BP trying to buy new tires before Ed ran out.
In another town, you might have put your shoes back on and called the sand dirt and this part of our lake a swamp, but the murky water of Lake Moultrie was the closest thing Gatlin had to a swimming pool. Everyone hung out on the northern shore because it was on the edge of the woods and a hike from the cars, so you never ran into anyone who wasn’t in high school—especially not your parents.
I didn’t know why we were here. It was weird to have the lake to ourselves, since the whole school had planned to be here today. I hadn’t believed Lena when she told me she wanted to come. But she did, and we had, and now Link was thrashing around in the water, and we were sharing a dirty towel Link had grabbed out of the back of the Beater before we left.
Lena turned over next to me. For a minute, it seemed like everything was back to normal and she wanted to be there on my towel. But that only lasted until the silence set in. I could see her pale skin glistening under the thin white undershirt, which was sticking to her in the suffocating heat and humidity of a June South Carolina day. The sound of the cicadas chirping almost drowned out the awkward silence. Almost. Lena’s black skirt was riding low on her hips. I wished we had our bathing suits for the hundredth time. I’d never seen Lena in one. I tried not to think about it.
Did you forget I can hear you?
I raised an eyebrow. There she was again. Back in my mind, twice in one day, as if she’d never left. One minute she was barely speaking to me, and the next she acted like nothing had changed between us at all. I knew we should talk about it, but I didn’t want to fight anymore.
Not like there’d be anything forgettable about you in a bikini, L.
She leaned closer, pulling my faded shirt over my head. I could feel a few stray curls of her hair brushing against my shoulders. She slid her arm around my neck and pulled me closer. Face to face, I could see the sun glinting gold in her eyes. I didn’t remember them looking so gold.
She tossed my shirt in my face and took off running for the water, laughing like a little kid as she jumped into the lake, still wearing her clothes. I hadn’t seen her laugh or joke around in months. It was like I had her back for an afternoon, even if I didn’t know why. I pushed it out of my mind and chased her, running into the water and across the shallow edge of the lake.
“Stop it!” Lena splashed me, and I splashed her back. Her clothes were dripping, and my shorts were dripping, but it felt good to be out in the sun. In the distance, Link was swimming out to the dock. We were really alone.
“L, wait up.” She smiled over her shoulder and dove under the water.
“You’re not getting away that easy.” I grabbed her leg before it disappeared and yanked her toward me. She laughed and kicked, twisting until I fell into the water next to her.
“I think I felt a fish,” she squealed.
