The Waking Moon

Chapter Twenty Six

The next afternoon, I tried to get through an endless list of school assignments, but I just couldn’t concentrate. All I could think about was Jack. Rhodes came home from school to find me asleep on the sofa in his room, my schoolbooks scattered on the floor. When I woke up he was sitting on the coffee table watching me. He was wearing his coat and hat, his bag still slung across him.

“Hi,” he said, when I’d opened my eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” He seemed unusually happy. “I just got home.”

He stood up and pulled the strap of his bag over his head. It was bulging with books, and he let it drop to the floor.

“I saw Carrie Linde today,” he said, pulling off his hat. He mussed up his blond curls with a grin. “Fat. Lip.” He tossed the hat onto a chair and took off his coat. “Broken. Nose.” He hung it in the closet, and did a little soft shoe. “Black. Eye.”

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. “How horrible.”

Rhodes came over to the couch and pulled my hands away. He was beaming. “Hm,” he said. “Horrible? No. I think the word you’re looking for is brilliant!”

But I felt sick to my stomach knowing that I’d hurt someone that badly, even if she was the most hideous girl in the world. “I can’t believe I did that.”

Rhodes lifted my feet and sat down on the couch beside me. He rested my feet on his legs as if we were an old married couple.

“Paulie, you gave Carrie Linde a well-deserved drubbing to the face. Consequence? You get suspended, she gets a vicadin prescription and a few days of bed rest. Whoop dee freakin’ doo. Now think of the wounds that hideous cow has inflicted on others. You can’t see them. You can’t take a pill to kill the pain. Those wounds fester forever. Last year I swear to you she gave a girl an eating disorder and the girl was actually checked into a clinic for a while. And this fat kid in our gym class? By the time Carrie was finished dismantling his self-esteem, he was eating his bag lunches on the can in the second floor bathroom! Can you imagine? She’s vermin. Worse than vermin. And you feel bad for her? You feel sorry about it? Hell, I clicked my heels all the way home.”

I hadn’t left the house all day, and Rhodes pestered me until I agreed to let him take me someplace fun, where I could get some fresh air. I glanced at the window. The sun had already slipped behind the mountains and the sky was growing dim. There was no way I wanted to run into those Noirs without Jack at my side.

“I have a lot of homework,” I said. “So we can’t be back late.”

“Deal.”

“And my dad might call, so I have to bring my phone. But I don’t have any pockets in my coat.”

“Fine,” he sighed, slipping it into his coat pocket. “But if I get testicular cancer because of this, I’m going to be pissed.”

Then he stuck out his elbow and escorted me out of the bedroom. As we walked arm-in-arm down the grand staircase, Rhodes suddenly froze. His father was standing just inside the front door, looking through the mail. He was a dashing guy, with gray-streaked black hair and the same chiseled cheekbones Rhodes had. But he had a stronger jaw and his shoulders were wider, so his clothes fit better. After a moment, Rhodes gave me a gentle tug and we continued down the stairs.

“Hello, Rhodes,” his father said without looking up. He studied the series of envelopes, turning some over to read the return address, barely registering his son’s presence. His eyes flicked up distractedly as he tore open a manila package with hand-written letters scrawled across the front. When he saw me, he stopped cold, his back straightening with surprise, as if he’d just been shot in the butt with a dart.