Of the Trees(72)

Rebecca understood in a way no one else ever would, and Ryan was a solid, warm presence. It was a relief to have him back; Cassie hadn’t realized just how much she missed him until he was finally there, easy to turn to whenever she needed him. He kept himself close to her, sitting near to her in classes, walking her to her locker. With him there, there were less of the snide comments and little quips that she had been getting as a result of the circulation of Jon’s picture. Either people were too uncomfortable to mention it in front of him, or maybe the disappearance of Laney had eclipsed it.

The eyes were still there. Not on the mirrors in the bathroom or on the lockers. Even the freshmen had washed them from their skin. But in the soft walls, where people had pressed with pencils, on the desk she sat at in English class, they were etched and scratched in markings you couldn’t just wash away. They stared colorless now, no longer glaring red, but watchful just the same. Cassie kept seeing them, kept feeling a sinister tingle of awareness, as though she was being watched. It was distracting and consuming. She felt like Aidan still had her pinned to that tree, helpless and confused. The still air of the school seemed to rush and hiss whenever the eyes caught her attention, and the voices of the forest would swell around her once more.

They didn’t seem to bother anyone else, didn’t seem to draw their attention like they did for Cassie. She was having trouble focusing on conversations, even when people spoke directly to her.

Roger Wilkes and Mike Stevens had cornered her just before lunch, both speaking over each other in an attempt to apologize. Cassie had to ask them twice to repeat themselves. Behind them, on the wooden bathroom door, a faded drawing watched her. Someone had tried to scrub the eyes away, but they must have been drawn in red sharpie, the color from the marker leached into the grain of the wood, leaving a faded, but recognizable imprint behind. They called and whispered, faint words that she couldn’t understand, words that were mingled with the student voices anyway.

Ryan caught up to Cassie just as Mike was apologizing for the second time. He and Roger seemed worried that it was their teasing that led Cassie into the woods with Laney that day.

“I’m really sorry, if it’s what I said about the bet, about you taking another picture if you could find the place,” Mike said. He was watching Cassie with concern, and suddenly she worried that he could tell, that he knew the eyes were talking to her. She shook her head and refocused.

“Oh. No, it wasn’t that,” she said quickly, wishing they hadn’t even brought it up. She could feel Ryan’s tension in the tightening of his muscles, his body shifting in agitation behind her.

“We thought, maybe you were trying to prove us wrong or something. That’s why you were out there,” Roger continued. Mike nodded from beside him.

“I’ve seriously felt like such a jackass for days,” Mike said, grimacing at Cassie. She swallowed hard.

“That’s not why we were out there,” Cassie said. Both boys deflated a bit in front of her, Mike letting out a short breath. Ryan grabbed Cassie’s elbow and steered her away before either could respond.

“Were they bothering you? Before, I mean,” Ryan asked, gazing down at her as they crossed the threshold to the cafeteria.

Cassie shrugged, not wanting to answer and especially not wanting to answer over the roar of the voices in the cafeteria. She and Ryan picked a table. Cassie waved Rebecca over as soon as she entered. The three of them commandeered the end of the long table, with a group of braver freshman taking the opposite end.

Cassie couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. It was worse in the cafeteria than in any other part of the school. It left her squirming uncomfortably in her hard, plastic chair. Rebecca kept up a long stream of innocuous news, random snippets of gossip she had picked up, and eventually she devolved into the English assignment they had been given. Cassie could hear the stress behind her words, the strain of trying to keep things normal. She grabbed at her hand under the table, squeezing with firm pressure, and Rebecca took a deep breath, shooting her a look of gratitude mixed with understanding. Ryan was quiet, watching Cassie and then looking around the cafeteria in turns. She noticed that something was off, something had caught his eye and bothered him, and when he sat up straight, his body tensed. Before Cassie could turn around, Samantha Collins slipped into the chair next to her. Cassie felt her eyebrows rise high on her forehead, and she knew who else would be standing behind her.

Her hands flitted nervously under the table, coming to rest on the edge. Something was scratched on the underside of the table, and she drew her fingers away hastily, fearful that she would find another set of eyes.

“Can I sit?” Jon asked. Ryan didn’t answer, and Cassie watched him in expectation.

“He means you,” Samantha said to Cassie, her voice low. “I told him he needed to ask you first.”

Cassie felt a smile start to form, and she pushed it back. She never had much to do with Samantha, but she suddenly felt a new appreciation for the pretty blond who was now taking bites of a turkey sandwich. She turned in her chair to regard Jon. He had trouble meeting her eye, but when he did, Cassie could read the struggle there.

“I’m sorry about Laney. I spent all weekend in the woods, with the search parties. I—I’m sorry,” he said. Cassie nodded, about to gesture to the chair next to Samantha when the blond next to her cleared her throat purposefully. “And, the picture, I uh … ”