Chapter 4

Dylan

 

I leaned against the side of the school, waiting for Joss to show up. Not out in the open, but from around the corner where she probably wouldn’t see me. I don’t know why. I just felt like I really wanted to see her, but also like I wasn’t up to trying to talk to her.

Stalker. Now I was thinking it.

I banged my head against the wall, letting the rough texture of the bricks dig into my temple. Damn I was tired. I’d called Eric when I got in, to fill him in and to make sure he’d gotten away okay when he’d peeled off to try to misdirect the cops that were chasing us. After that I’d collapsed into bed, but I was so wound up about Joss that I couldn’t sleep. What had happened in the time it took for Eric and me to get over there? She’d said she was okay, but was she? Was it okay to press her on it, or should I just leave her alone?

What happened with her dad after I got out of the car? Joss’s dad was kind of scary. Not like I’d be jerk enough to hold it against him that he’s been in the mental hospital or anything. But hey, there’s overprotective dad, and there’s overprotective dad with guns and military training. You pick. And she was about as overprotective of him as he was of her. She’d probably take my head off if I asked about that and it came out the least bit wrong.

Which it always did.

I crossed my arms against the morning chill and yawned. Even after I’d fallen asleep I’d had a lot of nightmares. About Joss. About Marco. About the two of them, together. About Joss being hurt and not being able to do anything about it. And man, that had really sucked. I kept trying to put the images out of my head, but they kept coming back.

Joss’s mom’s car pulled into the drive and I watched Joss get out, walk over to the cement planter in front of the school, and sit down. It was still early and there weren’t a lot of kids around. Even though I wanted to go talk to her, I found myself just standing there and not moving forward.

I objected to Eric’s term “chicken-shit.” I’d never had problems talking to girls before. And I wouldn’t say that it’s because I didn’t care before, because it wasn’t like that. It’s just that Joss mattered in a way those other girls didn’t. Maybe that’s why it always seemed like I was saying something stupid, or wrong, or pissing her off. She was so damned complicated and different that I was never sure what to say or what she thought about me.

Oh yeah, and there was that whole thing about my Talent we might have to talk about some more. I thought that I’d be more relieved that she finally knew, but it was more like I was just realizing what an idiot dick I’d been for not telling her sooner. And I don’t know why I hadn’t told her. It just never seemed like a good time, until later when I’d think, oh, that would have been a perfect time. Maybe if I had a cool one… Something useful like Marco or even Tony. Or Joss.

Whatever. Stop stalling and go talk to her already before everyone else gets here.

When I turned the corner, she spotted me right away. She didn’t jump up or wave or anything, but I thought that maybe there was a little smile there, just at first. And this was the dumbest part about the whole thing: Joss was into me. I knew she was. And I was probably really messing with her by not doing anything about it. But then, what if whatever move I made was wrong? What if I screwed things up before they ever got started? She was so…self-sufficient. Would she even bother giving me a second chance?

I plopped myself down on the planter next to her and brilliantly said, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

She looked up at me. Joss’s eyes are really big and dark. She wasn’t one to give a lot away by her expression, but I was pretty sure the key was in her eyes. I just hadn’t figured out how to read her. Possibly because I was distracted by the freckles across her nose and cheeks which really did things to me, which makes me sound totally perverted.

Try not to make an ass of yourself first thing in the morning.

But it was hard because when she was looking up at me, I couldn’t help thinking about that one time I’d kissed her. And how she’d kissed me back.

I had to clear my throat. “How’re you doin’?”

“I’m okay, you?”

“Okay.” I looked up at the sky. Oh, no, you are not going to talk about the weather. “So, um, what happened with your dad after you guys dropped me off?”

She made a noise in her throat. “He’s not happy. He said some stuff to indicate his state of non-happiness, but I think it’s going to blow over.”

“Oh. Well, good.”

There was an awkward silence as we watched the other kids. Eric and Kat pulled into the parking lot and started their morning make-out in the front seat. Maddy and Matt pulled up a minute later. Maddy immediately started banging on Eric’s car with her gloved fist, trying to get their attention.

“I called Eric when I got home,” I told Joss, “to let him know how things turned out. He said he was going to let Kat know, and she probably called Heather. Hey, did you know Kat took over for me at Casey’s when Eric and I blew out of there last night? Wonder how that worked out.”

“Hard to imagine Kat, you know, working. I guess I should have called Kat? And/or Heather? I totally never thought of that.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“This friends thing is really complicated.”

Tell me about it. “You’re doing fine.” I knew that making this transition from confirmed loner to friends with the bunch of us was hard for her. It was another reason I didn’t want to push her with the boy/girl stuff. Or so I told myself.

But there were chicken noises in my head.

We watched the twins and the lovers make their way across the street where they were joined by Heather and Elizabeth. The group could hardly make it up the sidewalk for trying to talk and walk at the same time. I had wasted most of my opportunity to talk to Joss about last night. Idiot. If I was going to say anything, I’d better get it out now.

But then Joss spoke. “I…” she hesitated, clearly uncertain, “I don’t know if you want to hear this, but I kind of want to say it.”

Well, that was kind of scary and intriguing. “Yeah?”

“I might be on my way to the State School this morning if you hadn’t covered me there at the end last night.”

I couldn’t stop the shudder that went up my spine at the thought of Joss being taken to one of those government-run research “schools,” never to be heard from again. I know she felt me twitch. “Don’t say shit like that.” I actually started to raise my hand for the cigarette that wasn’t there, because I had quit for good this time.

“You really came through for me last night. You knew I was in trouble and you came for me. It doesn’t matter how I was doing when you got there, it matters that you came. So thank you.”

She had directed this speech to the tops of her boots, and she had timed it perfectly, so that, almost as soon as the words were spoken, Kat was on her in a giant hug, everyone was grouped around us, and we didn’t have to talk anymore. Which was great, because I didn’t know where to go with that. If I’d opened my mouth, I’m sure I would have blown it off and made a jerk of myself, just so I could start breathing again. I caught myself rubbing at my chest like I could make my heart loosen up like any other muscle. I dropped my hand.

“We were so worried about you last night!” Kat was talking a mile a minute. “Eric said that Dylan said you were okay, and that you totally kicked some ass. No surprise there, but—”

“Volume, Kathryn,” Heather reminded. She probably didn’t even have to use her mind-reading to pick up on Joss’s worry that someone would overhear.

“We’re all just glad you’re okay,” Matt said. And then to me, “You should have called me. I would have helped.” He jammed his fist into his open palm aggressively.

“Oh yeah, what would you have done?” Prep. I almost said it, but I didn’t. Matt meant well, and I guess it wasn’t his fault his mother dressed him like that.

“I’d have told them to all go fuck themselves, of course.”

Since Matt’s Talent is putting thoughts into people’s heads, which sometimes results in them being compelled to do his bidding, the visual this brought on had everyone cracking up.

“There’s, um, that other news. That Joss might want to hear about before the bell rings,” Elizabeth’s quiet voice barely cut through the laughter.

“Oh, right,” Kat said. “Kevin—what was his name?”

“I forget,” Eric said.

“I don’t think we know his last name yet,” Heather added.

“Yeah, okay. Some freshman Talent got taken last night.”

I muttered an expletive, but Joss was silent. She probably had a tally in her head about how many had been taken since the beginning of school—or of time, for all I knew. She might even know the exact rate of increase in the disappearances in the last several weeks. There had been a lot.

“Do you know what he could do?” I asked.

“There’s a rumor going around that his Talent was blood-typing,” Eric said.

“That just sounds gross.” Kat made a face.

“Apparently there was no bleeding required. He could just touch someone and be able to tell their blood-type. You know they always do that lab in Bio? There was some girl who didn’t want her finger pricked, so he just told her what kind of blood she had. Some of the kids claim he guessed theirs and then they did the test to confirm it and he was always right on.” Eric shrugged. “I figured he was just a good guesser. I guess NIAC didn’t.”

“That sucks,” Maddy spat.

“Chivalry is a risky business,” Eric said. “Hope it was worth it.”

 

* * *

 

Joss

 

Singled out and called out of class again. At least it wasn’t Dobbs this time, the guidance counselor from Hell. As I made my way to the nurse’s office, I indulged in the huge yawn I’d been holding back in Chem. Lousy nightmares kept waking me up last night. If that wasn’t enough to put me in a mood, it was another one of those days when everyone was whispering about another Talent being taken, and that so set me on edge.

Yeah, I should really just be happy I wasn’t on my way to Dobbs’s office to talk about my feelings.

I turned into the doorway of the nurse’s office and—whoa, that is not Nurse Judy’s butt. Not unless some flesh-eating virus came and ate half of it.

The woman bent over the filing cabinet was about half the size of Nurse Judy, and maybe half her age, too, though it was hard to tell since I didn’t spend too much time analyzing women from this angle. She was wearing a short, white dress, white stockings, white comfy shoes, and when she straightened and turned to me, tossing a long, red ponytail over her shoulder, I saw that she was even wearing the cap!

Excuse me, is it Halloween again and someone forgot to tell me? Who does that?

“Hello,” she said, smiling at me with bright red lipstick. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you yet. I’m Ms. Chambers, the new nurse.”

That must have been in response to the dumbstruck look on my face at 50s pin-up nurse lady. I made sure my mouth was closed. “Oh. I’m Joss Marshall.” I extended my hall pass. “You called for me?”

“Joss. Jocelyn? Yes, of course, dear. Please, have a seat.” She extended her hand toward a chair and we sat down on either side of her desk. “I’ve been perusing some of the student files, familiarizing myself, and when I came across yours I found it…troubling.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Don’t be sorry, dear,” she told me, as though she actually thought I was apologizing for troubling her, which we both knew I wasn’t. Why do people do that? “I’m very concerned about these injuries Nurse Judy noted in your file recently.”

Damn. I kept my expression carefully blank. After that fight I’d had with Marco, Dad and I had agreed that we should try to downplay what we were calling a car accident as much as possible. We didn’t want to deal with a doctor’s questions, so I didn’t see one and didn’t get a note for PE. But then when I tried to tough it out in the gym, Coach Penley could tell something was wrong and I’d wound up getting poked at by Nurse Judy.

“Oh. Well, I’m doing a lot better. All better, really. And I’m wearing a seat belt all the time now, even in the back seat. Trust me.”

“Well that’s good to hear, dear.” Did she have to call me “dear” every time she spoke? Seriously, what was she, like, five minutes older than me? “But these kinds of injuries,” her open palm bounced up and down in the air above the file, “are consistent with…”

She didn’t finish. We just sat there in silence until I finally broke and raised a brow at her.

“Is anyone hurting you, Joss?”

“No.”

“Maybe someone at home, someone here at school, someone you know, someone you care about?”

“Ms. Chambers, I was in a car accident. But that’s history now.”

“You have an abrasion on your forehead.”

I started to reach up but then made my hand lie still on the arm of the chair. I’d gotten a nice scrapey bruise at some point when Corey was slamming my face into that wall. Mom had covered it up with makeup this morning, but I guess it was wearing off. Great.

“I was getting a box from the stockroom at my parents’ store. It was heavier than I thought and hit me in the head. But it’s fine. No big deal.”

“How often do you work at your parents’ business? How many hours a week would you say?”

That was the beginning of a really annoying Q&A involving a lot of personal questions about my family which I answered. No sense giving her a hard time. That would make her more suspicious when I just wanted out of there and for her to file that file.

“And your boyfriend, Dylan Maxwell, everything okay there?”

“Dylan’s not—” Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa. Was that in my file? Not damn likely. So what the hell?

“Jocelyn, Dylan’s had his problems, I know. Often a boy like that will—”

“Ms. Chambers! I got a pretty banged up knee here,” a deep voice called out from behind me.

I turned in my chair as the nurse got up and moved around the desk. Coach Penley was helping some guy I didn’t know limp into the room. Blood ran down from his knee to his sock.

“Well ouch!” Ms. Chambers exclaimed in a higher-pitched voice than she’d been using a moment ago. Kind of like she was talking to a baby or pet. “I’ll bet that didn’t tickle. I’m sure it looks worse than it is. Coach, why don’t you help him sit down in the examination area over there and I’ll be right with you.” She turned to me. “Jocelyn, I’m not finished speaking with you yet. I won’t be long, so please wait right there.” Then she disappeared behind the screen.

Coach Penley came out. “Joss,” he said, and nodded at me. I raised my hand in little wave and he walked out.

Alone at last. I reached across the desk for my file.

“Ms. Chambers?!”

I jumped in my seat, yanked my hand back, and turned to see Bella limping into the room.

“I’m with a student!”

“I…went for a run last night,” Bella rolled her eyes at me, “and turned my ankle. Can I get some ice?”

“Of course, dear. Have a seat and I’ll be right with you.”

Bella limped over to a padded bench beneath the windows along the side of the room and plopped down on it. She just sat there, staring at her outstretched feet, and didn’t look like she had anything to say to me at all.

I got up and sat down next to her. “I’m glad I’m getting a chance to talk to you,” I said, pitching my voice low so it wouldn’t be heard on the other side of the curtained divider. “I gotta thank you for what you did last night. You really saved my ass.”

“Yeah, like literally,” she said snidely. “But I didn’t do it for you.”

“Okay…”

“Look, don’t think we’re friends or anything just ’cause I helped you out. It didn’t have anything to do with you. It’s just…Marco’s, like, obsessed with you, did you know that? He talks about you a lot. I see him watching you when you deign to show yourself in the cafeteria. And I’m not the kind of stupid that thinks him getting a piece of you is gonna get that out of his system. Not hardly. So if you want to thank me, you just keep this in mind, okay? Marco is mine.”

Uh, yeah, okay. Welcome to him. I couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say.

“Don’t give me that look. Like Dylan’s such a prize. Invisibility? Give me a break. When NIAC comes to town, am I gonna want to be with the guy who can beat them all down without breaking a sweat, or the guy who will disappear to save his own ass? Think about that.”

I really didn’t need to think about that, because Bella’s conception of the personalities in question was clearly at odds with reality. But was this what it was coming to? With all these Talents being taken, the paranoia rising, was this how kids were going to start thinking? I remembered what Heather said to me after Kat’s party, about the Talents wanting to group together, feeling safer with their own kind. And here was Bella, pretty much willing to prostitute herself for that false perception of safety.

Damn.

“Bella…” I began.

“Vivian?” Mr. Dobbs strolled in with his hands in his pants pockets, his cardigan bunched up over them, and his Looney Tunes necktie hanging on the outside. He didn’t seem to notice us sitting by the window.

“Neil?” Ms. Chambers hurried out from behind the screen. Dobb’s smiled hugely, grabbed her around the waist, pulled her to him and just laid one on her.

“Is this the Twilight Zone?” Bella asked.

I kind of hope so, I thought, because this is a reality I don’t want to contemplate.

The public display of affection went on, gaining momentum. There was groping. Finally, Bella coughed “Gross!” into her hand.

Dobbs immediately released Ms. Chambers. So immediately that she almost landed on her ass. He was bright red as he whirled toward us. “Girls! I didn’t see you there.” He took off his glasses and began furiously polishing them with the end of his tie.

“Obviously,” Bella drawled.

“Joss, we can continue our conversation at a later time,” Ms. Chambers said briskly, smoothing her naughty nurse dress. “Let me get you a hall pass.”

“I have the one from earlier. I’m sure it’s fine.” I just wanted to get out of there.

“All right, dear. Bella? Shall we see about that ice?”

“Sure,” she was saying as I was skulking out the door, trying not to look at Dobbs. “We could probably all use a little cooling off.”

 

* * *

 

Joss

 

I was all kinds of jumpy when I turned the corner of my stairwell at lunchtime and saw Dylan sitting in my hideout. First, it was because I still wasn’t used to anyone showing up. For years this spot, at the top of a dark, winding stairway in the older part of the school, had been reliably ignored. It seemed its popularity increased along with mine.

I had mixed feelings about that: people bad, Dylan good. Which was what the other jumpy was about.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that he showed up. He wouldn’t want to chance running into Marco and his friends in the caf’ today. And maybe he knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t really want to be alone, after the news about that Kevin kid. Just because I always was, just because I was used to being alone, didn’t mean I really liked it that way. Did he know that?

I flopped down beside him on the landing and dug our lunch out of my bag. More likely he’s just following his stomach. Since Dylan had his big friend break-up with Marco and was occasionally avoiding the cafeteria scene up here with me, I’d started packing more food. I felt weird about it, because bringing his lunch seemed kinda girlfriend-y and I didn’t want to seem…whatever. But the boy had to eat, didn’t he?

“What have we got today?”

“Turkey and Swiss on wheat, mayo for you, hold the tomato, and some spinach.”

“So I can grow up big and strong?”

I didn’t know how to answer that one. I kinda had the feeling Dylan was a little…put off, maybe, by the fact that my brain could bench press more than he could. It was on my long list of Why Dylan Isn’t Into Me. “No whining, just eat it.”

“Yes ma’am. And for you,” he pulled a soda can out of each pocket, “diet. I don’t know why you want to drink that stuff.”

“‘Just for the taste of it.’ It’s what my mom sneaks into the house sometimes.”

“So…” Dylan drew out the word and then took a bite of his sandwich and chewed for a bit.

Usually he sat across the landing from me, leaning against the wall, with one of his legs spanning the distance between us. Today he chose to sit next to me. Right next to me, so even if I tried not to look at him, his arm brushed mine every time he moved and our legs were almost touching. He would do that today, when I was all wound up about him all over again.

It was like this right after the big fight with Marco. Right after he laid that kiss on me, it was all Dylan, all the time in my head. Then when nothing really happened after that, I kind of settled down…a little bit. That whole thing with him riding to my rescue last night just got me worked up all over again. I can be such a girl sometimes.

So…what? I swear this was the longest chew and swallow on record.

“Did you want to talk about what happened last night?”

That was pretty open-ended. Was he trying to tell me he wanted to know how it went down, or was he asking if I had feelings I wanted to share? Let’s face it: I’ve never been real good on the sharing. Doesn’t mean I don’t ever kinda long to talk to someone, you know? It just means I don’t really know how.

“Um, what part?”

“Any part you want. Or no part, if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh. Um…I don’t know.” OMG, why am I such a loser? Because you’ve spent your entire school career avoiding any kind of conversation?

Dylan almost never asked me direct questions or put me on the spot. Unlike Kat, who would constantly direct the conversation my way, which I knew was her way of trying to include my awkward self in her circle of friends, Dylan didn’t do that. He’s the kind of guy who always wants to smooth things over and see everyone getting along. He was really good at making people feel at ease.

It wasn’t his fault I’d had this stupid crush on him forever, I was always nervous around him, and was a total social misfit besides. If he wanted to hear about it, I really wanted to talk to him. But what was I supposed to say?

“You said Marco didn’t seek you out just to mess with you, so how did you guys run into each other?”

So I told Dylan about walking home past Dog-Eared and what I saw.

“I know it was reckless to just go in there. I didn’t know Marco was there yet, but still, I didn’t have enough information to do what I did. It was really stupid.”

“It wasn’t stupid. You saw something wrong and you stood up. That’s cool. I hope you’ll call for backup before you go after a bunch of guys by yourself, if there’s a next time.”

“My dad didn’t think it was so cool.”

“I’m not your dad.”

Well duh.

“The firebug was Tony D’Attaviano—Marco’s cousin. He was a senior when we were freshmen. Real dick. He and Marco like to make trouble together. Last year they made Rob use his Talent to make all these fake orders over the internet that showed as paid. Then they got all this stereo equipment delivered to Tony’s house, which they then sold for profit.”

“Nice.”

“That thing with Bella kind of freaks me out. I wonder if you can see her when she’s…out of body.”

“Don’t like the idea of not being the only invisible guy around?”

“I guess not. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of creepy, huh?”

“Invisibility? On Bella maybe. But unless you decide you’re going to go be a lookout for Marco—” Oh my God, can I just curl up and die right now?

“Again? No, thanks.”

“You know, I think I took a blow to the head last night.” I reached up and rubbed at my skull, partly just to hide how red my face was. “The part of my brain that’s supposed to keep me from saying stupid stuff is damaged.”

Dylan’s hand covered mine. “Right here? Yeah, I think I feel a lump. You know, I was born without that brain center, and they tell me it’s possible to live a long, full life.” His hand slid away, skimming my hair like he had wanted to touch it.

“Well, that’s a relief.” If I don’t die from embarrassment. Even my voice was absurdly high and breathy.

“Joss?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re…okay, right?”

“Um, yeah.” Why so serious?

Dylan’s hands twisted around each other between his knees. “When I talked to Heather, she said that you were really scared.”

“I was. But that’s all over with.”

“And she implied that Marco and Jeff wanted to…hurt you.”

“Well, that’s no surpris—oh. Oh. No. That did not happen.”

“Would you tell me?”

And have you run off and commit Marco-induced suicide? No, not likely.

“Nothing like that happened. They marched me over to the factory, shoved me around some, said some rude things, but that was the extent of it.”

Dylan blew out a breath and raked both his hands through his hair, neither of which seemed to do anything for his tension level. I couldn’t think of anything to say that might put him at ease, partly because I wasn’t even really sure what it was all about.

Did he really feel that strongly about me? But that didn’t make sense. If he did, why didn’t he say anything? Obviously he cared, right? He kept hanging around, showing interest…Clearly he had some kind of feelings for me. Did guys get this intense over girls they’re just friends with?

Or maybe I was supposed to say something? Maybe I was supposed to give him some kind of sign. Like what? This sucked. It should not be this complicated. Either he was interested or he wasn’t right? How much longer was I going to keep making myself crazy trying to figure this out?

“Do you ever think of me as more than a friend?”

I stopped myself from clamping my hands over my mouth. Just barely. It was too late anyway. My stupid question was already out there, hanging in the air between us.

Dylan grabbed me, just grabbed me, and his mouth was on mine. And oh, God, it was just like I remembered it, only more intense. His lips ground so hard against mine I could feel his teeth behind them. He had one hand in my hair, cupping the back of head so that I couldn’t have pulled back if I’d wanted to. I didn’t. If anything, I just wanted more. I wanted to climb inside of him. I was practically in his lap, with a death grip on his collar, and his arm was wrapped around me to keep me there.

Everything in the world was just this moment. Everything was Dylan. I didn’t even have enough brain to worry if I was doing it right, I just kissed him back, and kissed him, and thought I might die if I couldn’t get closer to him. My hands were in his hair. It felt amazing. The way he tasted, the way he smelled, it was like my brain was just going to explode from the pleasure of being this close to him.

The bell tore into our world like a scream, making us jump back from each other. I missed the landing and would have gone headfirst down the stairs if Dylan hadn’t caught me and set me back. He leaned his forehead against mine and we both took a breath. Then he backed up.

I raised my eyes to his face. He was grinning at me. Then he swiped his thumb against my bottom lip.

“Nope. Never.”

And took off down the stairs.

What?