Chapter four
Christine
The wind rushed through Sam's hair as he jogged down the street, towards the park, his iPod blasting in his ears. He'd been waiting for weeks to get the time to run again, but he couldn't enjoy it. He kept racking his brain, trying to come up with a sure-fire way to tell his parents about the camp so that they'll let him go. He'd already decided that the less they knew about the specifics, the better.
Hey, Mom and Dad, I want to go to study camp. It's a boring history thing. We'll be going to Mexico to check out some ancient ruins. Can you sign this release form so I can get out of the country? Oh, the ruins are in the middle of a busy city.
Damn it, he couldn't lie. He was very bad at it and his parents would become curious and force every little detail out of him. How could he make this about his father's agency? If Sam got Freider's support, his dad would convince his mom to let him go even if the whole adventure involved a jungle.
Fighting off jaguars will help strengthen my resolve to spy on married people. He should be a stand-up comedian, not an archeologist.
"Hi, Sam."
He skidded to a halt and looked over his shoulder. Christine stood in the middle of the sidewalk, a few feet away, smiling at him, looking illegally beautiful.
Sam knees became so weak, he had to concentrate not to trip over his own feet as he pivoted towards her. Christine walked to him, her heels clicking on the sidewalk like musical notes, pulled a headphone out of his ear and brought it to hers.
"ATB, huh?"
AT-what? Oh, the music. "It's good running music." His voice came out huskier than usual and he did his best not to cringe.
Christine laughed the melodious sound. "True. If I'd have to run, this is probably what I'd choose as well." She lowered her chin and looked at him. "This is the first time we speak."
Sam yanked the other headphone out, the music suddenly too loud and distracting. "Yeah, I guess so." She could have anyone. Why on earth was she talking to him? He couldn't even get a coherent, intelligent statement out.
Christine batted her eyelashes then bobbed her head to the music. "I heard rumors that you and Lisa are going out."
Why? Why did she hear something like that? And who dared spread such a vicious rumor. "We're not."
"Perfect." Christine grinned and threw the headphone back to him. "It was nice talking to you."
"Yeah, really nice." God, he was an idiot. Couldn't he come up with something better?
"I'll see you around." Christine waved at him and walked away.
Sam stared. He couldn't just let her go like that. She'd come to him and all she'd given him were a lousy dozen words. With more bravery than he thought himself capable of, he jogged to catch up with her.
"Wanna get some ice cream?" Ugh, why ice cream? She looked perfect, she probably didn't touch sugar and looked like the fancy coffee type of girl. He should've asked her to get coffee. Even if he hated coffee.
"Sure," Christine said to his utter surprise, seeming excited by the thought of sugary carbs or whatever ice cream was made of. She changed direction and headed inside the park, Sam on her heels.
They walked in silence, Christine smiling, Sam trying to come up with something intelligent to say.
"Lovely weather we're having," she said conversationally.
Sam didn't answer for a few seconds, trying to come up with a better answer than 'yeah', but, strangely, he'd never discussed weather before. "Lucky, since ice cream is cold and everything." He should've stuck with the 'yeah'.
Christine laughed as though he found him humorous instead of a bumbling idiot. "True. It's my first ice cream of the year. What flavor do you think I'll go for?"
That was an interesting question. Sam sized her up, and the only sensible answer came to mind. "Black truffle."
Christine's amber eyes widened a little. "How did you know?"
Sam shrugged. "You seem like a black truffle type of girl. Do me now." He did not just say that. "I mean, what do you think I'll get?"
She smirked, but didn't comment on his atrocious choice of words. Then she narrowed her eyes as if trying to see right through him. "Chocolate chip."
Wrong. Dead wrong. He hated chocolate everything. "Not bad." He wasn't going to argue with her. He'd eat mud to be around her. He won't even tell her that between chocolate and vanilla, he was vanilla all the way, because that sounded almost as bad as 'do me'. "But since summer is coming, I'll go for something fruity."
"Pineapple," she said wisely, nodding.
Well, pineapple he did like. They reached the ice cream stand in the park and got their cones. As they ate, Sam loosened up a bit. Hanging around Christine wasn't that hard, he had no idea why he was so nervous in the first place. She was just a girl. A drop-dead gorgeous girl, but a girl nevertheless.
"How long have you been jogging?" Christine asked, licking away at her ice cream.
Sam did his best to keep his gaze on her eyes. "About five years."
"Wow, that's a lot of running." She smiled and waited, as if she expected him to have a reply. He didn't so he waited, too. "You must really like it," she finally added.
"It lets my mind wonder." That was true. He didn't enjoy the running as much as he enjoyed the clear head it gave him. The stamina couldn't be a bad thing either.
"You seem like the type who thinks a lot."
Was she calling him a geek? If she was, he took it as a compliment. "What do you like doing?"
Her smile widened as if he'd finally done something she fully approved of. "Not running, anyway." She laughed, but stopped abruptly, staring over Sam's shoulder with a frown.
Sam looked back to see a tall blond guy about his age heading for them, a nasty snarl on his face. Before he could turn to Christine and ask, the guy reached them, moved past Sam and grabbed Christine's wrist.
"So this is why you were late. Hanging out with some other dude."
"Let me go, Paul." Christine tried to yank her hand away, but Paul held on tightly.
"Another poor sucker, eh? How many of us are you going out with, then?"
"I told you I don't want to go out with you." She finally managed to break free. "Which is why I didn't show up. Get the message already."
Paul glared at her for a second then shoved her. Christine stumbled, but was unable to hold her balance. She let out a scream of surprise as she plummeted to the ground.
Sam had no idea when he stepped forward and slammed his fist into Paul's face. It didn't even hurt when his knuckles collided with the guy's nose. Paul fell to the ground, his hands darting up to try and stop the blood flowing down the front of his shirt.
He stared at Sam, his eyes watery and for a moment seemed to consider if he should fight back. Sam waited, his fist back into striking position. Finally, Paul didn't seem to think it was worth it, so he scrambled to his feet and rushed away.
Sam watched him, unable to believe that he was retreating without a word. He'd never hit anyone for real in his life. He'd wanted to help Christine, but from that to actually punching her aggressor was a long way, a way he couldn't remember even considering to take. What was happening to him? He snapped out of it once Christine grabbed on to his arm. He hadn't even helped her up. Could he be more socially challenged around her?
"Thank you," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his in what took him a while to realize was a hug. But it felt like much more. He hugged her back. It was so hot, it was a wonder he didn't catch fire.
She cupped his face in her hands. There was something in her eyes, in her smile that made his pulse race. And she was coming closer and closer to him until she kissed him gently on the cheek. His heart jumped to his throat.
"No one's ever stood up for me like that before. And you don't even know me," she went on in the same low murmur.
"I couldn't let anyone hurt you. I mean him. I couldn't let him hurt you." He whipped around, stalked to a nearby bench and dropped on it, wishing his head would stop spinning as if he were drunk.
Christine sat next to him and put her hand on his knee. "You're so sweet."
Sweet? Crazy, that's what he was. But he'd rather let her think he was a hero than a demented freak who couldn't control his own actions. Now his knuckles started aching reminding him he had a violent side he couldn't control.
Someone stopped in front of the bench. Sam raised his eyes and stared at Kyle. His brother squinted at him, an old, musty tome under one arm.
"Hi, Sam. Funny story. I ran into a guy moaning in pain with a bloody nose. Do you happen to know anything about it?" His tone was light, but Sam picked up on the sarcasm.
"Um... no?" As if his hesitant voice wasn't enough, Christine gave him away with an enthusiastic 'yes'.
Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose. "I told you I'd only teach you how to fight if you didn't go around breaking people's noses."
Yeah, tell me about it. Sam had found Kyle's condition a mere formality. It wasn't like he'd start going around beating people up. Except, he had. Ugh, what's wrong with me? What was Christine doing to him?
"Give him a break." Christine stood. "He only did it to get me out of trouble."
Kyle stared at Christine as if he'd never seen a girl in his life. Sam half expected him to say something completely senseless, but he just reached out his hand. "Hi. I'm Kyle."
She took his hand and shook it. "Christine. You're...?"
"Sam's brother. Sorry I have to steal him away so fast, but we have work to do." He nodded towards the book he was holding.
"That's okay." Christine turned to Sam and winked. "I'll see you around."
"Yeah, bye," Sam murmured. Yup, another successful conversation. He couldn't believe he was such a nerd around her. Christine was the type of girl who went out with witty, cool, charming, impossibly handsome guys. Like Kyle.
"Come on, kid. Quit daydreaming about her." Kyle nudged him. "You'll see her later. She couldn't keep her eyes off you, could she?"
Sam shook his head rapidly. "Really?"
As they walked home, he wondered how come he'd never appreciated how beautiful the park was in late spring.
*
"So, what do you think?" Kyle asked.
Sam rubbed his eyes. "Two legendary temples, unspeakable treasure, a sacred jewel resting within their bowls. Do you really think this is what we're looking for?"
"It would explain why Professor Dimwit is so secretive."
"You really don't like the guy, do you?"
"I actually think he's kinda funny, but he's insulting our intelligence with all the secrecy."
"So, you think he's after the treasure." As much as he tried not to, Sam found this hypothesis the most plausible as well. Why did everything have to be about money?
"That makes the most sense. And I hope it's the grand thing he's hiding from us."
The grand thing... Sam leaned back in his chair considering the possibility that Professor Harris was some grave robber. It still meant Sam got to study unexplored ruins and he really didn't care how much it would cost for the treasure to end up in a museum. "Well, I'm not above searching for ancient treasure."
"Me neither. It should be fun. So we can safely assume it's these Twin Temples of the Sun we're looking for."
"Where'd you get this book, anyway?"
"One of the guys at the Academy is obsessed with this stuff."
"More than me?" Sam had no idea why he felt competitive about this. It's not like it increased his cool factor. But the idea of one of Kyle's Police buddies being more into history than him was outrageous.
"No." Kyle smirked. "But he has the advantage of having a professor for a father. He took the book from the University."
Yay, I'm still the biggest geek around! Not that it mattered if he couldn't go. "How are you going to ask Mom and Dad to go?"
"Ask?" Kyle looked back at Sam as if he'd asked if he wanted to kick a kitten. "I'm not going to ask. I'm not even going to tell them."
"See, this is why you get into trouble with them all the time. You have to at least let them know." But since he wasn't under-aged, Kyle didn't have to ask. He could skip the country all by himself.
"Okay, then I'll tell them. The night before we leave."
Hmmm, that didn't sound like such a bad idea. The less they could think about it, the less they would know about the dangers the whole thing involved. "Yeah, I think I'll do that, too. Except I'll have to ask."
"Don't worry kid, I'll back you up."
"Thanks." Sam smiled, unable to believe how this camp was bringing him and Kyle closer together. For a moment, he wished Jerry was in on it, too. Then maybe all three of them could have fun. He leaned his elbows on the desk. "Should we talk to Jerry? See if he made the cut?"
"We should." The bed creaked as Kyle stood. "You'd better do it. For everyone's sake, I don't think Jerry and I should be in the same room for a while."
Sam opened his mouth, but Kyle had already walked the length of the room and let himself out. Sam sighed and put his head on the desk. If only there was some way he could get Kyle and Jerry to work together. He didn't want to be the ball his brothers bounced from court to court.
I must admit I probably had too much fun writing this chapter.
Right, what do you think about about Christine now? And Sam probably way too dorky for his own good.
Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment. I love hearing your thoughts.