“I hope you like the charm.” His eyes got a kind of dreamy look and his arm brushed up against mine and he stayed close.
“I love it.” I stepped back, glancing down the row of waiting people. “Not too busy today. It won’t be long before we get to the front.”
He moved closer again. “I know how much you like horses, and—”
“Yeah, you do, too.” No way was I going to let him say something stupid if I could help it. “Hey, look, it’s Pepper.” I pointed to the horse being petted by a couple and their little girl. “Cool! She’s my favorite.”
Derek reached for my hand. “You’re my fav—”
“Derek—” I pulled my hand away and stuffed it into my pocket and faced him square on. It was not the time to be subtle. “We’re friends, right? Like Mike? We’re best friends.”
“But I—”
Pepper bumped me, demanding her treats. I gave her some grain pellets, barely noticing her velvety nose nuzzle my hand, which was always my favorite part.
Looking up, I spotted Mike and Sandy through the open doorway. “Hey, let’s go.” I ducked outside, narrowly missing a head-on collision with someone. “’Scuse me,” I muttered, keeping my head down, intent on escaping any more one-on-one conversation with Derek.
“What’s your hurry, Nina?”
Sal. I spun around. I might not have recognized Sal in his regular clothes, but there was no mistaking the voice. Or the green-and-purple bruises. Was he following me? It must have been him I’d seen on Michigan Avenue. This was not a coincidence. My heart started pounding faster. I was actually relieved when Derek caught up to me.
“Nina—hey, who’s this?” he asked.
“Derek, this is Sal.” Glancing over Sal’s shoulder in the direction of the cow barn, I yanked on Derek’s arm. “Come on.” I nodded at Sal. “We gotta catch our friends. See ya.”
“Mind if I tag along?” Without waiting for an answer, Sal fell into step with us.
“Okay,” Derek said, looking at me.
I ignored both of them and walked faster toward Mike and Sandy. They were behind the barn, hanging on the fence, mooing at the pasture’s inhabitants, who were completely oblivious to them.
Sandy saw us coming and hopped down. When she spotted Sal, she shook out her hair. I thought she looked like a horse when she did that, but guys seemed to like it. At least XVI Ways, the most popular teen zine ever, said they do. There was even a vid showing how to shake your head properly, for maximum effect. Sandy’d rehearsed the move from the XVI Ways Nonverbal Cues guide every day. I thought it was stupid—but still I’d sit there watching while she practiced. It wasn’t nearly as impressive with my short dark hair.
“Who’s this?” she asked Derek. “Someone from your band?”
“No, he’s a friend of Nina’s.”
I could see she was about to say something else, so I stepped in before she had the chance. “This is Sal.”
Mike pointed to the bruises on Sal’s face. “What happened to you? Kiss a trans?”
“Might as well have.” Sal laughed. “I walked into a door.”
“Hey.” Derek had been staring pretty intently at him. “I know you. You go to Daley. My locker’s across the hall from yours.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mike said. “You’re the guy whose parents died in that leviton crash.”
Leave it to Mike to get straight to the heart of things, no matter how tactless.
“I am,” Sal replied.
“That’s awful,” I said. “I’m really—”
“My dad’s dead, too.” Sandy slipped closer to him, flashing her sweetest smile. She started twirling a lock of her hair.
More Nonverbal Cues guide. Sandy was acting so typically sixteen; it didn’t matter to her at all that her birthday was still a month away. I shouldn’t have been surprised that she brought up her father being dead to connect with Sal. She was so desperate for guys’ attention, for any kind of connection. That was the last thing I wanted to do, so I kept my mouth shut about my dad.
I’d hoped Sal would leave, but it appeared he was staying. And I wanted to stop Sandy from looking like a fool, throwing herself at him. It seemed like small talk was my only choice. “So who do you live with?”
Sal’s eyes met mine. I hadn’t anticipated the effect those deep brown eyes would have on me. My pulse sped up and I felt my heart banging against my chest. I dropped my gaze to the ground and toed lines in the gravel.
“My brother, John, took me in after our parents died. I help him out repairing transports and city transits. My sister-in-law says it pays my expenses.”
“You work on trannies?” Mike said. “That is so cool. I saw one the other day that I really want. It’s an early-thirties cruiser; comet-tail red, with Orion pin-striping and chromax levelers. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have something like that.”
“Have you got your own?” Derek asked. It appeared he was as impressed as Mike. The pressure was off me, at least for the time being.
“I got my license last year. But John won’t let me buy one until I’m eighteen. He says young drivers have too many accidents. Sounds just like my dad used to. I do get to drive his 260G Perseids sometimes. Man, it’s as fast as a tri-leviton express.”
Almost instantly, the guys were deep into discussing the pros and cons of personal versus multitransits and what models were the best. Sandy tugged me over to the fence.
“That’s him, isn’t it?” She kept her eyes glued on Sal. “He’s really cute. You didn’t tell me he was really cute.” She cut her eyes at me for a second, quickly looking back at Sal.
“He’s okay, if you like tall and skinny. And what happened to my being in danger for talking to a homeless?” I didn’t say what I thought of his looks, and I didn’t dare confide the effect he’d had on me. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, least of all some guy who snuck around in rags and had a raging case of attitude. I did feel bad for him about his parents.
“Oh, he’s definitely not homeless.” She eyed him in a way that made me blush. “And I prefer to call it lean and lanky. Ultrayum!”
“Cut it out, Sandy. You’re as bad as those eighteens on the express.” The way she said it was like Sal was nothing more than something to be devoured. It shouldn’t have reminded me of the pig-eyed ’lete, but it did. I shook it off, putting it down to me thinking too much about Angel and what could have happened. “Speaking of the express…” I pulled her wrist over, checking the time on her chronos. “We’d better leave soon. I have to be home by six.”
The guys were still talking trannies. “Hey, we gotta go,” I said. “I’m watching Dee tonight.”
“We’ll walk you to the station,” Derek offered.
“No, you guys hang out. See ya.”
Sal pulled out his PAV receiver. “Hey, Nina, I accidentally deleted my list. What’s your number?”
Before I could reply, Mike blurted it out.
Sal ticked it in, grinning at me the whole time. “I’ll call you later.”
My heart beat faster, but this time out of anger. I started to tell him not to call until I noticed everyone looking at me. Sandy’s I-could-kill-you glare stood out like a beacon.
“What?” I glared right back at her. “Later, guys.” Sandy charged off down the sidewalk.
Derek looked from me to Sal and back again. “Yeah, later, Nina,” he echoed.
By the time I caught up to Sandy, she wasn’t speaking to me. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.
She stopped in the center island on State Street, planted her hands on her hips, and lit into me. “What do you think you’re doing, giving Sal your number? You knew I thought he was cute and wanted to hang out. We could’ve taken the later express. Do you want him for yourself? I didn’t think you wanted a boyfriend.”