Core Page 10

  “Who is this guy, Ava?” T asked. He opened his car door and got out.

  He stood about as tall as Cale, but his biceps were nearly twice as large. Ava had never really noticed how massive T was. But it wasn’t Cale she was worried about. From the way Cale was glaring at him, T was the one about to have his nose re-broken.

  “Cale, he’s my coach. Sort of. It’s fine.” Ava stepped between Cale and T. “Just let me talk to him. Then he’ll be on his way. Okay?” Ava had no idea why Cale was reacting that way. T was hardly a threat.

  “You know him?” Cale asked.

  It’s like he isn’t even listening. “Look at me, Cale,” she said.

  Reluctantly, he obeyed, turning his eyes away from T and fastening them on Ava. Instead of his light brown orbs, his eyes were slivers of gold. A thin wisp of smoke slipped from his narrow nose and into the air.

  “He’s harmless. Now go inside and let me talk to him.” She shoved him. “Go inside, Cale.”

  “How long is he staying?” Cale asked while Ava pushed him.

  “Just for a couple minutes. Now get out of here.”

  “I don’t like him,” Cale said as he walked to the house. He pointed at T. “I don’t like him, Ava.”

  Ava couldn’t help but smile at him. She shook her head. “I heard you.”

  “Ten minutes,” Cale said. “And I’ll be right behind the door.”

  Ava nodded. “Quit stalling.”

  T waited until the door to the Anders’ house clicked shut. He leaned against the hood of his car and watched as Ava walked back to his car. His eyes soaked in every inch of her. When she came to a stop in front of him, her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt, he met her eyes.

  “You been fighting?”

  Ava pursed her lips. “None of your business.”

  “You’re not supposed to fight outside of the gym, Ava.”

  Ava crossed her arms. For some reason, T always zapped her patience faster than anyone else. “Suspend me then.”

  “That’s not what I came here for. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

  “Well, stalker, you found me. What do you want?”

  “To see if you’re okay.”

  Ava motioned to her entire person. “I am obviously okay, T. Is that all?”

  He shook his head. “Come for a ride with me.”

  Ava sighed. “I’ve had enough adventure for tonight. Besides, I have a plane to catch tomorrow.”

  He furrowed his brow. “A plane? Where are you going?”

  “On a trip.”

  He clenched his jaw, anger blazing in his eyes for just a moment. “You haven’t been to the gym in days. You have a fight coming up in two weeks. And now you’re planning spontaneous trips?”

  “Accurate.”

  He put both hands to his temples as though he was suddenly exhausted. “Ava, for god’s sake, just give me a little bit of your time and explain things to me. You owe me that much.”

  Ava bit her lip. He was right. He’d given her countless rides to and from the gym. He’d stepped in as coach when Walter couldn’t make it. He’d looked out for her.

  “Fine. Just let me tell Cale.”

  “Tell him when you get back,” T said, sliding into the driver’s seat and slamming the door closed. He leaned over and pushed Ava’s door open. “Get in.”

  Ava frowned as she took a look at the Ander’s front door. She knew Cale hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he’d wait right behind the door for her. I’ll text him. And she sighed as she got into the passenger seat of T’s car.

  They drove for a while, back toward downtown. Ava typed out the text: riding with T for a minute. Be back soon. She waited for Cale’s response to come filled with hurt or at least anger. All it said was: where are you guys going? They pulled over behind an old diner, and T killed the engine. She texted back the name of the diner and slipped her phone back into her sweatshirt pocket.

  “You hungry?” T asked.

  She was, but she shook her head. Eating would only take more time. She sat back in the seat and admired the scenery. An overflowing dumpster. A puddle of murky water stretching across the empty parking lot. A flickering streetlight.

  “You gonna talk to me?” T asked.

  “Sure. What do you want to hear?”

  He shrugged. “How have you been?”

  Ava rolled her eyes. “What do you think is about to happen here? You think I’m going to open up and spill my heart out to you?”

  “I’m trying to be nice, Ava.”

  “Well, stop.”

  “Fine. You don’t want to talk? We don’t have to talk.”

  “Good.”

  Ava crossed her arms. T watched her for a few moments. Long moments that stretched into minutes. Ava could feel his eyes boring into her. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. Then, he reached out and put his hand on her knee. Before Ava could react, he slid his hand upwards, gripping her thigh tightly. She shoved his hand away, her jaw dropping in shock. What the hell? T just put his hand back, moving his palm up even higher.

  “Stop,” she said, slapping him away once again, still surprised at his actions.

  She didn’t have time to say more. He dug his fingers into her arms and shifted his weight so that he was on top of her. He pressed his mouth to hers, pushing until her head smacked into the car door. Ava struggled against him, but he pushed right back, grabbing hold of her right leg and pulling it towards him so that she had no choice but to sink into the seat.

  Ava didn’t have enough room to fight him off. Panic took over as she felt his free hand squeezing her throat, holding her in place. Finally, she broke one of her arms away and tore her nails into his face, which cause him to pull his head back far enough for her to reach up and yank on the door’s handle. The door jolted open, and she tumbled backward and onto the ground.

  She wasted no time. Scrambling to her feet, she sprinted around to the front of the diner and through the doors. Breathless, she curled into a booth. I should call the police, she thought. But it made her want to throw up. Explaining what had almost happened to people she didn’t know. She wanted to hide, but she knew that the diner was the safest place. If she went to the bathroom or someplace hidden, T could barge in.

  Ava blinked against her thoughts, trying to keep them away. She had learned how to cope by ignoring hurtful memories. But right when pain was fresh, that was when she was most vulnerable. It all flooded her–memories of Jim, of his fist against her face, of his belt against her skin. And of T, of his hands in places they should never have been, of his hot breath against her mouth.

  “Can I get you something?”

  Ava jumped so hard that she startled the waitress. The older lady stalled, frowning at the disheveled teenager slumped in the booth. “You okay, honey?”

  Ava shook her head, then realized her mistake and nodded instead.

  “I’m fine,” she said. But her voice barely came out.

  The waitress left, looking at Ava over her shoulder with worry. Ava didn’t notice. She focused on breathing. On deep, deep breaths. She willed her hands to stop shaking, her head to stop spinning. Be brave, Ava. Calm yourself down. She hated that she flinched as the bell over the diner’s door tinkled. She ducked so that her head wasn’t visible over the booth. But the person who hurried past her wasn’t who she expected.

  “Cale?”

  He swiveled at the sound of her voice. It took him less than a second to know she wasn’t herself. Cale slid in next to her, his eyes taking her in carefully.

  “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head and sat up a little straighter next to him. Stop acting like a baby. She made sure her hair was smoothed down, forcing her hands not to tremble as she ran them over her curls.

  “I’m good,” she huffed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Ava….”

  “I’m good,” she said too loudly.

  “Okay,” Cale replied.

  “Can we leave?”

/>   He nodded, scooting out of the bench and watching while Ava followed, slower, as though it hurt. Cale opened the diner’s doors for her and surveyed the parking lot as they made it to the truck. They rode in silence, Cale stealing glances at her. He didn’t make it a mile on the highway before he pulled over onto the grass.

  “Ava, let me help you,” he said. “You don’t have to talk about it. Just let me help.”

  Ava swallowed, her eyes glued to her fingernails. After a while, her voice came out hoarse. “How?”

  Cale slid over slowly in the cab of the truck. He put an arm around Ava’s shoulder and, as carefully as he could, pulled her toward him. She pressed her forehead against his chest and tried to breathe. He smelled like clean laundry and firewood.

  Ava was ashamed that silent tears slipped out on to his shirt. What if he notices? But he didn’t pull away, didn’t call her a coward. Instead, he put a warm hand on her back. Ava closed her eyes and fought the sobs that wanted to break free. Instead, a groan escaped–soft, barely audible.

  Cale bit his lip to keep a groan of his own inside. Hearing Ava’s pain hurt him. It was as though he’d been beaten, kicked in the stomach.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I should have been there. I should never have left you alone.”

  Ava pulled away even though she didn’t want to. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “It’s no big deal. Nothing happened.” She sighed. Every single muscle in her body ached as her words leaked out of her. “How did you know…?”

  “I just get a feeling.” Cale rubbed his forehead. His headache was so profound, it was splitting his skull in two. “I should have followed my instinct.”

  “No, I should have listened to you.” She opened the car mirror and flicked the light on. When she pulled down the collar of her sweatshirt, she could see that the bruise on her neck was already darkening. She was going to have to hide it from Miriam. Good thing I have plenty of experience.

  She flipped the mirror closed and leaned her head back against the seat. “This is why I don’t make friends. It’s never worth it.”

  Cale reached out and touched her shoulder. He did it often. A red dragon thing.

  “Ava, I’ll only ask this once. And whatever you answer, I won’t question it.” He took a deep breath. “Do you want to report that guy?

  He waited, watching her face as she thought. She’d never reported anything before, not even when things with Jim were at their worst. She remembered when he’d broken her arm. Her second grade teacher had asked what happened more than once, and Ava could tell she suspected something was amiss. Ava lied, perfecting her mistruth every time. She recalled how fast her heart began to beat when her teacher pursed her lips, studying the bruises that accompanied the sky blue cast. It had terrified Ava. The idea that she’d be found out, that she’d be taken away, that Miriam would have to live all alone. That scared Ava more than Jim ever did.

  “I’m not afraid of him,” she said. She needed to say it out loud. She didn’t need the police’s help. If I had to, I could handle it myself.

  “Neither am I,” Cale said. “Trust me, I could kill him without trying. But someone else might be too afraid to do anything about it.” Cale tugged at one of her curls. “Not every girl is as brave as you, Ava.”

  Ava fidgeted in her seat. “Anonymously. And we don’t tell anyone.”

  Cale’s smile was cautious. “Agreed.”

  Cars whizzed by them on the interstate as they made the call, and both Ava and Cale ignored them. There was enough going on inside the cab. When it was over, Ava smiled, just a little.

  “That wasn’t so bad.”

  Cale reached over and flicked her ear. “Apparently, I’m always right,” he said.

  “Sure.”

  Cale grinned. “Wow, you must be really tired. I can’t believe you agreed with me.”

  Ava leaned her head against the truck door and closed her eyes. She felt the sleep coming on almost instantly. “Just drive me home, dragon man.” And she was gone.

  Eight

  Landing

  Cale slouched into his seat, his knees bumping against the chair in front of him. He tried twisting, stretching his feet out as far as he could. Nothing was comfortable. Ava elbowed him out of her space, pushing his large frame off her arm rest.

  “Sit still,” she said as she shoved her palms against his side. “You’re driving me crazy."

  He leaned forward so his head rested on the back of the chair in front of him. “But I’m losing my mind,” he groaned. “I can’t sit still this long.”

  The flight attendant had put on a movie about a boy and girl whose dog crossed a magical bridge. Ava couldn’t decide whether it was worse to endure Cale's whining or to wait to find out if Maggie and Ted could muster the courage to take their first step on their fantastical bridge journey.

  Ava sighed, turning away from Maggie, who was sobbing into her mother’s apron because she didn’t have the balls to follow Ted.

  “Let’s play a game or something,” Ava said.

  Cale sat up quickly, his face alight. “Football?”

  Ava scowled. “Yes, Cale.” She motioned to the cabin. “Let’s play football in the crowded airplane as it struggles to defy gravity and keep us suspended in the air.”

  Cale groaned again, burying his face in his hands. “There’s only so many times I can ask for apple juice.” He grabbed her wrist and shook until her hand went floppy. “Save me, Ava.”

  She sighed and pushed him off of her. “Fine. Tell me about flying.”

  Cale rolled his eyes. “That’s not going to work again. How gullible do you think I am?”

  Ava leaned over him and opened the window. Cale couldn’t help but stare as the clouds billowed along. The blue of the sky was so close. He imagined how cold it would be, how dangerous, but how free he would feel, how close he’d be to Ava.

  “I’ve been dreaming about it since before I could talk,” he said, still gazing out the window. “We’re going to love it.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be as excited about it as you, Cale. I haven’t been dreaming about flying a dragon my whole life. In fact, I was pretty sure dragons didn’t exist up until a few days ago.” She chewed on the last of the ice cubes that remained from Cale’s apple juice. He didn’t even drink the stuff. Ava had no idea why he was ordering it in such large quantities. “Besides, I don’t think I even like flying. This is its own sort of impossible.”

  Cale scoffed. “Our plane falling out of the sky is less likely than us getting struck by lightning.”

  “That happens to people,” she argued. They lived in Florida. It happened more often there than anywhere else in the United States.

  “Well, it won’t happen to us.” He looked out the window again, dreams in his eyes.

  Cale fell asleep eventually. His head bobbed as he tried to balance it on his own shoulder until Ava gave in, lifted her armrest and let him spread out over her lap. A soft, low growl escaped him as he snuggled closer to her, burying his face in the blanket she had over her legs. The passenger sitting next to Ava glanced over disapprovingly, but Ava just stared the chubby man down until he turned away and put his headphone buds into his ears.

  Ava didn’t know what to do with her hands once Cale was on her lap. One of her armrests was gone and the other was being monopolized by Chubster. Tired of hovering, she surrendered and rested her hands on Cale’s back. He was warm, his body rising and falling slowly beneath her palms. She reached up and touched the hair at the base of his neck as lightly as she could. He shivered and readjusted, pulling the blanket closer to his face. Ava ran her hands over his hair with less restraint and Cale growled again, a little smile playing on his lips as he slept.

  As time passed, Ava leaned over onto his back. He didn’t seem to mind when she folded her arms and laid them on top of him. She closed her eyes, feeling the constant lift and drop of his breathing, the heat his blood gave off through his clothes. She knew she was about to fall
asleep when doubts began to creep in. Too close, Ava. Way too close. But she refused to open her eyes. No, she thought, silencing them all. This is perfect.

  Hours later, the plane jerked in the sky. Cale sat up and nearly smacked into Ava, who was still curled on top of him. She rubbed her face, pulling herself out of the best, deepest sleep of her life. But Cale was wide awake, sitting up straight, his mouth puckered into a frown.

  “What is it?” Ava asked. “Bad dream?”

  Cale didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes darted around the cabin, trying to see the faces of the people around them. He looked serious. That was never a good sign.

  “Cale, what’s the matter with you?”

  He snorted, almost like a sneeze, and a puff of smoke drifted into the air. Ava fanned it away, her heartbeat picking up. “You’re going to get us in trouble,” she hissed at him. “Calm down.”

  People didn’t like seeing smoke on airplanes. Ava hadn’t flown before, but she’d seen enough on the news. How would we explain to hundreds of panicked passengers that he’s a harmless dragon and not a terrorist?

  “It’s probably nothing,” Cale said. But his voice sounded dry. “I’m just going to go to the bathroom.” And he had every intention of doing that once he took a good, slow walk through the cabin.

  Ava grabbed his shirt and pulled him back down to his seat. “Tell me what’s up first.”

  Cale’s eyes were still roving over the people on the plane. Some were sleeping, others listening to music or flipping through magazines. They looked like normal passengers to Ava.

  “I just got that feeling.”

  Feeling? Like the feeling he got the night sirens attacked? “How can we be in trouble in an airplane? You think a siren followed us up here?”

  “I can’t tell yet. Let me walk around and I’ll see.”

  He stepped over Ava and Chubster, who glowered his way, his flappy jowls sagging in irritation. Cale got his backpack down and handed it to Ava. He didn’t have to say why. Ava opened it and stuck her hand in, running her fingers across the stitching in the lining where they’d sewn in the dragonblades. Since the weapons weren’t iron or steel, they didn’t draw attention from the metal detectors in the airport. Ava was glad they’d decided to break the rules and bring them along, though when Cale had thought of it, she deemed him paranoid.