As we were moving through the second rehearsal of the cheer, Aisha faltered on her climb and fell from Mia’s shoulders. She landed with a dull thud on the ground and lay there for a few seconds, addled and breathless.
Being the closest to her, I was one of the first of us to come to her rescue.
“Are you ok?”
Aisha nodded her head, dazed.
“Can you sit up?”
Again, she nodded.
I reached behind her to help her into a sitting position and, as her splayed legs came together, I noticed a mark on the inside of her right thigh. It looked like a bite mark.
Not meaning to, I paused when I saw it. Aisha saw me staring and quickly straightened her shorts, effectively covering the wound, hiding it from my knowing eyes.
She looked at me for several seconds, and I at her, neither of us speaking. I knew then that she had remembered something—something important, something scary. Something she was afraid to tell anyone else.
I didn’t doubt her sincerity when she’d told me yesterday that she couldn’t remember anything. Her tears were too real, her distress too genuine. But now, I could tell that she was lying to me. I could also tell that she was afraid.
With a meaningful look in her eye and a firm shake of her head, Aisha pushed herself to her feet and walked off. She didn’t stop when she got to the edge of the field. She kept right on walking, I assumed heading back to her car in the school lot.
It was then that I knew for sure that her dreams hadn’t been dreams at all.
She’d seen Summer eating a pig like a wild animal and she’d seen Trinity. Trinity was back.
CHAPTER TEN
After I’d made myself another sandwich for dinner, I lurked around the living room for a while, a bit uncomfortable with my room after having been attacked inside it not once, but twice. I could only avoid it for so long, however, when Mom came stumbling in at the inordinately-early hour of 8:30, forcing me into hiding for the rest of the night. Fortunately, she went straight to her room and didn’t come back out, a fact for which I was incredibly grateful. I didn’t need a repeat of the previous night; I was still licking my wounds from that run-in.
I spent the next hour or so watching my window uncomfortably, hoping for Bo, but dreading anyone else. I still didn’t know what had become of Drew and now with Trinity and Summer on the loose, I felt like I had to look over my shoulder at every turn.
I kept waiting for Bo to appear, hoping I’d see him. I felt like the buzz in my blood was fading and I didn’t like it. It was comforting to me, feeling that intense tie to him, and I wanted it back, strong and sure.
Feeling more deflated and paranoid as time went by, I decided I’d call Savannah and confirm tomorrow night’s dinner, maybe chat with her for a while.
She would no doubt provide a much-needed distraction, as well as some amusement, something I had far too little of in my life of late. Besides, I needed to see if she’d heard from Devon, or seen him or imagined him, whatever was happening there.
I dug through my bag for my phone, but couldn’t find it. There was a time when that thing was practically glued to my palm. Back in the days of Trinity and Drew, my phone rang constantly. But now, not so much. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different. I had to admit that, at times, I felt very disconnected and lonely. It wouldn’t be nearly so bad if Bo wasn’t supposedly missing while he spent most of his time trying to track down the people responsible for screwing up his life.
If that wasn’t the case, I could see him more often, and in the daylight, too.
With a sigh, I grabbed my keys and headed for my car. My phone must’ve dropped out in there and it looked like I was definitely going to need a diversion.
Padding down the walk barefoot, I unlocked my car door and leaned in to see if I could find my phone. When I couldn’t locate it, I went back inside for the house phone. I dialed my own number and listened to it ring. I walked back to my bedroom and stood just inside the door. I listened closely for the music to Jaws, which is what my ring tone was set for when Mom or Dad called. No Jaws ringing in there, so I went back outside and put my head inside the car again. No Jaws ringing in there either.
Frustrated and mystified, I wracked my brain for what might’ve become of my phone. And then I remembered that Carly had asked to borrow it to call her boyfriend and tell him to pick her up at school for their date, rather than meeting her at the theater. Her phone’s battery was dead. I’d handed it to her and, when she’d finished, she told me she’d laid it on top of my bag. But now, I couldn’t remember grabbing it as I left. I’d no doubt picked up my duffel and headed for the car, probably knocking my phone off into the grass in front of the bleachers.
“Crap,” I said to the stale air inside my car. I couldn’t very well leave it outside all night. If someone hadn’t already stepped on it, it would be ruined by morning; it was supposed to rain tonight. And if it got ruined, my parents would kill me. It had taken me a month to convince them that I needed an iPhone.
Looking around me at the deep shadows, I was torn. I really needed to go get that phone, but I hated to go alone after dark. It’s not like I’d had a shortage of reasons to be afraid of the dark. But then again, if recent events were any indication, I’d be more likely to be attacked if I stayed at home in my room than if I took a quick trip back to the school.
Thoughts of my parents skinning me alive over that stupid iPhone won out and I slid behind the wheel, bare feet and all, and started the engine. I’d be back in a flash and Mom wouldn’t even know I was gone.
Zipping down the side roads and back streets, I was racing through the school parking lot in no time. As my headlights stretched out in front of me, they illuminated a small gray hatchback that I knew to be Carly’s. It appeared that she and her boyfriend weren’t back from the movies yet.
Ignoring the yellow lines and No Parking signage that skirted the building, I pulled right up against the back of the field house, shining my lights directly at the bleachers, and pushed the gear shift into park. Taking a deep breath, I took a second to scan the darkness before hopping out and dashing to the stands.
I went to the very end of the first row of bleachers, which is where I always sat my stuff. I walked gingerly in a tight circle, brushing my foot through the grass blades as I searched for the little black rectangle. When I didn’t find it, I retraced the route I’d taken when I left. About ten or fifteen feet from the bleachers, my toes scraped against something hard in the grass and I stopped to look. Sure enough, it was my phone.