Chapter 12
Alana
As one of my students, Marcel, read from his PowerPoint slide, I tried to keep my focus on what he was saying. I couldn’t give him a grade if I didn’t hear a word he said. For all I knew, he could be going on about how and why they make cheddar cheese orange.
At least I had my midterms graded. Well, they were graded, even though it wasn’t me. I’d looked over them all and they were done correctly, though.
Thanks, mysterious stalker who probably wants to kill me and eat my thighs.
It was weird that he still hadn’t shown his face- or mask- since Friday. He hadn’t sent any texts or left me more gifts. That was suspicious. Maybe he got picked up by the police for loitering. That would be some satisfying karma. I bet he was sitting in a cell, maskless and vulnerable with his balding head and rat face.
“Thanks, Marcel,” I said when he reached his last slide. “I appreciate how much work you put into your project.”
He smiled awkwardly and shuffled back to his seat. I glanced at the clock and decided there wasn’t enough time for someone else to present, so I got to my feet and grabbed a stack of midterms to pass out.
“Most of you did well on this,” I said as I made my way down the rows. “You’ll see that I’ve marked areas where you may need improvement. This is an advanced placement class, so you need to put in extra effort if you want that college credit. Do you want to take something like this again when you get to the university?”
“No,” a few voices chimed in.
“What, you don’t want to learn about ancient Mesopotamia again?”
A few laughs sounded around me. After I’d passed out the last test, I leaned back against my desk. There were some frowns in the room, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by the grades. At the beginning of the school year, I’d been worried about how effective I’d be because of what happened. It had been nine months at the time but some days, it still felt like yesterday.
That was the thing with grief, I guess. It ebbed and flowed so that you could never really be sure how you’d feel from one day to the next. Sometimes, I felt ready to face the rest of my life. Other times, I wanted to stay in bed with my eyes closed so I could pretend that when I opened them, he’d be looking back at me. If I didn’t look, the empty side of the bed didn’t have to be real.
“Alright, you all can get out of here,” I announced. “Go be crazy with your parents until I have to see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Miss Monroe!” a couple voices bellowed. I waved, then took a full breath when the room was empty.
Even though I complained about my job, I did love these kids. They were on the cusp of adulthood. Some of them were actually eighteen already. It didn’t feel like it was that long ago when I was in their place.
I had a class in this room during my sophomore year. Mr. Kauzen had been part of the reason I became so obsessed with history. It was my passion, which might not seem very interesting to most people, but I was a boring bitch who could watch the History Channel or go to a museum and feel like I’d died and gone to heaven.
I moved to the window and looked out at the football field in the distance, remembering the first time I’d seen him. Me and my friends had been watching the freshmen tryouts, laughing and fawning over the boys like our lives depended on it. I hadn’t been sure if I wanted to date a jock because the movies always made them out to be assholes, but then I’d thought about ones like A Cinderella Story where the quarterback actually turns out to be a sweet guy who adores the female lead. That was something I could get behind.
When he took off his helmet, my worries didn’t matter. He was beautiful and I decided that I’d find a way to get to know him. I wasn’t shy, per se, and I was in that mid-level popularity in school where I could talk to most groups of people and they accepted me.
It was supposed to be my happily ever after. That boy with the dark hair and bright eyes felt dangerous in the most delicious way. When he smiled, the sun shone down on him. I saw the scar on his lip and thought it added something special to his face.
Yeah, that guy had been Jayce. I didn’t know he was a twin at the time, so when I saw Jake in the hallway one day, I struck up conversation. We hit it off immediately and it wasn’t until he brought me home to meet his family that I realized my mistake. Jayce came down the stairs and I’d seen that scar. My mouth dropped open when I saw that they looked exactly the same aside from that.
It didn’t really matter, of course. I’d seen him first, but I fell in love with Jake. He was the one who took me out to ice cream and a movie. He met me in the park when I snuck out of my room to avoid my parents yelling, which was often. Eventually, it became me, Jake, and Jayce. We were a trio that was inseparable all through high school. When we got to college, it was more like me and Jake, and me and Jayce. They were still close, but our relationships evolved in different directions.
Me, Jake, and Jayce. Those were three things that would never be together again. And that was depressing as hell.
A soft knock made me turn around. Mike stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He offered me a smile but didn’t come inside.
“I hope you’re feeling better,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I think my stomach was just rejecting that wine at dinner because of all the alcohol the night before.”
“Next time, we’ll skip the wine.”
I bit my lip and diverted to my desk so I could gather my things. The buses were pulling away outside and generally I’d stay a little longer, but I didn’t feel like being here after my trip down memory lane.
“Are you heading out?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’ll walk with you.”
I wanted him to, but I didn’t know if it was a good idea. Nothing had come of Erebus’ threats so far, but I was afraid to push him any further.
Oh, god, I couldn’t believe I was referring to him as Erebus in my head now. He was stealing my love for mythology and that was completely unacceptable.
“How’s your daughter? Going hard on the candy, I bet.”
He laughed. “Too much. I had to hide it so that I could portion it out at intervals. She’s going to knock the world off its axis with all that energy.”
“We need to find a way to siphon some of their energy. I know I could use it.”
“Maybe we could use them to power the world.”
“Not a bad idea. How old is she?”
“She’s about to turn ten.”
I hummed. “It goes fast. Every year when I see Jake’s cousins, they look a foot taller.”
At the mention of him, I cleared my throat and looked forward. It was hard to stop bringing someone up in conversation when you’d been doing it for so long.
“That guy at the party,” Mike ventured slowly. “He’s Jake’s brother.”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Jake came to a few school events with you. When I saw your friend, I was confused. I didn’t realize he had a twin.”
“Yup. Jayce and Jake. The football stars of Alpine Grove High School.”
“Does that make you famous here by association?”
“Maybe,” I laughed. “Probably not for what I’d want, though. People used to claim that I was in a relationship with both brothers. That or they’d ask me if I ever mixed them up in the bedroom. High schoolers are gross.”
“So, it was never like that with Jayce?”
My eyes narrowed a little as I pushed open the door to go outside. “No. He’s my best friend. Are you scoping out the competition?”
“Can you blame me?”
I stopped and turned toward him. He stared at me with a soft expression that made me never want to hurt him. I suddenly felt pissed off that my stalker wanted to get in the middle of my relationships. If he’d leave me alone, I thought me and Mike could have something together. He had a kid, which I wasn’t sure about, but I’d figure it out if I decided to keep seeing him.
“Me and Jayce are just friends. After Jake, I can’t…”
“I can understand that.”
“Look, Mike, there’s a lot going on with me right now.”
“Ah.” He looked down at his feet and nodded. “No worries. I get it.”
“I’m not saying that I don’t want to explore this, but we might need to slow it down. Like, way down.”
The smile returned to his face. “No kissing on porches. I can manage that.”
“Okay, cool. Thank you. Really.”
His arms came around me and I hugged him back. It was a simple gesture between friends who could someday become more than that. Besides, we were at the school. There were security guards here and if they saw a man in a mask, they’d get rid of him immediately. It was safe here.
Yeah, right. A safe school in America. That almost made me laugh out loud.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, walking backward toward the other side of the lot. “Lunch in my classroom. Just food. No funny business.”
With a playful eyeroll, I turned around. Once I was inside my car, I pulled down the visor to look in the mirror. Something silver fell into my lap and made my heart speed up.
A Hershey’s kiss.
The bastard could get into my car now? I didn’t know how that was possible. This was full of a thousand computer components and the alarm would sound on my key fob if anyone messed with it.
Rolling down the window, I tossed the chocolate outside. I’d do a good deed later to make up for littering.
My phone buzzed, making me tense. I swallowed hard as I unlocked it to check the text.
Jayce: Don’t forget about dinner.
Oh, god damnit. I did forget. It was better than being home alone, so I headed toward his place, not caring that I was going to be early. He’d never complained about me barging in before.