by Weil, J. L.
I hightailed it out of there before I did something to get myself expelled the first day. Sierra wasn’t someone I pictured Lexi being friends with.
By fifth period I was back into the groove. No more run-ins with Chase. Thank God I had no classes with the ho-bag Sierra. My next class was chemistry. Ugh. I was not exactly looking forward to mixing liquids and in my case – blowing shit up. Now give me an English paper to write and I was all over that like white on rice. Science however, made me lose brain cells.
Shuffling near the back of the class, I took an empty seat. I was early. There were only a few other people in the room and a stuffy looking professor in the room with me.
A cheerleader looking girl across from me caught my eye. “Hiya. I’m Brandy,” she introduced. “You must be the new girl.”
Would I ever lose the label?
I smiled friendly at her. “That’s me. Angel.”
“I know. Everyone knows your name.”
Well isn’t that comforting? It sounded like the theme song from Cheers. “Fabulous,” I replied under my breath.
Another girl walked in, one I recognized from my homeroom. She took the desk beside Brandy. “I remember you, Creative writing, right? I’m Kailyn.”
“Hi,” I replied cheerfully. The two of them chatted and included me in on the back-to-school gossip. Did you see what so and so did to their hair, or who broke-up with whom over the summer, or who did who. It was nice to be treated normal even if honestly I had no idea who they were talking about.
Then the room suddenly erupted in silence. Looking to the front of the class, Chase swaggered sinfully through the door looking dark and dangerously hot. Why couldn’t he be grotesque?
Maybe he won’t notice me, I thought sinking low in my seat. But then our eyes connected, and there was a zing that ignited the air.
Shit.
He flashed me a lopsided grin. Funny how this class just went from lame to crap on a stick. I pretended to doodle on the notepad I had out on the desk. Please sit anywhere but by me.
Brandy and Kailyn greedily lapped him up from head-to-toe. I couldn’t help but notice their reactions.
Keeping my head down, I felt his body brush by mine as he settled in the seat behind me. Obviously, he wanted to torture me. The room was on eggshells. I had been so caught up in avoiding him that I hadn’t noticed at first. They treated him like something foreign, but appealing. I watched as the girls eyed him with yummy appreciation. He was the best kind of eye candy. Their goggling was accompanied by a reservation in their glazes, like they were afraid to look him in the eye.
I had the opposite problem – he was never close enough, or he was too damn close and making me want to cause him bodily harm.
The seat behind me creaked as Chase shifted his weight. I could feel his breath fanning on the back of my neck. “Angel,” he called softly causing more than one head to turn our way.
I ignored him, but nothing snubbed the tingles that spread like wildfire inside me.
“Angel Eyes,” he sneered like he was laughing at me.
I twisted my head only to find him disturbingly near, our mouths only lips length away. His intoxicating breath wafted the air around me.
“Are you stalking me?” I asked.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he snorted.
“Good then let’s get this straight. Stay out of my way,” I hissed.
I knew we had drawn more attention than I ever planned. So much for skimming through senior year in the shadows, at the rate I was going, I would be all the buzz around campus.
“I like a challenge.” He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms enjoying every second of this.
I rolled my eyes. “That wasn’t a challenge you pig, it was a threat.”
His brow went up.
Chemistry couldn’t end soon enough. I even silently prayed for a tornado, anything to get me the hell out of there. This was going to be longest year of my life.
After school, I went straight to my locker to grab my homework assignments. Believe it or not, I actually had some on the first day of school. They didn’t mess around here apparently.
Shuffling the books around, a hand landed on the locker next to mine, banging the metal. I nearly jumped out of my skin as it hit with a crash, and I swore there must have been a dent from the impact. Glimpsing tentatively under my lashes I got an eyeful of red hair. This was going to be bad, I could feel it. Aggression rolled off her stance. Now that she saw that she had my attention, Sierra slammed me against the locker and got up in my face. Her amber eyes glowed wild, sort of reminding me of Chase’s or Travis’s that night.
The night I was trying to forget because it was just too freaking weird.
“I’m going to tell you only once. Stay away from him. He’s mine.” Her voice had a skanky jeer to it.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he was on a lease.” It was probably not in my best interest to provoke her, especially since she seemed bent on kicking my ass, but I couldn’t help it. My tongue was flapping before I even thought about it.
“Keep your hands off him. I don’t want him near you.” She said it like I had an infectious disease and Chase was liable to catch it.
Why did she think I wanted my hands on him? What makes me so different? Or does she give everyone such a warm welcome?
“Just so you know…I wouldn’t let him touch me if he was the last dick on the planet.” I wanted to rip the hair right from her ginger head, and I was pretty sure she wanted to obliterate me.
Just dandy.
I shoved at her. She stepped back, but didn’t move as much as I’d hoped. What the hell? She must be heavier than she looked.
“Good. I’m glad we got this straightened out before it became a problem. But I’m telling you, if it does…you’ll regret it,” she snapped, flicking her hair in my face.
Nothing like being threatened by an insanely jealous lunatic to kick-start the school year. I rested my head on the back of my locker as she sauntered away.
Lightning and thunder still splintered and lit the sky as I hurriedly weaved my way through the parking lot trying to remember where I had parked. The curtain of raindrops that pelted the ground was making it difficult to see two feet in front of me.
Just freaking great.
Now I looked and felt like a drowned cat. My eyeliner was running down my face, my clothes were plastered uncomfortably to my body, and these shoes were not made for traipsing around in rainstorms, that was for sure. More than once I lost my footing.
Finally I located my little car and rushed toward it. Probably not the best move on my part. My feet gave out under me as I slipped on a patch of blacktop, hands waving wildly in the air. I was going to crack my head on the ground. With nothing to use for balance, I started falling backwards, pulled down by the book bag slung over my uninjured shoulder.
At this point what else could happen? I waited for the jarring impact that was going to hurt like a mofo. The wind picked up around me, and I braced myself, but the fall never completed itself. A pair of strong arms caught me around the waist, pulling me securely against a solid chest. In almost an exact replica of the maneuver at Starved Rock, I knew whose arms I was in. Would it always be him that saved me?
My heart went pitter pattered in time with the rain. “Get your hands off me,” I spat, unsuccessfully trying to jerk from his embrace. Wouldn’t it just be grand if Sierra saw this?
“That’s the thanks I get for saving you from having a very sore ass or splitting your head open? Stop wiggling or you are going to fall again,” he demanded annoyed. His arms held me steady.
“Look, I have had enough shit from you and that redheaded slut. I just can’t take anymore right now.” Against my will, my eyes flooded with tears, and I relaxed in his arms – the fight gone from me.
He tilted my chin up until I was forced to look at him. His eyes brimmed with concern as my salty tears mixed with the fresh rainfall.
“Angel,” he said softly
like dark sin. His gentle fingers wiped away the tears on either side of my face. “Don’t,” he whispered.
Just like a guy to think I could control my tears. If I could, they wouldn’t have fallen at all. I would have had the strength to walk away from him and the silver eyes that somehow were capable of looking into my very soul.
The gentleness of his hands and his voice pierced my heart as I shivered. “You’re cold,” he proclaimed, rubbing his hands up and down my soaked arms. That was not helping in the least, especially since I wasn’t suffering from the cold, it was him. Being this close to him seemed to always make me feel more.
I didn’t know what to say or do when he looked at me like that. Sniffing unflatteringly, I was too wet, too emotional to care what I must look like. His hands cupped my cheek, and I swore he was going to kiss me. His eyes locked on mine, and I could see war waging behind them – should I or shouldn’t I? A part of me wanted to lean in and take the decision out of his hands, but was this the best time to make such a bold move? When my emotions were crazy out-of-control and there were still tears in my eyes?
His thumb brushed over my bottom lip, and I parted them on an involuntary gasp. The silver of his eyes blazed like the center of a fire, almost painfully. My entire body went up in flames. Steam could have sizzled from my skin, as the rain poured on us. I bit my lip to keep from doing something stupid like lick the finger that had traced my lips, or take into my mouth.
Why did he do this to me? How did he do this to me?
He bent down closer to me, and I held my breath, but he only rested his forehead on mine. It would only take the slightest tip to press our lips together. I hated that he tempted me with something I so desperately wanted.
“I’ll drive you home,” he murmured. He smelled like heaven and hell all at once.
“My car’s right here,” I objected, a little dazed by him.
“You can’t drive like this. I’ll have Travis bring your car home.” He grabbed my arm. Probably afraid I would fall again, and he started leading me across the parking lot away from my Fusion.
I sighed. There was no arguing with him. I could hear it in his voice – he wasn’t going to budge, trapped in close quarters with him while my emotions were on high alert. I’d be lucky if I didn’t jump him on the way. My body was still screaming at me to kiss him and protested when his arms released me.
“Fine,” I agreed unpleasantly.
“What’s with the redhead comment? You meant Sierra?” he asked when we were seated in his luxury car. I was almost afraid to get his seats wet. He shook the water from his hair. Only he could look hotter dripping wet, while I on the other hand, looked like a soggy muffin.
I nodded. “Look, I don’t want to get between you and your girlfriend.” I said that last word like it was hard to swallow, and the idea sickened my stomach. He and Sierra together made me want to vomit.
Steering the car with one hand he rejected, “She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Well, whatever she is, I don’t want to be involved,” I argued, folding my arms.
“She’s nothing but a friend.” He said it so matter-of-fact that I almost believed him – almost if I nearly hadn’t gotten plummeted in the hallway earlier.
“It didn’t look like nothing,” I mumbled under my breath before I could stop myself.
“Are you jealous?” he asked, grinning at me.
“Please. As if.” That grin put by back up like a cat.
He glided the car smoothly into the outgoing traffic. “It sounds like you’re jealous.”
“You are such an ass.”
He arched his brow.
“I’m just calling it like I see it,” I defended, leaning against the window. There wasn’t enough space in this sleek car.
“What did she do?” His expression lost luster and turned serious.
Sigh, I wanted to avoid this whole conversation and forget it ever happened. “It’s nothing,” I replied. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
He was unconvinced. “Angel, you better tell me. Either way I will find out, from you or someone else.” There was something in his eyes telling me it was true. I might not understand what was going on in this crazy little town, but I knew that Chase never lied.
“She just implied, very persuasively, that you two were an item. More specifically, that you were hers,” I begrudgingly admitted.
His brows burrowed together. “Did she hurt you?”
I looked at him confused. Wondering how was it he knew that she had threatened to make mincemeat out of me. Or maybe she was prone to this kind of neurotic behavior. My silence was enough to convince him she had.
“I’m going to kill her,” he growled.
Whoa. “Chase really, it was nothing. She just didn’t want me getting in the way.”
“Bullshit Angel and you know it.”
“Don’t make things worse for me. Whatever half-wit idea you have in your head, just stop,” I pleaded, sinking into the seat of his car.
“If she touched you–”
“She didn’t, okay?” I was pretty sure telling him she had me shoved up against the lockers wasn’t a smart idea. “We just exchanged words.”
He glared at me like he didn’t buy it, but let it go.
We pulled up to my driveway, and he twisted in his seat. “I texted Travis and he’ll get your car here before your mom gets home from work.”
“Thanks for the unnecessary ride.”
He chuckled.
And it followed me all the way inside.
Chapter 11
“How was your first day?” my mom asked on the phone after I’d taken a long hot bath soaked in bubbles.
The idea had been to calm my frazzled and fried emotions. I needed a good long crying jag – it had been awhile. Giving into the frivolous need, I filled up the tub, lit a few of my favorite scented candles, turned a sappy station on Pandora, and buried myself in the bubbles. With the mood set I gave in and let myself heave those big sobbing tears.
Of course my eyes were puffy and red afterwards, but at least my emotional being was purged.
“Just peaches,” I replied bitchy.
“That bad huh?” she said sounding sympathetic.
“The pits,” I groaned. “It was like a page right out of a nightmarish horror script.”
“Oh honey, it will get better. It has to from here.”
She had a point. The only place to go from here was up.
Opening the fridge, I grabbed a drink. My hand passed over a bottle of wine in the back. I bet that would cure what ails me, I thought for moment. Then I remembered my dad. I would never be what he became. Alcohol was not going to solve my problems. Not today, and certainly not in my future.
~*~*~*~
The following day at school Lexi stopped me in the hall before homeroom. “Angel wait,” she called from behind me.
I paused, waiting for her to catch up. Her eyes were big pillows of anxiety. Plastering on a smile, I did not want her worrying about the little new girl.
“Chase told me what Sierra said to you.” There was remorse in her voice. Those turquoise eyes were full with it. If she only knew the half of it, I thought to myself. “She is a complete bitch, and I am ashamed most of the time that I know her.”
The smile I’d been holding fell from my lips. What was the point of the charade? “Why do you? Know her I mean?” I asked, unable to resist.
She cast her pretty eyes to the ground. “Our families sort of know each other. It’s kind of expected for us to be friends, but I hate it.” I could hear the torn conflict in her voice. “I – I hope we can still be friends?” she timidly asked.
“Lexi, of course we can still be friends. I am not going to let Sierra the wench ruin that. She couldn’t,” I promised.
At lunch I sat with Brandy and Kailyn, the two girls I met in my chemistry class. I know that I sort of hurt Lexi’s feelings by not sitting with her, but I could not stand to be around that hellfire Sierra. The less contact we h
ad, the better for me. I knew how clashed Lexi felt, and I was hoping that maybe this would make it easier without impacting our friendship.
Both Brandy and Kailyn were on the cheerleading squad, and their boyfriends played football.
How cliché.
Brandy was petite with tight brown curls, while Kailyn was dark-haired and olive skin. She looked exotic, and I was completely envious.
“How do you know Chase Winters?” Brandy asked, opening a bottle of water. I looked at her salad and realized how she stayed so thin. She starved herself.
“He and Lexi are my neighbors. I met them when I moved in,” I replied, taking a gooey bite of my pizza. Figure be damned.
“You are totally into him.” Kailyn popped a pretzel in her mouth, her dark eyes glinting.
I bit the end of my straw, wondering how to answer that. Was I into Chase? I would have to be gay to not be into Chase, and even than I would totally check him out. I don’t think it matter what sex you were. Chase was just plain out sexy.
“We have a sort of like-hate relationship. We like to hate each other.” That about summed it up.
“That’s not how it looked yesterday in chem,” Kailyn commented with a grin.
Ugh. They would remember that. “It wasn’t how it seemed. He does things just to get under my skin.”
“I bet he would like to get under more than just your skin.” Kailyn snickered.
“He doesn’t scare you? Don’t get me wrong, he is gorgeous with a capital G, but there is something about him that is frightening,” Brandy proclaimed, forking a hunk of spring greens that looked like they came out of my backyard.
I thought about all the bizarre reactions from everyone in town whenever Lexi and I went out. They all seemed to be wary of her, never getting too close.
“I’m not scared of him, no, but there are about a million times when I would like to chop his head off.”
The two girls looked at me like I couldn’t be serious, and then burst out in giggles.
“He seems so dangerous,” Kailyn replied wide-eyed.
“They say his family is possessed,” Brandy added in a hushed whisper.
