Under the Viaduct, H. Anderson [top young adult novels .TXT] 📗

involved with your patients, or, in this instance, with the subjects of your research. Stay detached. Always look at things from the outside. With the first interview, she’d already broken that rule. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe through the tightening of her chest.

Kaylee slowed her car and pulled off to the side of the road, creeping up just enough to see past the curve behind her yet still staying out of sight of the group laughing around the fire. She wanted to talk to Mama C alone—without her gang of protective followers nearby.

Twisting in her seat, she glanced at the door lock to ensure it was in the down position even though she’d checked it multiple times already. She let her gaze fall to the street and sidewalk behind her. That had been the direction Mama C had come from last time. Kaylee drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. She tried to convince herself she was safe inside the car, but she knew she wasn’t. Nothing a good crowbar couldn’t fix for someone truly intent on getting to her. “I won’t stay past dark,” she said out loud.

A kink in her neck forced her to turn back to the front. She glanced at the clock in her dash and her heart sank. It would be dark within forty minutes. She adjusted the rearview mirror and watched the street through it.

Kaylee growled as the sky darkened. She sighed and took one last look behind her. “Oh, well. I really need to study for that test tomorrow, anyway.” She started the car but didn’t turn the headlights on. She eased into the road and turned around, not wanting Mama’s gang to see her. Not wanting Blayne to know she’d been there.

She turned onto a main street and clicked her headlights on.

“How’d I do?”

Kaylee smiled at the guy who’d sat on the front row all semester but had only uttered a few words that whole time. “How do you think you did?” She’d just finished proctoring the Psych 1100 final for the professor she TA’d for.

His face flushed, and he shrugged. “Art History is my major. I’m not that into Psych.”

Kaylee zipped up her jacket and shoved her pencil into her bag before throwing one strap over her right shoulder. “See ya’ later.”

The quiet guy caught up to her in two steps. “Wait.”

She hesitated, frowning before she turned to face him.

He must have caught the tail-end of the frown in her eyes because he dropped his gaze to his hands and cleared his throat. “I…I was just wondering if you’d like to go get lunch. With me.”

“Um, I’m seeing someone. I’m sorry.” Why had she said that? She hadn’t been on a date in months. And Shy-Guy was kinda cute.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s a new thing. I just don’t want to mess it up before we see where it’s going.” More lies. What was she doing?

“I…I understand.” He started walking beside her. “What’s his name?” Did his voice hold a hint of disbelief? Or was that her guilt tricking her ears into hearing it that way?

“Blayne,” she spat out. She slapped a hand to her mouth and tried to cover the reaction with a lame cough. Blayne? Really? The homeless guy? She rolled her eyes. Way to set your standards high.

“Is he a student here?”

“No. No. He isn’t a student. He works with the homeless.” She needed to get away from her prying classmate before her nose started growing. “I’m meeting him for lunch downtown. And then I have papers to grade for the professor. Sorry again. Gotta go.” She sped up to a near jog and didn’t turn back to see if he’d followed her.

She’d parked her car on the street; money was too tight to pay for a parking permit on campus. She slowed to a normal pace after a couple of minutes, sure she’d left him in her wake.

The walk to her car seemed to take hours. She threw her backpack in the passenger seat and slammed the driver’s side door. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she thought, What am I going to do now? Her plan had been to grab a bite to eat from the cafeteria then spend the rest of the time studying before her last final in two hours. She’d have to drive somewhere to get lunch and just study there.

Even though she drove herself there, she looked up in shock to see she’d ended up, not at a fast-food joint as she’d planned, but at the viaduct. She slowly shifted the car into park and stared at the lone figure beneath the bridge as she turned off the engine. “Mama C,” she whispered. With no one else around to interfere.

The older woman looked up sharply as Kaylee shut the car door. Kaylee didn’t take her eyes off the woman who didn’t exactly smile, but didn’t scowl either. That was good, right?

Kaylee smiled as she approached.

Mama C put a hand on her hip, pursed her lips, then said, “Hmm. I kinda’ thought you’d give up after your last visit. How’s your head?”

Biting her lip, Kaylee ran her fingers down the sutures she’d need to get taken out soon. “It’s fine. Nothing a few stitches couldn’t fix.” She took another step closer. “Do you have time to talk right now?”

Mama C snorted out a laugh. “I suppose I could spare a little time out of my busy schedule.” She gestured to a couple of upside-down buckets. “Have a seat.”

Kaylee, glad she’d worn an older pair of jeans, brushed some ashes off the top of a bucket and sat down, zipping her coat further up her neck to help fight off the chill air.

“Well,” Mama C grunted as she lowered herself onto a bucket. “What questions ya’ got for me? And just so you know, I’m not gonna tell you my whole life’s story. Nobody gets to know that but me.”

Kaylee frowned, looking down to get a