Chapter Four: Surprise, Surprise

I sighed and looked at Kaliyan, who was watching Skylar leave. “So…”

“So,” she echoed, “he’s pretty cute.”

One of my eyebrows rose a little as I responded with an eloquent, “Wha’?”

Kaliyan shrugged. “Skylar’s pretty cute,” she repeated, looking at me like I was going crazy—maybe I was. “And he’s a lycan, which is also majorly cool. It sucks sometimes that Dusk is just a plain old human, you know? I need some excitement in my life.”

I laughed at the ‘excitement’ bit, then said, “Speaking of Dusk, we should go visit him.”

“Why?”

“You haven’t seen him for a whole day,” I replied with a playful grin. “He might have forgotten what you look like by now.”

My best friend rolled her eyes and stood up, rolling her eyes and throwing a quick, “Fine,” over her shoulder. Then she started to walk briskly down the road towards her boyfriend’s house. I got clumsily to my feet and followed her at a slow jog, coming to her side in a few seconds.

We walked in companionable silence until we reached Dusk’s house. Then we walked up to the door, and Kaliyan knocked three times. Very quickly, the front door swung open to reveal a flustered-looking woman that looked to be his mother.

“Hi,” I greeted her, flashing a smile. “Is Daniel home?”

She narrowed her eyes. “And how,” she asked slowly, a shoddily sweet tone to her voice, “do you know Daniel?” The woman looked suspicious but carefully welcoming.

Kaliyan rolled her eyes and stepped up. “I’m his girlfriend. Why do you need to know, anyway? Is he under the witness-protection program or something? I mean, my god, lady.” Then she cut past the woman and strode directly into the house.

She’s never been here before, I suddenly realized, and it was true. Through their entire 9-month partnership, Kaliyan had never been over to Dusk’s—or Daniel, which was his real name—house. That’s not extremely weird or anything.

I wonder what he’s got to hide, I thought to myself, leaning up against the wall and staring right through the woman’s ear.

The door opened and Kaliyan stepped out. “You wonder what who’s got to hide?” Kaliyan asked me, one eyebrow slightly above the other. Her boyfriend wasn’t aware of her so-called ‘abilities’—I was the only one who was, as far as I knew—but I suppose she could have been continuing a conversation that we had been having before that woman had opened the door.

“Oh, nothing,” I said offhandedly, shooting her a look that said Later.

She shrugged and walked down the steps; I was only a step behind. “Dusk says hi, and that I look really pretty today,” she said, giving a dubious glance at the old sweatpants and baggy t-shirt that she’d never changed out of after sleeping—they were her makeshift pajamas.

I laughed out loud. “Wow.”

We talked until we finally reached my house, where my mom was waiting for us with steaks and a smile. “Hi, girls,” she greeted. “You missed lunch, so I made you dinner so that you wouldn’t have to wait any longer than the moment you crossed the door.” She smiled and handed us our plates, which were heaping with meat, fruit, and—best of all—chocolate.

“Thanks,” Kaliyan and I said, then headed for the living room, where we chowed down to the dulcet tones of the Twilight movie.

Finally, at about 1am, we fell asleep. I dreamt of cute lycans and mysterious boys named Nobody—or were they one and the same?

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“’Morning, sleepyhead,” Kaliyan whispered, shaking me awake.

My eyes fluttered open to find the sun filtering through the large window in shafts, and quickly sat up and looked at the clock: it was nearly 10 in the morning. “Hey,” I said, a half-smile on my face, as I took in my best friend, who was still in her ‘pajamas’ from the day before.

She grinned down at me. “Happy second day of summer vacay.”

“I’ll drink to that,” I said, sitting up and padding into the kitchen, where I grabbed each of us a can of Mountain Dew, which was our form of coffee. Then I wandered right back to the living room, and Kaliyan and I got our morning dose of caffeine.

Kaliyan’s arms stretched high over her head as she yawned and said, “So, what’re we doin’ today? Wanna go back to the park and talk to Skylar again, or…?”

After yawning myself, and scolding Kaliyan while telling her that it was contagious, I replied that I had thought about that option. “Gimme a little bit to get dressed and I’ll meet you outside. We can walk or bike; you can choose.”

Then, after Kaliyan had headed into the guest room to get some clothes of her own, I headed into my own room and grabbed an old pair of jeans, cut off just below the knees. Then I pulled on a tight-fitting grey t-shirt that was very flattering on me, as well as being extremely comfortable. Finally, I slid my feet into my favorite lime green flip-flops and headed out the front door.

Kaliyan was already straddling my spare bike, which was actually pretty much hers. I took my bike, which she proffered to me, and we were there within 2 minutes.

To my surprise, Skylar was already there, sitting beneath an old oak tree with bare feet and closed eyes, seemingly asleep. Kaliyan and I watched his chest rise and fall with each breath, wondering whether to wake him up, when suddenly his mouth twitched into this completely adorable half-grin and he leapt to his feet. He then covered the distance between us in two strides.

“Yo,” he said, slinging an arm over my shoulder and winking. “How’d you sleep?”

I shrugged. “I was out like a light after about 1.”

“Me too,” Kaliyan piped up. “We watched Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse in a row. It was majorly awesome, even though you might not think that, since you’re a guy and guys don’t generally…you know…like the Twilight series at all, and stuff.”

One of Skylar’s eyebrows arched high as he answered. “The Twilight series is okay, writing-wise, but only if you ignore the fact that the author has no idea what she’s writing about,” he said in a low voice. “Otherwise…well, there’s a horrible plot, a way-too-perfect boyfriend, a way-too-weak girlfriend, a way-too-perfect daughter—yes, I read Breaking Dawn—and, well, it’s all pretty lame.”

I stared at Skylar. “You did not just say what I think you said.”

Skylar rolled his eyes, and I swear they almost went backwards his irises rose so high. “Sorry if you’re a Twi-hard, but as a matter of fact I did say what I said.”

“No, no, I’m not a Twilight freak at all. It’s not that. It’s…you just totally summed up, with perfect accuracy, my summarization of what’s wrong with the series!” My eyes were round as saucers as I gazed at Skylar, who I had a newfound respect for.

The lycan opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it back shut. When he opened it again, it was to mumble, “Well, that’s not what I was expecting…”

“Can you change into a wolf?” Kaliyan asked out of nowhere; I expected that she was getting bored with our anti-Twilight talk. “Like, right now? I just wanna see.”

I nodded eagerly. “Please?”

Skylar’s rejoinder came in the form of a sigh and a brisk nod. “I don’t usually do this just for show, but…I will, just this once.”