Between Lies Read online

  “Did you know that ninety-nine percent of people can’t lick their elbow?”

  “Wait, what? How do you know all this stuff?”

  He shrugged. “There’s a lot out there to learn.”

  “Out where?” He was so intriguing. I’d assumed he wasn’t smart, but he was quickly proving me wrong.

  “You know”—he moved his hand in a casual wave around us—“out in the world. In life.”

  “Hmm, I guess there is.” I tried to imagine if I could lick my elbow. Would I need to bend it all the way up while moving my neck out as far—

  “You’re trying to picture yourself doing it. You’re itching to try, aren’t you?” He was smiling at me and I couldn’t help but start laughing.

  “I do want to try!”

  With both of us laughing our heads off, we started contorting our bodies trying to get our tongues to our elbows. I was so close, just needing another two inches. I looked over to Cam and started cackling louder. His mouth was wide open with his tongue sticking out as far as it would go and he was using his other hand to pull his elbow closer to his mouth. He looked absurd. We both did. Which made the whole thing that much funnier.

  Exhausted from laughter, I fell backward on the soft grass. I gazed up at the leafy canopy above us, listening to the wind rustle the leaves and watching the light scatter as it filtered through the branches. It was beautiful. I thought about how much time I could have had experiencing this if I’d only known sunlight was harmless to me. It made me a little angry. My life had mostly sucked up until now and it didn’t have to. But as much as I felt betrayed, I knew it wasn’t anyone’s fault. How could anyone have known that the normal vampire rules and weaknesses wouldn’t apply to me?

  Cam had given up and was laying on his back next to me. We spent a few minutes in comfortable silence as we absorbed the beauty of the day. I felt guilty that I was having so much fun with someone—a boy—who wasn’t Kade. Thinking about him brought me back to reality, and I rolled over onto my side with my elbow and hand propping me up.

  “Cam, do you have a girlfriend?” I wanted to know—no, needed to know—where he stood on that front.

  He turned to look at me and I couldn’t read the expression on his face. But his eyes… those smooth, velvety eyes… created a warmth deep in my belly.

  “No,” he said slowly. “Why are you asking me that?”

  “I… no reason, I guess. I have a boyfriend.” I wanted to get that out there so he’d know. So… things wouldn’t happen.

  “Okay, good to know, I guess.” He was quiet for a second. “Why did you feel it necessary to tell me that?” He hadn’t stopped looking at me, and I was acutely aware of a swarm of butterflies collecting in my stomach.

  “I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. You know, just in case…” I trailed off because I didn’t know how to end the thought. Just in case of what, Sadie? What are you doing? Afraid of where my mind was going, I sat up quickly and immediately wanted to lie back down, a powerful head rush taking my breath away. “I think I need to go home. Can you take me back to my car?”

  I expected an argument or something, but none came. He stood and held his hand down to help me up. We walked in silence to his bike. This time I was confident in taking my position on the back, and before I knew it, we were off. He drove slower this time, which I appreciated. My mind whirled and panic tried to overwhelm me. My hands were fisted on his hoodie, but whether it was from fear of the bike or fear of my feelings, I didn’t know.

  When we pulled into the school parking lot, Bessie was right where I’d left her. He pulled in next to her and parked. After he dismounted, he turned and carefully took my helmet off. Without a word, he took my hand and helped me down. With our fingers intertwined, we stood close together a moment, the memories of our afternoon time almost tangible between us.

  Finally, I took a shaky breath in and whispered, “Thank you.” He pulled his hand from mine and smiled at me.

  “You’re welcome, Sadie.”

  I dug my keys out of my bag, but my fingers fumbled with them as I unlocked the car door. As I climbed in, I turned to smile at him. He gave me a small nod before mounting his bike and driving off. I sat there, my hands gripping the steering wheel, wondering what the hell I’d just done. Kade. Why did he keep falling to the back of my mind when I was around Cam? Kade had proven how much he cared for me, understanding and loving me in spite of my freakishness. And here I was, feeling weak-kneed around another guy.

  What was I doing?

  Chapter Six

  It was still early by the time I got home. Neither Kade or Molly would even be awake yet, but I was desperate to talk to someone. Either to Kade, to assure myself that everything was okay between us, or Molly to get reassurance that I was only imagining things with Cam. I paced around my room, too antsy to sit. I remembered Harper giving me her number. Even though she didn’t know the bulk of my secrets, I could still talk to her about my situation. If I left things vague enough, there would be no need to give extra explanations.

  Digging inside my pocket, I pulled out and smoothed the crinkled paper. She’d drawn a little smiley face next to her number. I held my phone, staring at the empty text screen, trying to figure out how to start the conversation. I finally settled on the very original “hey”.

  Me: Hey, Harper, it’s Sadie.

  I waited, getting more and more nervous as each second went by. What if she’d only given me her number out of courtesy? What if she was secretly hoping I’d never use it? What if she was rolling her eyes right now and trying to think of ways to blow me off? I felt stupid, like a five-year-old asking if someone wanted to be friends. Even though we’d hung out at school and stuff, it didn’t mean she actually wanted to be friends friends. Just as I was about to write the whole thing off and wondered how difficult it would be to change my schedule so we didn’t see each other, my phone dinged.

  Harper: Hey, girl. What’s up? How did your meeting with Cam go?

  Oh, thank God. She was engaging. All of a sudden, I felt foolish. Thankful she had no idea how far I’d gone in my mind, I tapped out my reply.

  Me: I don’t know. I need to talk about it with someone.

  I held my breath as I waited again. This time, her reply was quick.

  Harper: Give me about ten minutes and then I’ll be able to talk. I’ll call you.

  Me: Cool

  I checked the clock and determined I had just enough time to grab a quick drink and my blood pills before she called. As I walked downstairs I kept a wary eye out for the cat and was happy when I made it to the kitchen without being accosted. When I opened the refrigerator, I tried to ignore the container of blood sitting on the middle shelf, instead reaching behind it for a taller jug. I filled a glass with cold lemonade and smiled to myself when I saw fresh lemon slices floating in the pitcher. My mom liked to add those touches to even the simplest things and with the storm of emotion happening inside me, those lemons were a little piece of comfort.

  On my way back out, I grabbed my pills from the cabinet and an apple from the bowl on the kitchen table. Taking a huge bite, I headed back upstairs. When I made it to the top landing, I heard my phone ringing. Stepping quickly, I made it to the phone right before she hung up.

  “M’lo.” My voice was muffled from the mush of apple I was trying to swallow and I choked slightly as bits of it went down the wrong pipe. I started coughing, tears streaking down my face as I struggled to catch my breath.

  “Sadie?”

  I coughed out a “yes” and as I did so, a chunk of apple flew out of my mouth. “Oh my g… cough… hang… cough… on…” As I began to breathe again, my voice grew stronger. “Sorry…”

  “Good grief. Are you okay?”

  “Y-yes. Oh my God, I choked on a bite of apple as I came upstairs.”

  “Sheesh, Sadie. You are a walking hazard. I mean that in the nicest way, though.”

  I heard the affection in her voice and suddenly had an overwh
elming urge to cry. I knew that sound. I’d heard it from Molly plenty of times. It was the sound of true friendship. With that one sentence, she washed away all my fears from the previous half hour.

  “So,” she continued, “what happened with Cam?” I exhaled and she heard it. “Was it that bad? Or… was it that good?”

  I groaned. “Harper, what am I going to do?”

  “Okay, so it was that good. Tell.”

  I launched into the story and when I got to the part of me holding on to him on the bike, she broke in. “Wait, wait… you were pressed up against him and felt his laugh? Oh my, this is good.”

  “It’s not good! I have a boyfriend,” I said, enunciating each syllable to emphasize the situation. “And here’s Cam, looking like a total bad boy and it turns out he’s sweet and caring and protective and funny and—”

  “And you’re totally falling for him.”

  “No! I’m not falling for Cam! I love my boyfriend.”

  There was silence on her end. When she eventually did speak, I heard a seriousness in her voice that she’d never had with me before. “I get it, Sadie. Really, I do. You have a guy who you love and feel devoted to. And if I’m not mistaken, I think you even feel a little grateful to him. For loving you back. And now there’s this other guy who, and I’m guessing here, doesn’t know whatever it is that makes you feel grateful, and he likes you just because. You don’t know what to do with that.”

  I was stunned. How did she know any of that? Somehow she had nailed it without being clued in to the real me or any of my background. Was she psychic? Was I that obvious? What was going on here?

  “I-I don’t know what to say.” I took a deep breath. “How do you know that?”

  “I’m not sure. I just… do.”

  I believed her. Along with all the strange things happening lately, this was just part of the norm now. Of course— in a school that was supposed to be normal— I found a teacher who looked eerily like my vampire boyfriend, was reunited with a past teacher I was pretty sure hated me, met a boy who seemed to like me for no reason I could fathom, and made a new friend who could read me like we’d known each other since birth. Of course. Because nothing about my life was normal in the slightest.

  ***

  I’d just hung up with Harper and, feeling exhausted, decided to turn in early. I was hoping Kade would call before I fell asleep so we could at least say hello to each other. While I waited, I brushed my teeth and washed the dirt and makeup from my face. As I was patting my skin dry with a pink fluffy towel, I studied myself with a critical eye. My face had a bit of texture on the cheeks and another pimple was beginning to take form on my chin. My pale skin was even paler than usual, with dark purplish shadows beneath my eyes. My stress was starting to show. Deciding to pamper myself a bit, I dug in my drawer of makeup and spa products in search of a detox face-mask. I finally found it near the bottom and spotted some soothing eye pads, so I grabbed them, too.

  After wrapping my hair in a towel, I smeared the dark gray cream on my cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead, careful to keep it out of my eyes. I then took two of the eye pads out of their container and carried them back into my bedroom. I lay down on my back and sighed as the comfort of my pillow and sheets wrapped me in their warmth. Once I was settled, I set the timer on my phone for fifteen minutes and placed the cooling pads over my eyes. I lay there in silence, letting my mind wander as I waited to see if Kade would call. Before I knew it, my mind turned fuzzy, and I was drifting off to dreamland…

  The ringing of my phone woke me. Dazed, I fumbled with it until I hit the accept button. “Hello?” I answered, still a bit foggy.

  “Good night, beautiful.” The soft timbre sliced through my confusion like a hot knife through butter.

  “Kade!”

  He chuckled. “You say that as if we haven’t spoken in months. Has it been that bad without me?” His teasing tone made me feel silly for a moment, but I squashed it. I wanted to focus on our first real conversation in days.

  “Not bad, necessarily. It was just a long day is all. How are you? How’s University?” I waited for him to mention Molly’s troubles but wasn’t surprised when he didn’t.

  “It’s the same as always. A few people keep asking me how you are. You had more allies here than you thought.”

  “Like who?” I was suspicious that anyone aside from him and Molly cared one whit about where I was or how I was doing.

  “A few people in our Moderation class.”

  I couldn’t think of anyone I cared about in there, but it did remind me of something else. “Oh my gosh, Kade, I almost forgot. Ms. Stratha appeared at my school today. She says she’s going to be doing a rotation through the school, teach a different class every six weeks to decide where she wants to focus. She’s going to be my English teacher for the next month and a half. Can you believe that? You know how she seemed to have it in for me at University, and now she happens to end up in a human high school that I’m attending? She’s up to something, Kade. I just can’t figure out what.”

  “I know she did seem a little focused on you in a bad way, and I’ll agree that it’s odd she’d leave University and go to the same school you’re at, but I don’t think she’s evil or that she’s after you. I mean, for what purpose? You’re pretty…” He trailed off, not finishing his sentence, and something sparked within me.

  “I’m pretty what, Kade?” It came out like a snarl, but I kept going. “Unremarkable? Plain? Boring? Nothing special?”

  “Hey, whoa! What’s gotten into you? I wasn’t going to say any of those things. Who do you think I am?”

  I was quiet. There was a small voice inside me asking the same question. I didn’t want to listen to her, but I couldn’t deny there were several things going on that were starting to affect the way I saw him. The distance between us since I started school, Molly’s revelation, as well as Harper’s remark that I felt grateful to him for liking me—they were all combining into a worry that he may not be the person I thought he was. When I finally stopped to acknowledge that, I realized I still held doubt about his absence and coldness a few weeks back.

  “Sadie?”

  I wasn’t ready to mention any of those things. Not tonight. I needed to think about them more and I definitely needed to be fresh when I finally did address it with him.“I don’t know why I reacted like that. I’m sorry. Just… let’s just chalk it up to me having a not great day. Can we do that?”

  His voice was quiet. “Sure, I guess we can do that.” There was a long pause as we both sat there in silence. “I miss you, Sade. I love you.”

  Most of me swooned a bit on the inside. “I love you, too. When do you think I’ll see you again? I know we have the worst schedules, but I think it’s important we spend a little time together, at least.

  “I know. How about tomorrow? I can swing by and get you, and we’ll go to our spot in the park. How does that sound?”

  The park. Guilt and nerves kept me silent. Would I be able to act normal if we went there? Did it even matter? Was I making too big of a thing about being there with Cam? Frustrated with myself and utterly confused about things in general, I blurted out, “Sure! That would be great!”

  Oh hell, Sadie. Way to go overboard trying not to sound guilty.

  If he noticed anything, he didn’t mention it. “Okay, love. We have ourselves a date. I’ll be by around seven thirty p.m. Sound good?”

  “It sounds perfect, Kade.”

  “Great. See ya tomorrow, my Sadie. Good night.”

  “Night,” I murmured before hanging up.

  I was still laying on my back, my face tight from the dried mask. The eye pads had also dried out, so I took them off as I sat up.

  And promptly screamed.

  Chapter Seven

  “Pen!” I screeched. “Wha… what are you doing in my room?” My heart galloped at an insane pace and I trembled, the shock of seeing her standing a few feet from my bed—for God knew how long—causing adrenaline to race through
my veins.

  She gaped at me, a hand held over her heart as if I were the one who surprised her. “Whatever happened to your face, child?”

  It took me a second to catch up with her question. When it dawned on me what she was talking about, I laughed. As my initial upset faded, I couldn’t help but imagine what I must look like to her. Giggling, I went into the bathroom to wet a washcloth. When I came back out, she was still standing in the same spot, her eyebrows drawn together in puzzlement.

  “It’s a mud mask. For my skin. It helps…” Realizing, it sounded kind of ridiculous when I described it, I tried to dismiss it. “You know what, never mind. I must look silly.” Massaging my skin with the damp cloth, I glanced in the mirror by my bed to make sure I got it all off. Pen finally moved, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed and propping her cane against the foot board. Her hair was in her usual severe bun and she was wearing the same clothing I’d always seen her in. But there was a slight twinkle in her eye. It was the first time I’d ever seen any hint of amusement from her.

  “You’re a young thing—thousands of years younger than I. For what reason are you worrying about your appearance?”

  I opened my mouth to speak and promptly shut it. Somehow her question made me feel as though I’d insulted her.

  She continued. “A boy, perhaps?” Now there was a definite twinkle and I relaxed somewhat.

  “Maybe,” I said. “Though, I’ve also been under a lot of stress with my new… situation… and I noticed tonight that I’m wearing it all over my face.”

  To my great surprise, she chuckled. “There are two truths you are never too young to learn. First, it always come down to a boy.” She leaned in close and pointed her finger at me as a grandmother would when imparting sage advice. “And second, no matter how well we age, a woman’s appearance will always be judged harsher than a man’s ever will.” With a knowing look, she leaned back, clearly satisfied with her statement.