Of the Trees(36)

“So?” Laney asked in a leading tone. “What do you think?”

Cassie looked over Laney’s shoulder, noticed Corey laughing and talking with Jon and Samantha as they made their way toward the entrance, probably on their way to find water after dancing for hours. He was polite, but engaging as well, taking an interest in the people Laney knew and liked and for that, Cassie was impressed. He was good looking too, sweet, and every few minutes, he’d look over, let his gaze sweep over Laney and then go back to his conversation. He seemed to genuinely care. Cassie smiled, almost reluctantly.

“How long have you been seeing him?” Cassie asked, leaning close to Laney. Her friend laughed uncertainly.

“I know, it’s intense, isn’t it?” Laney replied, pulling her bottom lip through her teeth in a gesture Cassie recognized as one of nervousness. “It’s happening really fast.”

“What is, exactly?” Cassie prodded. Laney offered a brief grimacing smile.

“Him, me,” Laney answered vaguely. “It’s all so real. I’ve never been this … this—”

“Swept up?” Cassie supplied in the pause. Laney considered for a moment and then a slow grin took over her face. She shrugged in acceptance. Before Cassie could say anything else, Corey was back, his arm on Laney’s forearm, and she was pulled away.

It struck Cassie though, just as Laney was spun into Corey’s waiting embrace, that it wasn’t the first time she had seen her friend this swept up, only in the past it had never been over a boy. Laney had been this obsessed with something else though: The Gray Lady cemetery, the need to prove the existence of ghosts and goblins and spirits, the desire to make Cassie believe. The intensity that had existed before, the force with which she wanted the world to fit into her beliefs, it was all still there, just transferred onto this boy. Corey was the tangible proof of her obsession.

Cassie didn’t have time for more than a brief flash of realization before she felt her arm get tugged and she was spun to face Tori Marquard. She barely got out a greeting to the junior from her drama class before Tori blurted out that Ryan was hurt.

“His hand, it got all smashed up—”

“Where?” Cassie was already pulling the younger girl toward the door, but Tori just shook her head.

“He’s not here, that’s what I—” she broke off, swearing lightly. She beckoned Cassie toward the edge of the bleacher where they would be sheltered a bit from the loud music that rang through the gym. In the dark behind the bleachers, Tori explained. She had been coming out of the girl’s bathroom and heard a shout from around the corner. Somehow, and she couldn’t explain how, Ryan got his hand slammed in the bathroom door. It wasn’t bleeding, but it had swelled immediately and Mr. Harris—

“Oh, sorry, I mean, obviously, your dad,” she blurted out. Cassie gestured impatiently for her to continue.

It had been suggested, forcefully, that Ryan go to the emergency room. Jon and Samantha had taken him, and they already left. Ryan had asked Tori to find Cassie and explain, and see if her dad would give her a ride home.

By the time Cassie had run to the hall, her father was already seated back behind the table. Ryan was nowhere in sight. She sighed, told her father Laney would drive her home, and wandered back into the gym, a lead weight seeming to settle in her stomach.





“Cassie, get in the car.”

“I don’t want to get in the car.”

“Get in the car,” Laney hissed, yanking the back passenger side door open. Cassie glanced across the seat, looking over, again, at the boy who sat there waiting for her. She never got his name, but she recognized him as one of Corey’s friends from the dance. He was the one that stared. The square mask was gone, but his eyes still bore into her. She could see him better now, not through the darkened gym hidden behind a mask, but directly under the lit overhead light in Corey’s car. His eyes were a shocking blue, though not completely blue. There were flecks of other colors in them: gray and even green, though maybe that was just a reflection of the forest green shirt he wore. The collar of the shirt was starched and high on his neck, even unbuttoned as it was now. His hair, blond and slightly unruly, hung about the collar, brushing before his eyes as he tucked it behind his ear. He smiled softly in reassurance, though Cassie had never felt more uneasy.

“I thought you drove. I can get my dad to—” Cassie started in a whisper only to feel Laney’s hand on her lower back, pushing.

“Get. In. The. Car,” her friend said, each word a command on its own. Cassie ducked her head before her face smashed into the door frame, and then she was sitting, pulling her satin dress lower and over her knees, ignoring the grin now blooming on Blue Eyes’ face.

Corey started the car as soon as Laney was seated next to him and they jerked forward, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the dark road. Cassie looked back over her shoulder. Headlights and the red glare of brakes lit up all over the parking lot. The school would empty soon, though not completely; there was still an hour left of the dance. The underclassmen—the freshman whose parents would be picking them up—wouldn’t leave until it ended. Her father, still stuck at the dance, wouldn’t be done until an hour after that, needing to stay back and clean up.

Normally the two hours of guaranteed freedom would be enticing. Tonight, Cassie felt jittery, nervous. She knew a large part of why was seated next to her and driving the car.