Crash by Eve Silver Page B

back’s against the wall and there’s no one behind me, then I scan the lobby. There’s no one watching me, not that I can see. I wait for the creepy feeling to pass. But it doesn’t. It amps up until I feel like a million centipedes are skittering over my skin. I rub the back of my neck just to prove to myself there’s nothing there.
    â€œMiki!” The Queen Bee, Marcy Kern, and her head lady-in-waiting, Kathy Wynn, stand in front of me wearing matching hunter green jackets. Cute. There’s a part of me that isn’t even surprised. At school lately, it’s seemed like they’ve been following me, watching me. Everywhere I turned, there they were. In the halls, the caf, out behind the school under the giant oak my friends and I claim as our own. It got bad enough that I actually had this crazy down-the-rabbit-hole kind of nightmare. Lizzie was there, telling me they were watching, but she never said who they were, and then Marcy grew to gigantic proportions and Kathy shrank and shrank to the size of a thimble.
    I told Luka I suspected Marcy was a shell.
    Luka countered that her eyes aren’t Drau gray and that I was having nightmares about her because she wanted to get into Jackson’s pants.
    Maybe he was right. But the last time I had this creepy vibe at school, I looked up to find Marcy right there, watching me.
    And now she’s right here.
    Either way, Marcy and Kathy are among the last people I want to see right now.
    â€œI’m sorry to hear about your dad,” Marcy says, actually sounding like she means it. “And Carly . . . Oh my God, so terrible.” I’m startled to see tears shimmering in her eyes. “Is there any change?”
    â€œShe’s still in a medically induced coma.”
    â€œThat’s what Kelley posted this morning.” She pauses. “And your dad? How’s he doing?”
    Again, I’m startled. She sounds like she actually cares. I glance at Kathy. She stands in Marcy’s shadow, head down.
    â€œI don’t know yet. I’m on my way up to see him.”
    Marcy touches my arm. “I hope you have good news.”
    â€œThanks.” An awkward silence hangs between us, then I ask, “So what are you two doing here?”
    â€œWe’re picking up Kathy’s mom.”
    I glance at Kathy. “She was in the hospital? Is she okay?”
    â€œShe’s a surgical nurse,” Marcy says.
    â€œRight.” I sort of remember that from when we had career day a couple of years ago. I try to remember if Kathy told us about her mom, or if Marcy did the talking for her that day, too.
    The elevator doors slide open.
    â€œHi, Mrs. Wynn,” Marcy says with a smile.
    I turn. Mrs. Wynn steps off the elevator. She’s the nurse I spoke to outside the waiting room the night of the accident. I stare at her, suddenly remembering that I had the creepy being-watched vibe that night, too. Was it before Ispoke to Mrs. Wynn, or after?
    â€œHey, look who I found,” Jackson says, striding toward me. Beside him is Luka.
    â€œThought I should come by and see Carly,” he says to the ground, hands shoved deep in his pockets, shoulders hunched. It’s no stretch to figure out that Luka isn’t exactly comfortable with this plan.
    With a quick good-bye to Marcy, Kathy, and Kathy’s mom, the three of us get in the elevator. As the doors slide closed I look up to see Marcy and then Kathy glance back over their shoulders as they walk away.
    I’m up before dawn the next morning, donning my running gear, tying my shoes with meticulous care by the light of my bedside lamp. The house is silent. There’s no one here. I didn’t let Jackson sleep over last night even though he wanted to. Even though I wanted him to. I need to be strong. I need to cope.
    My life hasn’t been this out of control since Mom died, and the anxiety and misery that haunted me for the past two years are right