Caught in Us

by Layla Hagen

  Lost Series

  Lost (Lost Book 0.5: prequel novella to James and Serena’s story)

  Lost in Us (Lost Book 1: James and Serena’s story)

  Found in Us (Lost Book 2: Jessica and Parker’s story)

  Caught in Us (Lost Book 3: Dani and Damon’s story)

  Caught In Us

  Copyright © 2015 Layla Hagen

  Published by Layla Hagen

  Chapter One: Dani

  Any senior worth her salt has three goals before graduation.

  One: stack college acceptance letters.

  Two: snatch a prom date.

  Three: lose her v-card.

  Midway through my senior year, the first one’s in the bag; the other two have disaster written all over them. My best friend, Hazel, is in the same boat. I arrive at our English class with one minute to spare and saunter to my place next to her.

  Blue-eyed and with dark brown hair she keeps up in a bun, Hazel is almost a head taller than me, though she's as skinny as I am. We’re both wearing baggy t-shirts with our favorite bands to disguise our utter lack of curves. We kept waiting for them to appear all through high school, but it looks like that ship has sailed.

  At eight o'clock sharp, Ms. Evans, our English teacher, enters the classroom. She looks around with wide, fearful eyes, as if bracing herself for an hour of Hell. I smile at her encouragingly. It’s her first year teaching, and her youth hasn't done her much good. She doesn't have any experience exerting her authority, which often results in mayhem, or her being the butt of underhanded jokes. Insecurity is something overconfident teenagers prey on.

  She’s barely seated at her desk when the door swings open and someone comes in. I've never seen him before. He pauses in the doorway, holding a yellow slip of paper in his hand. He must be a new student. Changing schools in the middle of the senior year isn't common. I study his appearance carefully—my brother, James, always tells me I'm too perceptive for my own sake. New Guy is a contradiction. He looks more man than boy, and he's possibly the most handsome man I've come across. His black hair is messy and unkempt, as is his two-day beard. I gulp, not wanting to admit to myself how good that looks on him.

  It makes his full lips stand out, and it's immediately apparent to me that he has the habit of biting his lip—like me. The recognition that we have this in common shoots a tide of warmth through me. I continue with my inspection to his broad shoulders and toned chest and arms. He’s wearing a black shirt with long sleeves. I flinch when I notice how calloused his hands are. His jeans are as black as his shirt, though ripped, appearing not only old but also giving him a disheveled air.

  I can tell he's going for a devil-may-care attitude. He wants to pass himself off as someone who couldn't care less what happens around him. Yet his shirt is perfectly buttoned up, and his shoes laces are symmetrically tied. Boys are careless with these details. He's a perfectionist. My eyes peruse his luscious lips again, and an unexpected shiver grips me.

  There is a shift in the third row, and murmurs from the popular group—Anna, Ella, Sherry, and Deb—break the silence. Murmurs turn to giggles as they vie for New Guy's attention. Anna even goes as far as walking to the girls in the first row, pretending to borrow a pen. She winks at him. New Guy doesn't even glance in her direction, nor does he acknowledge any of the giggling girls.

  That's a plus point for him because the girls are popular for a reason: they're stunning. Even boys who've known them forever aren't immune to their charms. The effect they have on new guys ranges from hungry stares to downright ridiculous behavior, like flexing muscles to show off —yep, I've seen it firsthand. New Guy continues to look uninterested, even bored. He walks to Ms. Evans, who seems thoroughly confused. When she reads his paper slip, her face lights up.

  "Excellent. Principal Charleston told me you'd start today, Damon. Would you like to introduce yourself to the classroom, maybe say a few words about yourself?" She looks at him with hopeful eyes. I silently beg for him to be polite—he’d be the first guy in our year to show her some respect. That would earn him another plus point in my book.

  All my hopes come crashing down when he opens his mouth.

  "You also want me to pirouette or roll a ball on my nose?" Then he walks off to the only free seat in the last row, leaving Ms. Evans stricken.

  "Jerk," I murmur under my breath.

  "A hot jerk," Hazel says. My jaw drops as her pearl-white complexion acquires a reddish hue. In our twelve years of friendship, she has never expressed herself so openly about a guy, much less about a jerk, no matter how good-looking. Hazel and I met in first grade, when both of us weren't nerds yet, just socially awkward. Luckily, my parents own a chocolate factory, so I showed up with a mountain of chocolate that first day, giving out bars to everyone who wanted some. Those bars said what I wanted them to: I suck at making conversation, but have some chocolate. Turns out chocolate is thicker than blood, because Hazel and I became best friends from that first moment.

  We're usually on the same page, but not today apparently. I shake my head then concentrate on poor Ms. Evans, who starts the lesson with a trembling voice, almost tearful.

  For the next hour, I can't help stealing glances at Damon every few minutes. Long lashes caress the skin under his eyes as he blinks lazily, as if the class is boring enough to put him to sleep. I study the curve of his strong jaw. The vein in his neck betrays his apparent boredom. It pulses like it's about to explode. Explode with what? Annoyance? His oversized ego? Both?

  His dark green eyes look up at me as if he can suddenly hear my thoughts. My heart stops when we lock gazes, his intense green eyes making the nerve endings in my entire body shimmer. I involuntarily cross my legs and look away from him, biting my lip. Maybe I shouldn't judge Hazel so sharply. He makes an impression.

  "He's not even taking notes." I work as much disgust in my voice as I can. "He must think that's so beneath him."

  "I wouldn't mind if he borrowed mine," Hazel says under her breath. I glower at her.

  I'm usually a coward, but I despise people who act like jerks just because they can. Also, poor Ms. Evans doesn't deserve this. For the remainder of the class, I work up my courage to walk up to Damon during the break and give him a piece of my mind.

  I never get a chance to talk to him. Anna, Ella, Sherry, and Deb corner him after class. They put a lot of effort into getting his attention. They usually only have to smile and play with their hair, and any guy is at their feet. Now they’re just making fools of themselves, and not getting anywhere. Well, they do. By the end of the break, Damon doesn't look bored anymore. He looks pissed.

  Trig and Biology go in similar fashion. Both teachers have the unfortunate idea to ask him to introduce himself. His answer leaves Mr. Smith stricken in Trig. Damon doesn't bother to answer at all in Biology.

  I detect a disturbing pattern. The ruder he is, the more sighs and ohs the girls let slip. What the hell? My only hope is the other guys in class will take his ego down a notch. They’re all throwing him unfriendly glances as it is.

  ***

  Since it's the warmest end of January ever, Hazel and I sit on the roof during lunch break, each of us enjoying a tuna salad with extra Parmigiano. The roof is above the cafeteria and serves as a terrace in spring and summer, but it's unused now. I had planned to corner Damon at the end of Biology, but he skidded out of the room before I even rose from my seat. He might have vanished into thin air, because he wasn't in the cafeteria when Hazel and I bought our lunch. From below us comes chitchat about prom—dresses, hair, nails, boys. I can’t believe it’s already a topic of discussion. Prom is in May.

  Hazel and I listen in silence while we gulp down our lunch, and then Hazel asks loudly, "Have you decided when you'll leave for London, Dani? Will you spend t
he summer here?"

  We have an agreement not to discuss prom since it's going to be a sad night for both of us. We'll probably keep each other company—or skip it altogether. Everyone else has dates already, but no one asked us.

  Mom insists I don't have a date because I make no effort to look beautiful. She used to be a renowned, highly-paid model in her youth. She secretly hoped for a daughter with long legs and beautiful features she could send on the runway. Instead, she ended up with me, a nerd. To my mother, that's a disease. In high school, there's no greater crime than not being beautiful, or at least very pretty. My mom and my classmates agree.

  I love my parents, but they’re toxic. Luckily, my grandfather set up a trust fund for me when I was born. I'll get access to it when I turn eighteen and move to England—my mother’s birthplace—for college. I already received my acceptance letter to Oxford. It's conditional on achieving high grades, but I don't worry too much about that. Surviving prom worries me more. I try to put on a brave face when Mom questions me about it, but I can't deny it—being invisible sucks. I try not to dwell on it.

  "Depends. If James has time to vacation with me this summer, I’ll move in September. If he doesn't, I might leave right after school ends and settle in."

  "Aren't you nervous? About leaving?"

  "A bit," I admit.

  "Well, I am very nervous. I can't believe we won't go to college together."

  I melt on the spot and put an arm around Hazel. "I'll visit often," I promise, though I know it won't make much of a difference. We won't be there to experience each other's firsts, the way we have for the last twelve years. First college class. First frat party. First kiss. I shudder lightly as the image of Damon's lips pops in my mind. What has gotten into me?

  "I still don't understand why you want to leave. We have some of the best colleges around here,” Hazel says. I don't understand myself why I want to move overseas. I guess it's because I never felt at home here, much as I wanted to. Somehow, I don't think the answer to feeling home is moving to a foreign place, but I have to try. “Come with me to Stanford, pretty please," Hazel insists. My father and brother went to Stanford, and it's the closest college, so it would make sense to attend it.

  "You haven't gotten your acceptance letter yet," I joke.

  "I will," she says. I know she will. If there’s something Hazel and I are confident about, it's our brain. We know what we're worth. We’ve excelled at every subject in school, except for Trig, but that didn’t have any influence on my acceptance to Oxford, and I expect it won’t have any on her acceptance to Stanford. I spend the rest of the lunch break reassuring Hazel that everything will be just fine in college.

  Before going to the first afternoon class, I stop by the restroom, hoping to clean off a stain I got on my t-shirt from dropping an oily salad leaf on my left boob. It takes me a few good minutes of rubbing to realize I won't be able to get it off. I give up, swing the door open, and break into a run because I'm already late for class. I collide with something hard head-first.

  "You," I bellow when I realize I haven't collided with something. I've collided with Damon, jerk extraordinaire, who currently has a self-satisfied smirk the same size of his giant ego.

  "Well, well, well, this is new. No girl tried to hit on me by literally hitting me before."

  His comment throws me off-balance, and in the few seconds it takes me to pull myself together, my cheeks catch fire. "I'm not hitting on you; I just didn't see you," I say. His smirk widens. "I'm not hitting on you," I repeat. "Not every girl in this school thinks you're the eighth wonder of the world."

  "So you just crashed into me." He jams one hand in the pocket of his jeans, leaning against the wall.

  "Yes."

  "Then move out of my way."

  Stubbornly, I keep my stance, avoiding looking at his lips or eyes. Something about his eyes unsettles me. Maybe it's their intensity, or the fact that I'm afraid he might read my thoughts and discover I find him hot. So ridiculously hot, in fact, that my breath becomes uneven.

  In a fraction of a second, he wraps an arm around my waist, turns me around, and pins me against the wall. He presses his palms against the wall on my sides, effectively trapping me. His chest is closing in on me, his hot breath blowing against my temple.

  "Mmmm...not the eighth wonder of the world, huh? The racing pulse, the blush in your cheeks, care to explain them?" He lowers his head until his lips are only inches away from my cheek. I try to push him away, but when my palms grope at his chest with that intention, an electrical impulse heats my skin, cutting my breath short.

  "You pretentious douche. You annoy me; that's all."

  "Annoyance looks good on you," he offers, then takes a step back, freeing me. "Are we done here?"

  "Yes, but first I'd like to tell you that you're a jerk."

  "You just did that. I take douche to be a synonym for jerk. Excellent vocabulary, by the way."

  "Why did you have to be so rude today?"

  "You're the one who hit me. People have the habit of blaming everything that goes wrong on me, but I wasn't the one crashing into you. Can't blame me this time."

  "I didn't mean me. You were rude to every teacher."

  "Who are you?" Disbelief colors his features as he gives me the once-over. "Wonder dork, defender of the teachers?"

  "You suck." I chew the inside of my cheek to hide my mortification. No guy has called me a dork to my face. Then again, boys treat me as if I'm non-existent when they don't need my notes or homework. Still, being insulted isn't an improvement over being invisible.

  "Thank you. Now, we're both late, so—”

  I step in front of him, blocking his way again. "I’m serious." Before I realize what he's up to, his arms are around my waist again, hoisting me up in the air. Every inch where our bodies connect instantly heats up as if his skin ignites me.

  "Don't touch me," I stammer, pushing him away after he puts me down again.

  He fixes his piercing green eyes on me, his head slightly tilted to one side. "What's your name?"

  "Dani."

  "Well, Dani, here is some friendly advice: don't throw yourself in a man's way if you don't want to be touched."

  ***

  I arrive to class panting and with my cheeks flushed. Hazel stares at me questioningly as I sit next to her, but I shake my head. Damon is here, too. Damn it, how many classes do we have together?

  My thoughts keep flipping to what happened earlier in the corridor. I’m mortified and baffled at my reaction to him. No guy has ever affected me like this. I risk a glance at Damon after he tells Mr. Brown off for asking him to introduce himself. His gaze is focused on me. I feel the heat on my cheeks deepen, which pleases him endlessly.

  "Why are you and Damon engaging in a battle of stares?" Hazel whispers, not taking her eyes off her notes.

  "I cornered him in the corridor to tell him what a jerk he is."

  "No offense, but you look like the cornered one."

  I don't take any offense, because she's right. Damon leans back in his chair, looking more relaxed than he had all day while I’m a heavy-breathing mess.

  Chapter Two: Dani

  I blush all the way home. Our house lies in a residential area a few hours from San Francisco and looks like a modern palace. My mother's main job is attending charity functions and redecorating the house. It used to be a cozy nineteenth-century villa, but slowly, Mom turned it into a soulless glass and wood shell. She kept adding wings, even though it was just the three of us living in it. My brother, James, was sent to boarding school at a very early age.

  It's so easy to feel alone inside.

  Thoughts of what happened at school vanish when I see James's car parked outside the house. He arrived early today. Smiling, I burst through the front door.

  "James," I call, yanking off my shoes and my bag. "James."

  "We're in the dining room," Mom's voice booms. James walks out of the dining room and toward me, flashing a grin. Tall, with broad s
houlders, short dark hair, and vibrant blue eyes, my brother is quite the looker. When he was in college and going through his rebel period, he looked like a total hunk. Now, he dons expensive clothing and a groomed appearance worthy of the successful business man he is. He looks very attractive. James totally inherited the best of Mom and Dad. Unlike me. With my brown eyes and hair and petite frame, I am utterly average. However, the fact that I still look like a midget next to James has its perks. I can still hop in his arms, and he can carry me around effortlessly. I immediately jump him.

  We're like a bull in a china shop, trotting down the long corridor. A dozen expensive paintings line the walls, giving it the appearance of a museum. When James visits us, it feels like home.

  "You know, you should stop doing this," he says, but his strong arms sustain me, as always. "You're not ten years old anymore."

  "I'll always be your younger sister, which entitles me to cuddling forever," I say. He laughs softly, hugging me tightly to him. "Can I come to your place tomorrow after school and stay for the weekend? We could do a movie marathon?"

  "Sure. You can come anytime; you have a key, after all." He puts me down, but still keeps an arm around me in a half-hug. "But how about spending some time with kids your age? And by that, I don't mean nerding out with Hazel," he adds. I glower at him because that's what I call my time with Hazel, but secretly I’m pleased that James pays enough attention to what I say that he remembers it. "Go out with a group of girls. Do something fun. Or here's an idea, how about going on a date with someone?"

  "Girls at school don't like me, James. I’m supposed to be into Vogue, and some other ridiculously named fashion magazines. Not to mention that I should be looking like a runway model. That would probably help in the dating department, too. I’m into fantasy books and comics, and I look...like myself."

  James opens his mouth, no doubt to tell me I am in fact very attractive, I just don't know it. Like the good brother he is, he has to say this by default. I interrupt him, not in the mood to go through this again.