Chapter 6: Eerie

Wind whistled through the leaves of the trees in the schoolyard. The clouds in the night sky shadowed the town in such an eerie way that it would chill a person to the bone. There weren’t any stars, at least, not that I saw—perhaps somewhere far behind the gathering storm clouds.

The sound of two deep voices caught my attention, and I stopped mid-stride on the sidewalk of my dorm building. Across the yard stood Tanner and Silas, looking as though they might tear each other apart. They were just outside the boys’ dorm building. I took a step in their direction. For some unapparent reason, I was drawn to their conversation. It was probably just me being nosy, but I just wish I understood what it was about the two. They hated each other more than I ever saw any two people hate each other.

“Oh yeah?” Silas challenged.

I broke into a sprint as soon as the words left Silas’s mouth.

“Yeah,” Tanner said in a menacing tone as he stepped forward.

Silas balled his hand into a fist, and I caught his arm mid-swing. Stunned, he spun around to see who had stopped him. Tanner leaned around Silas to see me.

“Look, whatever the hell this is about, boys, I’m sure it can be settled differently.”

Silas laughed. “A bit nosy, aren’t you, princess? Get the hell out of here. This doesn’t concern you.”

Tanner smirked at me. “Don’t let him scare you away, love. He talks like that to all his favorite little pets.”

Silas ripped his arm out of my hands and shoved Tanner.

Tanner fell on his a*s.

Silas’s entire body shook with rage. “You leave my goddamn sister alone. You hear me?”

Tanner chuckled.

Silas spun away from him and stopped in front of me as if he had forgotten my presence. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay as far from him as you can.”

“Him? You’re the one trying to throw punches.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

Silas raised his eyebrows at the same time that thunder rumbled through the sky and shook the ground below my feet. Silas chuckled under his breath and shook his head. “You don’t know a goddamn thing.” Silas wrapped his hands around his keys and clenched his jaw as he stared into my eyes as if he were searching for something. He opened his mouth and started to speak, but he stopped and shook his head. He walked around me and sprinted in the direction of the parking lot.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to Tanner. I helped him off the ground just as a bolt of lightning lit up the night sky revealing angry dark clouds that looked like they were about to explode with rain. “What is his problem?” I asked.

Tanner wiped off the back of his jeans with his hands and shrugged. “He’s always pissed at me for something.”

“It seems that way,” I agreed. “Or maybe it’s not as it seems.”

The suggestion in my voice made him tense up. “Isn’t it?” He took a deep breath before saying something else and changing his tone completely. “Look, when it comes to Silas and me, your best bet is not to stick your nose into it.”

“What did you do to his sister?”

Tanner scoffed. “Didn’t you just hear what I said? I didn’t do anything to his sister. She came to me; I only gave her what she wanted.” A devilish smirk played on his lips.

Suddenly, Silas didn’t seem like the bad guy, but I couldn’t really be sure. The way Tanner implied it was like he hung around Silas’s sister just to get under his skin.

Maybe it is more than hanging out—I thought. “Good night, Tanner.” I spun away from him.

“Hey, wait. I’m sorry, okay? I’m not usually this rude,” he said as he kept pace with my stride.

I stopped and turned to him in irritation. “Look, I don’t care what you did. It’s not my business. You’re both right about that. Quite frankly, I don’t know why I stepped between you two.”

“While I got you here, what about tomorrow night? Are you coming to Iron Creek Lake? I’d love to give you a ride.” The way Tanner said he would love to give me a ride sounded dirty, and the smile that followed told me he meant it to sound that way.

I scoffed. “That’s rich. So, you’re done with Silas’s sister. Now you’re going to move onto me?”

Tanner’s smile faded, and he rolled his eyes. “Why am I not surprised you took it that way? Look, I did nothing wrong. I’m single, and I thought if you were, maybe we could go together, or we can go as just friends.”

I pursed my lips and nodded. I considered that maybe I overreacted to what I thought sounded overly flirtatious. “I might stop there, but if I come, I’m coming solo. But who knows, we could run into each other,” I said and shrugged.

His smile came back. “I look forward to it.”

“Goodnight.”

“Night.”