Page 8 of Soul So Dark

Adrian doesn’t get it. It was fine for our dad to do two tours of duty in Iraq, but I’m insane when I see the military as my only avenue to higher education. The only one who didn’t look at me like I was insane when I mentioned it was our vice principal, Mrs. Granger. Her son is a recruiter for the Corps now, which is why by the first day of senior year, I already had my future wrapped up in a nice little box with a neat little bow on top. And as soon as I turned 18, no one could say a goddamn word about it.

Mrs. G is also the reason that my older brother, Luca, and I were able to stay with Adrian after our dad died. She wanted us to finish school, so she made sure we didn’t run into any problems with children’s services. Principals don’t do that; they’re too busy dealing with bureaucracy, doling out punishments, and dealing with bitchy parents. But she did.

“You couldn’t have just waited a week and had seven days of summer, especially now?” Aiden asks.

I’ll never forget looking at my phone in Chemistry and seeing a text from Coach O’Malley in the soccer team group chat that Colson’s missing stepsister had been found—deceased. We didn’t know until that evening that Colson and Mason were the ones who found her. Their phones had been seized.

“Iwillhave a summer, with sun and surf…and 60 other guys.”

“Summer my ass,” Aiden spits with disdain.

“Jealous?”

“Shit, you want to see jealous? Just pass around a picture of me at boot camp to show them who you have waiting at home,” he sneers, “I’ll have your entire platoon beating off to me in no time.”

“Sick fuck,” I laugh, “you should enlist, too, it might do you some good.”

Selfishly, I wish he would, but I know that would never happen here or in any other alternate universe. The thought of Aiden Rafferty waltzing into a recruiter’s office looking like Lurch fromThe Addams Familywith his spiky black faux-hawk, nose ring, and double lip rings beneath each canine is laughable. Almost as laughable as him taking orders from anyone on the planet besides himself.

“Yeah, it would…” Aiden trails off, slowing as we pass the library, “it’d straighten me the fuck out,” he mumbles, gazing through the window at the circulation desk.

Aiden turns and stares through the glass until the two girls sitting behind the desk notice he’s watching them. Then he raises his hand and curls his fingers into a slow, methodical wave. My eyes roll so far back into my head I swear I see Moses parting the Red Sea.

“I need to stop here for a minute,” he says, not breaking focus.

“Minute my ass,” I mumble.

There’s a slim chance we’ll make it to lunch now. That is, if he’s not detained by one of the school security guards first.

Aiden shoots me a devious smirk and backtracks a few feet, throwing open the door and heading toward the circulation desk. I follow him into the library as Sydney Van Doren tracks him across the room. Her short icy blonde hair frames her face like a halo as she eyes him with her usual suspicion. Tyler Nixon casts him the same loathsome look from the chair next to Sydney. Always together, they look like they could be sisters.

Aiden slides his elbows over the desk until his face is less than a foot from Sydney’s.

“I need to talk to you,” he murmurs, barely loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Sydney glances up at him with an expression that falls somewhere between disinterest and disdain. She studies him for a few moments and then looks at Tyler. They both hesitate, exchanging silent commentary. Slowly, Sydney sets down her notebook balanced on her knees and slides off the high-top chair. Then she turns and Aiden rounds the desk, following her through the doorway toward the back office.

With no way of knowing how long Aiden’s business with Sydney will take, I let out an impatient sigh and look around at the empty library. After a few minutes of nothing but silence, my gaze finally falls on the girl sitting next to Sydney’s empty chair.

“Hi, Tyler,” I grin.

Tyler glances up from the book in her lap with her usual startled doe eyes. “Hi,” she replies in her soft voice.

I hold her eyes and study her face, long enough that any other girl would feel the tension and look away. But Tyler doesn’t. She stares right back at me. She looks like that famous photo of the Afghani girl on the cover ofNational Geographic;the one with striking teal eyes and a severe expression that looks like she’s staring right into your soul, and then burning a hole in it.

No wonder Mason’s been a goddamn wreck all year.

I forfeit the staring contest with Tyler and she goes back to her book while I lament stopping here with Aiden instead of meeting him in the cafeteria. Finally, after another few minutes, Sydney reappears through the back hallway, followed by Aiden. She looks the same, nothing out of place except for a flush across her cheeks. Aiden looks like he’s in a much better mood, which I can only assume means that Sydney’s in a worse one.

Without a word, she returns to her seat next to Tyler and Aiden continues toward the main door without a word. Realizing my ass is about to get left behind, I push off the desk and head for the exit.

“Why did you even stop there?” I ask as soon as we’re in the hallway, “I’m fucking starving.”

“Not me,” Aiden smirks, “I just ate.”

I do a doubletake, trying to read his expression, but it’s no use. He might be my best friend, but he’s still a Rafferty.

“Shit, dude,” I shake my head with a laugh.