Matt Archer: Legend by Kendra C. Highley Page A

how to keep him from breaking. I was crossing through the cafeteria
doors on my way to do just that when a hand landed on my elbow.
    “Let him go,” Ella said.
    A thrill zipped through my body, but I kept walking. I
didn’t follow Will, though. Instead, I went the opposite direction to an empty
classroom and Ella wasn’t far behind me. I ground my teeth in frustration;
somehow I knew she was right and Will needed a few minutes alone, but it drove
me crazy.
    What was going through his head right now? Why’d he go off
like that? Was Penn now Sacred Ground, or was it something else, something
bigger that I just didn’t understand?
    Worried, I flung the classroom door open so hard it flew out
of my hand and slammed into the wall. I waited for Ella to follow me inside,
then tugged the doorknob free of the hole it’d made in the plaster and closed
it behind her. Unable to stand still, I paced back and forth across the cheap
carpet, hoping Will wasn’t out driving his BMW into a tree or doing something
equally stupid while I gave him space.
    Ella crossed the room slowly, like she was trapped with a
caged tiger. “What’s going on with you two?”
    What sucked was that she sounded genuinely interested and
worried. “I broke Will.”
    “ Broke him?” She cocked her head to one side. “How
did you do that?”
    I couldn’t tell her about Penn and I sure couldn’t tell her
how Will and I had determined we were complete losers when it came to girls.
“Just pushed the wrong buttons, I guess. I don’t know; I think something’s
wrong at home and I have no idea what it is.”
    Ella took a hesitant step my direction, then another. “He’s
got a lot to deal with. I know what his family’s like.” She gave me a sad
smile. “And I know about Penn. I see how he looks at her. Will has a ton of
confidence, so when things don’t go his way, it’s a bigger deal because it
doesn’t happen very often.”
    I took a step toward her, wondering how close she’d let me
get...wondering how close Tink would let me get. When Ella didn’t back
away, I inched closer, until we were only a foot apart. “You’re probably right,
but I think there’s more to it. I need to go check on him…will you tell Mr.
Hooper I went home sick?”
    “Skipping history? Matthew, I’m ashamed of you,” she said. A
real smile bloomed on her face. “But…since you’re such a good friend, I’ll
cover for you. Just this once.”
    So, this wasn’t a banner day for me, and her smile set my
nerve endings on fire. Not sure what else to do, I kissed her.
    It started out as a gentle kiss, but I was too overloaded to
keep any kind of control. I kissed her hard, trying to take her breath away, to
keep it for myself, to fill up the emptiness I always seemed to carry inside.
My hands tangled in her hair and my body was pressed against hers until Ella
became my universe; nothing else existed. I wasn’t even aware of when she
started kissing me back, but at some point I realized her fingers had dug into
my shoulders deep enough to bruise and her lips were just as eager as mine.
    Then a headache exploded in the back of my skull.
    Gasping for air, I stepped back. “Damn it!”
    Ella gulped and avoided my eyes. “It’s like that time at the
pond, isn’t it? The knife is hurting you for kissing me.”
    Her pained expression matched the migraine pounding in my
head. “Ella, I’m really sorry. I mean, I’m not sorry for kissing you. It’s just—”
    She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “No, I’m
sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. I…just forgot.”
    Ella turned and ran from the room before my brain caught up
enough to tell her I still loved her.
     
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    I went out to the parking lot with my mouth aching from the
kiss; the rest of me ached from everything else.
    “Tink?” I snapped. “I’m on my way outside, now. You gonna
let up on the headache?”
    The pain dissolved. You needed a reminder.
    “A reminder of