HAVEN
“Haven, don’t look, but that guy is totally checking you out.”
I twist in the direction Kendra is staring and she swats at me.
“I told you not to look,” she hisses.
“Where?” I ask, fear spiking in my chest when I can’t find the person she’s talking about.
By some miracle, my parents didn’t get wind of the fire at the frat house over the weekend. Well, actually, that’s not exactly true. They heard about the fire; it was all over the local news. But the news didn’t report on the strangeness of the flames, and my parents never suspected I was there. If they had, we would have been packed up and moved already.
I feel guilty about the deceit, but if they’d found out they would have forced me to drop out of school. I’d probably never earn a degree or see Tate or Kendra again. But over the last couple of days my parents’ paranoia has seeped into me, leaving me convinced that danger lurks around every corner, and that anyone who glances my way is plotting something sinister.
I’ve tried to tell myself it’s all in my head, but I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen.
“I don’t see anyone staring at me,” I say, my gaze bleary from sleep deprivation as I scan the co-eds spread across the open space.
It’s unseasonably warm for this time of year, so we decided to take advantage of what will probably be the last nice day of the season and do homework outside. We’re not the only ones who had the idea. There are students everywhere, including a group of guys playing a pick-up game of football between where Kendra and I are sitting and the edge of the open space that butts up to a wooded area. I crane my neck to see around a clump of them who have formed a huddle, blocking my view.
“You have zero chill. You know that, right?” Kendra laughs lightly, not having the faintest idea that this could be life or death.
Dramatic much? I think, but then my dad’s voice filters through my mind: The ones after us are brutal. They’ll do anything for their cause. Even murder. Never forget that. It may save your life someday.
I remember the look on my dad’s face when he said that to me: part fierce determination, part grief that he’s never able to hide. And I understand why. What happened to them, to all of us, changed them irrevocably. Their greatest goal in life is to make sure they don’t lose me too.
The guys break from their huddle and I have a clear view, but there’s no one.
“Oh,” Kendra says, her face falling. “He was right there. I don’t see him now.”
“What did he look like?”
She shrugs. “I don’t really know. Blond, I think, but he had a baseball hat on so maybe I’m wrong. Pretty tall. Definitely built. Like his t-shirt was molded to his arms and chest.”
“That’s all?” I ask, disappointed.
“He was kinda far away, so I didn’t get a good look at him,” she says. “But he was hot.”
“How do you know he was hot if you couldn’t get a look at him?” I ask, knowing that isn’t nearly the most important thing right now, but it’s what my mind snagged on.
“Oh, you can still tell,” she says with a grin. “He was giving off major hot guy energy.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.
“That’s not a thing,” I deadpan, and she dissolves into laughter.
“Oh girl, never change,” she says once she catches her breath.
I shake my head, trying my best to also shake off my unease.
It was just a random student, probably watching the pick-up football game. Nothing to freak out about.
No matter how logical my inner voice is, I can’t make myself believe it.
I gather my books, no longer able to concentrate on my chemistry homework anymore.
“You’re leaving?” Kendra asks with a pout.
“Yeah, sorry. I’m just distracted. I’m going to head over to the library to finish studying.”
“Want me to walk you there?” she offers, already getting to her feet, but I wave her off.
