Read Online Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance by M. Leighton - Free Book Online

her?
Lisa?”
    I shrugged. “Not really. I had a class
with her, ran into her a few times here and there.” Then, just out
of curiosity, I asked, “Did you?”
    Jake looked down into my face. His eyes
bored deep into mine yet I could tell he wasn’t really seeing me.
He nodded slowly, sadly. “Actually I knew her very well. We’d been
dating for almost a year.”
    I gasped. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” I hadn’t
known the details, but I’d figured it was something like that.
“This must be horrible for you.”
    He nodded again, his eyes once more
finding their way to the bright tape down the way. “We were getting
ready to break up. But I don’t know if that makes it better or
worse.”
    I wasn’t sure what to say to that. His
comment spawned several questions, but I doubted now was the right
time to ask them so I said nothing.
    He continued to stare at the tape,
fixated on it like I’d been a few minutes before. I wasn’t sure
whether I should try to talk to him or just walk away or what I
should do. I thought it would be nice if he would just offer to
walk me to school so we could leave the yellow tape
behind.
    Just then, Jake’s attention switched
back to me and, much to my surprise, he did exactly that. “Why
don’t I walk you to school? This can’t be a particularly pleasant
trip for you either.”
    Without waiting for my consent, Jake
took my elbow and steered me onto the grass, toward the quad. I was
silent for the first little bit, marveling over the amazing
coincidence of his offer. Then his words shook me from my
musings.
    “ Are you scared? To walk by
yourself, I mean, after what happened?”
    I shrugged again. “I guess not. Now
don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t walk this way in the dark, but
during the day…”
    Jake looked down at me again, the
crease of a frown marring his sweaty forehead. “You’re a brave
girl, Mercy Holloway.”
    A chill skittered down my back, making
me shiver. Something about the way he’d said that gave me the
heebie jeebies. But then he grinned and it was gone.
    The rest of the trip to school was
consumed by Jake’s litany of questions. He asked about my classes
and how I liked them so far. He asked what I thought of college and
if I’d been to any parties yet. He asked if any of my friends had
stayed behind to come to University East and where the rest had
gone. He asked if my parents were glad that I stayed close and if
I’d found a boyfriend yet. Thank God that by the time he got into
that, we’d arrived at Fisk Hall.
    “ This is me,” I said
stopping in front of the big double doors. “Thanks for walking me
to school, making sure that no homicidal maniacs could drag me off
into the woods to have their way with me.” I smiled, but when I saw
the look on his face, I was immediately contrite. “Oh, crap! I’m
sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. I was just- I don’t know
what I was thinking.”
    Jake’s expression softened and he said,
“It’s alright. Don’t worry about it.” He took several steps
backward, still facing me. “Adios, Mercy Holloway.”
    “ Au Revoir, Jake
Wheeler.”
    The grin he gave me could’ve stopped
time. But it didn’t. He turned and jogged down the steps, hit the
grass and disappeared across the quad.
    I made my way to my classroom, lost in
thoughts of Jake Wheeler this time. I stopped in front of the seat
I’d sat in last week, but all I could see was Lisa sitting in front
of me so I moved all the way through the auditorium style aisle and
picked a seat on the other side of the room.
    I was early, as usual, so I watched the
students as they drifted in, picking up bits and pieces of
conversations all around me. One in particular grabbed my attention
right off the bat. It was between the three girls I’d heard on
Wednesday, the ones talking about Lisa. And they were still talking
about Lisa.
    “ I didn’t know they were
about to break up. I don’t think anybody did,” one girl
said.
    “ I did. Lisa told