The Spirit Keeper Read online

  I spent most of English doodling little hearts and squiggle lines and smiley faces around the edges of my composition book. I should have been working on the outline for my final paper of the year, but I just didn’t have the mental stamina for it. Now I’d be stuck doing it for homework, which was a total bummer, but I didn’t care. Lunch couldn’t come fast enough, as far as I was concerned, and I had little patience for anything else.

  As Priscilla and I schlepped through the cafeteria doors fifty minutes later, I instantly spotted Adrian from my vantage point on the stairs. But my hopes of sitting with him vanished when I realized he was surrounded by a group of girls, all of them the school’s most elite brats.

  “I hate to say it,” Priscilla said, “but you don’t stand a chance if bitchy is what he’s attracted to.”

  “Come on,” I said, tugging Priscilla’s arm to get her to follow.

  Yet as we started to pass Adrian’s table, he called out to us. I considered pretending like I hadn’t heard, but Priscilla was right; acting like a snob wasn’t exactly in my DNA. I was usually much too nice, even when I didn’t want to be.

  I made sure I had the most charming smile plastered on my face, and then I turned around to face him. “I’m glad to see you’ve made some friends,” I said.

  A look of guilt erased his smile. He knew how I felt about Katie, but apparently he didn’t care. “Uh, I guess,” he said.

  I caught Katie eyeing me with the same expression one makes when she steps in a steaming pile of dog crap. “So I see you’ve met the class know-it-all,” she said to Adrian. “Sarah thinks she’s so smart, using all those big words all the time. She’ll probably be valedictorian next year. Lame-o.”

  “Actually, Sarah and I are neighbors. And I happen to like smart girls,” he said, turning his back on Katie. He gave Priscilla a small wave. “What’s up?”

  “Same old, same old,” she said. When Adrian looked down to fish a dollar from his bag, she made a face at Katie.

  Katie crossed her arms over her chest and snorted. “I suppose it’s nice to see someone take pity on Sarah, considering she doesn’t have many friends around here.” She nudged Adrian to get his attention. “Sarah had problems fitting in from the very beginning . . . for obvious reasons.”

  “Geez, Katie. Way to be subtle,” Priscilla said, her eyes darting to Adrian to see his reaction. “Are you too blind to notice he’s got the same color skin as Sarah?”

  “Adrian’s different,” she said with an unapologetic shrug. “He’s hot. She’s not. And I wasn’t talking about that, so who’s the subtle one now? I was talking about the fact she’s a loser.”

  I rolled my eyes. I’d heard more than enough. “Let’s go,” I said to Priscilla.

  “Yes, please go,” said Katie. “This is a nerd-free zone over here.”

  “See you later,” Adrian mouthed to me, a frown on his face.

  As I turned my back on them I overheard Katie say, “You obviously have a lot to learn about who not to hang out with around here.”

  It took every ounce of self-control I had not to go up to her and tell her just how right she was. He did have a lot to learn about who he should and shouldn’t hang out with. But, of course, I didn’t say anything at all. I just kept my mouth shut. Like always.

  We got our lunches and headed outside to our regular spot. I sat in silence, poking at the chicken casserole on my plate like it was a biology specimen, not sure I was brave enough to risk an actual bite.

  “Spill it,” Priscilla said. “I know it’s bothering you.”

  I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about it, not when we’d talked about it a hundred times already. But when Pricilla nudged my foot with hers in a silent plea, I couldn’t keep it in any longer.

  “I hate her so freaking much!”

  Priscilla took a long pull on the straw poking out of her milk carton and exhaled slowly. Then she clasped her hands on her lap. “Let me guess. You’re talking about Mrs. Raines.”

  I gave Priscilla a don’t-mess-with-me look and sighed. “She just makes me so . . .” Failing to find a strong enough word to express the anger and frustration Katie could make me feel on any given day, I pantomimed wringing a person’s neck.

  Priscilla laughed. “I know what you mean. She makes everyone with an average IQ feel that way. Take solace in the fact that you are not alone.”

  “I don’t understand how you can be so relaxed about it.”

  Priscilla shrugged and took a large bite of apple. Juice ran down her chin, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. “I told you: mind over matter. It takes an incredible amount of self-restraint not to drop-kick her whenever our paths cross. Trust me. She has a knack for awakening the violent side in me, but I do my best to ignore her.”

  We’d exhausted the finer points of this same argument many times over, always coming to the same conclusion. According to Priscilla, either I should just accept the fact that Katie was a grade-A witch and get on with my life, or give in to temptation and finally beat her up.

  “The problem is you give Katie too much power over you. You take everything she says way too personally.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “How can I not? She’s been tormenting me since the first day we met. And, as far as I know, I’ve never done anything to deserve it!”

  “Don’t become the poster child for low self-esteem because of Katie. She’s the least important person in your life, so don’t worry about her.”

  I didn’t immediately meet Priscilla’s eyes, if only because I hated how right she was.

  “Hello? Are you listening to me?”

  When I still made no attempt to respond, Priscilla groaned. “Or maybe you really should just learn to throw a good punch. I could teach you. I’m telling you, one punch to the nose is all it would take to get her off your back.”

  I finally allowed a faint smile. “Thanks, but I’ll pass. Unlike you, I really don’t have a violent side. So are you coming over after school or what?” I said to change the subject.

  “Affirmative,” she said, taking another bite of apple.

  “I have to work for a few hours, but we can get our homework done. I’ve got to finish my outline for Mrs. Raines.”

  “Ugh. Me, too. I’ll be so glad when that class is over. Only two more weeks until freedom!”

  The bell rang then, and we waved goodbye and took off in opposite directions.

  It didn’t occur to me as I backtracked through the cafeteria that Adrian might still be there, and yet there he was. Ours eyes met at the same time, and it was obvious by the way he squared his shoulders and ran his hand through his hair that he’d been waiting for me. My stomach felt like a rock tumbler as I approached him.

  “I get what you mean about Katie,” he said. “Really, I do.”

  I narrowed my eyes, and yet I was sure my answering smile betrayed how relieved I was to hear him say that. “Then why were you sitting with her? I told you that you could sit with Priscilla and me.”

  “I don’t want you to think she’s the type of person I’d willingly choose to hang out with,” he said. “She planted herself at my table while I was waiting for you, and those other girls just followed. It was really disturbing. They’re like these little zombie robots, and they all do exactly what she says.”

  “Yeah, it’s a little scary.”

  Adrian shrugged his shoulders. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said. “Honestly, I do. But, um, I’ve really got to go. As much as I’d like to be with you . . .” I felt my cheeks flush with warmth at my slip-of-the-tongue. “I mean, stay here and talk to you, I can’t be late.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Okay.”

  Unable to move at first, I finally started up the steps and gave Adrian one last glance before rounding the corner. He hadn’t budged at all and was still standing there staring after me. I smiled and shook my head, wondering, not for the first time, exactly what to make of him.

  I made a qu
ick pit-stop at my locker after the final bell of the day, then struggled through the crowd as people fought to see who could get out of the building the fastest. I saw the top of Priscilla’s orange head weaving through the lobby, and I immediately started down the stairs to catch up.

  Someone shoved me hard in the back, and I went careening into the girl in front of me. We stumbled down a few steps, both of us grabbing frantically at the railing to keep our balance. She turned around and gave me a dirty look.

  “I didn’t mean to,” I said. “It was an accident. Someone pushed me. It really wasn’t my fault.”

  “Whatever,” she said, obviously not believing me. Then she rolled her eyes and took off.

  “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I guess I didn’t see you there.”

  I turned to the voice behind me, my body zinging with the residual rush of adrenaline. Of course it was Katie, and no way was I buying her apology.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I said, infuriated. “Someone could have gotten really hurt!”

  “It was an accident,” Katie said. “And the fact you think I did it on purpose really hurts my feelings.”

  “Right. Like I’m supposed to believe that.”

  “Move, Sacagawea. You’re in the way,” came a guy’s voice.

  I looked from Katie to Senior Dude glaring over her shoulder at me. “I’m surprised you even know who Sacagawea is,” I said, not knowing how else to respond.

  “Seriously, get out of the way,” Katie said, ignoring my lame comeback and shouldering roughly past me. “Adrian is giving me a ride home and I don’t want to keep him waiting.”

  “What?” said Senior Dude and I at the same time.

  “I thought I was giving you a ride home?” he said.

  Katie turned back and smiled, patting him on the cheek. “Don’t be jealous, Eric. You can give me a ride home tomorrow.”

  She bounced her way down the rest of the stairs, leaving Senior Dude, er, Eric, and me watching with our mouths hanging open.

  I snorted. “You really like her?”

  “Shut up,” he said, pushing past me and stalking off down the stairs.

  I sighed and made my way out to Priscilla. “Would you look at that?” she said when she saw me. “It’s just so wrong and . . . just so wrong.”

  I couldn’t not look. It was like the scene of some horrific car accident; I felt compelled to stare.

  Katie was sashaying across the parking lot toward Adrian, who was standing with the passenger side door of his car wide open. When she reached him, he took her bag and she got in, but not before planting a kiss on his cheek.

  “Gross,” Priscilla said. She made a retching noise to show just how gross she thought it was.

  I didn’t know what to say. I felt utterly betrayed and devastated and like I was going to cry, or maybe throw up.

  Why had Adrian lied to me? He’d made a point of telling me how much he didn’t like Katie, and then he had turned around and offered her a ride home. It was supposed to be me riding in his front seat, not her!

  And then an awful thought occurred to me: What if Katie had put him up to being nice to me? What if this was all part of some very mean joke, with me the butt of it?

  We stood there gaping as Adrian’s car backed out of the parking spot and drove away. I’d fallen for every nice thing he’d said to me, but they’d been nothing but lies. How could I have been so gullible? I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached. Man, I really was naive.

  “Let’s go,” I said at last, trying very hard not to scream.

  We walked in silence most of the way home, me brooding and in no mood to talk. I just couldn’t understand it. Adrian had come off as being such a sweet and sincere guy, so how could he fall for someone like Katie? Easy, I thought. She was beautiful. She might be the meanest girl at school, and quite possibly the meanest girl on the planet, but she knew how to use her looks to her advantage.

  “Are you okay?” Priscilla said after a while.

  “I’m fine.”

  She gave me this I’m-not-buying-it look. “I know that you like him. Seeing that little scene back there must have been brutal.”

  “Yeah. Well. I guess I don’t like him anymore.”

  Meg was pulling the day’s mail from the box when we showed up. “Oh! I was hoping to see you today,” she said to Priscilla.

  “It was already broken,” Priscilla said in a rush. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

  Meg frowned but seemed to know better than to press for details. Whatever Priscilla had broken would eventually turn up under a bed or stuffed in the back of a closet, like the time she accidently broke one of Meg’s garden gnome statuettes. It turned out it was just some cheap plaster replica from one of those dollar stores and didn’t really matter anyway.

  “I only meant that I wanted to offer you a job,” Meg said. “I’ve been meaning to hire someone else to help out around here, but I thought I’d offer you the position first.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest as Priscilla squealed and jumped up and down. Meg was up to something; I was sure of it. We didn’t need the extra help. Between the three of us, we’d always managed just fine.

  “Do you think your dad will mind if you start right away? I’ll need you after school and on weekends. But I don’t want it to interfere with your school work, especially not right before finals.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Priscilla said. “He’s been harping on me to take on a few babysitting gigs. Kind of ironic, I think, since he doesn’t even trust me to look after myself when he’s gone. I can’t believe I’m seventeen and have my very own babysitter. What parent will hire me knowing that?”

  “The only reason you have Laura Beth around is because your dad is sometimes gone for weeks at a time,” Meg said sympathetically. “It’s not because he doesn’t trust you. Don’t think of her as a babysitter; think of her as a roommate.”

  “If you say so,” Priscilla said, unconvinced.

  Meg squeezed Priscilla’s hand and turned to me. “You two take your homework out back and I’ll bring you a snack. Sarah, you can show Priscilla how to work the register. Mondays are generally our slow days, so you shouldn’t have too many customers to worry about.”

  We circled around the side of the house to the back yard and found David working in the garden. He immediately stood up and offered me a handful of pole beans, my favorite. A peace offering, I supposed.

  “So Meg gave Priscilla a job,” I mumbled. I wasn’t ready to fully forgive him for being such a jerk the other day, even though he’d been totally right, as it turned out.

  David nodded. “We talked about it this morning and thought it would be a good idea to have the extra help. The business is really talking off, and it’s become a lot to handle.”

  I glared at him, and he raised his eyebrows in a silent challenge. If Meg had offered Priscilla the job a week ago, I would have been doing cartwheels, but the timing was too perfect. Even though I was undeniably thrilled I’d get to spend even more time with my best friend, I couldn’t help but see it as some underhanded attempt to keep me from sneaking off to see Adrian. Not that I’d even consider doing that now, but still. It was the principle of the matter.

  “Isn’t it great?” Priscilla said, oblivious to the growing tension between David and me.

  I scowled. I couldn’t really fault my aunt and uncle. I’d probably do the same thing if I were in their shoes. They were trying to do everything they could to protect me and keep me safe. But I was almost seventeen years old. I could protect myself.

  “Come on,” I said, my voice full of resignation. “I’ll give you the grand tour.”

  The “grand tour” lasted all of five minutes, after which we settled at one of the tables and pulled out our homework. Meg brought us a tray of sliced apples smeared with globs of gritty, homemade peanut butter, and frosty mugs brimming with purple berry smoothies. Meg, I could easily forgive.

  Luckily there was only a handful of customers in the ho
ur it took us to complete our outlines for English. The next hour was slower, and we passed the time cleaning and organizing the garden tools and sweeping the concrete floor free of loose dirt and flower petals and leaves. I could only hope that Priscilla wouldn’t catch on to just how much her help really wasn’t needed. I was running out of things for us to do.

  We had just finished misting the plants and were coiling the hoses at the back of the greenhouse when I heard footsteps from behind. I turned to greet the next customer and let out a startled gasp when I came nose to chin with Adrian.

  “I told you I’d stop by,” he said, amusement in his voice.

  “How did you get in here?”

  “Through the door,” Adrian said. “And before that I followed the signs. It’s one of the benefits of knowing how to read.”

  Priscilla gave what could only be interpreted as an appreciative snort. “I like a fellow smart-ass,” she said.

  I almost smiled, but then I remembered I was supposed to be mad at Adrian. I put my hands on my hips, just to show him how serious I was.

  “Let’s cut to the chase,” I said. “I saw you with Katie this afternoon. I saw her kiss you! I thought that you didn’t like her.”

  The smile fell from his mouth, and he blinked in surprise. Apparently he thought he could get away with it. I guess he wasn’t so smart, after all.

  “Oh. About that,” he said.

  “Yeah. About that,” said Priscilla. But she closed her mouth when she caught the warning look on my face.

  “It’s not what you think,” Adrian said.

  “Then what was she doing in your car?” Priscilla said. She was taller even than Adrian and stepped forward into his personal space, forcing him to take an automatic step back.

  Adrian ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted to talk to her. That’s all.”

  Priscilla took yet another step forward, and Adrian stepped back again. “About what?”

  I grabbed Priscilla’s arm. “Don’t you need to go to the bathroom or something?”

  She stared at me for a moment. “Or something,” she said. Her smile was tight, but at least she had taken the hint.