Page 39 of Burning Embers
If this were a romantic comedy, the beautiful mean girl would tug my hair and warn me to stay away from her man. But this isn’t a movie or a book. This is real life. And in real life, not every beautiful girl is a bully.
Keeping a smile firmly plastered on my face, I reach forward and clasp her hand with mine.
She immediately goes ramrod straight, her eyes widening before turning glazed. She teeters on her feet, and Emery instinctively reaches out a hand to steady her.
“Desiree?” he asks, his tone somewhere between alarm and annoyance. It’s like he can’t decide on which emotion to feel.
Desiree’s grip in mine is almost painful. What the fuck is her problem? I try to pull away from her, try to free my hand from her iron-like grip, but she refuses to release me.
“Is she okay?” I ask Emery and Ethan. “Is she having a seizure or something?”
One of my old foster sisters had a seizure disorder. A lot of times, she would stare blankly into space, forgetting where she was and what she was doing until she came out of it.
“Do we need to get the nurse?” I’m not even sure if this school has a nurse, if I’m being honest. The majority of my previous public schools didn’t. But I don’t know what else to do or say.
“No. No nurse.” Desiree’s grip tightens on mine once more before she releases me. “I’m fine.”
But she doesn’t sound or even look fine. She’s staring at me with a quizzical expression that has the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention. That look… It’s almost like she’s blaming me for whatever the fuck just happened to her.
Which is crazy.
“Desiree…” Emery’s voice is a warning as he glares down at her, but she ignores him and keeps her focus on me.
I shift underneath her scrutiny.
“Interesting,” she says at last. “Very interesting.”
She seems to be speaking more to herself than to any of us. Abruptly, she smiles, one that makes her eyes glimmer and somehow enhances her already ethereal beauty.
“I suppose I’ll be seeing you around, Izzy.” She wiggles her fingers in a wave before stepping around me.
Immediately, the two girls I noticed earlier, standing farther down the hall, move to join her, remaining a few steps behind her.
“Beast. Machine.” Desiree directs the first insult at Emery and then the second at Ethan.
Without another word, she flounces away, her brown curls practically bobbing with every step she takes as if the strands have a life of their own.
I can’t help but gape at the two brothers. “What the fuck was that about?”
Emery’s jaw clenches. “No idea.”
I can tell he’s being honest.
Reluctantly, he pulls his gaze off of Desiree’s retreating back and focuses on me once more. His nostrils flare a second time, and he inhales deeply, like he’s trying to suck in my scent. A little weird, but who am I to judge?
Okay. I’m totally judging.
That was weird as shit.
“Do you want us to walk you to…?” Ethan begins tentatively, and I notice the way Emery stiffens at the word “we” leaving his twin’s mouth.
I hurry to dismiss his words before an argument can brew. “Don’t worry. I know where it is. Down there, right?”
I point farther down the hall, where glass-paneled windows peer into a large room.
“We can bring you,” Ethan presses, just as the bell rings overhead.
Dammit. Now there’s no way I’m not going to be late for my first period class. At least I have that with Ethan.