Free Siren's Song by Heather McCollum Page B

nowhere in sight, I ignore the small dive in my stomach. Dropping my bag, I spin the combination and jerk the metal handle up. The door swings open and I’m slammed with a wall of incredible fragrance. Lilacs, everywhere! Taped to the walls of my locker are bunches of my favorite flower. Mounds of them fill the bottom.
    Lindsey stops behind me. “Holy purple flowers!”
    My hand flies to my mouth in an attempt to stop the trickle of giggles I feel bubbling in my cheeks. I dig through the soft petals, but there’s no note. It has to be Luke. For one thing, who else could get into my locker? These surely aren’t from Mrs. Rozinski. I collect the flower bunches off the floor of my locker so I can store my backpack. I turn and toss the lilacs out to the girls nearby.
    Madison sniffs dramatically at the one she caught, like an excited bridesmaid. “Lilacs, I love them. Pretty extreme though, Jule,” she says, staring at my still lavender-bedecked locker.
    I shrug and grab my chemistry book. “I didn’t put them in there.”
    â€œWho did?” Her eyes sparkle at the mystery. She glances around like the culprit might just jump out of hiding with an uprooted bush of lilacs in hand.
    Shrugging again, I walk toward homeroom. “No note.” I enter the room, lilacs still in my arms, and my smile fades. Luke’s not here. I leave the bouquet on Mrs. Rozinski’s desk and slide into my usual seat.
    When I enter chemistry, Taylin just scowls at me from the back. Again, no Luke. Is he ditching? He must have shown up to put the lilacs in my locker. Taylin whisks past me as soon as the tone sounds. I walk slowly toward my locker to exchange chem for lit. Maybe Luke did leave a note saying why he isn’t here. I’m nearly trotting when I round the corner. Matt and Taylin have my locker open.
    â€œHey, what the hell?” I yell and they turn toward me, mirror frowns across their faces. “Get out of my locker.” It’s one thing to not like their friend’s girlfriend–not that I am his girlfriend, but he did kiss me–but a whole other thing to commit breaking and entering. “What are you doing?”
    They stare me down. Do they think they can intimidate me enough to make me take my chem stuff to lit? Hell, no!
    â€œWe thought we smelled something bad in there,” Taylin says. “Where’d you get the flowers?”
    I shove my chem book in, rifle around, still finding no note, and grab my lit notebook. Matt and Taylin loom on either side of me. I don’t have to answer any of their questions. Pissed, furious, disappointed, I slam the door with a resounding metal echo. “Stay out of my locker.”
    â€œDid Luke put them in there?” Matt asks. His voice is different than Taylin’s, more worried. It tamps my wrath down a notch.
    â€œThere’s no note,” I say.
    Matt exhales and leans back. “Bloody hell.” His voice slips into something like a British accent.
    â€œDo you know where he is?” I ask Matt. “He hasn’t been in class.”
    Matt and Taylin exchange a glance. Matt looks at me. There’s definite concern in his eyes, pinched lips, wrinkled forehead. “He left this morning before the bell. He…wasn’t feeling like himself.”
    â€œHe’s sick?”
    Taylin rubs her temples in small, circular motions. “He needs to get away.”
    â€œWhy? What’s going on?” God, has someone followed him from Boston?
    â€œIt’s none of your business,” Taylin snaps at me.
    â€œActually Tay, it is her business,” Matt says, resigned.
    â€œShut up!” Taylin yells and pokes a finger in my face. “Listen to me, Jule.” She points to Luke’s locker, Matt and herself. “We three are a family. We will do anything to protect our family. Stay away from him.”
    â€œLuke is his own person, not just part of your weird little