Scott Westerfeld - Touching Darkness

“No. And I don’t either.”

He drove fast and hard toward school.

They hadn’t come back.

Jessica’s eyes swept the student parking lot, trying to find Jonathan’s car among the throngs escaping Bixby High. Everyone was full of last-bell energy, jumping up on hoods and playing catch across the lot, angling for rides home. On the street a line of school buses sat spewing gray smoke, their windows filling with impatient faces.

But nowhere did she see Jonathan or Dess.

“Hey, Jess. What’s up?”

She turned to find Constanza Grayfoot beside her.

“Oh, just looking for someone.”

Constanza smiled. “Mr. Gorgeous?”

“Yeah.” She turned back toward the parking lot. “He left school earlier, but I thought he was coming back.”

“Skipping, huh?” Constanza shook her head. “I thought you two were going to keep a low profile after getting arrested.”

“Not arrested. Detained and transported to parental custody,” Jessica said. “But yeah, we were.” She would’ve explained that Jonathan was making sure that two of her friends hadn’t been eaten alive, but somehow she couldn’t find the appropriate words. “He kind of had to do something.”

“Sure, I know the feeling.” Constanza waved to a cluster of cheerleaders headed across the parking lot.

As more and more cars departed, Jessica became even more certain that Jonathan’s was nowhere to be found. What did it mean that he and Dess hadn’t come back? That everything was fine? That their worst fears had been true? It seemed like they could have bothered to tell her if Rex and Melissa were okay. Unless by not going along to Rex’s she had proven herself irredeemably lame and the four of them had decided to ditch her permanently.

“What’s wrong, Jess?”

Jessica turned and gave Constanza a tired smile. She wished she could share her anxiety with someone, but as the only midnighter who hadn’t skipped school today, she was on her own.

“It’s just…” What could she say?

“Trouble in Coupleville?”

Jessica nodded. “I guess.”

“So tell me what’s wrong.” Constanza smiled. “You know you want to.”

Jessica realized that she did want to, and she wasn’t sworn to secrecy about everything in her life. “Well, Jonathan’s really great, some of the time. Like, at night.”

“But not so great the morning after?”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “It’s not about morning afters, of which there have been none, by the way. I’m just talking out here at school. We never seem all that connected when we’re together here.”

“Oh, got you. He’s afraid of PDA.”

“Yeah. Not too much into public or private displays of affection, actually. Except at night. It’s kind of hard to explain.”

Constanza snorted. “Not that hard.”

“I mean, it’s not what you think.”

“What do you think I think?”

Jessica felt a smile on her face. “What do you think I think you think?”

Constanza raised an eyebrow. “I think you know what I think.”

The release of hydraulic brakes squealed across the parking lot, and Jessica looked up to see the first bus in line begin to roll.

“Oh, crap. I need to run.”

“Hang on, Jess.” Constanza took her arm. “That was just getting interesting. Let me give you a ride home.”

Jessica looked at her. “Really? It’s miles out of your way.”

Constanza shrugged. “So what? Since you’ve been grounded, I’ve hardly seen you.” She put her arm around Jessica and started walking her between the few remaining cars. “You never hang with us at study hall anymore.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.”

It’s okay. I know you have this weird affliction where you believe that study hall is for actual studying.” She giggled. “And it’s not like I would be jealous of Miss Gothoid over in the corner.”

Jessica sighed. “Dess is pretty cool, really.” Of course, she couldn’t imagine having a conversation about Jonathan’s hand-holding phobia with Dess. And forget Rex or Melissa

“Yeah. Super-cool,” Constanza said. “But I guess she does know her trig. Isn’t she one of Sanchez’s math groupies?”

“Sort of.”

Constanza opened her purse and pulled out a key chain jangling with a mini flashlight, a fingernail clipper, a rabbit’s foot, and a host of keys. She squeezed it, and the powder blue Mercedes ahead of them let out a chirp.

“Whatever and who cares? We’re going to spend this ride talking about you and your boy problems. Miss Day.” Constanza made her way around the car.

Jessica smiled and opened the passenger door, relaxing a little for the first time since the physics test had hit her desk that morning. Running into Constanza had been her first bit of luck all day. For the next twenty minutes, at least, she wouldn’t have to hear about darklings or slithers, ancient blood feuds, missing lore, or even ice-cream socials.

Inside, Constanza began to fiddle with the radio.

“So, your boy’s PDA-shy in daylight. Sort of an affection vampire?”

“Yeah.”

“Very common syndrome. And it’s pretty clear what to do.” Constanza started the car, put both hands on the steering wheel, and looked across at her.

“What?”

“Be patient.”

“Patient?” Jessica’s eyes widened. Patience wasn’t the advice she’d been expecting from Constanza.

“Yes. Just let your anger mellow inside you, aging like a fine wine. Then when Jonathan does something that really pisses you off, let him have it with both barrels.”

Jessica blinked. “Um, I got lost. Are these wine barrels?”

“Pay attention, Jessica. These are barrels of anger.” Constanza sighed, thumping the steering wheel. “The problem with boys is, you can’t tell them every time something annoys you. If you complain every single second that Jonathan isn’t holding your hand, you look feeble and whiny and desperate. So you have to hit him with all his flaws at once. Which means…” She put the car into gear. “Waiting until he does something that he knows is bad and having a tally of all your complaints ready in your mind. Be patient, but be prepared—that’s my motto.”

Jessica shook her head as they backed out of the parking space. “You’re probably right. I mean, about not bugging him. He’ll freak if I’m all clingy. I’ll just have to talk to him.”

“Wait until you have the upper hand, though. Patience is a virtue.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” Although at some point, Jessica knew from experience, patience was also being a wimp.

As they reached the edge of the parking lot, a car swerved in from the street and screeched to a halt right in front of them. Constanza slammed on the brakes, and the Mercedes stopped with inches to spare.

It was Jonathan and Dess, looking very much in a hurry. His car was dirty, as if they’d been driving off-road, and Jonathan wore a wild-eyed expression.

He glared at Constanza’s car, then squinted through the two windshields at Jessica.

“Jeez. Speaking of patience…” Constanza said.

Jessica swallowed. Something serious had happened. “Look, I better go. He looks upset. His thing he had to do… maybe it didn’t go so well.”

“Sure, Jess.”

Jessica opened her door. “I’m really sorry, Constanza. I’d love a ride home some other time.”

“No problem. See you tomorrow. I want to hear more about this.”

“Oh… sure.” If I can tell you anything at all . Jessica wondered what she was about to find out. From the way Jonathan and Dess looked, last night had been bad.

Constanza laughed. “I mean, even if Jonathan is being a pain in the ass, you have to admit, the guy knows how to make an entrance.”