by L J Andrews
Jade smiled, her white teeth gleaming like perfect pearls. “Oh, I see. You think there’s something inappropriate going on. Well, Teagan—perhaps there is. What do you plan to do about it?”
My face flushed with shocking heat as I scribbled a few circles along the empty page. Raffi and Dash were snarling, but still looking to the teacher, not even stealing glances in Jade’s direction though I was sure they wanted to speak to her. Strange guys, I thought.
“I don’t make it a habit of getting in other people’s business,” I muttered, though I very much wanted to know Jade’s business.
“I appreciate that,” she teased. “In turn, I’ll put your mind at ease, nothing inappropriate is going on. Sapphire is just a close family friend. There was a little trouble I needed help with and he obliged.”
Jade’s smooth way of speaking could have lulled me into a trance if I allowed it. She was confident and intelligent and unafraid by all pretenses. But there was something about the way Dash was gripping his desk and Raffi’s face reddened like a cherry that brought me to wonder how she could keep such obsessive, volatile company.
“Glad to hear it,” I said, cursing my uninteresting response. Couldn’t I think of anything else to carry the conversation?
“There is something so fascinatingly familiar about you, Teagan. I simply can’t put my finger on it.”
I shrugged, never noticing how I hadn’t heard a single word Mrs. Tiddel was saying—all I heard was Jade. “I don’t know, I just came here, so unless you’ve been down in Hamilton lately, I don’t know. Must have one of those faces.”
“You must,” Jade sang. “Well, it’s good to know you, Teagan. I suppose we should pay attention now; it’s rude to talk while others are speaking.” Jade flashed one more smile. My complete brain fog over Jade must have lifted, and Mrs. Tiddel’s playful voice went on about the reading report we had to turn in within two weeks. Raffi’s red face was close to Jade, who looked ahead at Mrs. Tiddel while he rambled something hushed in her ear. He looked upset, so did Dash, but at least Dash didn’t eye me like he was about to murder me.
Drawing my attention away from Jade and her uptight friends, I tried to focus on what Mrs. Tiddel was saying. Of course, by the end of class I’d left with only a few notes jotted and a heap of glances at Jade tucked in there somewhere. The bell rang and Jade stood, followed by Raffi and Dash.
“Bye, Teagan. It was good to meet you. Welcome to Wyvern High,” she whispered as she passed.
Raffi stayed close to Jade, his arm wrapping protectively around her shoulders, and it caused my skin to prickle in a burning rush.
“Hope Sapphire can help you reform and all,” Dash muttered as he passed.
“Let’s hope,” I retorted through a sneer. Once Jade and her overprotective guys were long gone, I stacked my books back into my bag and rushed from the room. I didn’t know where the football field was, but I quickly shoved outside the closest door knowing I’d find it sooner or later.
“Mrs. Tiddel is pretty cool,” Graham said quietly, passing over a bag of chips before opening one of his own. “But she really likes in-depth writing, and she knows if you just copy and paste from Google, so watch that.”
I leaned back on my elbows, watching from the bleachers as students poured across the field in groups. Then I saw her—there was Jade, sitting with Raffi and Dash, sipping a bottled water.
“Hey, Mitch, what’s her story?” I asked, pointing toward the back of Jade’s head, while hoping he didn’t hear the depth of my interest.
“Oh, don’t even go there,” Mitch laughed, shoving an enormous bite of sandwich in his mouth. “That’s Jade Drake, you know, our principal’s daughter.”
“What, does that automatically make her untouchable?” I scoffed. I’d dealt with authority figures’ daughters before.
Mitch shook his head, “No, but they do,” he nodded toward Raffi and Dash. “That’s Raffi Tarragon and Dash Bulwark. They never leave her alone. They’re like crazy tight childhood friends or something. But Raffi is into Jade, and you’d be insane to mess with Raffi. He’s known for his temper.”
“Sounds like a creep,” I grunted.
“He’s nice enough if you stay away from Jade,” Mitch said.
“Come on, Jade isn’t exactly in our league, anyway,” Graham interjected.
I didn’t reply, but knew Graham wasn’t wrong. Jade was in her very own category of incredible, and I knew nothing about her. Just from our short interaction there was no way Jade Drake couldn’t be out of my league. I forced my gaze away from her golden hair, but that didn’t mean I had to stop thinking about her. In fact, I embraced the odd sensation filling my chest every time a thought of Jade passed through my mind. Keeping feelings hidden was a talent, and no—meeting Jade Drake was not going in Sapphire’s reflection journal.
Chapter 5
Dinner clean-up wasn’t a warzone like it was at home, but after painful silence with Melinda, the girl with the tongue ring, and Lance, another thirteen-year-old who’d done some intense vandalism on a dare, I was ready to disappear into my bedroom again.
“Teagan,” Sapphire said from the doorway, flicking his fingers so I would know to follow him back toward his office.
Through a sigh, I finished drying the heavy stock pot and placed it back on the counter. I’d take Sapphire over the two silent types without a second thought. Sapphire was leaning against his desk when I entered his office. Those coal-like eyes seemed to break into my brain, stealing any rogue thoughts for his own.
“Just doing a nightly check-in,” Sapphire began.
“You meet with everyone every night? Why haven’t we done this before?”
“I don’t meet with everyone, just those I feel like I need to. The rest of the staff helps too. But I wanted to check-in with you. How was the first day?”
My brow furrowed and I stared toward the open window allowing the night air into the room. After knowing for certain Jade had met with Sapphire in the dead of night, there was a barrier I placed between myself and the man. Jade said he was a family friend, but something about it seemed off.
“It was fine. Basic school.”
“No trouble with anyone? Or any of your classes?”
“Nope,” I said briskly.
“Would you tell me if there were?”
“I don’t know yet,” I admitted.
Sapphire sighed, keeping his arms crossed over his thick chest. “I was wondering if you’d tell me about what you wrote in your reflection journal. What do you like about the forest?” Sapphire asked, holding up my composition notebook.
I felt my face shift to crimson, I could feel the steam practically rising. “I didn’t realize we’d be talking about that.”
“Well, it helps me understand you better, Teagan. You wrote some really compelling things.”
“I wrote like ten words.”
“And it was still compelling. So, why did you write about the forest first?”
“I don’t know,” I grunted again. “I’ve always liked the outdoors. I feel…like that’s where I belong.”
“That’s good to know,” Sapphire said. His voice was deep and rumbled like a force of nature, but the man had a way of adding the right amount of kindness and sternness in everything he said. “I’ll make sure you have more outside duties and activities. That’s good. Now, what about the next part—why do you feel angry?”
I tossed my head back and sighed loudly. “I don’t know, sir. That’s why I wrote—I. Don’t. Know.”
Despite my best efforts, Sapphire wasn’t intimidated. “Does being outside help with the anger?”
“I guess.”
Moving around his desk and sitting in his chair, Sapphire wrote something down on a yellow pad of paper and tapped the end of the pen, probably just to irritate me. “Okay, that’s all good to know, Teagan. See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Sure, sir,” I muttered.
“Okay, well keep up at school. You’ve been pretty
easygoing—I must say, I expected a bit more resistance.”
“Would you like me to cause more problems?” I scoffed.
Sapphire chuckled. “No, I like the way you’re going. I think the real Teagan is showing through. That’s exactly what I want.”
“With all due respect, you don’t know the real me, sir,” I snipped, surprising myself at the bold statement.
Sapphire wasn’t smiling anymore, but he nodded. “You’re right, I don’t. Here’s your journal. Oh, and I checked the wiring in your room. I don’t know what happened, it seems like an electric surge fried your wiring. It’s all fixed up, now.”
I stood slowly. “Can I go? I have some homework.”
“You may go, yes.” Sapphire smirked in that annoying way that riled my blood.
I flopped back onto my bed, glancing once toward my backpack. The day had brought piles of homework, but instead of my math book, I reached for the reflection journal. It was strange how thoughts came to my mind—and how just the idea of writing them down, no matter how small, was coming naturally. I dated the line so Sapphire would know I was speaking directly to him.
No one knows the real me. That’s intentional.
Morning came and again my clock had refused to sound the alarm. In all my haste to rush out the door, I hadn’t had a moment to call out the Reform principal for his faulty wiring. Rushing into first period, I slammed into a girl with short auburn hair. Her nose was sprinkled with freckles, and she had a sultry smile that sort of forced me to grin back. This was the type of girl I was used to.
“Sorry,” I said, bending down to help her pick up the spiraled notebook splayed along the floor.
“No worries,” she whispered, her voice even more compelling than her beckoning eyes. “Hey, I haven’t met you yet. You’re new, right?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, as the heat flushed through my neck in anticipation of explaining exactly where I was staying beamed just around the corner.
Her eyes flicked over my shoulder when Mitch scurried behind me. Her brow lifted, but her smile filled with a new desire. “I’m Jenna,” she said. “You must be the sort of guy who likes to have a good time.”
“Yep, he’s like me, Jen. Wild and criminal,” Mitch grumbled, brushing past with a subtle thumbs up in my direction. Since I’d seen Jade Drake, I had thought of little else, but she wasn’t within reach—perhaps a girl like this Jenna might be able to show me more of the ropes of Wyvern Willows. With a confident smirk, I pushed Aunt Liz’s warning about rules and coming home deep into the back of my mind.
“Criminal, huh?” Jenna whispered. “You’re definitely not the sort of guy I should bring home to meet my parents then.”
“Does it scare you off?” I asked, my shoulders relaxing and leaning closer, the same way I’d always attracted girls like Angie and this Jenna back home. I knew the type, the ones attracted to the wilder side of life. The practice was shallow and never meant anything, but I wasn’t exactly looking for anything more than a good time. It was pretty perfect.
Jenna took a step closer, her fingers sliding across my hand until she slowly took the folder out of my grip, her smile wide and mischievous. “Not at all. I love a good challenge,” she said, scribbling something on the front of my notebook. “Why don’t you and Mitch give me a call this weekend. A few friends and I would love to get together.”
I scoffed, my eyes drifting to the name and number written in large print, and nodded. “We have free time on Saturday night.”
“Oh, I know the reform schedule,” she said with meaning. She’d done this before, and it only added to the game. “Don’t do anything to get it taken away.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said softly, before sauntering toward Mitch who was rolling his eyes, but smiling. I took my seat, smirking once more at Jenna before she sat in the front row next to a blonde with a similar mischief in her eyes.
“You aren’t a true reform until Jenna Mark pays you a visit,” Mitch hissed.
“That much experience, huh?”
Mitch shrugged. “Not just with her, her friends are regulars too. Jenna likes the new faces. She knows how to butter up Sapphire though, so he always seems to let them keep coming to hang on the weekends. It’s been a while since there’s been a new guy, so Jenna is probably over the moon.”
“Sounds perfect,” I said, though I took note of the absence of electricity raging through my soul like it had when I’d first seen Jade. When had I started feeling so intensely about girls?
Without realizing it, I tapped my pencil along the desk waiting patiently in the back of the English class until, like a spark to my heart, Jade entered. Dash wasn’t with her, only Raffi today. And like always, the surly looking brute eyed me with an air of suspicion.
“Hi, Jade,” I whispered.
Jade smirked at Raffi and scooted her desk a few inches closer toward me. When her fingers brushed against my arm accidentally, flames burst along my skin. She smiled widely, but as those rich emerald eyes bore into my soul she had a different expression.
“Teagan, I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again,” Jade said, erasing any anticipation to Saturday night with Jenna and her friends.
“Let’s just listen today, Jade,” Raffi growled.
“Thank you, I plan to listen to the class and speak with Teagan,” Jade snapped back.
A peace settled between us, peace I didn’t want to share with Raffi. I smirked when Raffi once again kept his eyes focused toward the front of the class, though he desperately looked as though he wanted to say something more.
“Why would you want to see the likes of me?” I asked, hoping to conceal my raging curiosity for her answer. It wouldn’t suit to sound desperate.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she smiled. I took note of her stiletto fingernails. They were a rich black with splashes of green, and I’d never noticed the dimple in the corner of her mouth until today. This moment seemed as though I was seeing her for the first time all over again. It was exhilarating. “Teagan, I know certain things should be kept secret, but I wonder if I could ask you a personal question.”
“Sure,” I complied, leaning closer so my hand rested just a nudge away from Jade’s. Something about her presence made it nearly impossible to keep my distance.
“I’ve been trying to figure out what the purpose of sending you to the reform school would have been, unless it is for the benefit of Sapphire, of course. Perhaps he needs extra strength, is that why you’re here?”
I laughed, but eyed Jade strangely. “To give Sapphire strength? No, that’s not why I’m here.”
“So you defied law enforcement intentionally. Was it arranged by the elders? I have Raffi and Dash. I don’t need anything more, so that’s why naturally I thought it could be for Sapphire.”
“Jade,” I whispered, glancing toward Tiddel, who was droning on with her lesson. I replayed her words twice before speaking again and still didn’t understand what she was talking about. “What elders? The judge? Yes, I had a plea deal and Wyvern Reform was that deal—that’s why I came.”
Jade’s smile slipped and she cocked her head, the flash of frustration notable in her rich eyes. Yet, when she spoke it was still in the same soft tone as always. “I don’t know why I expected you to tell me something straightforward. No one else does either. I relent and won’t push you to divulge any more secrets of the council, or your purpose. I’ll do my duty and take the cover story without question.”
“Wait, I’m not sure I know what you’re asking,” I fumbled, trying to keep the conversation alive. “Are you wanting to know what I did to get into Wyvern Reform? I’ll tell you,” I began, but Jade had turned away.
“Mr. Ward, thank you for volunteering to read. Just pick up in paragraph two and, Teagan,” Mrs. Tiddel said, clutching tight to the thick text book. I hadn’t even opened the book still resting on the desk. Wherever the class was reading, I had no idea.
“Yes, Mrs. Tiddel,” I quickly muttered, carefully turning the pages.
The teacher breathed out wistfully, her smile distant and dreamy as she caressed the page. “Read it with desire. Give the words the passion they deserve. Begin.”
I could feel my cheeks flush when Jade smirked, looking a little smug. Any smile I’d had faded into a deep frown. Though it wasn’t possible for Jade to force the teacher to call on me, her expression and the way Raffi grinned was just enough to allow me to believe she had a mysterious hand in my embarrassment.
After school I shuffled toward the bus with Mitch and Graham. Mitch was groaning about his art homework, professing his disregard for anything to do with paint and canvas, when Jenna shouted down the hall, drawing all three of us to a halt.
“Teagan, these are my friends Lacy and Sloan. They’re going to be joining us on Saturday. Mitch, you’ll be available to keep them company—what about you, Graham?”
Lacy was the blonde from our earlier class. I thought Jenna eyed me with an intent to conquer, until I saw the way Sloan was devouring Mitch with a single glance. She was like a poacher who’d found her kill. Mitch wasn’t blind either, and I chuckled when his dark cheeks flushed a rich crimson.
“I don’t know, depends on homework,” Graham grumbled a little darker.
“Oh, come on Graham,” Mitch interjected. “You always complain no one wants anything to do with us—he’ll be there,” Mitch said, glancing at Sloan out of the corner of his eyes. The crimson flashed again, when her lips parted as though she might bite into him.
“I can’t wait,” Jenna said, brushing her fingers along my shoulder.
I smiled, the rugged, dangerous feeling spreading through me once again. Old habits died hard. After the awkward class with Jade, I figured I should cut my losses and stick to what I knew. My logical brain knew Jenna was into me because of my record—I knew exactly how short-lived any romance might be—but who really cared?
“It’ll be great…getting to know someone a little better from school,” I whispered close to Jenna’s ear. Her breaths were rapid when she glanced up. I half-expected it, but was still surprised when Jenna pecked my lips, pulling back quickly, though her mouth was still close.
