CHAPTER 2
~MARI~
Did I just say that? Did I actually confess that I was always looking at Trystan? I was so flustered. Trystan stood there, his warm skin brushing mine with that playful look in his eye. He tugged the pass hard and I tugged back. We were nose to nose by the time he said that. His lips were so close, so perfect. I sighed inside, wanting to fall into his arms, but I couldn’t. He was lost in some other girl. If I threw myself at him now, it wouldn’t end well. I’d be second to whoever stole his heart.
I heard myself say, “I’ll figure it out,” not knowing what I’d do after that. I just didn’t want to leave. Part of me wanted to confess why I came back in the first place. Heart racing, I looked into his vibrant eyes, unable to look away.
Trystan grinned and released the pass. “I hope you do.”
_____
I replayed the whole thing over again in my mind as I walked to class in a daze. Trystan Scott was in love. As if that wasn’t weird enough, he was also Day Jones. I didn’t even know what to ask him about that, so I didn’t ask anything. I cursed myself for thinking I could tell Trystan that I was in love with him. Naivety often blindsided me. I’d listened to that Day Jones song enough times to know that whoever wrote it was completely and totally lost to love—even if she didn’t even know he was alive.
A spark of jealousy flamed to life inside of me. I knew Trystan was alive. Every inch of me knew Trystan was alive and wanted to know him more. Sighing, I put my books on my desk and slid into my seat. I’d walked so fast that I’d gotten to class early. While many students still lingered in the halls, hardly any were at their seats, yet.
Katie arrived half a beat later. I heard her voice before I saw her face. She slipped into the seat next to me asking, “Did you tell him?”
I shook my head, not bothering to look up. “Couldn’t.”
“Why not?” Katie was pumped, ready to support me however I needed, but she couldn’t tell what I needed. “You’re killing me! Tell me.” She shook my arms as she said it and I sat upright in my seat.
I glanced at the front of the room. The bell would ring in a second. Mathboy started to hand back papers. When he passed Katie’s desk, she practically drooled a puddle on the floor.
“Later. I’ll tell you later.” Just as I finished saying it, a wadded-up piece of paper nailed me in the back of the head. Katie and I turned in unison looking for the source.
Brie Parker. She had that horrible smile on her face, the one she wore after she did something really bad. I was in advanced math and Brie wasn’t. Since the school budget didn’t pass this year or last, there wasn’t an honor’s class. Instead they combined a class of nerds with the class of burn-outs who were a year older than us. It had to be hell for the teacher. I didn’t like it much either. It meant I had to hear about Brie and Trystan all last year while they dated. Sometimes he had come into the room and taken her in his arms. Every other girl was jealous, enviously watching Brie and Trystan. When they broke-up, there was a lot of chatter about who Trystan would date next. It drove Brie crazy. Trystan bounced from girl to girl, while Brie snagged the first thug she could wrap her pointy little fingers around. She made sure to slobber all over her new boyfriend in front of Trystan regularly.
I hated her guts before, but after Brie got me in trouble the other day I hated her even more. I figured out that I must have done something that pissed her off, but I had no idea what. Throwing stuff wasn’t the normal backstabbing Brie-method of humiliation. She was usually more subtle, more devastating than that. It worried me that she seemed to have chosen me as her new target. There would be more crap like she pulled the other day. I’d hoped that Trystan humiliating her would have made her focus on him. As far as I could tell, she didn’t change targets. Maybe it was because Trystan was already on her hit list.
Katie snatched up the paper and hurled it back at Brie’s face, but Mathboy chose that second to walk in front of her. The paper wad nailed him in the back. He turned around and cocked his head, staring straight at Katie.
“Really?” he asked as a brow drifted higher on his face.
Katie flushed scarlet and she turned around in her seat. Mathboy picked up the paper-ball and stuffed it into the crook of his arm and continued to pass back papers. When he stopped in front of Katie’s desk, he placed another of her tests in front of her, along with the wadded paper. Brie was sniggering from the back with her clones. When the hot guy finished passing out the papers, he left the room to do something else. The teacher walked to the front of the class and started the lesson.
On the side of the crumpled paper, there was a blue pen mark that looked like a number. It wasn’t there before. I poked it with my pencil and glanced at it several times to get Katie to notice. When she did, she smoothed the piece of paper and saw Mathboy’s phone number. The day got a lot more interesting after that.
_____
As Katie and I walked to my locker after school, she leaned in close to make sure no one could hear her over the sound of slammed lockers and hallway chatter. The last bell had rung. There were ten minutes before I was supposed to be at practice.
“What’s with you?” Katie asked, bumping my shoulder. “You’ve been out if it since lunch.”
I was out of it. I couldn’t stop thinking about Trystan, about that guitar in his lap, and the beautiful tone of his voice when he sang. I’d never heard him sing before. It was breathtaking and heartbreaking at the same time. Whoever caught his attention did a good job.
A jolt of jealousy shot through me, straightening my spine. I glanced at Katie. I couldn’t tell her what happened. I couldn’t say that Trystan was Day Jones. I promised I wouldn’t say anything, even if I didn’t understand why. Revealing that he was Day would have meant financial independence. He could leave this place and never look back, but Trystan left the agents’ requests unanswered and kept his identity a secret.
Clearing my throat I said, “Nothing. Everything. I can’t get him out of my head.” I stared blankly ahead. I didn’t want to lie to her, but felt I had to. “He doesn’t feel like that about me, Katie.”
The smile slipped off her face, “How do you know if you didn’t tell him?” She leaned closer to me, clutching her books to her chest. Her eyes darted back and forth to make sure no one else could overhear us.
“Because he told me that he likes someone else.” That wasn’t a lie. Not totally. His song said he liked someone very much. He sounded like he was in love with her. I didn’t understand how he could have written that, and sang that way, if he didn’t. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I stopped in front of my locker and took a deep breath before opening it. I tossed my books in as Katie put a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Mari. But at least you know now. You can move on. Find someone else.”
I nodded and stared into the open locker like I was forgetting something. “I know.” And I knew there would never be anyone else like Trystan. Every time I thought I knew all there was to know about him, another thing popped up—like Day Jones. It drew me to him more, making him too irresistible to forget.