“Well, if it isn’t my favorite mutant.” She had this charming voice, but there was nothing sweet about her words.
My stomach fell. I opened my eyes to find a pair of emeralds that could cut right to your soul. Pulling from some inner strength I didn’t know was there, I masked my fear with sarcasm. My weapon of choice. “Fancy seeing you here,” I tossed back, wondering where my usual shadows were. Go figure, on the day that I actually wished they were here, they both decided to evaporate. “I’d say it’s a pleasure, but I’d be lying.”
“Such manners. Didn’t your mama teach you that if you don’t have something nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all?”
The mentioning of my mom and all I saw was red. “Listen, you redneck skank–”
She cut me off before I could finish my verbal assault. “Do you kiss your boyfriend with that dirty mouth?”
I ground my teeth. “I told you. He is not my boyfriend.”
She leaned in close to me, a hand propped on the locker near my head. It took everything inside me not to flinch. “Is that why he spends so much of his time with his hand up your shirt?”
I couldn’t have been more thankful for the crowd of students around us. I push off the locker. “I don’t have time for this,” I fumed and walked away.
“Lucky for you, all I have is time,” she sneered as I passed.
***
At lunch, everyone was in hoopla over Emma Deen returning from the side of a milk carton. My fake surprise was hard to keep in place, especially after our little confrontation this morning. I was still seething inside.
“I heard that she ran away with a drummer and went on tour with him. She only came home after finding him in the sack with a blonde bombshell groupie,” Brandy shared what had to have been the tenth rumor I’d heard about Emma’s unforeseen come back. Brandy’s almond-shaped eyes were sparkling with animation.
Kailyn shook her chocolate curls that framed a heart-shaped face. “That’s not what I heard.”
Here we go again. I dropped my head on my hands, checking out of a conversation that was becoming quite old. I could care less that she had been missing more than a year. It could have been a hundred years and I couldn’t have cared any more.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened earlier today?” Chase whispered in my ear. I never heard him, but he was just suddenly there, sitting beside me.
I picked at the plate of, what I guess was supposed to be mashed potatoes, in front of me. “No, not really.”
“Angel,” he said sternly.
My heart skipped. It happened every time he said my name. Didn’t matter whether it was in longing, anger, or annoyance, the results were always the same. My name from his lips made my insides amuck.
“We need to talk.”
By talk, he meant more than just about Emma being on the attendance list at Hall High. We still hadn’t really spoken about what we learned from Ives. There hadn’t been much time. Emma seemed to find a way to interfere in every aspect of my life lately.
I wanted to cause her bodily harm.
“Okay,” I agreed. “My house after school.”
“Is your mom working tonight?” he asked.
Strange. He never cared before. “Is that going to be a problem?” He hated when I answered a questioned with a question, but I couldn’t resist irritating him. It was just too damn fun. His brows drew together, and for the first time, I noticed a glint in his eyes I’d never seen before. Chase looked tired. Reaching out, I covered my hand over his. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he assured, and sealed the deal with a dazzling grin. Slowly he slid his hand from under mine, and I tried to hide the hurt from my eyes.
Folding my hands together, I tuned back to my friends at the table. The topic, of course, was still the lunatic Emma. Lexi smiled knowingly at me from across the table and arched a sculpted brow. She and I both knew that Emma was anything but what she seemed. As if she could sense we were talking about her, Emma walked into the cafeteria. Some joker whistled at her as she walked by. Thankfully Travis wasn’t here. I would have hated to see what that guy’s face would look like after Travis got through with him.
Emma might not be herself, but I was sure Travis harbored some kind of hope that she still loved him, because it was obvious he was still hung up on her. I just didn’t want to see Travis get heartbroken a second time. From what I’ve heard, he couldn’t survive another blow like losing Emma the first time had been.
Brandy flipped her long black hair over her shoulder, her eyes like everyone else in the lunchroom were on Emma. “She’s different.”
Chase shot me an amused grin. I rolled my eyes.
“We used to be friends, before…” Brandy’s voice trailed off.
My ears perked up like a golden retriever. “You knew Emma?” Why did I not know this?
“We both did,” Kailyn added. “We used to hound her to join the cheerleading squad.”