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He collapsed against the back of the bench, defeat washing over his face. “That was the last of them. Unless you’ve got a roll up your sleeve, we’re out of luck.”
Disappointment swelled inside me, which was soon followed by an overwhelming urge to giggle. I tried to block it with my fingers, but it burst out, causing Mason to shoot one of his rare grins at me.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
I thought about my parents and their well-laid out plans for me to attend med school. It was highly doubtful that any of those steps including taking a teenage boy to the mall and exterminating dinosaurs with him. And yet, here I was. Mom and Dad would be mortified. I almost wished they could see me.
“I don’t think my parents would approve of dinosaur hunting,” I said between giggles, placing the gun back in the holster. “It’s not exactly on Harvard’s list of requirements for med school applications.”
Mason sighed and placed his own gun back. “You know, life isn’t all about school and making your resume stand out. We could blink out of existence at any second. Trust me, when you’re facing death’s ugly mug, those won’t be the things that flash before your eyes.”
He had to be talking about his dad again. I’m sure something horrible like that would affect every moment of the rest of your life. When I wanted to complain about my parents, all I had to do was think about Mason’s loss and it shut me right up. Did he think about his dad a lot? Did it ever get easier? I opened my mouth to ask, but just as the question reached the tip of my tongue, the sound of laughter and familiar voices reached my ears.
Scrambling to peer around the corner of the game, I spotted a group of cheerleaders standing beside a claw game displaying Ipads and expensive watches up for grab. In the middle of the crew stood Polly, dressed in an effortlessly cool outfit of ragged denim jeans and a crop top. At that moment, I envied her unlike anyone I’d ever envied before now. And when she failed to grab a prize from the claw machine, she and her friends headed back down the hall toward the food court.
“There goes your girlfriend,” I whispered, looking back at Mason. The adrenaline had begun to drain from my system, leaving my insides feeling like a block of ice. “We should probably get going.”
He sat silently on the bench beside me, his eyes glittering in the semi-darkness. Gone was the grin that had lit up his face just moments ago. Back in its place was the brooding, dark expression I’d come to expect.
“You know, she’s not my girlfriend,” he said in a low voice.
‘Yet’, I wanted to say. It was only a matter of time and then the fun would be over. Polly didn’t seem like the kind of girl who played Jurassic Park video games or binged on donuts on Saturday mornings. But that didn’t matter. Mason would be with her and I would have my A+ in class. Just as I’d planned.
I wasn’t sure why that sounded so depressing inside my head.
Chapter Twelve
“It’s time. Let’s go.”
I looked up from my notebook to see Mason march into the library and stand over me, as if he owned the place. He wore one of the new outfits we’d picked out for him this weekend: black jeans, a shiny bomber jacket, with a striped shirt underneath.
It looked great on him. Seriously great. Like he’d just walked off the red carpet with the Jonas Brothers or something. The way that shirt fit his athletic torso was almost distracting. If I stared hard enough, I could just start to see an impression of the rippling abdominal muscles that I knew lay underneath—
Mason snapped his fingers at me, bringing me hurtling back to earth, and frowned, expectation flashing in his eyes.
“What? More dinosaur hunting?” I asked, the corners of my lips turning up at the thought of our weekend adventure. That had been more fun than I’d had in a while. Sometimes, I forgot I was still a teen and that I had a life outside of school, volunteering, and homework.
“No dinosaurs today, other than old Mr. Arnold.” He shut my computer and stuffed it unceremoniously into my backpack. “It’s time to uphold your end of the
bargain, Frye. We’re working on the sculpture today.”
Lightning coursed through my chest. As much as the thought of working on art instead of Research Methods excited me, that meant lying and skipping class. Two things that I really didn’t like to do. My gaze trailed over to the check-out counter to check on the status of our supervisor. The bell for class had rung five minutes ago, but Mr. Arnold was already deep asleep, with pretzel crumbs clinging to his whiskers and the front of his shirt.
“Are you sure we won’t get in trouble?” I asked, chewing on my bottom lip.
Mason let out a dry laugh and turned to glance at Mr. Arnold. “Not a chance. Even if he does wake up, he won’t remember our class is today. He’s two seconds from retiring and thirty seconds past caring.”
He had a point. Mr. Arnold didn’t seem to mind what we did, as long as it didn’t interrupt his afternoon nap. Clasping my notebook close to my chest, I stood from the chair and followed Mason out of the room. He still had my backpack and swung it casually at his side as we headed down the hall.
Now that it was ready to be assembled, the statue had been moved to an empty corner of the shop class. Luckily for us, there were no shop classes during this time of the day. No one to ask where we were coming from or get suspicious of two seniors without supervision. Just a giant, empty classroom with cement floors, unlimited power tools, and total silence.
“Any chance I’ll get to use the blow torch today?” Mason asked, glancing over at me to wag his eyebrows as he set my backpack on a nearby table.
I threw my head back and laughed, dropping my notebook with all my sculpture sketches onto the same table. Typical guy, wanting to jump right into the dangerous stuff. It had taken me days to be comfortable enough to turn the blowtorch on, let alone actually use it.
“I don’t know,” I said slowly, a grin tugging on my lips. “This isn’t hunting fake dinosaurs on a computer screen. This is real life. And potentially dangerous.”
“I like danger.”
