Lumen Cove Page 3

  “Keeeeeeeelseeeeeey,” one sing-songed. “Come out and plaaaaay.”

  The others laughed and Kelsey was inclined to giggle herself but smothered it, still nervous that any sound would give her away despite the heavy wood door.

  She slowly raised herself to peek out of the window and her heart froze in her chest as she came face to face with one of the football players. Or really more like her face to the side of his, since he was looking back at his friends, telling them to check classrooms. Kelsey turned on the balls of her feet as she sunk down to the floor, pressing her back flat against it with her eyes squeezed shut.

  “Miss Charming?”

  Her eyes flew open and she was mortified to see Mr. Danvers sitting behind his desk, pen in hand but hovering as if he’d been shocked at the very moment he began applying it to paper. The knob next to her ear began to jiggle. Mr. Danvers’ eyes lifted to the window above her and she heard a muffled sound of surprise through the wood.

  “It’s Danvers,” the voice said in annoyance. “You go down to the cafeteria. I’m going to clear the end of this hall. I’ve got balloons with your name on them, Charming!”

  The sound of their footsteps receded and a ringing silence was left in their wake. Kelsey’s sense of relief was minimal, almost wishing she’d been fully wetted, leopard print bra or not. Mr. Danvers looked as if he were trying his very hardest not to laugh.

  “Are you okay?” he asked after a moment and a chuckle escaped despite himself which he tried to mask as a cough.

  She’d scared the daylights out of him but the sight of her peeking up over the window only to see Chuck Laclede on the other side was pretty hysterical. He politely ignored the leopard print band of her bra clearly visible through her soaked shirt before she thumped to the ground eyes closed and stock still. He’d figured he’d better announce himself since she was clearly going through an ordeal and discovering he’d witnessed the entire thing would likely mortify her. He wasn’t wrong.

  “I’m fine,” she blurted spastically, the slow blush creeping all the way up her neck to her ears.

  “Senior Splash Day?” he asked turning his eyes back to the papers in front of him, giving her some privacy to pull herself together.

  She laughed darkly. “Yeah.”

  “Aren’t all the seniors supposed to know about that though?”

  “Yeah!” she said, sounding indignant this time so he looked up at her again. “What the h–“ She cut herself off and blinked at him. “Heck?”

  This time he did laugh, ducking his head to try and smother it with his hand. Kelsey felt the corners of her own lips turn up. She didn’t know why he was always forcing himself not to smile, to be so stern and serious but she liked this little thrill she got when he cracked.

  He regained his composure and while his mouth was back to its normal straight line his eyes were still alight with humor. “Did you want to discuss your paper or was this merely a shelter from the storm?”

  Kelsey’s smile faded instantly and Alex almost felt bad for snuffing it out. She didn’t smile much he noticed which was a shame because she was one of those girls whose smile turned her from plain to radiant. He usually felt weird for noticing such things in students but Fitz and Hilary were constantly talking about this kid’s goofy ears or that one’s lumbering gait. It was normal to notice, he thought to himself, especially if she was his project student.

  “How bad is it that you didn’t even give me a grade?” She asked quietly, not looking at him as she hoisted herself to her feet, reaching into her bag and drawing out the crumpled papers.

  Alex merely held out his hand. She stepped forward to give it to him as he stood from his desk and he gestured to the front row of desks. Alex heard her heavy sigh as she trudged over, letting her bag slide to the floor before lowering herself into the chair. He slid into the desk beside her, looking at the paper in his hands.

  “This paper was not bad, per say,” he began with a casual shrug of one shoulder. She braced herself for the pendulum swing, “It just felt…” he paused trying to find a delicate word, “unfocused.”

  “Unfocused?” Kelsey asked, her brows creasing so that a little line drew itself between them.

  “Yes. How long ago did you read The Accidental Tourist?”

  Kelsey’s eyes went uneasy. “Um,” she looked down at her hands, one squeezing the other brutally. “J-July. We were trying to get through it together before…” She trailed her eyes meeting his and he grimaced, looking away from the pain reflected there. He flipped through the pages of her paper for a distraction.

  “Well.” He cleared his throat. “You did a nice job of summarizing the plot and giving factual context about the author and its reception after it was published,” he folded back the first two pages and Kelsey looked morose as he focused on the feeble little sentences before her closing paragraph. “But you only give two sentences to your opinion of the book, no thoughts on the characters or themes.”

  He was silent then, watching her face as she stared blankly at the paper in his hands. He felt a tincture of irritation again, but quashed it. He was a teacher and making students understand things was part of his job, but he hated feeling like he was doing all the heavy lifting.

  “So, what did you like about the book?”

  Kelsey met his gaze and he could see the anxiety in her brown eyes before she looked down at her hands.

  “Erm… it wasn’t too long,” she said slowly and Alex coughed out another laugh that he tried to suppress. Kelsey looked at him bewildered. “Is that funny?”

  “No,” Alex said, clearing his throat and back peddled when he saw her cheeks pinken. “I mean, yes it was. Only because I don’t often hear that except in book reviews where the only good thing the critic can find to say about the work is that it was short.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know that’s why it was funny.”

  A pause in which they looked at each other and a strange tension began to coil between them. She mashed her lips together in a tight line when she didn’t know what to say, he noticed. He licked his lips. A lot. Which she found terribly distracting. She looked away.

  “I liked Muriel,” she said with a gesture. “And the dog.”

  Alex nodded. “Okay why?”

  Kelsey looked pained as she tried to think. Eventually she heaved a sigh and gave up, flopping against the back of her chair. “I just do.” She crossed her arms over he chest and Alex shifted in his chair, stretching his neck to fight his annoyance. “I’m sorry.” Kelsey said after a moment. “This was the stuff…” She placed a hand flat on the desktop and focused on it, naming the bones in her hand. The carpals: scaphoid bone, lunate bone, triquetral bone…

  “This was the stuff Eleanor helped you with,” Alex said softly.

  Kelsey nodded feeling that tightness in her throat, the burning behind her eyes as she sucked in a slow breath. The pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate and hamate bones all make up the - Suddenly Alex’s palm covered the back of her hand - distal row.

  She blinked rapidly, feeling the heavy weight of his hand on hers. His palm was rough and dry and she suddenly remembered him in his sailboat about a quarter of a mile out, tugging at the rigging with no gloves, his open shirt blowing in the sea breeze.

  Five metacarpals, then the phalanges…

  “Well...I’ll be the first to admit I’m probably a poor substitute,” Alex said after a moment because his mind was absolutely empty, astounded by his own forwardness. He removed his hand from hers slowly, as if she were a wild animal and sudden movement would spook her. She jumped anyway.

  “I’m sorry. This… This is why me being in your AP class is a bad idea. I… I don’t want to take up too much of your time–“

  “Tell me a scene you remember with the dog in it.”

  Kelsey stopped fidgeting then and blinked at him. That line appeared between her eyebrows again. “When he chased the guy into the pantry.”

  Alex of
fered a rare smile. “Why did you like it?”

  “It was funny.”

  “Was there anything else happening at that time?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What else was happening in the book while the dog had trapped the man in the pantry.”

  Kelsey’s face screwed up in thought. “Macon was having lunch with his wife, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes, was he having a good time?”

  “No, he had, like, a panic attack or something,” Kelsey said. Alex looked at her pointedly and she stared back.

  “Did that happen often in the book? Macon and the dog acting out at the same time?”

  “Yeah,” Kelsey said and then her eyes widened. “Are they parallels?”

  Alex smiled widely nodding and Kelsey beamed back at him bouncing a little in her chair. “Very good, Miss Charming.”

  “Thanks,” she said looking down at her hand still on the desk, a look of delighted astonishment on her face. That was the first time she’d successfully analyzed anything without Gram. It was as if a light was then snuffed out inside her. She watched each of the metacarpals articulate with the bases of the proximal phalanx of her fingers, flexing the metacarpophalangeal joints.

  Alex watched her open and close her fingers slowly, her eyes concentrating on her knuckles before she shook her head fluttering her fingers as if the movement would shoo her thoughts away.

  “I think,” Alex said, lifting himself from the chair to wiggle a hand into the pocket of his khakis and produced a pen, “that we have covered enough to show me what I needed to see.” Kelsey’s eyes lit up but sobered quickly as he drew a curved letter C right under his previous note. He handed it to her. “A ‘C’ is average, Kelsey. Meaning you performed as expected but did not exceed expectations. You’re exactly where you need to be with room for improvement if you work hard at it.”

  She nodded soberly. He was right, she had just pushed hard enough to pass. If she wanted to excel she’d have to do a little more heavy thinking. She could do that. They had talked out this problem together but she’d gotten it pretty much on her own. On her next paper, maybe she could do it all on her own. The thought thrilled and terrified her. Gram I hope you’re watching this.

  “Thank you Mr. Danvers,” she said turning to him suddenly and he felt the tips of her fingers lightly pat the back of his hand in a respectable imitation of his previous touch.

  He nodded, feeling the corners of his mouth tug. He liked Kelsey Charming. She was sharp but lacked confidence. She could get the answers on her own, but she needed someone to ask the right questions. She stood, hoisting her bag up onto her shoulder, untucking her long dark hair from under the strap with a grimace. He stood as well.

  “So, what’s your decision, Miss Charming? AP or no AP?” Alex crossed his arms over his chest and Kelsey bit her bottom lip as an uneasy look crossed her face. She looked out the windows, chewing the corner of her mouth then looked at him again, anxiety in her amber colored eyes.

  “Well… what do you think?” she asked, shifting from foot to foot. “From just now. Do you think I can pass it?”

  Alex thought for a moment then nodded. “It’ll be hard. You might not get an A.” He raised his eyebrows and gestured with his hand, “you might not even get a B, but I definitely think you can pass.”

  Kelsey took a deep breath and let it out slow, puffing out her cheeks as she debated with herself. She swallowed hard, hooked her hand around the strap of her bag and jutted her chin out as she looked at Mr. Danvers.

  “I wanna do it,” she said with a nod. “I want that scholarship. I’m tired of the Bellengrath kids winning every year.”

  Alex coughed out an unexpected laugh at this and a smile crept over Kelsey’s face. “Is that why you want the Illumination Scholarship? So the rich kids on the north end of town don’t get it?”

  Kelsey shrugged one shoulder. “Pretty much.” Alex snorted another laugh. “And for Gram. Gram wanted me to have it,” she added softly.

  Alex’s smile faded as sympathy washed through his dark blue eyes. Kelsey looked down at her feet, biting her lip.

  “I’ll do what I can to help you get it,” Alex said and Kelsey looked up at him, bashful now and gave him a tight smile.

  “Thanks Mr. Danvers,” she said as she made for the door. Alex noticed that the back of her shirt had dried just enough to become opaque once more.

  Chapter Three

  As the week drew to a close, the sky over Lumen Cove had turned a steely gray. Kelsey squinted up at the angry sky as her feet drug along the wooden landing that led up to the entrance to Building 2. Her head felt thoroughly pummeled having spent the last hour and a half in Mr. Danvers’ classroom, first giving an oral presentation on Pride and Prejudice which he politely applauded upon her conclusion and laughed when she curtsied. A smile tugged at her mouth as she took the stairs to the second floor landing but it fell as she then remembered the hellish AP practice test she sat through afterwards. She couldn’t concentrate and kept feeling as if he was watching her, but every time she peeked up he was thoroughly immersed in his grading. She still wasn’t very comfortable with the one on one time and there were moments she sensed he wasn’t either. Reva had practically been salivating for details all week. In fact, Kelsey wondered why she hadn’t heard from her yet. She pulled out her phone as she reached the top of the stairs to check if she had any messages but there were none. She tried to remember if Reva had a date this evening then snorted at herself. It was Friday night. Of course Reva had a date.

  “Scue me,” a roughened voice said behind her and she jumped as she slid out of the way automatically, watching a grizzled looking man with stringy gray hair and overtanned skin amble around her, his old flip-flops thwacking on the cement as he hobbled down the hall holding a giant cooler.

  It was then that Kelsey noticed the door to her condo open at the end of the hall and much to her horror the man, who she had never seen before in her life, walked right in. Kelsey hurried forward in alarm trying to think of what she could use as a weapon. Her physics book was pretty formidable but she would need to be in close range. Unless she threw it…

  Kelsey’s panic quadrupled when she came to her doorway and saw not only the strange man in her living room but an array of people she didn’t know. All of them were laughing and carrying on, an old Jimmy Buffett track playing through the entertainment system. Some of them, to her horror, were smoking. All of them were drinking. Kelsey was struck dumb, having no earthly idea what to do or how to process this turn of events. But as Sully sauntered out of the kitchen, holding four beers by their necks and distributing them amongst the crowd her bewilderment clicked over into rage.

  “Sully!” she yelled, her voice cutting through the din like a knife and the laughter cut off abruptly. Sully turned his smile fading but not completely.

  “Kels!” he hollered opening an arm to her. She ripped her bag over her head, throwing it to the ground with a very loud thump. Sully chuckled. “Guys this is my daughter, Kelsey. Real science whiz. You set up the system here didn’t you babe?” Sully asked as he reached over to fiddle with the volume on the stereo so that it surged loudly. Kelsey winced.

  “It sounds great,” a leather-skinned blond hollered, her voice a rough cigarette rasp. She gave an exaggerated okay sign to show her approval and others chimed in as well.

  “That’s my girl,” Sully beamed and Kelsey felt a strange tug in her chest as he looked at her with swelling pride. Had Sully ever looked at her that way before?

  “What…what’s going on?” she asked, stepping cautiously into the room, noting the throw pillows unceremoniously tossed to the floor. Gram hated that.

  “Just a little Friday night celebration,” Sully said, throwing an arm around her neck; she could smell the beer on his breath. She tried not to gag.

  “Celebrating what?” she asked, looking around nervously, trying to discreetly pull out of his embrace.

  “It’s the weekend!” said a brunett
e that looked familiar but Kelsey didn’t know her name. She may have seen her coming out of Lambency Liquors a few times while she had been at Greens Corner Grocery.

  “You’re celebrating something that happens 52 times a year?” Kelsey asked, perplexed and Sully’s booming laugh made her jump.

  “Did I tell you she was also a math genius? 52 times a year. Good one honey.”

  Kelsey actually did cringe when he kissed her forehead. “Uh I’m just gonna get my stuff,” she said, gesturing to Grams…well… her room. “I’m staying with Reva tonight.”

  “Okay just be careful sweetie,” Sully said finally removing his arm from around her shoulders. “No boys,” he added sternly, shaking a finger at her and Kelsey blinked at him.

  “Sure thing, Dad,” she replied but the sarcasm was lost on all of them as they fell back into their conversation.

  Kelsey entered Gram’s - her - room and shut the door quickly behind her, leaning back against it and closing her eyes. She could still hear the thumping music and laughter behind her, muffled but still distinctly loud. This was not good. She jumped as she heard the toilet flush and a woman walked out of the master bathroom, rubbing her hands together.

  “Oh heeeeey,” she said, her heavily kohled eyes crinkling into a smile, her jaw moving in a circling motion as she smacked her gum. “Kelsey, right? We had geometry together my senior year.”

  Kelsey did indeed recognize the buxom blond from the geometry class she took freshman year though she couldn’t remember the girl’s name. Only that she was a complete moron that could barely understand graphing on a plane. Kelsey squeaked a spastic “hi” at her, wondering how she could get her out of Gram’s room…her room.