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After about ten minutes, my stomach started to hurt. I grunted softly, and kept readjusting my body. No matter how I was sitting, the feeling wouldn’t go away.
“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.
I let go of the game for a second, dropping an arm over my stomach to cover it. “It’s just my stomach.”
“What?” Gabriel asked, whipping his head around so that a couple of blond locks fell across his face. “Like yesterday?”
I nodded. It was the same pang sensation, like I swallowed a baseball and it was sitting in the pit of my stomach.
“Maybe she’s eating too much,” Luke said.
“No,” Gabriel said. “I think it’s the vitamins. Let me see the bottle?” Nathan passed it over and Gabriel read the ingredients. “You’re not allergic to anything?”
“Not that I know of,” I said.
“Hm...” He popped open the cap, took out a pill and then slipped it into his mouth. He stole Luke’s cup and took a sip to wash it down.
“Those are for girls,” Luke said.
“Vitamins are vitamins,” Gabriel said. “One won’t kill me. I just want to see if something’s wrong with them.”
I shifted to my side, trying to ease the pain. “So you’re going to take it to see if your stomach hurts?”
“Experimenting is how you figure shit out.” He tossed the bottle at Nathan. “At any rate, she doesn’t get any more of these. But keep the bottle. We’ll compare ingredients with other brands and see if we can find a different one that doesn’t hurt her.”
I pressed a hand against my ribs, feeling around my baseball stomach and trying to find some way to make it better. “Are vitamins supposed to make your stomach hurt?”
“Come here, Sang,” Nathan said. He picked me up by the hips, turning me around until I was sitting in his lap.
I took my game with me, curling up against his chest. “You’re not going to play?”
He closed his game, tossing it aside. “You play.” He took out his cell phone and started browsing the Internet. “Says here some folks get stomach aches from certain vitamins.”
“Which ones?” Gabriel asked.
“Dunno,” he said. “I think it varies.”
“Different fillers or formulas or something. Everyone’s different,” Gabriel said. He gripped the seat release and got it to lean back. “We’ll have to get a different brand.”
I was getting wrapped up in the game. Nathan made comments about what I was doing, but mostly just watched.
After another fifteen minutes, I’d collected lots of fish, earning money to upgrade my house in the game. I ended up trading lots of items with Luke and Gabriel, and Gabriel drew new clothes for my character so it looked like she had cute butterflies on her skirt.
Luke sat back after a while, taking a break and gazed out the window. After a few moments, he sat up. “What’s the list of cars that are following us?”
“What?” Gabriel asked, focused on the game.
“Mr. Morris has a brown car, doesn’t he? And wasn’t there another gray car? Or was it blue? Remember Mr. McCoy’s car? I mean the other guy that had the look-a-like?”
Nathan picked up his head and stared over me out the window where Luke was looking. I put my game down, trying to figure out what was going on.
The parking lot had a variety of cars close to the edge where the football stadium was, presumably football players and cheerleaders who were getting ready for the game had parked closer.
But on the outskirts of the parking lot, closer to the entrance, was a blue sedan.
“Is it Mr. McCoy?” I breathed out.
“I don’t think so,” Gabriel said, squinting out at the car. “From the shadow, he doesn’t look the same. But it’s hard to tell.”
“He’s been sitting in his car,” Luke said, “I didn’t notice until now someone was inside.”
“We’re hanging around, someone else might be, too,” Gabriel said, but he pulled out his phone and dialed. After a moment, he started talking into it. “Kota? Is your tail outside your house? Well, we might have another one here. Should we do anything?”
“We’re not doing anything too weird,” Nathan said. “We don’t even know who it is. We’re going to the football game. Wouldn’t that be boring enough?”
Gabriel pulled his phone from his ear and then tapped the screen, putting Kota on speaker. “Okay, tell them, Kota,” Gabriel said.
“Let’s see if we can figure out who they’re more interested in following,” Kota said through the phone. “Let’s do a shuffle.”
“Where do you want us to go?” Gabriel asked.
“Sang, do you know where the hallway to the boys’ locker room is? Silas and North should be around there somewhere. I’ll text them to let them know you’re on the way.”
“You’re going to send her in alone?” Nathan asked.
“I want you to go the long way around and meet her there. Gabriel, you and Luke should drive off. If he’s following you, come here. Make sure he crosses paths with Mr. Morris. Let’s make them chase us around town for a few hours.”
“And if he’s after Nathan?” Gabriel asked.
“Circle back around after about ten minutes and meet up with Sang. Then Nathan, go for a ride and let him chase you. That’ll narrow down the list.”
“What if they’re following Sang?” Nathan asked.
“We’ll cross that road when we get there. For now, we need to find out more information. If Mr. Hendricks is increasing the number of people watching us, we want to know who they’re more interested in. Let’s see if these guys know each other.”
Kota hung up. Game systems got turned off and put away. Gabriel took the wheel and started up the car while Luke caught my attention and pointed at the school. “See that, Sang?” He motioned to the edge of the building, closest to the trailers. There was a set of heavy double doors painted the same shade as the brick so it nearly blended in. “You want to go in there. There’s a door in the middle of the hallway. That’s the boys’ locker room.”
“I’ll go in through the front lobby,” Nathan said. “But slowly. If he’s following me, I want to make sure he feels comfortable getting out and walking behind me.”
I clasped my palm over my heart to stop its thundering. Mr. Blackbourne had said to take it easy, but this seemed to be opposite of when he said no Academy business. Maybe it was an exception due to circumstances, and it wasn’t that bad. All I had to do was walk inside and then wait. “What should I do?” I asked.
Nathan reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Look for Silas or North. Talk to them for a minute and then I’ll show up. We’ll wait for word from the others.”
I nodded and he opened the door, stepping back so I could get out. When we stepped away from the Jeep, Gabriel started it up and drove toward the school lot entrance.
I started to watch, but Nathan grabbed my shoulder, turning me until I was facing back toward the school.
“Head for Silas,” he said. “Don’t stop.”
I started walking, keeping my eyes ahead like I had something important to do. I wanted to check back on Nathan, but sensed I should probably focus.
I followed their instructions, finding the sidewalk pathway that led around the school and then toward the double doors. I opened one, stepping inside.
The hallway was noisy but there wasn’t anyone in it. I stilled as the door slammed shut behind me, trying to figure out where to go. Three doors were on the left-hand side, but only one toward the middle was open. It looked similar to the girls’ gym hallway but just opposite. The closer I got to the middle door, the louder the echoes became.
I hovered just outside the locker room. A brick wall barrier made for a short hallway inside and stopped people from just peeking in. I waited and then reached to touch my phone, wondering if Kota had a chance to text North and Silas and let them know I was out here. I was going to send anot
her text to say I was outside already.
A guy came out of the locker room, turning like he was going to head down the hallway. He stopped short when he almost walked into me. I didn’t know him, but he was built like a truck, so I assumed he was on the team.
“Looking for someone?” he asked. “Are you supposed to be down here?” I was about to answer but he snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “Oh wait, you’re Silas’s girlfriend. Hang on a second.” He stepped back into the locker room door, turning the corner. “Hey, Silas! Your girlfriend’s out here looking for you.” He waved to me, winked and continued on down the hall toward the rest of the school.
There was some hooting inside, and lots of loud comments. After a few moments, Silas appeared. He’d stripped down to a tank shirt, revealing the muscles of his chest and stomach: smooth power. The shirt was untucked from his dark slacks, like he’d been in the middle of getting ready to put on his football uniform and I’d stopped him.
My heart did a little flip. His strong Greek face was radiant, looking like he’d been laughing a lot.
His dark eyebrows lifted, curious. “Sang?” he called to me as he approached. “Something wrong?”
I parted my mouth to tell him the plan when behind him appeared a few more guys. They stood in the entry way and leaned against the wall, watching us.
“Sorry. I was trying to text to let you know I was coming.” Technically it was Kota, but I didn’t want those overhearing to know that detail.
Silas’s face changed like he was asking me if I was okay without asking. “I put it down while I was changing.” His eyes followed where my attention was and spotted the boys. He waved a hand at them. “Fuck off, guys. Come on. Give me a minute.”
Some of the boys rolled their eyes, some laughed. They wandered off, but I had the feeling a few of them lingered just out of sight and would stay there to try and listen in.
Silas caught my hand, tugging at it and guiding me down the hall. “No one’s in trouble, are they?”
“Not yet,” I said as quietly as possible. I pressed my palm against his, feeling the breadth of his. My fingers rubbed against his skin. I was nervous before, but being around Silas made me feel so much more secure.
