Death's Awakening

Chapter Two: Noah

Noah stumbled as Karmen barreled into him. She was always doing crap like that.

They'd been friends for years, and even though she was dating his best friend Aaron, she was always being all flirty with him. It was a little annoying, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her to stop.

"You're definitely coming to my party after the game tomorrow, right?" she asked. She still had her arm looped in his and was pressing her body against his arm. Her breast rubbed against him. He tried to pull away, but she had a serious grip on him.

"I'm not sure," he said. He tried to look around the other girls to see if Parrish was still standing there. He'd just worked up the nerve to go talk to her when they'd jumped him in the hall. He didn't want to make it too obvious he was looking for her, but he'd seen what she did for that boy and wanted to talk to her about it.

Where had she learned to beat the crap out of guys twice her size?

"No way," Karmen said, pouting. "You're not getting out of it that easy. You have to come, or I'll seriously be devastated. This is the first real party of the season. My parents will be gone for three whole days, and we'll have the house all to ourselves."

She raised her eyebrows as if she meant just the two of them. He wondered if Aaron was planning on spending the night.

"I'll stop by for a while, at least," he said. "You know how my dad is about those things."

She rolled her eyes, and some of the other girls giggled. "You worry way too much about what your dad says. Besides, he'll probably be working late, as usual, and he won't even know you're gone."

Noah cleared his throat. She was right about that. His dad was gone all the time with work, leaving Noah alone at the house. Still, he didn't like to upset him, and his dad hated parties like this. Everyone would be drinking and things tended to get way out of hand. Usually, someone ended up calling the cops around three in the morning before things settled down again.

Karmen didn't care, but she never seemed to care what her parents thought.

He glanced toward the door again, catching a glimpse of the empty space outside. There was no sign of Parrish. He turned to look down the hallway and just caught sight of her braided black hair and combat boots before she turned the corner toward the main exit.

Crap.

Even though Parrish lived across the street from him and went to the same school he did, he never got a chance to talk to her. Whenever he did, she usually kept the conversation short and bolted as soon as she got the chance. He didn't understand her.

But there was something about her.

"Earth to Noah."

Noah blinked and turned his attention back to Karmen. "Sorry, what?"

Karmen followed his gaze down the hall but there was no one there. "You can be really weird sometimes, you know that?"

He shrugged and pulled his arm away from her. "I gotta run," he said. "I don't want to be late for baseball practice."

"So, I'll see you tomorrow night at my place, right?" she called after him. "My friend Star from Bethesda is going to be there and she's dying to meet you."

Noah waved and took off at a jog toward the field house. He'd only have about two minutes to get changed into his practice clothes and get out on the field, but it would have been worth being late if he'd gotten to talk to Parrish.

What was it about her that had him so twisted up? He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he'd been drawn to her ever since he first moved to the D.C. area nearly eight years ago. She was different, for sure. She had her own style with those boots and funky hair. She also had a major attitude, but that was all just surface stuff. There was something more to it.