The Gathering (Darkness Rising 1)

"He's not. Half the time he doesn't light his cigarette. The other half he takes a couple of puffs and puts it out. It's part of the bad boy package."

Corey grinned. "Been paying attention, have you?"

"Maya always pays attention," Daniel said. "She notices everything and has an opinion on it, which she's not afraid to share as frequently and as loudly as possible."

Corey laughed.

"Watch it," I said as I walked away, "or I'll share my opinions on what happened last night."

"Hey, yeah," Corey said. "So what did happen?"

I left Daniel to explain and went around the school the back way, past the smoking pit. Yes, we had a smoking pit, which is completely weird for a private school owned by a medical company. Kids smoke, though. It's a given, and the more adults try to stop it, the more kids are determined to do it. So the school board designated a smoking pit right beside the furnace room, where the rumble makes it hard to talk. Then they enacted a town bylaw prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to anyone under twenty. Of course, kids can get them elsewhere, but only the most determined bother.

I was almost at the door when Rafe skirted a crowd of ninth graders and slid in beside me, unsmoked cigarette dangling from his hand.

"Yes, I had another wild encounter last night," I said as we walked toward the entrance.

"Really?"

"That's not what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No."

"Damn."

He only laughed and grabbed the door for me. We went through. He walked beside me, so close I could smell woodsmoke on his jacket. I thought of warning him that there was a ban on campfires with the dry weather, but that sounded snotty. I'm sure he knew. I'm sure he didn't care.

I tried to forget he was there. But I could smell the smoke on his jacket, hear the clomp of his boots in the empty hall, even hear him breathing. I could feel him there, too. That sounds weird. I don't know how else to describe it, though. I was just really, really aware that he was walking beside me.

When we turned the corner, he veered so that his hand brushed mine, and I jerked away.

"You really don't like me, do you?" he said.

"I don't know you well enough to say that."

"Easily fixed. What are you doing after school?"

I shook my head as I stopped at my locker. He leaned against the one beside it.

I started my combination. "I suspect I could spend every evening this week with you and I wouldn't know you any better than I do right now."

"Sure you would. Anything you want to know, I'll tell you."

"That's the key word, isn't it? What I want to know. Not necessarily the truth."

His lips twitched with what looked like genuine amusement. "Are you calling me a poseur? I should be offended."

"You could prove me wrong." I stuffed my bag in, took out my binder, then gestured at the cigarette in his hand. "Smoke that."

"In here? I think that's against the rules."

"Which shouldn't bother you at all, if you're the rebel you pretend to be. But that's not what I meant. We'll go outside. I just want to see you smoke the whole thing without coughing."

"Are you saying I don't smoke?" His brows lifted, then he leaned down so close to my ear I could smell toothpaste. "Maybe, as a guy who changes schools a lot, I've discovered that the best place to meet kids is a smoking pit."

I paused, hand still on my lock, thrown by his honesty. His grin sparked and I knew that was exactly the point. I snapped the lock shut and headed for the classroom. He fell in step beside me.

"So, what are you doing after school?" he asked.