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  As she ate, she couldn’t stop thinking about the dance on Friday, and couldn’t stop wondering if Blake had asked Vivian. Or, if not, if he would summon the courage to ask her tomorrow her, Scarlet, tomorrow. What would she do if he didn’t ask her? Would she go alone? Not go at all?

  Should she take the initiative and ask Blake? No, she couldn’t do that.

  Throwing a major wrinkle in everything was the fact that, for some weird reason, she also couldn’t stop thinking about the new kid she saw today. Sage. She kept thinking of that funny feeling she had when she saw him, when their eyes locked—like an electric jolt. It was unlike anything she had experienced before. She didn’t understand it, and it freaked her out. Why was she even thinking about him? A part of her ached to see him again—and another part hoped that she would never see him again.

  Scarlet was beginning to feel too worked up, overwhelmed by all the emotions swirling around within her. She was feeling anxious. She just wanted tomorrow to come already, wanted to get answers, resolution, to know what was going to happen.

  “Scarlet?” came her mom’s voice.

  Scarlet looked up, jolted out of her thoughts.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  Scarlet paused, wondering what, if anything to tell her.

  “Nothing,” she finally said. She really didn’t want to talk about the dance, or Blake, or the new kid. Or anything. She just wanted the day to be over.

  “How was school today?” her dad asked.

  “Fine, I guess.”

  “Was it okay that you were late?”

  She shrugged. “I only missed one class. It wasn’t a big deal. I got the homework assignment. A few people asked what happened, but then they let it go. Anyway, no one really cared that much—

  they were too busy obsessing over Tina.”

  “Tina?” her dad asked.

  “A girl in my grade. Apparently, she, like, went crazy last night or something.” Her dad looked at her mom in surprise, and she nodded back.

  “I read about it in the paper this morning,” she said, looking right at Scarlet. “Was she a close friend of yours?”

  “I barely knew her,” Scarlet answered.

  “What happened?” her dad asked.

  “Apparently, she like freaked out last night,” Scarlet said. “Went crazy. She’s like in the hospital or something.”

  “The papers said an animal attacked her,” her mom added.

  Her dad looked at her, eyes open wide.

  “An animal?”

  “That’s what the paper said. But nobody really knows. It happened just a few blocks away.” As she said it, her mom looked at Scarlet, as if examining her, as if wondering something. It started to freak Scarlet out. Once again, Scarlet felt a pit in her stomach as she worried if maybe she had crossed paths with Tina that night. The timing of it was so weird. She looked back down at her food, just wanting to finish quick.

  They all continued to eat in silence.

  “I went to church today,” her mom suddenly announced.

  Scarlet stopped in mid-chew, stunned. She noticed her dad froze, too. They both exchanged a look.

  Scarlet didn’t even know how to respond. Church? She had never been in a church once in her life, and had never known her mom to go to one, either. She was beginning to seriously worry if her mom was losing it, having some kind of nervous breakdown. Had her being sick shaken her up that much? Or was something else going on with her?

  “Why?” Scarlet asked, breaking the thick silence.

  “I felt the need to talk to someone,” she said, “about what happened yesterday. The thought of losing you…”

  Her mom suddenly teared up, and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

  Scarlet felt a pit in her stomach.

  “Mom, I’m fine,” she said, more edgy than she wanted to be. “Seriously. There’s nothing wrong with me. God. Why are you making such a big deal of this?”

  “I saw Father McMullen. Do you remember him? He remembers you. He met you, when you were a child.”

  “I don’t remember ever even going to church,” Scarlet said.

  “When you were young, we took you a few times. Anyway, he said he wants to see you.” Scarlet looked at her mom as if she had two heads. Who was this person who had landed at their dinner table?

  “He wants to meet me? Why? What are you talking about?”

  “I told him about you, and about our family, and about what happened, and he thought it would be a good idea to meet you.”

  “Why?” Scarlet insisted, her voice rising. Now she was getting mad. What was her mom telling this priest about her?

  “Caitlin, what are you talking about?” her dad interjected, setting down his fork.

  “Is there anything so terrible about meeting with a priest?” she asked. “About going to church?”

  “I’m not going to church,” Scarlet said. “Hello, I haven’t gone my entire life. Why should I start going now? Because I got sick? Because I disappeared for a few hours?”

  “Scarlet,” her mom said, “please. I’m asking you to do me a favor. I never ask anything of you.

  I’m only asking this one thing. Please. I’m worried about you. I want you to come to church with me. I want you to meet Father McMullen.”

  “What’s the point?” Scarlet responded, feeling her heart pounding inside her chest. “I don’t understand. Like I said, I’m fine.”

  Was her mom losing her mind? Was her family going crazy?

  “You don’t know that,” her mom said.

  “What are you saying: I’m not fine?”

  Scarlet felt herself shaking inside.

  “Caitlin, Scarlet is fine,” her dad interjected. She was grateful that at least he was taking her side.

  “Just because the event shook you—”

  “I just want her to meet with the priest,” she responded, her voice rising, too, more insistent than ever. “Please. Just do this for me. He can heal you.” Scarlet found herself standing, her face flushing red.

  “Heal me of what!?” she snapped, nearly shouting.

  Her mom just stared back, silent.

  “You’re crazy!” she yelled back at her mom. “You’re losing it! You’re the one that needs to be healed! Seriously. You go talk to someone. Like a shrink or something. I don’t need to be healed. I’m fine. I’m sorry if you see me as some kind of freak. But I’m not. I’m perfectly normal!” she shouted, as if trying to convince herself, too.

  Scarlet burst into tears as she turned and fled the room, running up the steps, crying, Ruth at her heels.

  She could hardly process it all. She couldn’t believe that her mom thought of her as a sick person. As needing to see a priest. To be healed. What did that even mean? What did she think was wrong with her?

  As Scarlet ran up the steps she heard her parents voices below, arguing with each other. She heard her dad sticking up for her, yelling at her mom, and heard her mom yelling back. Scarlet cried harder. She felt as if her entire family life was crumbling around her. Was she to blame? What was going on? It seemed like just yesterday everything was so perfect.

  Scarlet ran down the hall and slammed her bedroom door behind her. She heard her mom’s footsteps on the staircase, then down the hall, coming towards her door.

  “Scarlet, I want talk to you!” her mom shouted, outside her door.

  “Go away!” she screamed back.

  “Scarlet, please, open the door!”

  But Scarlet ignored it. She locked her door, crossed her room, and curled up in her favorite chair, Ruth at her lap.

  Scarlet sat there, never feeling more alone in the world, as she cried and cried. After a long time, finally, her mom’s voice disappeared from the door.

  Scarlet eventually sat up, wiped away her tears, and reached over and grabbed her small, white leather journal from her end table. She used to write in it every night, though she hadn’t written in a while. Now, she felt the need to. She had to make sense of her world,
to get a hold on her range of conflicting emotions.

  She pulled back the cover, flipped through the pages and found an empty page. She reached over and grabbed her favorite, purple pen, then leaned over and began to write: Today was the worst day. I woke up in the hospital. I can hardly believe it. It was so weird. I came home sick, then blacked out, and I don’t remember anything in between. Mom and Dad say I ran out the house, and that I was missing for a while. Which really freaks me out. I don’t remember it at all. I really want to know where I went. What I did. If I saw any of my friends. Hopefully, no one saw me.

  I’m also freaked about what happened to me. Am I sick? Was it sleepwalking or something? Will it happen again? Mom doesn’t want to let it go. She keeps asking me if I’m okay, and she’s so worried. Now she wants me to talk to a priest. It’s so annoying. I can’t stand to be around her right now, and I’ve never really felt this way before.

  The dance on Friday is causing me so much pressure. I was sure Blake would ask me today. I’m sure he would have if it weren’t for Vivian. I hate her. Every time Blake gets near me, I feel she’s waiting to steal him. I don’t know if he asked her. Or if he’ll ask me. I hate dances. This is all so stupid anyway.

  I wish I knew where Blake stood. We had a really good time the other night, at the movies, on my birthday. I really want to be close to him. I want him to be my boyfriend. I don’t really know if he feels the same. Is he not into me? Is he into Vivian? Did I do something wrong?

  Then there’s this new kid. Sage. The one Maria likes. It was so weird, seeing him today. I can’t explain it. It’s like I knew him. I wish I hadn’t seen him. He’s Maria’s territory after all, and I’m into Blake. Or am I? I don’t really understand how I’m feeling—and that bothers me more than anything.

  I need answers. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The next day for Scarlet came and went too fast. She rushed off to school, leaving early so she didn’t have to deal with her parents, and her morning classes had gone by in a whirl. She’d had no contact with Blake whatsoever, and had hardly even seen him. She caught a glimpse of him in the halls, as she rushed from one class to the next. She hadn’t seen that new kid, Sage. And she hadn’t seen Vivian either. It was just a long and boring and anxiety-provoking day, keeping her in suspense as the minutes ticked slowly from class to class.

  She’d been so nervous for lunchtime, expecting to see them all in the cafeteria, expecting Blake to come up to her. But her stupid science teacher had kept her after class, and by the time she reached the cafeteria, she only had a few minutes to eat, and had missed everybody. She was so mad at her teacher. She was sure that if she’d arrived just a few minutes earlier she would’ve run into Blake, and he would’ve asked her.

  Now, the day was almost over, with only a few periods left, as Scarlet walked with Maria down the halls, heading towards gym and the playing fields. They walked outside into the beautiful October day, the sun shining everywhere, lighting up the leaves in a million colors, and she headed eagerly with Maria across the acres of grass. At least she was sure that this time, she would see Blake.

  They all had gym together, after all. Several classes met for gym—nearly a hundred kids—but still, there was no way he could really avoid her—unless he wanted to.

  At least, finally, she would know how he really felt. If it turned out that he didn’t want to take her to the dance, fine—she could at least get clear in her head that she would either go with someone else, or not go at all, and be able to stop obsessing over this.

  “Think we’ll get picked for the same team?” Maria asked, as they jogged towards the big crowd of kids.

  “Hope so.”

  Scarlet wasn’t exactly the best athlete on the field. She wasn’t the most coordinated person in the world, and she never got picked first, or close to first. She just wasn’t as competitive as some of the other girls. The gym teacher always let them divide into teams and pick whoever they wanted; Scarlet just hoped that she got picked on Maria’s team.

  Scarlet jogged with Maria across the grass, and it felt good to be out of school and under the open sky, as they headed towards the crowd. As they went, Scarlet scanned the fields, looking for Blake. She spotted him in the distance, on the adjacent field, with the boys as they divvied up teams for the boys’ football game. But he wasn’t looking her way and there was no way to really talk to him. She would just have to hope he came over after the game.

  “OMG, he’s here,” Maria suddenly said in an excited whisper. “I can’t believe it. Don’t look but I think he’s staring at me.”

  At first Scarlet was confused, but then she looked in the other direction, and spotted someone else: Sage. She did a double take. There he stood, hands in his jacket pockets, standing alone on the sidelines, watching. She couldn’t believe it. He was here. And he was looking right at her.

  She found herself mesmerized by the sight of him, and had to look away.

  “I’m dying,” Maria said. “Is he still watching me?”

  Scarlet tried to think of how to phrase it without hurting her feelings.

  “Um…I can’t really tell,” she said.

  As they walked through the throngs of girls and saw who was out on the field today, Scarlet felt a sense of dread. Of course. There was Vivian, already warming up, practicing her soccer skills, kicking it deftly back and forth between all of her friends. All of the popular girls seemed to be not only cheerleaders, but expert soccer players; somehow it was Scarlet’s fate to always be at their mercy to get picked, as one of the popular girls was inevitably in charge of the picking.

  The coach suddenly blew a whistle and the girls huddled around, preparing to be picked.

  “Vivian and Doris are team captains today. They’ll pick,” the coach announced.

  Of course, Scarlet thought.

  The picking began, and of the group of about twenty girls, Scarlet was picked close to last. Of course, she was picked by Doris, not Vivian. But luckily, at least Doris chose Maria to be on her team, too.

  The coach blew another whistle, and Scarlet ran out to the field with the other girls, who were all screaming and yelling as the soccer ball was put into play. They all raced back and forth, kicking the ball to each other, passing expertly. Scarlet was distracted, looking over and catching a glance of Sage. He was still looking at her. At her, and no one else.

  Scarlet forced herself to look away, to concentrate. She hardly knew what to make of it.

  She hurried to catch up to the action, but found herself a bit winded, not in the best of shape.

  Moments later, though, the ball broke free from the pack, and to Scarlet’s surprise, it went flying right for her. Her heart started pounding. This had never happened before, and she hardly knew what to do.

  She started kicking the ball down field, running alongside it. There was no one near here, and she, amazingly, soon found herself in range of the goal. She felt her heart race, as she might actually get her first chance ever to even attempt a goal.

  “Go Scarlet go!” Maria encouraged behind her.

  The goal was in sight, and there was no one between her and the goalie.

  Scarlet took a few more steps and geared up to kick.

  Suddenly, she felt a sharp cleat dig into her ankle, felt her foot kicked out from under her, and landed hard on the grass.

  “That was such a foul!” screamed Maria to the coach. But he ignored it, as he let the game continue.

  Scarlet looked up to see Vivian standing over her, smirking down.

  “Sorry,” she said sarcastically. “Must’ve thought you were the ball.” Vivian, smiling, high-fived one of her friends, and raced back downfield with the others.

  Maria held out a hand for Scarlet and she took it. She got up slowly, disoriented, her ankle in pain, and her side hurting from the fall. Most of all, she was embarrassed: she hoped that Sage hadn’t witnessed that.

  “God, I hate her,” Maria said. “That was
so wrong. She totally robbed you of that goal. I’m gonna get her back.”

  As Scarlet stood there, fuming with the indignity of it all, she suddenly started to experience something she never had before. She began to feel something burn up inside her, rise up from within. A sense of outrage and injustice burned inside her, and she began to feel a heat rising through her veins. She could feel the sensation tingling in her arms; it almost felt as if the veins were popping out of her skin.

  For the first time in her life, she felt a burning desire for revenge. Her anger burned, grew stronger and stronger, as she felt a surge of energy race through her. A superhuman strength. In that moment, she felt she was capable of anything.

  “No,” Scarlet said, taken aback by the strength in her own voice. “I got this.” Scarlet suddenly raced down the field, running right for Vivian. Vivian was a good fifty yards away, but something was happening to Scarlet, and she found herself able to zoom in on her, in crystal-clear detail. She had never had vision like this before.

  Or speed like this. As she ran, it was as if her legs ran for her. It was as if everyone else was running in slow motion, as if she were a gazelle among kids. In just moments she covered the entire field and was closing in directly on Vivian.

  Vivian, of course, had the ball, and was moving it downfield. And she never saw Scarlet coming.

  Scarlet kicked the ball out from under her, drove it further downfield, then turned around, all in the flash of an eye, and about ten yards away, kicked it hard, right at Vivian.

  The ball went flying in a line drive, and hit Vivian right in the stomach. She keeled over, on the grass, clutching her stomach, as the coach blew the whistle.

  Several girls came running over to Vivian, helping her up, making sure she was okay. Vivian got to her feet, fine but embarrassed. She glared at Scarlet with a look of death.