Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1)(5)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Despite my usual need to keep hidden, I wished for a fleeting moment that he would turn around so I could see his face. Then he did. He looked right at me. The booth vibrated with the force of my retreat from sight. Butterflies fluttered around in my stomach, and my hands shook slightly. I pressed my back into the wood of the booth and willed myself to calm down. I looked up at Kimber, embarrassed over my reaction, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me. She was waving at him and smiling.

“Stop it,” I hissed.

She looked at me, and her smile was replaced with a frown. “What?”

“Don’t draw any attention to us.”

“Too late,” she whispered. “He’s heading our way.”

My head swam. He was coming! I didn’t want him to see me. “I have to go to the bathroom,” I said rushing out of the booth. It would have been the perfect escape if I hadn’t run right into him. I bounced off his chest, and his arms came out to steady me, but I cringed back into my seat, letting my hair fall around my face. “Sorry,” I mumbled, looking down.

“No problem.” His voice was raspy and low. My stomach fluttered again. He was more gorgeous than anyone I had ever seen. I wanted to look up so badly, but I wanted him to look at me less.

“Haven’t seen you around before,” Kimber said boldly.

“I’m new in town.”

“I figured. I would have remembered if I had seen you around.”

She was completely wicked. A part of me was jealous of that wickedness.

“What’s your name?” he asked. His voice was unlike anything I’d ever heard – yet confusingly familiar; it filled me with something that I could only long for these past months: a sense of safety. It was beyond understanding because, right now, I shouldn’t feel safe. I never felt safe around anyone new, but his presence was like a blanket to my shivering insides, whatever he projected reached out and wrapped around me, keeping my fear at bay.

“Kimber.”

“Cool.” he turned to walk away. I felt the urge to reach out and grab his hand. Stay.

“What’s your name?” Kimber asked.

I inched closer desperate for the answer.

“Sam.”

“Well, Sam, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

After he walked away it occurred to me that my attempt to be invisible worked really well. He never asked my name, and even though I hadn’t wanted him to notice me (had I?), I couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed.

I woke again that night to another frightening, unfinished reminder of the night my life changed forever. It was too early to get up for the day, and once again, I was too edgy to lay there, so I paced around my room. It was no surprise that I found myself at the window, looking down at the dark yard, my eyes always drawn to the trees and bushes, searching for someone I felt was there though always just hidden from sight.

“I know you’re there,” I whispered, even though, once again, I saw no one.

Something darted from the edge of the yard and disappeared around the side of the house. My stomach clenched. I watched awhile longer, waiting for whatever it was to come back. It didn’t, and nothing else moved, but I knew my chance for sleep tonight was gone.

A shiver built low and raced its way up my back, making my body shake. I was just about to turn back to bed when my attention was caught by something up in the sky – the stars. It was a clear night, and many were visible. It made me remember the many nights when I was little that my dad would take me out into the yard on his shoulders and point out the many constellations. We always stayed outside until we saw at least one shooting star to wish on. I always felt safe with him; I missed him so much.

Just before I closed the curtain, I glanced back at the sky. There was a star twinkling so brightly that I wondered how I couldn’t have noticed it before. It was the brightest and biggest in the sky, and it radiated warmth. As I watched it began to move, shooting through the sky and leaving a glittering path behind it. I didn’t bother to make a wish because it already made me feel so much better.

Maybe sleep wouldn’t be so out of reach after all.

Chapter Three

Heven

“Jenna is such a witch,” Kimber growled. I abandoned my lunch to watch her drop into the chair across from me.

“What did she do now?”

“She scheduled extra practices all week for the competition coming up.”

“So? We always have extra practices when a competition is close.” I grabbed my water and took a long sip, just now remembering the fact that I didn’t cheer anymore.

“I know.” Kimber sighed. “I just hate her. I wish you were still cheering.”

I placed the cap back on my water. “Have you talked to Cole at all?”

“He’s called,” she hedged.

“Kimber…”

“No.”

“Maybe you should answer next time he calls.” I was convinced that if they just talked, they could work it out.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” I leaned across the table.

“Because I’ll forgive him,” she whispered.

Relief washed through me. She still loved him. Kimber and Cole would be back together, and everything would go back to normal. I ignored that tiny bit of relief that her plan to make Cole jealous would be no more. And the boy she thought would be perfect for that plan would be no more. “It’s okay to forgive him.”

She shook her head. “I can’t just forgive him. I want him to know what it feels like.”

Oh, no. “What do you mean?”

Before she could answer, Amber, one of the girls I used to hang with when I cheered, ran up to our table. She gave me the smallest of smiles before turning to excitedly beam at Kimber. “Did you hear?”

“Hear what?” Kimber asked.

“There’s a new guy.”

My stomach dropped.

“He’s so hot,” she drawled.

“Who is it?” Kimber asked.

“I don’t know his name.” Amber looked up, toward the cafeteria door. “But he just walked in.”

With a lump in my throat I turned to see. It couldn’t be.

It was.

“His name is Sam,” Kimber told her with a slightly haughty tone.

“You know him?” Amber asked, awed.

“We’ve met,” Kimber answered mysteriously.

The girl responded, but I didn’t hear. There was a ringing in my ears. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from him. He was so…