"Lucky?" she asked. "I would rather get malaria and drop dead than date you."
"That's it." He growled. "I don't care if you're a girl."
When Daniel stepped forward—probably just to get in her face to yell a little more because he'd never actually hit her—Jaiden darted in front of her.
"That's enough," Jaiden said. "Leave her alone."
"What are you doing?" Daniel froze, looking more stunned than when she'd smacked him with the glove. "Are you actually taking her side?"
The anger was gone from Daniel's face. It could have been her imagination, but she thought she saw a smidgeon of hurt in his eyes.
"I'm not taking her side." Jaiden groaned. "It's just that when you get like this, it annoys me. You have to have control over everyone."
"I annoy you?" Daniel glared at him.
"That wasn't what I said." Jaiden sighed, exasperated.
The atmosphere was more sinister now than ever before. Worse yet, she had no idea why Daniel and Jaiden were staring each other down. Is this a guy thing? She scratched the back of her head. Is a fight about to start between two best friends? She didn't care too much about Daniel, but she liked Jaiden too much to let that happen.
"Now, now." She placed her hand on Jaiden's shoulder. "I got this. I don't need a guard. Daniel is too wimpy for me to worry about anyway."
The tension between the pair broke. Oddly enough, she was happy when Daniel yelled, "What was that?"
"You heard me." She winked at him mockingly.
"That's it. I'm leaving. I'm not taking any more abuse." Daniel whirled around and stomped down the hall.
Gavin appeared confused before following after him. Jaiden lingered and looked at her with concern in his eyes.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" She'd had worse fights with her deaf aunt Tilly.
"Well, you did just have a yelling match." Jaiden hesitated before placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Ah, come off it." She punched Jaiden playfully on the arm. "I can take care of myself, remember? I'm a tough girl."
Jaiden didn't say anything and just stared at her. Her stomach squished, but she had no idea why.
Chapter Seven
On Saturday morning, Annamarie awoke with a grin on her face. No more detention! She might actually have time to head to town to enroll in some karate classes. On top of that, she needed to go to the store to buy herself some ramen. She was sick of turkey sandwiches. Plus, her stomach was aching from all of the donuts she'd eaten. Sure, she was just replacing sugar with salt, but at the moment, she didn't care.
As she struggled out of bed, she checked her cell phone that lay at her bedside. She saw she had a text message from Daniel and one voicemail. She checked the text first.
Today I'm getting back at you. Plan on it.
She snorted. Leave it to Daniel to text her before playing a trick.
Daniel, I'm not scared. P.S. Keep close eye on your violin.
She checked her voicemail.
"Annamarie, it's Dad. Why haven't you answered your email? Call me immediately. I'm worried about you."
Her dad did sound worried, which confused her. She'd once disappeared for four weeks in Rome just for the heck of it and he'd let her have her freedom. Now she was at a prestigious academy with a guard dog principal and he was worried? It didn't make any sense. Still she figured it wasn't nice of her to let him wait any longer. She'd better grit her teeth and suffer through the phone call. She called him and was shocked her dad picked up on the third ring.
"Hello," her dad said.
Somebody was playing a cello in the background. It wasn't her mom because the notes were too imprecise.
"Hey, Dad," she said. "Just giving you a call back since you were worried about me."
"So you're okay?" he asked.
"Um, yeah." Why wouldn't I be?
"Thank heavens. When you didn't answer the email…" He let out a breathy sigh.
"You never worry like this." She wondered if something was wrong. "Is there lag between performances or something and you actually have enough free time to think?"
"No, it's not that." He sounded sober. "Annamarie, I want you to promise me that you'll be a good girl. I'm really stressed out down here, but I can't help but worry about you at that school."
"Aren't I always good?" She batted her eyelashes innocently at her hanging mirror.
Her dad just sighed.
"Okay, fine. I promise I'll try to be good." She wasn't sure she would be able to keep the promise, but what the heck? "How's Yuri?"
"He isn't here," her dad said. "I sent him away to Paris."
"What?"
Yuri was far too young for that. Besides, her dad could actually tolerate her little brother. He practiced his instrument and upheld the family honor, pretty much the opposite of what she tried to do.
"It's just for a little while," her dad said.
Still she didn't understand. She wondered what he was thinking sending Yuri away. Sure, the twerp got on her nerves, but she loved him too and knew how much the kid looked up to their dad. She wondered how her mom felt about Yuri's departure.
"Did Mom okay that?" she asked.
Her dad was silent for a moment.
"Annamarie, I've got to go. The stage manager is calling me," he finally said. "Call me later."
"I don't hearing anyone calling you," she muttered.
Her dad sighed.
"Okay, fine." She rolled her eyes. "Bye."
"I love you," her dad said.
Whoa. Her dad wouldn't normally admit that he loved her unless she was mortally wounded. Maybe he'd tell Yuri he loved him occasionally, but never her.
"Okay, that's it." She leaned against the wall. "I'm really freaked out now."
"Can't a man tell his daughter that he loves her?" he asked.
"Sure, if he's done it all his life." She wanted to know what was going on. "Our family isn't like that. Tell me what's happening on your end. There's a reason you sent Yuri away."
"I've got to go," her dad said again.
"Dad, no." She was panicking. "Wait!"
He hung up.
When she stared at the phone, her breathing was heavy. Something was definitely wrong at home. She normally avoided talking to her mom when she could, but this was an emergency. She found the woman's number on her contact list and pressed the phone against her ear.
"The number you dialed is disconnected or is not in service," said the monotone voice of an operator. "Please check the number and try again."
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Everything is fine, she told herself. Maybe her dad was just being stressed because he had to perform in Berlin next week. Yeah, that had to be it. There was definitely nothing wrong with her family.
****
Annamarie was still deep in thought as she left the dorm and walked by the school. She was in jeans and a t-shirt today, which she loved. It was nice to get out of the plaid skirt. As she buried her hands in her pockets, she heard something moving above her. She looked up and saw an open window on the second floor of the school.
"Hey, Annamarie," somebody said, distracting her.
When she looked down, she saw Jaiden was the one who'd greeted her. He was in black slacks and a tight, formfitting grey shirt that stuck to his muscular torso like a second skin. Some of the girls walking out of the dining hall stared at him lustfully.
"What are you up to today?" Jaiden looked at her jeans and t-shirt.
"I'm going to see if I can take some karate lessons in town." She mock punched the air. "I can't let myself go soft if I want to open my own dojo."
"Great." Jaiden smirked. "Then you're going to be even more lethal."
"Do you want to come?" she asked. "I'm just enrolling today, and I sure would like the company."
Something thudded above her.
"Really?" Jaiden grinned. "I would love—LOOK OUT!"
Jaiden seized her and shoved her against the wall. A
large, heavy looking pot shattered where she'd been just a millisecond earlier. Somebody had just tried to kill her. The force from the pot falling would have been enough to make her head explode like an egg in a microwave.
"Are you okay?" Jaiden's hand was still around her waist and they were chest to chest.
"Thanks to you." She breathed out a sigh of relief and looked up. "If you hadn't pushed me out of the way, then I would have been badly hurt."
"I'm glad you're not." Jaiden squeezed her against him before releasing her.
When she looked up at the open window, she gulped. Hadn't Daniel threatened to kill her multiple times? Today he'd even sent her a text message. She hadn't thought anything of it—he was an idiot but not malicious—but this changed things.
"Daniel did this," she whispered.
"Wait a second," Jaiden said. "I don't think for a second Daniel would try to hurt you."
"How can you say that?" she asked. "Who else would want to throw a pot at my head from the second story window?"
"Maybe one of his fan girls." Jaiden grabbed her arm. "Some of the girls who follow us around are nuts. They get this idea in their head that we're princes or something, even though we're just regular guys who, yes, happen to have a lot of money. I believe it's one of them that did this. They probably heard the rumor about you and Dan going out."
She wasn't so sure. Daniel had threatened her too much. What would a fan girl have against her enough to kill her?
"I have to talk to Daniel," she said. "Do you know where he is?"
Jaiden sighed. "Come on. I'll take you to him."
To her shock, Jaiden seized her hand. She allowed herself to be led past a group of gawking girls to the back of the school. He opened a door and took a flight of stairs down into the bowels of the building as she followed.
"If Daniel is down here, then there's no way he threw a pot at your head," Jaiden said. "Remember that."
"Where are we going anyway?" Annamarie tried to be brave, but she didn't like the darkness.
"There's a recreational room down here," Jaiden said. "Dan and I found it in our first year here and it's been our hang out place ever since. It's the weekend, so it's normally where he's at."
For some reason, she truly hoped Daniel was in the recreational room. But why does it matter? she thought. Isn't it better if you know who your enemy is than if you don't? Her own emotions were confusing her. Stupid Daniel. Her head had been crystal clear until he had to go around throwing pots at it.
"We're almost there." Jaiden pointed at a door at the end of the hallway.
"Okay."
He led her over to the door and opened it. A fat couch sat in front of a TV and gaming system. A billiards table was in the corner.
Daniel was not in the room.
"Do you still believe he didn't do it?" she asked, her stomach sinking.
"Yes." Jaiden spoke with no hesitation. "He's probably eating or something."
Unfortunately, she wasn't so sure.
****
That afternoon, Annamarie sat across from Jaiden at a restaurant. She was eating a burger and fries. Jaiden had some French pasta with creamy red sauce. Even though she was outside of campus and having food with a friend, she couldn't get Daniel out of her mind. She wasn't too happy she'd been targeted for a pot attack either. Many people had threatened to kill her—it came with being a troublemaker—but this was the first time somebody actually tried it.
"People are such cowards," she muttered as she took a bite of a fry.
"What do you mean?" Jaiden spun his fork in his pasta and took a delicate bite.
"I could beat up whoever threw the pot at me," she muttered. "It's the surprise attack that makes it worse. I mean, if you hate me, be in my face about it."
"Like Daniel," Jaiden pointed out.
The words made her pause. Daniel really was in her face, wasn't he?
"You have faith in that guy, don't you?" she said.
"We're practically brothers." Jaiden sighed. "I know people think that having a wealthy family equals a great life. That isn't always the case. My parents died in a car crash when I was little. I had to watch them get lowered into the ground. Daniel's mom abandoned him and his dad is always overseas. We stuck together despite everything."
"You two are such opposites, though." She studied him, trying to find the right words. "You're like water and he's like fire."
"I suppose we do balance each other out." Jaiden chuckled. "Maybe that's why I get along so well with you. You and Daniel are amazingly alike."
"What?" She took the words as an insult. "We are not."
"Do you think this war you two are having would have gone on as long as it has if it was between anybody else?" Jaiden took another bite of his pasta and swallowed.
As much as she hated to admit it, they were similar in many ways, just that he was louder and a heck of a lot more annoying.
"I guess you're right." She took another bite of her burger and was silent.
"You aren't mad at me, are you?" Jaiden looked apologetic. "If it makes you feel better, I only said it because I like you both."
"I'm not mad at you." She played with the straw in her soda. "You're right. I suppose that's why Daniel and I will never, ever get along. The two of us are too hot tempered for our own good. And it's not like I can help it either. My dad says I was born loud and fiery and that I learn to be more troublesome every year."
Jaiden chuckled, his eyes glowing like two lamps during the darkest of nights. "There's nothing wrong with being fiery. I have a hard time getting what I want because I can't just come out and say it like Daniel. I suppose I envy him and you."
She'd never considered her inability to keep her mouth shut a gift before.
"Well, at least you can stay out of trouble." She stared at the wall where a piece of gum was stuck to the white paint. "When I was younger, my mom would lose her cool with me and lock me in the cabinet all the time. That's how bad I was. I'd sit in the dark for hours, planning my revenge."
The grin slid off of Jaiden's face.
"That's not cool," Jaiden said. "Who'd lock their kid in a cabinet?"
She backpedaled. That story was meant to be amusing, not horrifying.
"I don't blame her." She sighed. "Imagine trying to manage a schedule as a professional cellist and having to handle a little kid who was constantly making trouble. I tied shoelaces together, messed up the music sheets, stole all the food out of the staff refrigerator, and even made my mom's manager cry because I hid her wedding ring. I once locked my mom into the bathroom by propping up a chair against it and made her an hour late for a huge performance. Believe me, I deserved to get locked in a cabinet. My dad had a different approach. He hid from me for hours. When worse came to worst, they were forced to hire somebody to chase me around on tour."
"Wow." Jaiden's grin reappeared, but there was something different about his expression. "You have a lot of energy. Where do you get it from?"
She considered his question and picked up another salty fry. After she popped it into her mouth, she thought of her parents.
"I look like my mom for sure. I could be her twin, except that she's prettier." She'd always been a little jealous of her mom's effortless good looks. "But if I had to say I got my energy from anyone, it would be my dad. My dad wasn't always rich and famous. He grew up in Brooklyn. He never mentioned it, but I have the feeling he was a bit thug-ish in high school, just like me. He overcompensates for it now, but sometimes he accidentally reveals just how much like me he really is."
Jaiden nodded. "So he's trying to be something he's not?"
"Basically." She couldn't help but smirk. "The sad part is that he can't change genetics. He wanted a calm, musically gifted child and had a wild, unruly one instead. I can't play an instrument to save my life."
"Ah, you can't be that bad." Even as Jaiden said the words, she could tell he was fighting back a smirk. Somewhere along the line, he must have heard about her rendition of "Row, Row
, Row Your Boat."
"I'm that bad," she said. "But he has my gifted brother, so it's okay."
Her own words reminded her of her phone conversation with her dad. She fell silent, wondering why her little brother had been sent away from London. The kid was so well behaved it was revolting.
As she took another bite of a fry, the door to the restaurant opened. She looked up to see who'd arrived. It was Bridget and two of her friends. When the three of them saw her and Jaiden, the color drained out of Bridget's face.
"Let's get out of here," Jaiden said. "It's the fan club president, aka Captain Crazy."
"Captain Crazy?" Was he talking about Bridget?
"Yeah." Jaiden nodded. "That girl with the blonde hair is awful. Last month, she stole my gym clothes from my locker."
She choked on her own spit. "Why the heck would anyone want your gym clothes? Ugh, no offense."
"She probably lies in bed at night sniffing my shirt." Jaiden snorted. He pulled money from his wallet and threw it on the table. "Come on. Let's go."
Before she could say another word, Jaiden seized her hand and dragged her out the door. Even when they were on the street, he didn't let go of her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Annamarie sat by the oak tree eating a pastry she'd bought from the store the night before. Sticky strawberry goop covered her hands, making her fingers fuse together as if she'd doused them with glue. As she stuck her index finger in her mouth and sucked off the sweet goodness, Owen jogged over to her and sunk down by the tree. Even after the short distance, he panted like he'd sprinted a mile.
"I…cannot…believe…it…" Owen gasped for air between each word.
"What?"
She raised an eyebrow and offered Owen her orange juice. Maybe a drink would help the guy breathe. After he took a chug, he handed the drink back.
"I heard that yesterday you went on a date with Jaiden," Owen said, looking awed. "Everybody is talking about how you're dating the two hottest guys at the school."
She sucked in air. Those stupid rumors. She was started to think that getting hit on the head with a pot was nice in comparison.
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