"See you later," I muttered to my sister before ducking out. I was tired for the first time in months, definitely in no need to do any grounding. Still, my feet led me to the same tree as yesterday for some reason.
I leaned against its trunk. The rough bark scraped at my skin through my clothes, reminding me that I was awake, that this was reality. I tilted back my head and stared up at the branches, watching the play of light and shadow above me as the leaves rustled in the wind, making a sound like someone whispering. Whispering like that evil voice in last night's dream as it drove Savannah to jump off the roof.
I closed my eyes and swallowed the knot in my throat. I saw her again in that dream, giving up, stepping over the edge. Again and again I saw her fall. The repetition should have numbed me to the images. But the pain only grew worse, until I wanted to yell from it.
I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to fix this.
There was only one solution, only one way to keep myself from going insane here. I would stay away from her. Stop looking for her at lunch. No more staring at her in algebra or reacting to her laughter in the hallways. These crazy feelings she created in me were just too much. I'd have to check on her every now and then to make sure the charms continued to protect her. But I couldn't keep feeling like this.
"She's just a girl," I muttered to the leaves, the clouds, to no one at all. "A girl. Nothing more."
Savannah
I was tense throughout the morning, bracing myself for another encounter with the boys from algebra. Though I didn't have math class today, it seemed inevitable that I would run into them at some point during the day. I thought I saw one of them in the main hallway before first period. He looked at me, took a couple steps in my direction, then frowned and headed the other way.
Lunchtime was even worse.
"Are you okay?" Anne leaned over and whispered while Michelle and Carrie worked together on homework.
"Sure! Why?" I pasted on a smile.
One of her eyebrows arched. "You haven't eaten anything. And you're paler than usual. Which means you're white as a sheet today."
I gave up trying to fake a smile. "Just a little...nervous."
"Worried about running into the Warty Boys again?"
Warty Boys? I looked at her, letting my confusion show on my face.
"You know, the toads from algebra. The creeps that were bugging you before class."
"Oh. Yeah. Think they'll be as...weird today?"
"Only one way to find out. We'll walk past them after lunch and see how they react."
My stomach cramped. "Maybe being around them again so soon isn't such a good idea."
"Why?"
I hesitated. I couldn't tell her the truth, at least not all of it. But not telling her anything made me feel so alone here on campus. Couldn't I tell her just a little without breaking any rules?
I decided to take a risk. "Promise you won't laugh too loudly."
She nodded.
"I think it's because...because I made eye contact with them after lunch."
"You think, just because they looked into your eyes, you did something to them? Like you hypnotized them, or something?"
"Um...yeah."
She snickered. "Oh, sure. Because I do that all the time, too. All us girls do. One look in any girl's eyes, and poof! All the boys are gaze dazed."
Irritated, I forgot and glared at her, making eye contact in the process.
Within seconds, she shivered and looked away. "Huh. Okay, maybe you have a point."
I didn't know whether to feel smug about winning the argument or sick to my stomach. Part of me had really hoped I was wrong about yesterday and that my friends would prove it by acting normal after I made eye contact with them today. But they didn't. They just kept getting weirded out.
Anne cleared her throat. "Have you made eye contact with anyone else and had strange reactions?"
"You mean other than you guys?" I gestured at everyone at our table. Carrie glanced up from the biology book she was using to tutor Michelle, then went back to their studying.
Anne nodded.
I tried to remember, but there was no telling how often I'd made eye contact with people since getting sick last week. "I don't know. Maybe Greg Stanwick? I can't remember now."
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I shuffled after the others to the trash cans, taking my time dumping my tray and adding it to the stack at the dishwasher's window.
"Maybe we should go out the other exit," I suggested, my chest growing tighter by the second.
"Come on. We'll go together." Anne linked her arm through mine. The contrast between her tan and my milky-white skin was awful, but at least the contact was reassuring, a reminder that I wasn't totally alone.
We stepped out into the spring sunlight and its blast of warmth, which actually felt good. I'd been a little chilled indoors all morning, so stepping outside was like thawing at first.
But even being wrapped in bright sunshine and warmth couldn't make my muscles loosen up. The picnic tables were only yards away from the cafeteria building.
Too soon, I saw the three algebra guys from yesterday.
"Hello, boys," Anne called out, making several heads pop up.
"Anne, shut up!" I muttered, trying to steer us closer to the cafeteria wall and away from the tables. If Anne would only cooperate a little, we could sneak by without being seen. But she was hardheaded as ever and literally dug in her heels.
"Oh, hey, Anne," one of the algebra boys replied. Then he frowned and rubbed his forehead. "Huh. I could've sworn I wanted to ask you something. I guess I'll remember it later."
I carefully avoided direct eye contact with any of the Warty Boys, as Anne had called them. But looking at their noses still let me indirectly search their expressions for the dark, crazed obsession from yesterday.
And what I found was...only confused frowns, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. They didn't even look at me, ignoring me just like they used to.
Had the gaze daze, as Anne had called it, worn off overnight?
I stopped shielding and allowed myself to sense their emotions, bracing myself for that churning, black turmoil from yesterday. And instead found only more confusion from them.
Maybe the gaze daze was just a temporary effect.
As Anne continued to chat with them about our latest algebra homework assignment, something dangerously close to hope filled me, and I took a deep breath. If the gaze daze-effect on guys was temporary, then maybe everything would be okay, after all. I just had to be sure I never, ever made eye contact with a boy again. Simple, right?