I wasn’t sure that dad would mind, but I’d asked for some time to tell him, to break the news. Just in the off chance that he gave a damn and would raise a stink. Track had done something, I still don’t know what, to get parental consent for us to marry. I knew dad hadn’t signed anything, so it was a mystery just what had gone down. That happens a lot with Track.
We exchanged small talk until I saw the signs that it was time for me to go, and I headed back to my room. Now that he’d mentioned it, what was really up with those attacks anyway? I hadn’t paid them too much attention because I didn’t hang with that crowd and it seemed centered around them somehow.
As one of the few people of color who attended Eden High, I honestly didn’t feel like it had anything to do with me, nothing ever does. But what if they were targeting students period? My phone rang just as I was about to have a meltdown.
“You okay?” He always knows, how is that possible? Just the sound of his voice has the power to bring me back from the edge, like it did now.
“Now I am. Dad’s home he said something about the attacks on Sian and that other girl and it got me thinking that’s all.” “You’re not in any danger baby so don’t start worrying. I’m almost done here, I’ll be there soon, you know where all your inhalers are in case you need them right.”
My eyes automatically went around the room to the many places where he’d stashed my asthma inhalers in case I had an attack while I was alone. “Yeah I know.”
“Good girl, I’ll see you in a little bit, I’ll bring you a surprise.” He hung up and I felt better already.
Chapter 3
SIAN
***
Things are getting entirely too weird in my life. Ever since the cops came to the school, Jace’s dad has us literally under armed guard. Jace is taking it all in stride, but I’m beginning to freak out. Jace on the other hand, thinks that all he has to do is say ‘I’ve got you’ and the worry would just fade away.
I think it’s finally setting in that I was attacked, and that the culprit was still out there somewhere unknown. It didn’t escape my notice that the reason I was only now acknowledging the severity of the situation, is because Jace had pretty much insulated me from the moment I left the hospital until now. I guess seeing him that close to being carted off in handcuffs had finally put things in perspective for me.
The school is in an uproar, because Mr. Sanders made good on his threat to oust the principal and things were pretty much helter-skelter at the moment. If I weren’t the one stuck in the middle of this mess I guess I would find it hard to believe.
Mom and dad seemed a little shell shocked by all this as well, though I can tell they appreciated the extra support and security from Jace’s dad. Personally though, I thought it was a bit much. But that’s Jace for you. I knew his dad was doing it as much for him as he was for me. The man adores his son. Two peas in a pod!
Mr. Sanders for his part has been treating me about as well as my own dad. He and his wife never once complained about the uproar I’d brought into their sons life, in fact neither of them blamed me for what was going on, or the fact that their home was pretty much surrounded by strangers with guns, and their son was being accused of who knows what.
I still can’t remember who attacked me, but more and more I’ve been beginning to think it was just some random act by a stranger, and not the whole big conspiracy Jace seems to think it is.
I mean, if Mandy had attacked me, or had anything to do with my attack, why would she end up in the hospital herself? It just didn’t make sense. The kids at school, when Jace would let them within five feet of me, were very nice, nicer than I’d expected. And even some of the other girls from the squad who had avoided me like the plague before, were friendlier. I guess when the cat’s away the mice would play.
It was hard to believe that we’d just moved here and all this had happened already; only in Hollywood I guess. Back home the closest I ever came to danger was a paper cut.
“How’s your head babe?” His arm came around my shoulders as he walked me to my first class. “It’ll be okay stop worrying.” I’d slept home last night in my own bed and felt out of my depth this morning. I almost couldn’t get to sleep without him there until I took some of the pills the doctor had prescribed.
Now this morning I felt like a wet dishrag and my head was pounding away. I had an appointment later this afternoon for a follow up with the doctor to make sure I was healing okay, but other than that and the stinging stab wounds, I was almost back to normal.
Now that some of the hoopla was beginning to die down, I was able to concentrate on other things. Like in the back of my mind there was something about a phone call. I wasn’t sure as yet what the significance of that was, but I knew it meant something.
The cops still hadn’t been able to find out anything, and I was starting to wonder if they ever would. “Buzz me if you need me. Don’t forget we have to leave early to get you to the doctor’s.” He’s so sweet, the way he keeps hovering. I can tell he doesn’t want to leave me and go to his own class. It’s hard to remember sometimes that we’d only just met, or that he was a seventeen-year old, sheesh.