Cipher

Chapter Twenty-Six

As sick as Summer had gotten of hearing about the pep rally all week and how important it was, nailing the dance routine in front of the school had given her that rush that made it worth the fight to keep performing. Bonus, Kendall had gotten permission for them to skip first period to practice the routine and help the cheerleaders set up, which had saved her from an awkward Troy encounter. That drama was going to have to wait. Today was about getting her friendship with Ashlyn back on track.

As the students spilled out of the bleachers, Summer searched for Ashlyn’s face among the crowd.

“You looked good out there,” Summer heard. She turned and saw Cody. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped closer. “Look, Summer, I’m sorry about how messed up everything’s gotten with us. I feel like an ass.”

“Well, you’ve been an ass, so that seems appropriate,” she said. His face dropped, and she decided she should try to say something nice. After all, she’d had her jerk moments, too. “I guess we both made some mistakes.”

He stood there, nodding, looking like he wanted to say more.

Summer felt obligated to fill in the awkward silence. “So….good luck on the game tomorrow.”

“Thanks. It’s gonna be a tough one, but don’t worry; we’ll come out on top. By the way, you guys looked great out there, getting your dance on. I’m sure you’ll do awesome at the State Competition.”

For all the times she thought he was simply ignoring her when she talked about dancing, it appeared he actually knew how important it was to her. Maybe eventually, they could even be sorta friends. “Thanks, Cody.”

Jenna walked up, snaked her arm around Cody’s waist, and glared at Summer. “I’d appreciate it if you stopped trying to throw yourself at Cody.”

Summer blinked, the accusation taking a moment to register. “We were just talking, so you can go ahead and take it down about twenty notches.”

“It was no big deal,” Cody said. “Really.”

Jenna stepped forward, shoving her face in Summer’s. “I don’t buy that innocent act. I’m not going to stand by and watch you try to steal my boyfriend.”

“Oh, like you didn’t hit on him when I was out of town, back when he was still my boyfriend.”

“Don’t blame me that you don’t know how to keep your man. You’re just jealous because it’s obvious how much more satisfied he is with me.”

Summer clenched her teeth. “If you thought he was so satisfied, you wouldn’t feel the need to come over and go crazy on me for just talking to him.” Heat was rising through her body and her muscles were tensing. She shook her head. “You know what, you’re not worth it.”

Jenna shoved her, sending her stumbling backward. Summer barely managed to keep her balance. Her mouth dropped and the thin strand of control she had on her temper started to fray. Cody was tugging at Jenna, obviously trying to get her to walk away, but she was yelling and pushing him, acting like she was going to come at Summer again. “Don’t defend her,” she yelled at Cody, fighting to get around him. “I want to settle this right here, right now.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t touch her again.” Ashlyn stepped up next to Summer and glared at Jenna.

And just like that, Summer didn’t care about Jenna or the fact that she’d shoved her anymore. Ashlyn cared enough to defend her, and that was all that mattered. “It’s okay, Ash. Let’s just go.”

“You think I’m scared of you because you’re twice my size.” Jenna pulled away from Cody. “Bring it on, fatty!”

Thoughts fled; the thread snapped. Summer lunged at Jenna, planning on doing a lot more than shoving. Cody cut her off just before she could get her hands around the girl’s neck, keeping himself between them.

“You think I’m scared of you?” Jenna shrieked. “You’re lucky Cody’s holding me back.”

Ashlyn yelled something at Jenna that Summer couldn’t make out because she was trying to break away from Cody, Jenna yelled back, and Cody repeatedly suggested everyone calm down.

“All of you, get to the office now!” Mrs. Crawford bellowed. She and another teacher pushed their way through the crowd that had gathered.

Summer turned to Mrs. Crawford. “But she’s the one who—”

“Not another word!” Mrs. Crawford jabbed a finger toward the exit. “To the office. Now!”

Mrs. Crawford marched Summer, Ashlyn, and Jenna down the hall into the office. She pointed to one side of the room. “Jenna, you sit over there.” She turned to Ashlyn and Summer. “You two over there.” She told the secretary to make sure they stayed on their opposing sides before disappearing into the principal’s office.

The anger that’d been pumping through Summer cooled a few notches. Okay, so maybe lunging at Jenna wasn’t the smartest move. She swore she’d never be one of those ghetto chicks who got into a fight at school, yet here she was, awaiting punishment.

She glanced at Ashlyn. “Thanks for coming to my defense,” she whispered. “I know it’s only been a few days, but it seems like forever. I really missed you.”

Ashlyn put her hands over her heart. “I missed you, too. I’m sorry I’ve been so dumb.”

“I was dumb, too. You can make your own decisions. I just care about you.”

“I know,” Ashlyn said, sounding like she might cry. “Let’s never fight again.” Her gaze flicked to Jenna. “With each other.”

Jenna’s eyes widened, and Summer threw her hand to her mouth to cover her laughter.

“I wonder how much trouble we’re in,” Summer said, trying to see through the office window—Mrs. Crawford had never liked her. Right now, the woman was probably painting Summer as the troublemaker, even though this was the first time she’d been at trouble in school. Besides the ripped pants thing.

Ashlyn shrugged. “My mother will probably consider a fight exercise. Maybe she’ll come in and talk Mr. Strider out of punishing us.”

Summer laughed again, and Ashlyn joined in.

Mr. Strider walked out of his office, flanked by Mrs. Crawford. The intense glare the principal shot them put an abrupt stop to their laughter.

Dad paced back and forth in front of the couch. “What’s gotten into you lately? I thought you were getting better, then you lie to me, and now you’re fighting at school. It keeps getting worse and worse.”

“She shoved me first, though,” Summer said. “And I would have let it go, but then she said something horrible to Ashlyn. I couldn’t walk away after that.”

“While I understand that made you mad, it’s more than what happened today that has me worried. I know…” He ran a hand over his face and sighed. “I know you’ve got some unresolved issues with your mom’s death still. I thought you’d pulled out of it, but now…Maybe you need to talk to someone. A professional who’d know how to help you better than I can.”

Summer imagined how that would go. Yeah, I have issues because I see the Angel of Death on a regular basis. Oh, and I see people dying before they actually die. It’s also my fault that my mom’s dead. Basically, I’m obsessed with death. So what do you think about that?

“Please, Dad, don’t make me talk to anyone. I just have a lot of stress right now.”

Dad sat next to her. “You can tell me about it, you know. Give me something, because, honestly, I don’t know what to do with you anymore.”

Summer shook her head, blinking back tears. Where would she even start? Gabriella? Her failure to make peace with Ashlyn and her mom? The recent revelation that she’d delayed Mom enough to get her killed?

Dad leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head. “If your mom was here, she’d know what to do.”

Her breath quickened, and then she just blurted it out. “It’s my fault. It’s my fault that Mom’s not here.”

He slowly raised his head and looked at her, his brow furrowed. “Summer, don’t talk like that. You couldn’t have done anything about your mom.”

“I could have, though! I knew something bad was going to happen, and I begged her to stay, but she went anyway. If I would’ve kept her home or let her go, everything would’ve happened differently.” Tears lodged in her throat. “Instead, I kept her just long enough to be in the store with that man. It’s my fault she’s dead.”

Summer winced, waiting for him to storm out, or for him to yell and ask her why she did that. She deserved it.

She deserved a lot more.

“You can drive yourself crazy with the ‘what ifs,’” Dad said, voice calm. “I keep thinking that I shouldn’t have gone out of town that morning. That if I’d decided to stay home instead of attending that training conference, all of us would’ve been doing something together. That maybe I would’ve been there at the store with her so I could’ve saved her or taken her place.” He swallowed thickly. “But it doesn’t change anything. It just hurts more, and I think you’ll agree it hurts enough without adding to it.”

“But, Dad, I knew something bad was going to happen. Sometimes I get these…” Flashes. Visions. She couldn’t say it. Not aloud. “These very strong feelings that something bad is going to happen. It’s more powerful than a gut feeling. I had one, and I still let her go. I asked her to stay, but I should’ve told her about my instincts. I should’ve tried harder.”

Dad shook his head. “Don’t do that. I don’t want you blaming yourself for the actions of that man. He’s the one who went in with a gun. He’s the one who pulled the trigger.”

“But if I could have stopped her from going, then she wouldn’t have been there.”

“Your mom was very headstrong. Sometimes we’d be in the middle of a conversation or a night out, and she’d have to go somewhere. She said she knew someone needed her help right then and there, and she’d up and leave. Just like that.”

“Did you ever find out where she went? What she was doing?”

Dad looked at Summer for what seemed like forever. “After we’d been dating for several months and were starting to talk about marriage, you mom told me she got very strong feelings, kind of like what you just said, that someone needed her help. At first I joked that she was Superwoman or some other masked avenger. She didn’t laugh, though. Simply asked me to be understanding when she got them, because she had to help, whatever it took. I knew bigger forces than me and her were at work.”

Dad put his hand on Summer’s shoulder, his eyes meeting hers. “I know this might sound crazy to you, but I feel like your mom had a special job to do here. She never said how or who she helped, but she’d come home and tell me that she’d succeeded. Sometimes she’d tell me she was struggling to help somebody. It was like she was a guardian angel to people when they needed one.”

“Not exactly a guardian,” Summer said. “More like a helper.”

“She told you, too?”

Summer shook her head. “Not exactly.” She bit her lip, nervous to hear Dad’s answer, but knowing she needed to ask the question. “You didn’t think she was crazy?”

“Your mom was gifted, not crazy.”

Summer let out the breath she’d been holding, letting what Dad said wash over her. A spark of hope in the dark—a spark she needed so badly she wanted to chase it and cling to it. Gifted. Not crazy. “After everything she did, aren’t you mad a guardian angel didn’t help her when she needed it?”

“I was at first, but I guess after the shock wore off and I had some time to think, I decided she must be needed on the other side more.”

Summer’s heart felt like it wanted to escape from her chest. He didn’t think Mom was crazy. It was time to let him in on what she could. “Dad, I get this strong feeling that Ashlyn needs my help. Please don’t ground me. I’ve got to follow my instincts.”

He pressed his lips together, and she worried she shouldn’t have said anything. “You’ve got to find a better way to help her than getting into fights at school.”

“Okay. Instead of these giant muscles”—she flexed to add to the joke—“I’ll try to use this giant muscle.” She pointed to her head.

“Your brain’s an organ, not a muscle.”

“Aw, Dad. You’d get along with these guys I know. They like to throw out nerdy facts like that, too.”

Dad smiled, but it was only fleeting. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Summer thought for a moment. “If you could talk Mr. Strider out of my suspension from the dance team, that would make my life at school easier. Kendall’s going to be so angry. State’s only a little over a month away.”

“Sorry, kid. You got yourself into that mess, and you’ll have to find a way out of that one on your own. I won’t ground you, but there are going to be extra chores I’ll expect you to do. Especially once you finish helping Ashlyn.”

Summer supposed that was only fair, even if part of her wanted to argue. “Thanks for understanding.”

“You know you can always talk to me, and as much as I know you’re going to fight it, Tiffany’s a good listener. She knows much more about girls than I ever will.”

“You’re not suggesting I tell her about my…” Summer searched for the right word. “Instincts?”

Dad shook his head. “No, we don’t want her to think you’re crazy.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You know what I mean. That’s a lot to lay on someone. I’m saying she has experience with relationships. She has four sisters. Think about it.” Dad’s expression turned solemn. “And I don’t want you blaming yourself for what happened to your mom. If she said she had to go, she had to go. It’s not your fault.”

Summer wished that made her feel better. All she could think about was that Mom’s conversation with whoever she helped should’ve taken place in the parking lot, where the gunman wouldn’t have shot her.