"I know it's a cliché and all, but thank god it's
Friday," Genevieve said with a sigh as she opened her locker door. It
wasn't just Friday, either—it was the end of the last period as well.
Freedom, at least until the hell known as Monday morning arrived.
Sage took the opportunity to check her reflection in the mirror
pinned in Gen's locker. There was an ugly black ring of bruises around her
neck, so for the first time in years she had worn a turtle neck. The shirt
was hideous and uncomfortable, and people probably assumed she was hiding
a hickey or something, but at least that was better than them wondering
about the finger-sized bruises on her throat.
"And what makes you
think your week ends now?" Sage said, eying the people in the bustling
school hallway around them then lowering her voice in case others were
listening. "We've got somewhere to be tonight anyway."
"And that's
where you're thankfully very, very wrong—the only place I have to be is
home, pretending to work on an essay, per my mother's orders."
"That'll go over well with Michael."
Gen stowed her books
in her locker, then slammed the door shut and snapped the combination lock
in place. "Michael probably died in the night from an infection due to his
gunshot wounds because he's too damn stupid to go to a hospital, therefore
Michael can bite me."
"I'll let him know you said that."
"Good. Please do so."
Genevieve seemed abnormally
cheerful, especially considering the events from the evening before, or so
Sage thought. For someone who still looked near tears in Michael's car on
the ride home last night, Gen seemed surprisingly at ease any time Sage
ran into her that day at school
She doubted, however, that Gen
would be all that pleasant when Michael finally got a hold of her for
skipping out on them that night, if she truly decided to follow through
and not go.
"You realize I'm not covering for you or anything,"
Sage continued as they started down the hallway in the direction of the
front of the school. "He'll see right through anything I say anyway."
"That's fine—I'll just ask Merri to do it."
"And you saw
her around here today?"
"Well, no..." Gen pulled out her mobile
phone. "I'll just call her and tell her to tell him then."
"I
wouldn't do that."
"Oh no?"
"No, because she's probably at
Michael's."
"She's there a lot."
"That's 'cause she's got
this thing you probably haven't heard of—it's called
dedication."
Gen stuck her tongue
out at Sage. "Very funny. Maybe they're having a torrid affair."
"Don't even joke about that."
"I know. She could do so
much better."
"And the potential statutory rape doesn't bother
you?"
Gen shrugged. "He doesn't look that old. He's just an ass,
and I still think Merri could do better. Hey, maybe she spends so much
time there because they're related. That could be it."
"Related
how?"
"I don't know. Brother? Cousin? What's his last name?"
It was Sage's turn to shrug. "I don't remember him ever saying."
"Great—we've been spending all week with the guy, trusting what he
has to say about all this, meanwhile we don’t even know his goddamn last
name?"
"Does he even know ours?"
"Possibly. I guess that
would depend on what Merri knows."
"Merri knows what? Huh?" said a
voice behind them.
Sage shuddered a little as Stephie Meyers
wiggled her way between them and looped her arm with Gen's. The girl
reeked of tobacco and weed and Sage noticeably kept a few inches away from
her.
"Who's Merri and what does she know?" Stephie asked.
"What are we talking about?" Levi said before either Gen or Sage
could respond, falling in step beside Genevieve.
Of course—where Gen and Stephany are, he appears.
Sage
purposely avoided looking at him.
Or maybe it's wherever I am...
Thankfully, she felt an arm slip over her
shoulder, which calmed her grated nerves considerably. She absently slid
her arm around Hayden's waist and pushed the voices of the other three
from her mind.
"Need a ride to class tonight?" he asked.
"Nope, I’m walking."
"Doing anything this weekend?"
"You mean besides going to class?"
And probably getting my ass
handed to me by Michael, she silently added.
"Yes, I mean besides
that."
Sage shrugged. "I don't know—why?"
"Wanna check out
a movie tomorrow night?"
"Is there anything good playing?"
"No, but I thought we could throw popcorn at the screen and
make-out."
"Hmm..." Sage pretended to think it over. "You mean pay
a ridiculous amount of money to not watch a crappy movie?"
"And
make-out with me."
"Well, when you put it that way..." Truthfully,
she had planned to train all weekend, but as they reached the main school
doors to go outside, and she stopped for a moment to meet his eyes, she
found herself grinning in agreement. If Gen could skip out for the
weekend, she too could take a few hours off.
"Okay, but it had
better be a really, really bad movie then."
"Predictable romantic
comedy or predictable action thriller?"
"Surprise me."
"That I will, sweetie." His lips came down on hers in goodbye then
he left for the doors to the swiftly emptying parking lot.
"Is
that hooky you seem to be planning to play this weekend?"
Sage
turned back to Genevieve to find—thankfully—Stephie and Levi had taken
off.
"If Michael asks, I'm not going to cover for you," Gen said
with a smirk.
"He won't ask, because I'll be there tomorrow
morning until early evening."
"Gosh, I hope one day I can be as
perfect as you are, Sage," Gen said in a mock-dreamy voice.
"Good
luck with that," was Sage's dry reply.
The two of them stopped
outside the front of the school among the throngs of teens that stood
around chatting and waiting for rides. Though Sage was eager to get away
from them all, the truth was that she probably would have to answer to
Michael as to why Genevieve wasn't there, and she'd much rather have Gen
show up herself to explain why she wouldn't be staying.
"Twenty
minutes there and back aren't going to kill you—"
"Twenty minutes?
Please, this is me we're talking about."
"Okay, forty-five
minutes—"
"And I can't. Home right after school. Mom was clear on
that. Guess you're on your own."
"Doesn't your mother work?"
Gen opened her mouth to answer, but paused, considering her words
and shifting her gaze to the side.
Got her there.
"It doesn't matter," Gen said instead.
"She'll just know. She'll call or something—"
Her pathetic excuses
were interrupted by a phone ringing—Sage's phone, which was odd because
she almost never received calls.
"Who would be calling you?" Gen
asked, echoing Sage's own thoughts.
"That's really none of your
business..." Sage checked the number of the incoming call. "Except it's
Hayden. Hold on." She answered the phone and held it to her ear. "Hey,
aren't you supposed to be heading to work?"
Silence followed her
words.
"Hello?"
Still nothing.
Sage ended the call
and tucked the phone back in her pocket. "I guess he got cut off—"
The phone rang again. Irritated, Sage pulled it out once more.
"Hayden again?" Gen asked as Sage checked the number.
"Apparently...text this time." She opened the message from Hayden.
Sorry I missed you. What the
hell?
Sage thought. She saw him like five minutes ago.
"What's he want?"
Gen asked.
Sage was about to snap a comment about her minding her
own goddamn business when another message came.
I'm sure HE is too. Sage's heart beat just
a little faster and a chill crept over her.
"Everything okay?" Gen
asked, her brows furrowed in concern.
Words escaped her as her
throat went dry. Sage couldn't answer—couldn't think of what to say.
Something didn't feel right…
She punched in Hayden's number and
held the phone to her ear to listen. She could barely hear over the
drumming of her own heart, and ceased her breath when the ringing stopped
and someone answered.
No one said anything, but she was certain
she heard breathing...
"Hello?" she said, her voice shaking a
little. "Hayden?"
"He can't come to the phone right now," said an
unfamiliar male voice.
Sage swung her gaze around, studying those
in the crowd surrounding her. Gen opened her mouth to speak, but Sage
raised her hand to silence her.
"I'd offer to take a message for
him," the voice continued. "But I doubt he'll be available to receive it."
"What have you done?" she whispered, terror gripping her and not
letting go.
"You killed one of mine," he said matter-of-factly.
"And as they say, eye for an eye and all that—"
The phone slipped
from Sage's grasp and hit the pavement, cracking open and ending the call.
"Sage? Sage, what happened? Who was that?"
She felt
someone shaking her shoulders, and she met Gen's eyes. Her look of concern
was enough to break Sage from her stupor.
Move. The command echoed in her
brain, and she felt her feet moving in the direction of the parking lot.
Gen hollered something behind her, but she kept running.
She
slowed to a jog once she reached the nearly empty student parking lot
around the side of Newhaven High. No students were around and only a few
cars remained.
And one of those cars she recognized.
"Hayden!" she called, picking up the pace and entering a full-on
run. "Hayden!" She ran towards the front of the familiar, beat-up car that
sat alone in a corner of the parking lot. Bright afternoon sunlight struck
the windshield and the glare obscured any view of whether or not someone
was in the drivers' seat.
No, no...please, no... Sage stopped dead once
she reached the car. The drivers' window was rolled down and Hayden lay
slumped in his seat, his head rolled to one side, unmoving.
A
dozen bloody holes littered his chest and stomach.
She didn't know
if she was crying or screaming or moving at all—it was as if the ground
had given out below her and she was overcome with dizziness and nausea.
Stumbling toward the car, she reached in through the window, desperate to
get near him, to touch him, to perhaps prove to herself that maybe all of
this wasn't real.
"Please...honey, wake up..."
Don't be
dead, don't be dead... He didn't respond to her touch and all she
felt was the blood, clinging to her fingers and soaking her sleeves.
Genevieve was shouting behind her, calling for someone to get an
ambulance and the police. Sage felt herself pulled back backward, out of
the car then realized it was Gen's arms holding her steady.
"We'll
get help," Gen said. "It's okay." She pulled open the car door and felt
for Hayden's throat.
"I think he's still breathing!" Her voice
broke through the numbness surrounding Sage.
He's breathing, he's breathing...
Others were joining them now and about
half a dozen people were on their cell phones, calling the police. Sirens
sounded minutes later, and even more people were milling about. Paramedics
wheeled a stretcher around, pulled Hayden out of the car, and then loaded
him in the ambulance. Though the emergency workers shouted things back and
forth, their words were lost to Sage in the din around her. Police stood
near her, asking questions that Gen answered, and then Genevieve took her
by the arm and the two of them got in the back of a police cruiser, the
hospital their destination.
Please be okay...
*~*~*
Sage tightened her grip on her knapsack and
knocked on the door a second time. Levi, from class, had told her and the
other guy in their peer group to meet him at his house around four…so
where the hell was he? Dammit, she'd knocked like three times already—
The door swung open, then. Hayden, the co-op student from business
class, stood before her.
"Hey…" He leaned on the doorframe, out of
breath. "Sorry, just…heard the…bell. I was in…" He gulped down some air.
"In the basement."
Sage bit back a grin. She'd been waiting
outside for several minutes and her supposed host apparently wasn't
home—she should be furious. The anger wasn't there, however—she couldn't
even muster up a frown.
"The stairs are killer," he said, offering
her a charming, lopsided smile.
"I bet."
"Levi's not home.
Were you supposed to work on that project tonight?"
"Yeah. There
was another guy too."
"He's not here either. And Lev didn't say
anything about it to me."
Goddamn it, she was going to kill that
guy. It wasn't easy cutting time out of her schedule of evening classes,
and he insisted on them meeting at his house that night. A glance at her
watch revealed it was quarter after four. She could still make it to
Aikido if she hurried…
"Want to wait inside?" Hayden gestured
behind him.
His dark brown gaze held hers for a moment and a
strange, unfamiliar feeling settled deep in the pit of her stomach…
Butterflies?
"I don't know, I should probably—"
"Lev'll probably be home soon. We're kinda low on food, but I am
an exceptional chef and I'm sure I could whip something up." He raised a
brow in question. "C'mon, we've got like six hundred channels—there'll be
something to watch while you wait. If you don't mind my company, that is.
I could help you plot your revenge against my brother."
She should
go—she knew it. But something seemed to push her forward; something beyond
her control or comprehension.
"Okay."
He stepped aside so
she could enter the house. After slipping off her shoes, she moved into
the kitchen and slid onto a barstool at the island counter.
"So…"
Hayden said as he went to the freezer. He opened the door, reached in, and
produced a couple of boxes of pizza pockets. "Three cheese or deluxe. Your
choice."
"Exceptional chef?" she asked.
"Um…yeah, I lied
about that to get you in the house. So which would you like?"
Sage
smiled without realizing it, lost in the moment. "Surprise me."
In Newhaven General
Hospital, a small cluster of people sat in the waiting room for news. The
Greenes' jumped up every time a doctor went by, hoping for news of their
son. Levi and Genevieve sat huddled in a corner together, saying little
but crying plenty. For hours everyone waited, occasionally speaking to the
police and sometimes in prayer.
Sage sat alone.
I'm sorry I missed you... The killer's messages
repeated in her head again and again.
She should have been with
him. The killer, whichever one of those guys it was, must have been
expecting her there. Of course, if they knew where Michael lived, they had
been following them all. Watching them...
"Baby..." Sage looked up
to see her mom sitting down next to her. She still wore the suit she had
on that morning, suggesting to Sage she just got off of work and had come
straight to the hospital. Trailing Diana Bethany were Sage's two sisters.
Kat, thirteen, looked as if she'd been crying. She loved Hayden like a big
brother, so Sage wasn't surprised. Kat took a seat on their mother's other
side, and pulled their five year old sister, Cecilia, into her lap.
Her mother's arm went over her shoulder, but Sage felt her body
stay rigid. No, no comfort. No letting it out. There wasn't the time for
that.
"Jackie called me," her mom said. "I grabbed your sisters
and came right here. What happened?"
People came looking for me and
they found him. Sage couldn't force her voice from her
throat. What was there to say? Gen must have given the police some story,
sans the apocalyptic details, because they hadn't asked her for anything
further.
"Sweetie, are you okay?" Diana had her daughter's hands
in her own, and she tugged on the sleeve of Sage's sweater. "Jesus, is
this blood? Were you hurt—"
Sage managed to shake her head.
"Not mine," she whispered, and her mother understood.
"I'm
going to talk to Jackie and Felix for a second—I'll be right back."
She was only dimly aware of her mom standing and going to speak to
the Greenes'. A few moments later, Kat also stood and walked to Levi's
side, taking Cecilia's hand and bringing her along. Thankfully, Sage was
alone again.
I'm sorry I missed you...I'm sure HE is too.
If she had been there, he would have been
okay. They wanted her. That was all. If she had just gone with him—
You killed one of mine... That was Merri, true,
but it was her responsibility too. They should have known there would be
some sort of retaliation...
An eye for an eye. The people clustered
together who waited so far from Sage for news of Hayden all jumped up
together and swarmed a doctor who entered the waiting room. Somehow, Sage
found the strength to stand herself and walk over.
"He's out of
surgery," the doctor was saying. "And he's conscious."
God...awake...alive...thank you...
"Can we see him?" his mother asked.
The doctor nodded. "Family only right now." He started down the
hall, and the Greenes'—as well as Sage—followed. While the doctor led them
to the room and stepped back so they could enter, he gave Sage a strange
look, and she remembered technically she wasn't family.
"I'm
sorry, it's family only—"
"She is family," Levi said quickly.
The doctor looked her up and down, and then at Levi with
skepticism. Being far from Caucasian, she wasn't surprised he didn’t
believe them.
"Really," Levi said, throwing his arm over her
shoulders. "It's Cousin Sage."
"Even then, it's
immediate family only—"
"That we
adopted," Levi interrupted. "She's legally Hayden's sister, you know."
Sage didn't think for a second the doctor would believe them, but
the Greenes' joined in.
"Please, Dr. Khare," Jackie Greene
pleaded.
The doctor didn't protest any further—instead, he waved
them into the room, and added, "He'll be tired, so don’t stay long."
Sage held back a few steps as Hayden's parents and brother entered
the room and rushed to his bedside. Only when they were busy talking with
him did she allow herself to slip into the corner of the room where she
could see him.
Though the sight of all the IV tubes and machines
hooked up to him unnerved her at first, she reminded herself to be
grateful for it all. He was alive. That was all that mattered, and this
hospital stay was only temporary after all.
"Police were already
in here," Hayden was saying when Sage tuned into the conversation. "I have
no idea who the guy was, though—I barely saw him, and then I woke up here.
The detectives are asking all these stupid things about gangs and..." He
grasped a pillow to his chest and hugged it, squeezing as he coughed hard.
It took several seconds for the coughing to subside, and even then, his
breathing was laboured. As his mother reached for the cup of water next to
his bedside for him, his eyes drifted across the room to Sage.
"Hey, hun." His fingers stretched in her direction and he weakly
raised his arm, beckoning for her. She found herself moving forward at his
request, and she slipped her fingers over his when she reached his
bedside.
"Hi, baby," she whispered.
"Police said you found
me?"
She nodded.
"Sorry I gave you a scare. But really, if
you and Gen hadn't been there so quickly, I might not be here right
now...so thanks." He caressed her fingers with his, then gave her hand a
squeeze and looked at her pointedly. "You saved my life."
Save
him? God, she practically did this to him... And that was enough to break
the dam in her, and she let out a sob, then another, until finally she was
crying so hard she couldn't see past her own tears.
"Oh, hey, it's
okay..." He looked to his family for a second. "Two minutes? With my
girl?"
"We'll be right outside—I want to talk to the doctor some
more anyway," Mrs. Greene said then the three of them left the room.
"It's okay, Sage..." Hayden's hand slid over her arm to her waist,
and he pulled her closer. "I'm fine. Please don't cry."
"I'm
sorry," she mumbled as he drew her into a hug.
"Don't be." He
pressed his lips to her cheek in a kiss. "But don't cry. C'mon, you're my
kick-ass Amazon chick. Amazons don't cry."
She pulled back and
took a deep breath, then wiped some of the tears from her eyes.
"It's actually a pretty sweet deal I've got going here," he
continued. "I have to stay at the hospital for awhile, but then I get to
go home and skip out on work and school for a couple of weeks. I've been
meaning to replay Final Fantasy seven through ten-two anyway. I might skip
nine though, haven't decided yet. Seeing Vivi again is tempting, but I
don't think it's enough to suffer Zidane. Then I'll be back at school just
in time for you and me to hit the Halloween dance."
Sage sighed.
"I hate those things."
"I know, but we'll be celebrating my
recovery. Levi and Gen will be going as Riff-Raff and Magenta again, so
this year we can do Brad and Janet. I've already picked out some lingerie
for you..."
"As long as I get to pick out some boxers for you,"
she said, a grin hovering on the corner of her lips.
"Deal. So be
happy. Besides, this whole thing got me something I've never had before."
"What's that?"
He held up his hand and wiggled two
fingers. "
Two collapsed lungs. I mean, lots of people have one
collapse, but two? That’s pretty cool."
"That's not funny," she
said without smiling.
"It is a little bit."
When she
didn’t respond, he slid a few inches to the opposite side of the bed and
made her sit down next to him.
"It's okay, hun. When they told me
what happened...honestly, I was pretty scared too. But I'm fine. You found
me in time, and now everything's going to be okay."
But it
wouldn't be okay, would it? Something could still happen to him. Something
could happen to anyone; her mom, her sisters. No one was safe. Not yet,
anyway.
"I'm sorry I wasn't with you," she whispered.
"And
what would you have done besides get stabbed too?"
She didn't
reply.
That may be true, but it was me they wanted...
"I'm glad you weren't there. I don't know
what I would do without you."
"Hayden...this is my fault."
He raised a brow in scepticism. "Oh really?"
"Yeah."
"Are you a member of this gang the cops seem to think came after
me?"
She shook her head.
"Are you a member of a rival gang
they were after?"
Though she shook her head again, she had to
admit that was one way of putting it. "Kind of."
"Kind of?" He
still clearly didn't believe her. "You joined a gang? Is it the Crips?
'Cause that's the only one I've heard of."
"Well, no..."
A
nurse entered the room then, a fresh cup of water and a paper cup of pills
in hand.
"I'm sorry miss," she said. "I'm going to have to ask you
to leave for awhile. He needs his rest."
Hayden squeezed her hand.
"Come see me tomorrow?"
"Bright and early."
"Good. You can
tell me all about your gang connections then. Love you."
"I love
you too." Reluctantly, she stood and left his bedside. She paused in the
doorway, and glanced back. He was okay. He would continue to be
okay...provided she did what was necessary to ensure his safety.
His parents were still speaking to the doctor when she walked by,
so she continued past them without a word, the waiting room—and
Genevieve—as her destination.
"Sage?"
God, what does he want now...
She swung around to face Levi. "What?"
He didn't have that puppy-dog, sweet look to him now; he stared at
her with pure rage.
"What the fuck is going on?"
"I don't
know what you're—"
"Cut the bullshit! You know what's going on
here—"
She turned to walk away again.
"You'd better
fucking explain it to me, or I'm telling the police everything I know!"
"And what might that be, exactly?" she asked as she faced him once
more.
"I saw those people go after you. A week later, Hayden—your
boyfriend—happens to get stabbed a bunch of times? I'm capable of putting
two and two together, and so are the police. Now what the hell are you
involved in?"
Sage visibly stiffened and levelled him with a cold
gaze. "It doesn't concern you."
"He's my brother and he almost
died. It sure as hell does fucking concern me!"
"No, it doesn't.
You're welcome to go to the police with whatever you supposedly know, but
if you think that's going to help him, you're wrong." With that, she
turned on her heel and stalked the rest of the way to the waiting room.
She met Genevieve's gaze as soon as she entered the room, and Sage
gestured for her to follow a ways away from the others.
"Is he all
right?" Gen asked when they were out of earshot.
Sage nodded.
"You've talked to your parents?"
"Yeah, Mom's coming to pick me up
as soon as—"
"Call her back and tell her you're staying at my
place tonight."
"But why—"
"Then call Michael and Merri,
fill them in, and let them know we'll be by later."
"Sage..."
Gen's blonde brows were knitted in concern, but Sage would be damned if
she'd listen to that girl bitch and whine, today of all days.
"Just do it." She left Gen alone to make the calls then went to
tell her mother they were ready to leave. Soon, Sage, her family, and
Genevieve were all heading to the parking lot. The others spoke a little
to one another, but Sage's mind was miles away.
You killed one of mine. And as they say, an eye
for an eye, and all that... Oh, yes. An eye for an eye. Only this
time, she'd deliver it herself.
Threefold.
