Haven's Army

Chapter 7

"So," Daniel said, sitting across from me and trying to make conversation. I had been a lot quieter than usual over the last few weeks, and I knew my friends knew because I had often caught them looking at me or going silent when I walked into the room.

"The boys' freshman team basketball championship game is today," he said.

Nathan had been cold towards everyone ever since the incident with the Angels. He offered to walk to and from school alone almost every day. This, in turn, affected me quite a bit.

"And?" I asked.

"And we're going. You should come. This admission is free, for once."

"Cool," was my only response.

He looked back at our friends. They must have urged him on because he continued. "I read an interesting article yesterday about a murder."

"I didn't know you read the newspaper." 

He ignored me. "It was seven people, young people, about our age. No sign of who or what killed them, only that they look like long blade marks, but sharper and thinner. Even weirder, they all have the same fingerprint."

This sparked my interest but I didn't let it show. It had to have been the Angels Nathan and I had met that day. I hadn't even thought of it being murder and that we could be tracked and tried for it, only of their gaunt faces and Nathan's cold demeanor ever since.

"What happened that day?" he asked finally, gently and pleadingly, facing it head-on.

"Are you accusing me and Nathan of murder?" I asked, looking at him for the first time in the conversation.

"No, I just.... You guys were really close a few weeks ago, but you came back one day and now neither of you are talking to one another or us and it's really weird, okay? The story had nothing to do with it. I was just trying to make conversation."

"Go try somewhere else," I said, looking back down but immediately feeling a pang of regret at his pained expression. He didn't say anything, simply got up to go join the rest of our friends, who immediately began whispering and looking in my direction.

After yet another day of doing absolutely nothing in homeroom, I headed to biology with Katie. Nathan walked just behind us, not saying a single word. We took our normal seats, which hadn't changed the entire year.

Treven and two of his friends walked in, guffawing about one thing or another. Treven spotted me and a feeling of dread and annoyance settled in the pit of my stomach. He sat on my desk and smirked.

"Hey, sweetheart."

"Go away, Treven," I said flatly.

"But I wanted to ask you something."

I looked up at him boredly. "And I'll answer: no."

"But you don't know what I'm going to ask!"

I sighed. "Get it over with, butthead."

He grinned, revealing perfect, white teeth. "I wanted to know if you'd be my date to the dance."

I raised an eyebrow. "Dance?"

"She hasn't turned him down yet," one of his buddies whispered to the other.

"Yeah. The last one didn't even answer. Just left."

Treven's smile wavered. "The summer dance. It's on the last day of school at nine."

I ran my fingers through my hair. "You asked someone else before me?"