The Right Equation Read online

  As if the beer would run out, I practically sprinted toward the bar. I smiled at a few people along the way, not caring to stop and chat until my blood alcohol level increased slightly. When I arrived, the man already had a beer ready to hand to me. I reached out for it, another grabbing it the same time another did.

  CHAPTER THREE

  My heart bounced in my throat, my insides twisted like a pretzel, as I saw the hand belonged to none other than Mandy. She cackled when she ripped the beer out of my grip. Maybe she laughed, I don't know, but the way I heard it, she cackled like a witch.

  "Penny Radcliffe."

  In all the years I imagined running into her, I always figured she would forget me. She made fun of me so much, I assumed I was a peon in her big, elaborate world of popularity. My name tag may have given it away, but I highly doubted so based on the pitiful tone she used with me. "I believe you took my beer."

  Her cat eyes squinted at me while the corner of her mouth turned up. My pulse raced as she popped open the can and took a long drink. "This one?"

  My nostrils flared as I huffed out my chest. It was only a beer, but really, it wasn't. All four years of high school consumed themselves in that little aluminum can. Every insult, prank, conniving laugh existed in that beverage, which Mandy threw in my face. After so many years had passed, I thought all the pettiness would be set aside, but clearly, I was mistaken. "Forget it," I said, defeated. "You're not worth my time."

  "Excuse me?"

  Damn. I said that out loud. "Mandy, sorry, I didn't mean that." Except I did. A thousand times over.

  Beer splashed out of the can as she slammed it onto the bar. "Yeah, you did. I don't care. I never liked you." She eyed me up and down. "What? You're dressed as a boy? Seriously. You have the same problem now as you did in high school. You don't give a damn and not in the way I don't give a damn. Wow, your braces are off. That's about all you have going for you. I bet the mustache is real."

  I forgot how to breathe, my head floating away from me. Everything I wanted to say to her disappeared with her hurtful words. In a single instant, I wanted to bury myself in the corner and sob, my sixteen-year-old self trying not to feel sorry for what I went through in the past. Mandy strutted away toward a group of girls whose names escaped me, but I recognized as part of her crew. The tears remained welled in my eyes, but I needed them to escape, so I did the only thing I could think to do. Just as though I again walked these halls every day, I bolted to the bathroom, flinging the swinging door open, racing into a stall and locking the door behind me. I wailed, the tears streaming down my face as I tried to calm myself, reminding me what my mom always told me. "Mandy only picks on you to make herself feel better." Her cruel words masked pain within herself.

  The music blared from the gym into the bathroom, and I recognized the song playing as Thriller. What an appropriate song for the evening. I pulled toilet paper off the roll and dabbed my eyes. I could get through tonight. Mandy Sanders wasn't running me out of my high school reunion. She won too many times in the past. Now, the opportunity to redeem myself stood in front of me. I tossed the paper into the toilet, just as everything went black, and a blood-curdling scream echoed from the hall.

  Don't panic. The dark didn't terrify me completely, but I was much more comfortable with even a thread of light to guide me. If I walked along the side of the wall, I could find my way to the door. But the scream. What happened? What if someone was waiting outside the restroom door with an ax or even worse, Freddy Krueger with freshly sharpened nails? I could walk out of the bathroom, stumbling over dead bodies, sliced to pieces with his knife hands. Okay, an exaggeration. Paranoia. Either way, I couldn't stay here all night. Once I got out of here, I'd probably find the lights on in every room except the bathroom. The humming of the florescent light disappeared, the only noise my heavy breaths.

  As though a monster waited on the other side, I inched the door open, and immediately punched out in front of me. Nothing but air. Good. I'd been in this bathroom dozens of times in the past, usually after an encounter with Mandy, so nothing changed. However, fifteen years had passed and with the blackness, I couldn't seem to remember which side the door was on. I kept my palms against the stalls as I took small steps to the left. The jacket I wore weighed heavier on me as the minutes moved on and my anxiousness increased. Sweat blanketed my armpits and now my thighs. My head throbbed at the same pace my heart did. Then I remembered my phone. I reached into the pocket and pulled it out. Of all the apps I downloaded, a flashlight wasn't one of them. I knew there was a button to press to use the camera light on my phone, but in all honesty, I sucked at remembering that kind of stuff. The light from the screen gave enough light to illuminate the area around me, so if I held the phone in front of me, getting out of the bathroom should be a snap.

  The tile floor appeared as it had years ago, dirty, dark, and sticky. Holding the phone in front of me, I groaned as I realized I went the wrong damn way. My groan echoed through the bathroom as I started back the other way. I picked up the pace since I knew I was headed in the right direction. My step almost had a skip to it, knowing in a few seconds, I'd be out of the stuffy bathroom and hopefully into some light.

  My clammy hand moved along the stalls again, until I slammed into the wall. Shit. I paid too much attention to the floor and not what was in front of me. Once I moved around the wall, freedom would be only a few steps away. I slithered around it, and stepped to the side until the door was in front of me. I pressed my ear to the door, not a sliver of noise outside. Utilizing the phone, I found the metal handle, pulled the door open to be greeted by more blackness.

  Great. The whole school must've been out. Now, not only did I have to find my way back to the gym, or the main entrance to just get the hell out of the building, I was alone. No footsteps, no one's breathing but my own. The slight ringing in my ears drove me crazy. I tugged at my jacket and straightened my stance. If I acted as though I wasn't afraid, getting to the gym would be a snap. "Okay," I said out loud, comforting me a little to hear a voice, if even my own. "Here I go."

  The gym couldn't be far. I sprinted to the bathroom, but still it didn't take me too long to get there. The halls of the school flashed into my mind, and the hallway I was in led straight to the gym, which would be on my left, directly opposite the main doors. Once I got there, I could decide if I wanted to stay or not. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Will, though, and he was the main reason I came. I planned on leaving tonight with his phone number.

  I took a step forward, stopping with the echo. Was that my foot, or someone else's? "Hello?"

  No one replied (thankfully), and I continued forward, my confident stance now a slouch as I stepped ahead again with the small light of my phone. My throat closed up as steps scurried past me. What the hell was that? A mouse? A person? I hugged myself, as though that would do anything, too freaked out to move. A small flash of light startled me, and I glanced around, hoping to see something, anything. The hall went black again. I didn't see anything, I moved forward again. Another little flash of light. I wasn't alone.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Blackness filled the hall once again. "What's going on?" I panicked. "Who are you?" The last place I wanted to spend my last moments was at my high school reunion, surrounded by people who mostly made my life a living hell, with the slight exception of a (very) few people. I twirled around, as if the motion promised to bring light to the area. Someone, or something, grabbed me. Three short, earth-shattering screams later, a hand clasped over my mouth.

  "Shh, Penny. It's me, Will."

  I took a hold of his arm, bunching the fabric of his suit in my hand. He removed his hand from my mouth and I let out a deep breath. "Will. Thank God. What's going on?"

  "I'm not sure. Everything went black right before the DJ planned on making some announcement."

  I hated I couldn't see his entire face, though his voice soothed me. I still held my grip on his arm, and my back against his chest. "What do we do?"


  A small light flashed again, and then remained on. Will knew how to use his cell flashlight, at least.

  "Oh, thank God." My head fell back against him. The point of his chin dug into my scalp, but I didn't care. "We'll just use your phone to get us to the front entrance and get the hell out of here."

  "I wish." He turned the light off and we stood in the dark again. "Doors are locked and we need power to get them open."

  "Hasn't anyone called 9-1-1 to help us?"

  As he spoke his voice vibrated through my head. "Nah. If it lasts too long I'm sure someone will, but it's kind of fitting considering it's a Halloween reunion. The centerpieces in the gym all have tealights in them so that lights up the space. I'm not using the flashlight on my phone too much to save on battery."

  Clank! Clank! Something - or someone - knocked against the lockers in the hall. The noise seemed distant and came from the direction we needed to go. Will must have put his phone back in his pocket because I still wouldn't let go of his arm, but he slid his other hand down my side to find my other hand, taking it in his. "Quiet," he whispered. "Let's go this way."

  I didn't understand why we whispered. A blackout wasn't anything to be afraid of. A crazed serial killer? Different story. Did a psychopath from our graduating class plan this? I flipped through my mental yearbook and no one jumped out at me as off their rocker. Only Mandy, really, and she wasn't a psycho, just a jerk. Without arguing, though, I let Will lead us down the way I came. He slithered through the halls like a snake, familiar with the surroundings as though he never left the place.

  "Where are we going?"

  "Library," he indicated in a harsh whisper as he took a sharp right.

  I didn't think going to the library would accomplish anything, but, I trusted Will and his instincts. Maybe when we arrived the entire Class of 1999 would be holed up in the library, snuggled together as we tried to figure out how to survive a zombie apocalypse, because I was certain that was the outcome of this blackout. I saved my questions for later, concerned only right now about getting to the library.

  As a student at Polk High, I spent a lot of time in the library, especially with Will as we tutored each other. We always sat in the far east corner at the wooden table with only two chairs. No one could squeeze in at the table and interrupt our studying. We took our tutoring sessions seriously because he wanted his scholarship, and I wanted to keep my GPA. Science screwed with my average. While anything even remotely science related didn't interest me, I needed to pass the class to graduate, and I didn't want the blemish on my permanent record. I took school seriously from my first day of first grade until I walked across the stage at my college graduation. Our friendship never went beyond the library, except a wave here and there in the hall. Will was one of the nice ones. No matter how much someone picked on me - or anyone - he stepped in if he witnessed it. Mandy didn't appreciate a good guy. I wondered, still, how they ended up together.

  He maneuvered through the library, the musty pages of decades-old books scenting the air. Immediately I recalled the crinkling of the plastic protectors on the books, how I ripped through a book a week, always having one in my backpack, anxious to return and move onto the next one. Since I became a CPA, work overtook my life, and I couldn't remember the last book I read cover to cover. Usually I came home from work, ate a late dinner, watched some television and headed to bed. Quite an active social life I kept.

  "Ouch!" I slammed into a table, pain ricocheting through my thighs and hips.

  "Sorry! Are you okay?"

  Will let go of my hand and before I responded, he planted both his hands on my hips, pressing into a slow massage. I wanted to drop down to the floor and direct him to massage my entire body. God, I wanted him to keep going, but I doubted his touch was romantic in any way. "Yeah, I'm fine."

  He scooted a chair out for me and guided me to sit down. A smidgen of light shone from the window. "Our old study spot," he said. "Right next to the window."

  I turned my head slightly and looked out the window, the big, round moon providing light. Through the gentle glow, he didn't look as though he aged a bit. Blemish and scar free, his skin looked perfect. Here I was, thirty-one years old, and I still had zits. Those lips I wanted to kiss more than anything rested perfectly on his face, his upper lip much thinner than the bottom, a perfect crease in the middle, shaped like a heart. Over the years, he developed a slight wrinkle under his left cheekbone, but it didn't make him appear any older. Everything about Will equated to perfection.

  "You remembered our table?" I said 'our table' as if it compared to having 'a song' or something. Far fetched, but enough to make me happy.

  Will moved out of the moon's light and sat in the chair next to me. "Of course I remember."

  I reminded my heart to keep beating at his words. The fact he recalled something from so long ago between us meant so much. "So, now what do we do? Are we safe?"

  "Of course we're safe."

  "I thought something crazy was going on out there. I heard a scream, and then you grabbed me like a serial killer is on the loose."

  "It's just a power outage and startled some people. Others are pretending the school is haunted. I saw you run off before it happened and didn't want you to be alone."

  All these years I assumed he didn't care about me. In high school, we simply tutored each other. He cared enough to seek me out, and be sure I was safe. "You don't?"

  In the shadow I saw him wave his hands in front of his face. "Of course not. You're an old pal."

  Oh. Pal. My excitement of the prospect of anything happening between us diminished with that one word. Pal, Friend. Buddy. Friend zoned! "Okay. Well, thanks."

  "I don't know about you, but the last time I saw a power outage, it lasted for hours. We've got some catching up to do."

  Hours alone with Will. The Will I crushed on through most of high school. The Will I searched for on Facebook, hoping to reconnect with. The Will who married Mandy Sanders. Of course, also, the same Will who divorced her. Did I want to torture myself with hours of conversation that would go nowhere? And why would he even want to sit with me? I noticed a glimmer of light in the distance. The complete opposite side of the room was where the emergency exit was located, the EXIT light still lit up. If Will really wanted to escape me, the emergency exit door still worked. We weren't trapped. Will knew that, too.

  Not sure if Will could see my beaming smile in the dark, I replied, "Yeah, we do have some catching up to do."

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Whispers from students and the hiss of the air conditioner or hum of the heater always created background noise in the library. With the power outage, only the gentle breathing between us during our almost nonstop conversation interrupted the dead silence.

  "Tell me, what are you doing now? You always loved numbers."

  We sat at the table using the moon as our lamp, our hands on each other's arms. As much as I wanted the gesture to be romantic, it wasn't. Will didn't want his battery to run out on his phone, so we sat in the dark. "I wouldn't say I love numbers."

  Will squeezed my forearm. "Yes, you do. I'll never forget how much you pushed me to do well in Algebra. I've never seen anyone so excited about math before."

  I didn't think it was possible to sound more like a nerd than when Will made that statement. "You needed the scholarship. I wanted to help. But to answer your question, I'm a CPA."

  "I knew it!"

  I planned on this going an entirely different way. Even after all these years, I still proved to be a complete dork. So what if I loved numbers? I didn't want to be a snobby gold digger like Mandy. Every aspect of my life showed my logical side. What about Will, though? Was he still a jock like in high school? "Whatever happened with baseball? The whole reason I tutored you was to get your grade up for scholarships. I heard you never even played in college. Did you go to college?"

  He loosened his grip on my arm. "So what if I didn't? Does that make me any less of a person?"

  "No
. That's not what I meant."

  "What did you mean then, Penny?"

  I didn't know. It just came out that way. I spent my whole life being judged based on my academics, who was I to judge based on the same, or lack thereof? "In high school, you were a star. You loved the game."

  "Still do. Look, I went to college, well, at least for the first year. That's when Mandy and I got together. I realized just because I loved baseball didn't mean I loved it enough to make it a career. My heart belonged somewhere else."

  My thumb stroked his arm. "Where?" I swallowed so hard I almost choked. If this were a movie, right now he would declare his love to me.

  "Writing."

  "Writing?"

  "Yes, writing. Why does everyone find that so hard to believe?"

  Great. Who knew simply repeating a word would make me sound like such an ass? "No, no. I'm surprised, that's all." I thought my next sentence through. "I can't wait to read something you wrote."

  "Really?"

  Now he questioned me. "Yes. I can't wait."

  "Next fall."

  "Next fall, what?"

  "That's when my book comes out. I signed the contract a few months ago."

  "Incredible!" The money Tammy mentioned must have been from the sale of a book. I couldn't contain my excitement for Will and went to hug him, except I smacked my head right into his instead. "Ouch!" I set my hand on top of my head as if that would make a difference.