Free Immortal Light: Wide Awake by John D. Sperry Page B

lot was nearly full as she drove around looking for a
black motorcycle. It would be difficult to spot, and she was forced
to slam on her brakes more than once to avoid hitting someone. It
was ridiculous to try and find him with everyone milling around.
She needed to get to higher ground.
    From the top of the stairs, she scrutinized
every space in the lot. With her hand raised to her forehead, she
looked for Benjamin’s dark hair towering over the other kids, but
it wasn’t his hair that located him. It was Samantha Morris’ voice
from somewhere behind her that pinpointed Benjamin’s
location.
    Turning around, she saw immediately that not
only did Benjamin seem to be having a grand time with Samantha and
her minions in pleated skirts, but Samantha was draped all over him
under Lucy’s oak tree and on Lucy’s bench. Dejection and
disappointment welled up inside her and she wished she had the
nerve to just walk over and slap Samantha across the face. Lucy
balled her fist and from deep down, she felt like she could
actually do it. She felt she could for once and for all walk over
to Samantha Morris and teach her a lesson.
    “ Lucy, over here!” Kat’s voice
sounded from a grassy area to her right.
    Looking over, she saw Kat sitting with Dave in
front of one of the nearby buildings. She looked back to Benjamin
and Samantha. “Ah, screw it!” she exclaimed under her breath and
walked over to where Kat and Dave sat. She forced herself to appear
composed and approached them.
    “ Hey,” Lucy said, smiling with
such fake enthusiasm that Kat was instantly suspicious.
    “ Hey, Luce, you okay?”
    “ Yeah, great, why?”
    “ You look sort of
tense.”
    “ No, fine.” Lucy’s smile was tight
and forced. “You ready to go?”
    Kat furrowed her forehead at Lucy.
“Yeah, I’m coming.” She jumped up, grabbed her bag, and turned to
Dave. “So I’ll see you later, then?”
    Dave stood and Kat hugged him around the
middle. “Yeah, I’ll see you at lunch,” he said.
    Kat smiled and winked at him. Dave smiled back
and walked toward a group of football players by the office
building.
    “ Okay, what’s the matter?” Kat
locked elbows firmly with Lucy as they walked past the oak tree and
the reek of Samantha’s perfume.
    “ I hate her,” Lucy growled under
her breath.
    “ I thought you only liked him ‘a
little’,” Kat said sarcastically, holding up quotation
fingers.
    “ That’s not the point. It’s not
him, it’s her.”
    Kat shot a skeptical glance that went
unnoticed.
    “ It’s like she’s deliberately
trying to get in the way of me even trying to get to know a guy.
It’s been years. You’d think she’d get bored.”
    “ I know, she sucks, but who cares?
Mark is showing serious interest. Don’t forget him because you
think you might, maybe, sort of, like another guy ‘a
little’.”
    Lucy heaved a frustrated sigh and
shook her head. “If I have to smell that rose scented crap she
wears any more, I’m going to seriously hurt someone.”
    “ Okay, I have to head this way,”
Kat pointed across the quad. “Remember, Mark likes you now. And if
you’re going to hurt her, do it where I can see.” Kat smiled and
hugged her friend. “Be good; we’ll talk at lunch. Love
you.”
    Lucy nodded and slunk off toward class. She
didn’t go directly because she needed to cool off. She detoured
around the gym as the first bell sounded. She had five minutes to
bring her heart rate down.
    The hallway was clogged with high school
students racing to get to their classes as she neared Mrs. Roth’s
room. She didn’t want to go in. For a moment, she paused outside
the door to take a breath, when she felt something very strange. It
was a warm feeling, like a blanket being wrapped around her. It
felt a lot like someone had come up behind her and wrapped their
arms around her, and she liked it. Her heart rate sped up a little
as the sensation brought to mind the image and presence of one
single person in a way