If there had been a way to get out of history class, Jack would’ve found it. Short of just refusing to go, or ditching class, he couldn’t think of anything he could do or say to be able to skip. If he had wanted to use his influence on the secretary, Ms. Mullinex, he might’ve been able to talk her into letting him work in the office that period, but he couldn’t do that every day. As stupid and boring as Montana history was, he needed the credit to graduate, and there was no way in hell he was going to stick around another year just to take Mr. Donald’s dumb class.
He got to class in time to move his chair as far away from Everly’s as possible without it being in the aisle. He’d also written a message on a Post-It Note and stuck it under her desk. Tim was absent again, so Everly would certainly be sitting next to him, and she would definitely find the note.
He wondered what she’d thought of the note he’d left in her
Lying on her bed with Toby at her feet, Everly thought about her second day of school. She’d gone in that day resolved to prevent Jack from getting to her. And he’d ended up buying her lunch.She had paid him back, though. She’d given him more than enough money to cover her tacos and Dewy Mountain soda. She hated Dewy Mountain, by the way. It was so sour. Why would anyone want to drink that? She needed to start paying attention to what she picked out for lunch. Or start bringing her lunch. Her dad gave her twenty bucks a week for lunch, and that was more than enough, but if she brought her lunch, she wouldn’t have to go stand in the stupid line. She always felt like everyone was watching her when she was up there, so she was always in a huge rush to get out of there and ended up buying something she didn’t even want.Frustrated, Everly turned over. She could see out the window now since her bed was even with it, and there were still no cur
History class was not going to be awkward or aggressive today. Everly wasn’t going to let that happen. One way or another, she was going to make sure that Jack wasn’t allowed to intimidate her. She hadn’t seen him at all that day, so as she walked into the classroom, he was sort of hoping that maybe he was absent.He wasn’t. He was there. But… some blond guy was sitting in her seat. Everly let out a sigh of relief but tried not to look too happy. She was pretty sure she remembered there being an empty seat in the back row, so she gladly walked to the one in the corner she was certain no one had been sitting in and sat there.Whoever this dude in her chair was, Jack seemed to like him much better than he liked her. The two of them were chatting and joking around. She tried not to let the sound of Jack’s laughter make her heart thump in her chest or the way he smiled set her cheeks aflame. He was probably so happy just to be rid of he
The routine of going to school was starting to come naturally. Everly got up in the morning, got ready for school, took Toby outside to do his business (since there still was no fence), her dad dropped her off, and she went to her classes. Jack wasn’t nearly as rude as he used to be during history class, but he wasn’t particularly nice either. She ate lunch with Alyson and her friends, went to her afternoon classes, and then caught the bus home where she’d take Toby out, do homework, and cook dinner. After that, she’d do the dishes and maybe watch a movie. It was hard to get an Internet signal and it wasn’t much easier to get any TV channels. Her dad said he’d look into getting a satellite, but Everly wasn’t holding her breath. At night, she’d fall asleep listening to wolves howl and usually dream about her mom—or Jack.It was weird. There never seemed to be much of a rhyme or reason to who she’d dream about. The dream
Something was different about Everly.Jack could smell it the moment she walked into the school building. At first, he wasn’t sure what it was, but he figured it out pretty quickly when he saw her hanging her backpack in her locker.She had bandages on both of her hands.Over the last few weeks, he’d done his best to stay away from her as completely as possible—except for when he went out to her house in the evenings, the mornings, and sometimes in the middle of the night, just to make sure she was safe. But she didn’t know about any of that. He wasn’t stalking her. He’d just come to the realization that getting her to leave was going to be a lot harder than he’d hoped, so he would need to keep an eye on her to make sure she was safe until he figured out a way to get her to move away.Now, seeing that she was injured, smelling the fresh blood on the surface of her skin in the form of scabs, he needed to know what
It had been a shitty day.Not only had Jack attempted to talk to her at least ten times—especially during history class when she was trying to pay attention and take notes—but she’d messed up her calculus assignment and ended up getting a B. That wouldn’t have been a big deal to a lot of people, but Everly knew that she couldn’t afford to go to college without a scholarship, so she needed good grades.As she was heading out to catch the bus, she felt him running up behind her and wished, just for once, she could run super fast, like a cheetah. Or even an Olympic sprinter. Just for a few minutes.If his intention was to make her late for the bus so he had to give her a ride home, well, that wasn’t going to happen either.“Everly!”“I’m pretty sure I already told you to go to hell,” she said, pushing through the door that went outside to the bus.“Please, just listen to me. It hasn&rs
Slamming the car into park, Jack took deep breaths through his nose, trying to calm himself down so that he could talk to Everly without yelling at her. He had his finger on the locking mechanism, making sure she didn’t get out of his car before he wanted her to.If he’d been even a few seconds later… it would’ve been all over with. He’d hesitated to drop his siblings and Chase off at home before coming back to check on her but thought he’d made himself clear enough to her earlier that day that she wouldn’t do anything stupid.He’d been wrong. So very wrong.She was just sitting next to him, her still-human heart beating in her chest. She was scared, and at the moment, it wasn’t of the monsters in the woods. It was of him.Well, if that’s what it took….“What the actual hell did you think you were doing?” he said, not caring anymore that he sounded like a brute.“What
The nerve of that asshole!What the hell could he possibly be thinking? First, he picked her up and carried her to his car, and then he locked her inside so that she couldn’t get out. When he finally released her, he sat in her driveway like a freaking stalker!Seriously, Jack Grey was messed up in the head!It probably had been him in the woods—somehow. Or maybe he put his friends up to it just to trick her into having to get into his car.God, he needed some serious mental help.Still fuming about Jack’s crazy behavior, Everly went about making dinner. She decided to make meatloaf. It would be the easiest thing to take her aggression out on. She pounded the meat, crackers, herbs, and ketchup together in a bowl until it couldn’t take anymore before putting it in the oven, washing her hands, and setting the timer.Toby seemed concerned. He was watching her like he thought she was crazy, too.Maybe she was. But
“Dad!” Everly’s heart was banging in her chest as she turned to see her dad standing by the attic stairs, the angry look on his face not nearly as frightening as the terror of being snuck up on. “You scared the crap out of me.”“What are you doing up here, Ev?” he asked, coming over to where she was and taking her mom’s camera out of her hands. He put it into the box and closed the lid.“I was just… looking for Mom’s pictures,” she said. “Why aren’t they hanging up anymore?”He didn’t answer her. “I would really appreciate it if you didn’t go through the boxes up here, okay?” It was clear he was still mad, but at least he wasn’t yelling.Everly wasn’t sure she was going to let him be mad about this anyway. He didn’t have any more reason to be mad about her looking in the boxes than she had to be mad at him for not telling he