“I am?”
“A strong itch means a strong reaction.”
“To what?”
“To turning eighteen.”
Birthdays didn’t cause itching, did they? And how did he know I was about to turn eighteen? I supposed Principal Hernandez could have told him I was almost eighteen. I was a senior. The experiment was about applying for college. It wasn’t so far fetched.
“I’m nervous,” I said. “About graduating. Moving away from home. Were you nervous when you went to college?”
“You’ll be fine. I think you’re made for this.”
“Made for what?” Okay, now he was creeping me out.
“Do you like the outdoors?”
I wasn’t going to tell him. It was time to go home, past time. Lots of serial killers are attractive; I remembered that from the psycho-murderer show on PBS.
“I have to go,” I said. “I told my dad I wouldn’t be long.” I tossed my hair back and Walker’s grip tightened.
“What’s that on your neck?”
With my free hand, I touched the red mark I had seen in the mirror. It was raised, bumpy, and kind of hot to the touch. “I don’t know. I must’ve scratched myself.”
“Was there someone at your house today?”
“My dad.”
“Anyone else?”
“This kooky woman.”
He frowned and waited for me to go on, but I didn’t want to tell him about my dad and Madame Gold.
“I must’ve bumped into something.” I stood up, pulled my hand from his and immediately shivered as if an ice cube had dripped down my spine. I wanted his warm hand back, but I turned away. “Thank you. Maybe we can try this at school one day.”
“I’m not here long.” He paused. “Four days. Tops.”
I shrugged and stepped back toward the parking lot.
“Yoo hoo!” A girl’s voice rang out across the park. “Walker! October!”
It was Luisa and Jed, her tall, skinny boyfriend. They tossed the Frisbee back and forth as they walked toward us.
“What is she doing here?”
“She’s part of the experiment,” Walker said.
I sighed. Next to Luisa’s shiny dark hair and lovely long legs, I faded away.
“You didn’t think you’d be the only one, did you?” Walker asked. “What kind of experiment would that be?”
Across the park I saw the puking kid from the nurse’s office riding his bike in our direction. “Him too?”
“Chris Lee. Yes.”
“You just took everybody who went to the nurse.”
“Pretty much.” He smiled at me and stood up. “I need you all to have something in common.”
“Luisa wasn’t even really sick. And I just had an itch. And this kid is too young for college. Plus he’s going to give us all the stomach flu.”
“Trust me,” Walker said.
I took a step away from him and crossed my arms in front of my chest, but he moved closer.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “You are why we’re here.”
“What does that mean?”
“October.”
“Yes?”
“Answer a question?”
“Is this finally part of the experiment?”
He nodded, but I was not prepared for the question. He looked into my eyes and asked, “When you have your first kiss, what should it be like?”
I blushed to my toes. Was it so flipping obvious that I’d never been kissed? How did he know? The itch was tingling, threatening to erupt again.
“Tell me,” he said. “What do you want it to be?”
His blue eyes had darkened into pools of inviting water. I could fall into them. I could fall in and never come up.
“I don’t want much.” I shrugged, tried to laugh, tried to be so much cooler and experienced than I was. “When someone kisses me, I expect the earth to move.”
“The earth to move,” he repeated. “Not much at all.” He didn’t smile.
“Hey. Let’s get this party started.” It was Jeb.
The connection between us broke and he turned to the others. I hoped no one noticed my red, embarrassed face. And then, worse, my stomach growled. I was flustered and suddenly I was starving and to top it off I had to pee. His experiment didn’t make any sense. What did first kisses have to do with going to college? I waved at Luisa and motioned I was going to the bathroom. Walker didn’t seem to notice as I walked away. He was busy shaking hands with Jed and little Chris, or Green, as I would forever think of him. I was cold and hurried over to the stucco park building. A gust of wind whipped my hair into my eyes blinding me.
I stumbled over a rock and somehow startled two crows. They flapped up in front of me, squawking. “Hey!” I cried as they circled my head and landed right in front of the door to the women’s room. “Scram!” I waved my arms.
They just cawed back at me and in my imagination I heard them teasing me, “we’re gonna get you.” Why would a crow want to get me? I thought of the crow in my yard, pecking at the dead cat. Crows are my least favorite bird, and one of the most common. They are everywhere in the United States. Corvus brachyrhynchos, a fancy Latin name for a flying rat. So black, so big, and they make that horrible noise. I know they steal the eggs from other birds and sometimes even kill and eat the young chicks. That makes them cannibals. Disgusting. But I was never afraid of a crow until the two in front of the bathroom. They stared at me, turning their heads this way and that to see me from each beady black eye. I stamped my feet. They didn’t move. I really had to go to the bathroom. They were just a couple of birds. I stepped toward them reaching for the door handle and they attacked. They flew at me, wings beating the air. One of them landed on my shoulder and then hopped up and got its talons caught in my hair. The other one clawed up my leg and pecked at my thigh. I spun and slapped at them, but they attacked my hands. All the while I could have sworn I heard them speaking to each other, cheering each other on.
Then Walker was there, swinging at them with a tree branch. The birds backed off, but they didn’t leave. They circled me until Green and Jed ran forward shouting with big sticks and they and Walker chased the two crows across the park. Green took a straw out of his back pocket and blew something, a rock or a bead, at one of them. He hit it, the crow gave a little squeal, “that hurt!” and fled, the other one following, and Jed and Green high-fived each other.
I put my head between my knees. I had imagined I could understand them. Not that it was difficult to figure out what a crow would say, but between that and the attack, the scratches and peck marks, I was dizzy.
“Has that ever happened before?” Walker ran up to me.
“Yeah, of course. Crows attack me all the time.”
“You should have asked me to go with you.”
“To the bathroom?”
“Or take Luisa.”
“Good idea,” I scoffed. “Luisa, who seems to have disappeared. Bet she’s hiding under a picnic table.”
“Here I am.” Luisa came out of the bathroom with her ever-present Frisbee. “All clear,” she