"I'll take care of that," Byron said. He nabbed the napkins from me and shoved them in his mouth. My eyes went wide; he couldn't even close his mouth all the way.
"What do you think you're doing?" Liam asked.
"Helping," Byron said through a grinning mouth full of paper.
"What are you an idiot?" Liam laughed and shoved him away from the table. "Get out of here you goof. Go throw those away already."
The others chuckled and we all sat back down. "Moron," Steve tossed. Byron walked off apparently proud of the comments. The guy was nuts, but I did have a smile on my face.
I swiped it away when I felt Liam watching me.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
Did he have to talk to me? He made it very difficult to stay focused. I had to remain in control. He screamed suspicious and abnormal. I didn't trust him. Liam cocked his head to the side and my body tightened when I saw his hand slowly edge its way across the table towards mine. I couldn't breathe. My mind fought against my body, demanding for me to move my hand, but I didn't. The world shifted into slow motion. His fingers slid closer and closer, pulling on me with an invisible thread. I tried to swallow, but I couldn't even get that to work right.
"Can I help you boys?" a man's voice said.
Oh, thank God.
I retracted my hand.
The principle, Mr. Vela, loomed over us. Next to him stood the tall skinny administrator from earlier.
"We're fine," Flynt said.
The principal's face darkened. "Don't be fresh with me young man. This is a high school, not a public park. Move it. All of you."
Confused, I turned to Liam. "What's he talking about?"
Byron made an appearance, standing beside Liam with a shrug. "Probably something to do with the fact that we don't go to school here."
"Do you ever shut up?" Liam shoved the big guy into Steve.
"Ow." Steve whined. He pushed Byron back into Liam. The little guy's strength surprised me.
"That's enough." Mr. Vela grabbed Byron's shoulder in an attempt to break up the squabble, when a low snarl snapped from Byron's throat. My body flushed cold. His upper lip curled over his teeth as he whipped his head towards Mr. Vela. The principle stumbled back, catching himself on the table behind him. Liam stood up and caught Byron's jaw in his hand, turning his head away from the principal. I almost fell out of my seat when I realized why. Byron's eyes blazed liquid gold.
My throat felt strangled and goose bumps erupted across my back. I couldn't move. Had the principle seen? Had anyone else heard? I felt dizzy as if half in a dream.
"Sorry," Byron whispered to me. His voice sounded hoarse and his entire upper torso shook.
"Get out of here. Just leave," Mr. Vela said. A light sheen of sweat traced his brow. He looked sick and unsteady. He had seen. I wasn't crazy. The rest of the cafeteria appeared curious, but unaware.
"It's all right," Liam said. "We're leaving."
Flynt, Eldridge, and Steve stood up. Liam hid Byron's face from the cafeteria crowd, hugging him to his chest.
"I'm sorry," Liam whispered back to me. "Maybe this was a bad idea." His sad gaze held mine for a moment, and then he turned and left.
Chapter 4
"So, are you going to tell me what happened at lunch today?" A smile spread across Ty's face and I nearly dropped the tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream on my kitchen floor. Ty and I had met up after school. Since neither of us had plans, I invited her back to my house. She giggled, making the small leaf shaped locket she wore around her neck jingle softly against the chain. "And you thought you weren't interesting." She placed two small glass bowls with sparrows etched on them down on the counter. "You are so going to spill. So come on. Who were those dark and mysterious men?"
"They weren't that dark and mysterious." I placed the tub of ice cream down next to her and sat down on one of the hard wooden kitchen stools surrounding the island, trying to remain expressionless.
Ty's face told me I failed. "Uh, huh," she said. "This is even more interesting than I thought."
"I don't know what you're talking about." I decided to play dumb, filling my mouth with an oversized glop of mint chocolate chip. The cold stung my forehead making me wince.
Ty leaned across the counter. "So, which one is it?"
"Which one is what?"
I swallowed my bite down with a little effort.
"Which one's got the hots for ya?"
She didn't just say that.
"Just because Liam's been kind of following me doesn't mean he has the 'hots' for me, Ty. In fact, I think that categorizes him more as a stalker."
"Uh huh." She nodded with a strange expression that seemed part surprise, almost as if the name stirred some kind of recollection, and part impermeable curiosity. "So Mr. Mysterious has a name does he?"
Oops.
I watched her face become an unreadable slate. "Do you know him?" I asked.
She shook her head, making her short blond curls bounce. "Nope, but I want details. This is the most intriguing thing to happen in my small town life since I won the 4-H livestock photo contest in the third grade." I didn't know what to say. "Joking, Charlotte." She laughed.
"Aren't you going to eat your ice cream?"
"You are so not getting out of this one, girl."
"You're evil." I mock scowled and shook my head.
"Fine. Look. I'm eating." Ty held up her spoon with a nod as if to say 'see', and then took a bite. "Now who's Liam?"
My cheeks burned. "I don't know." I shifted in my seat. "He's just this guy I met at McGulliger's Campground just outside of town a few days ago. His friends were rummaging through our campsite at night and he made them leave." My brows twisted. That whole scene still didn't make sense.
"Wow," Ty said. "Handsome, mysterious, and saves the day. No wonder you've got the hots for him."
"What?" My spoon clanged into the tiny glass bowl. "I do not have the hots for him. I don't even know him, and who goes sneaking into people's schools and follows them around campgrounds at night anyway? The guy's got serious issues. Not to mention the fact, that if you say, 'hots' one more time I'm going to strangle you."
Ty shook her head, laughing. "Wow, you really are smitten."
I groaned and flopped my head down on the counter. "Okay, he's kind of cute." I couldn't look up. I could hear her giggling.
"You act like this is a bad thing, Charlotte."
"You don't understand. He doesn't make sense. He avoids questions, sneaks around following me, and don't even get me started on his weird eyes."
...and his smell.
"Weird eyes?" Ty asked, taking a bite of her ice cream.
I sat up and held my head in my hands. "I swear they turn different colors according to his mood, or something. I don't know. But I've seen them change twice now when he's gotten really...intense."
Ty's laugh fizzled. "Wait. Let me get this straight. They turn different colors? You mean like how hazel sometimes looks blue and other time's green?"
"No. I mean they are normally green and then become this really creepy gold color. They look animalistic." I shuttered and in my mind I was five again, hearing the wolves moving in the distance. I quickly pushed it away.
"Are you sure he doesn't wear contacts or something?"
"No." I forced myself to stay in the present. "It happened right in front of me. His friend's did too. That's why they had to leave the cafeteria. Well that, and they got found, so to speak. But Byron, his friend, looked right at me, and his did the same thing. Liam told me in the woods that the moonlight reflected off of them. That's what made them look different. But there is definitely no moonlight in the cafeteria."
Ty chewed her bottom lip as she processed what I said. She seemed to believe me. She hadn't bolted for the nearest exit, but she did seem nervous. Her hands fiddled with her spoon. I didn't want her afraid, but it felt good to tell someone. An uncomfortable silence wafted between us, until we simultaneously took a bite of our ice cream, swallowing hard.