I called Victor again, this time from behind the wheel. Dane was sick so I'd gotten his car. Driving myself was unexpectedly welcome. As I listened to Victor's phone ring, I realised that I was looking forward to driving my own car.
"Damn it, Victor, pick up the phone!" I muttered, annoyed.
"Why'd you change your number?" His voice was icy.
I blinked, amazed that he'd picked up and puzzled by his question. I held my phone away from my ear. Yep, it was mine. "I didn't," I protested, mentally verifying that I'd been using it all weekend.
"Belle?" he asked, startled.
"Hello to you too," I said drily.
"Why're you calling?"
I pulled up in the parking lot and grabbed my bag as I said, "Because you're heartless and wouldn't pick up your phone when I was worried about you. I've been calling all weekend."
"You were worried?" Now he sounded baffled.
I scowled, walking into the hall. "Of course I was! When you left on Friday you weren't feeling well, remember?" I opened my locker and shoved my bag in. "I was worried sick!"
"Sorry."
I jumped and turned. Victor had whispered it so close to my ear I'd caught the slight sweetness of his breath.
"Hi." He looked pleased about something.
"Hi back," I said, hanging up and studying him. There was a slight glow to his pale skin and his eyes were bright, as if lit up from inside. He looked okay. "How're you feeling?"
He leaned against Anya's locker. "I'm fine. There was no need to worry though. I told you I could handle it."
"You still should've answered your phone."
"Sorry. It's just...hardly anyone calls me, you know?" He frowned as if just noticing something. "Where'd you get Strandton's jacket?"
I looked down guiltily, remembering that I'd worn the sports jacket to school. I wanted to give it back and decided to wear it one last time, just to have his cologne around me. "At a party Saturday night," I said offhandedly, pretending to concentrate on getting my Biology books.
I expected a reaction, so when I heard and saw nothing, I peeked at him sideways. He just gazed at me and raised a brow at my look. "Wanna explain how that happened? You going to a party with Strandton, I mean."
"I didn't know he'd be there," I explained, closing my locker and turning to him.
"And the jacket?"
"I was cold." That was so cliché it was lame, so I said hurriedly, "Don't change the subject. You ignored me all weekend."
"Guess I missed an invite to a great party," he smirked. "Next time though." He suddenly looked up as if he heard something, then said, "I gotta get ready for my lesson." His gaze dropped back to me and he smiled again. "Let me make it up to you. Say, after school?"
I frowned. "You don't have a lesson this period."
"Then I'll get ready for my next one," he shrugged. "Bye."
I nodded and watched him go. As I started towards class, I heard Warren calling me and turned. He came to me with Roger. Roger looked up at Warren with disapproval in his dark eyes. "Greetings, Belle." "Hi, Belle."
"Hi," I replied.
Warren gave Roger a warning look and asked, "You have an engagement, I trust?"
"Uh, yeah. Bye, Belle."
"What's that about?" I asked, watching him leave.
"Oh, a minor issue." He smiled as he added, "I see you've grown attached to the jacket."
I felt my face heat up as I shrugged out of it. "Um, actually, I wanted to give it back."
"Pray, don't. At least, not yet. The weather is slightly chilly, after all. Meanwhile, Biology awaits us."
We went to class, and I sat in the weak morning sun. I drew so many stares that I stared blankly at a page for the first few minutes. Warren reached over and flipped the pages of my book to the right one, chuckling at my flush.
By the end of the day, I was more or less indifferent to the attention I had garnered. It was blazing hot, though, so I had the jacket in my hand as I walked to my locker. Warren, Roger and Ashley were by Warren's locker, and I idly wondered how she'd gotten here so fast. I caught a few snatches of their conversation - which was more like a fight.
"...getting suspicious!" Ashley hissed.
"I'm perfectly aware of that!" Warren hissed back.
Roger muttered in a soft tone, and Ashley lowered her tone too.
"I already swore to suppress all this curiosity!" Ashley spoke again, and Warren answered, "Both. Now will you please erase all doubt in me?"
It made no sense to me, so I finished with my bag and turned to find Warren standing next to me. I hefted my bag and smiled, "Hi."
He didn't smile back. "I desire a conference with you." His cold, flat tone disoriented me. He noticed my hesitation and added, "No more than a short moment, I assure you. Let me relieve you of that."
"Oh-kay," I said doubtfully as he took his jacket.
He led the way out of the school into the forest fringe. When he turned to me, he seemed to avoid my eyes. "It seems I have committed a grave error." I frowned, and he explained, "I have encouraged the possibility of a friendship blossoming between us." His voice turned hard as he went on, "I possess neither the time nor the desire to engage in such frivolity, but it appears Thorne does. Even as we speak, he is more than willing to enjoy your company. It would be unwise for you to pursue the possibility of our friendship." He waited, but I was too shocked to speak, so he clipped out, "Excuse me."
He strode past me. My brain finally reengaged the language function and I spun round, opening my mouth to speak. Warren was nowhere to be seen. I stood there replaying his words. Had he called being friends with me frivolity?
I stomped out of the forest, fuming even more when I noticed that his car was gone. I headed towards my own, and Victor nearly ran me over. When I jumped back, he chuckled. "You ignoring me on purpose now? Really?"
I blew out a breath and put my hand on my forehead, trying to calm down. "Sorry, I guess I didn't hear you."
He frowned now, assessing me. "What'd he do to you?"
"Huh?" I pulled myself out of my thoughts. "Sorry, I have to go." I went round his car to get to Dane's.
"Hey, wait." His cool hand closed over my arm, and I turned to find him standing next to me. "We're going out, remember?"
I drew a blank. When had Victor asked me to go out with him?
"To make up for my bad behavior?" he explained slowly.
"Oh. Look, Vic, I'm not in the right state of mind right now. Please let's do this another time? Tomorrow maybe?"
"Hey." He suddenly and unexpectedly drew me into his arms. Somehow, his cool skin was just what I needed right now. "Don't let that jerk bother you."
I smiled. "You'll have to tell me why you guys fight sometime." I gave a final squeeze - he was impossibly strong - and pulled back. "I really have to go, though. Dane's probably going crazy being home alone."
He stepped back, avoiding my eyes. He seemed embarrassed by his gesture. "Yeah, cool. Another time."
Smiling, I waved and got into the car. I drove home, feeling better from a simple hug. Warren's words came back to haunt me, and the fact that it sounded like a breakup unsettled me. By the time I walked into the house, I had the makings of a headache. I decided to pass up on lunch and went up the stairs. As I passed Dane's room, I caught a glimpse of him leaning back in his chair with his face in his hands.
I walked in, trying to figure out the open folder on his computer. "You shouldn't sneak up on people," he muttered without moving.
I jumped, then recovered and pulled his hands from his face, noticing how unusually warm they were. "You're warm."
"And you're cold. Do take it easy on the air con."
"I didn't use it," I protested, but his hands felt normal now. I turned back to the computer, noticing with interest that there was a sphinx in the top right corner. "What are you doing?"
He sighed. "My assignment. We had to choose from ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian myths to research and write a paper."
"And you chose Egyptian. What's this one about?"
"Something about the cat goddess, Bast. It seems she took it into her head to turn some perfectly innocent guys into half cat, half men beasts to move around at night on a killing spree. The way they're described, they were truly hideous brutes. Interestingly though, they took the cat nature of being hot to the touch all the time."
For a moment, a memory of my dream rose unbidden, but I disqualified it. After all, these creatures were ugly and only moved at night, the exact opposite of Warren. Still... "Is this real?"
Dane snorted. "According to legend, yes. Also according to it, that sun-god guy Ra got jealous and wiped them off the face of the earth, and the cat lady never bothered again. All this was three thousand years ago, mind."
I smiled at how much he mocked it. "Why don't you rest? You look worn out."
"Can't," he said regretfully. "I have to be done tonight if I'm to catch my flight."
"Flight?" I echoed, wondering if I was missing something.
"Aunt Lily asked me to come over, remember?"
"Oh," I said, remembering nothing of the sort. "When will you be back?"
He sighed again. "Around the end of the week. The car's yours 'til then." He looked up. "You will be okay, won't you?"
"Yeah." There was a slight panic that I immediately quelled. "Have a good time."
He gently took my wrist, turning me back to him. "Here. Record something for her."
I smiled, taking the camcorder. This was a tradition we'd picked up in Denver; aunt Lily preferred video recordings over video calls because she could keep them, so we usually exchanged videos whenever someone visited.
Dane's hand was a touch warm again, and I wondered why I was so cold. Dismissing it, I went to my room and made a recording where I talked about all my new friends - excluding, of course, the one guy who'd made it clear that we weren't friends.