“Ah ha. And you’ll be the talk, too, since I’m your new neighbor. Lucky you.” He wiggled his brows.
“Oh, geez. Conceited much?”
“Nope,” he said, again with emphasis on the “P.” “I’m not conceited. I’m confident. As you said, ‘totally different.’”
He was mocking me now. I didn’t sound like that, did I?
“Yeah, well, ... whatever. I’m going to bed. Good night.”
I closed the window and whipped the curtains shut. So there. I stormed off to my bathroom for my nightly ritual and washed my face too vigorously, splashing water all over the sink. Scrubbing my teeth and hair with too much gumption, I finished and slammed the hairbrush onto the countertop. I stalked into my walk-in closet and selected my jammies and threw myself onto the bed.
He was so frustrating, but I had no idea why I let him get to me like this. I was mad at him, and for what? Little jibes that my friends also used? Stupid.
I flipped off my bedside light but continued to toss and turn, still upset about Aiden and missing Shay, since it had been two days without any word from him. I tried to calm my breathing and relax, but it just wasn’t going to happen. I flipped onto my back, then got up, and walked to the window, picking up a few M&Ms still lying on my floor. When I drew back my curtain, I saw his bedroom light was off. It had only been thirty minutes, so he probably wasn’t asleep yet. I tossed one M&M straight up into the air and caught it, before I breathed a heavy sigh and went back to bed.
Now I felt bad, but it was more because of my behavior than my words. I lay on my back for quite a while, just thinking.
“I’m sorry,” I eventually whispered into the darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
Zoe
Monday morning, I rose earlier than normal. I hadn’t slept well. Throughout my tossing and turning, all I could envision were eyes. Some were aqua, some were black, and some would never blink again.
I rose from my bed and took a long, hot shower. I scrubbed my body clean, brushed my teeth, and dried my hair. Using the curling iron, I curled half of it then tied it into a loose ponytail. For makeup, I applied black eyeliner and pink lip gloss. After I dropped all my books into my backpack, I headed down to the kitchen. Both my parents were already up and moving about.
“You’re up early,” Dad noted, peering over his cup of coffee.
“Yeah, guess so,” I said. “Early bird catches the worm.”
“This early? Hmm. Someone is definitely trying catch something,” he teased. “How was your weekend? Do anything exciting?”
Ignoring his comment, I grabbed a bowl from the shelf and dumped cereal and milk into it. “Nope, nothing exciting.” We ate breakfast in silence after that. What would I tell him? I saw one of my best friends turn into a wolf, I witnessed wolves die from the hands of demons, Vash became Alpha of his pack. Oh and I used some sort of kickass angel powers.
When I was done, I cleaned up and went outside.
Kieran stood next to the driver’s side door. “Are we stopping for coffee this morning?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t we?” I slung my backpack into the back seat of his car.
He shrugged. “Maybe you wanted to get to school to see the new student.”
“Aiden? I already know him. Mom, Stella, and I went to his house before you and Sidelle came on Friday. I helped him unpack some movies and stuff.”
“Stay away from him. Word is this guy got caught up with a bunch of bad people when he lived in California.”
“How do you know that? Is he the same person you used to know?”
“I’ll see him today and let you know. But Zoe, you need to stay away from him in case he is the same.”
“Maybe we don’t have all the facts about him.” I frowned. “He seemed to know you, though. When I mentioned that you and I were friends and that you lived down the street, he got all tense. Oh, and guess what? He kinda looks like Shay. They have the same aqua eyes, hair color, build—it’s like they could be brothers. But Shay doesn’t have any siblings, right? I thought he was an only child.”
Kieran clenched his teeth. What’s up with that? “No. No, he doesn’t have any siblings.”
When we arrived at Coffee Grind, I ordered my usual chai tea latte then looked around. Lots of other early risers were already seated in the alcoves. I grinned when I spotted Cali, Vash, Jackson, and our other friend, Quinn, sitting off in a corner.
“Hi.” I waved, putting on my upbeat attitude. “Ready for the weekend yet?”
“It can’t come soon enough!” Quinn exclaimed. “Another weekend past means another weekend closer to summer. I wish the weather would get warm so we could start going to the beach.” She fanned herself. “I want to wear my new bikini in front of Caden. Make him drool a bit.”
“Yeah, I’m ready for the weekend, too,” Cali said. “But no parties at my place. My parents canceled going out of town because they’re still a little mad about the last house party. Someone broke one of my mom’s favorite vases, but if you ask me, everything in the house is her favorite. It wouldn’t really have mattered what was broken. Anyway, they told me I can’t have any more parties for a while.”
“Hey, we should get going to school,” Quinn said as she checked her phone. “Do you want a ride, Zoe?”
“No thanks. Kieran drove us.”
“Okay, see you guys later.”
Our drive to school was quiet. Kieran kept looking over at me, but I didn’t want to talk. I’d open up to him eventually, but I was still fuming mad at Aiden after last night’s talk. Misdirected anger? Yes. And the fact no one had informed me about anything new with Shay.
“Did ...” Kieran hesitated; then he dove right in. “Aiden. Is this about him?”
“No.” God, I missed Shay something fierce. Someone better know something soon or I’d crack.
“I see.”
“Anything?”
“They’re still looking.”
As we waited in line for parking, I noticed a red car in the far corner of the parking lot. If all the upper classmen had driven to school, there would be about a hundred vehicles in the lot, and the flame-red vehicle stuck out like a sore thumb. I’d never seen anything like it, which was odd. I knew most of the vehicles the kids drove and what some of their parents drove as well. From this far away, I couldn’t tell if anyone was sitting in the car or not.
After we were finally able to park, Cali and Quinn strode up, laughing about something. Quinn quickly retelling a story, about how she thought she’d been a ninja in a past life. We all whooped again, and not only because it was a ridiculous idea. The truth was, Quinn was one of the most uncoordinated people I knew.
“See ya later, girls.” We parted ways when we entered the school, and I nudged Kieran’s shoulder. “Hey, K. You have to help me with math. I left three problems.”
“Sure.”
We approached my locker, and I noticed Sidelle wasn’t at hers yet. At Sidelle’s request to the administration, our lockers were next to each other’s again this year, directly across from the cafeteria. It was strange not to see her there. I dropped my backpack on the ground and tried my locker combination. To my surprise, it opened on the first try—again.
“I wonder where Sidelle is.”
Kieran shrugged.
“Maybe she’s hanging around with Jackson,” I said. “Showing him the ropes.”
“Did Aiden say he would be coming to school today?” Kieran asked in a hushed voice.
“He said he was, so we’ll see. I offered for him to ride with us, but he declined, said he wanted to drive.” I looked around but didn’t see him. “He’s probably in the office getting his class schedule.”
As soon as I finished my sentence, Aiden strode down the hall toward us. He was dressed in black from head to toe, except for a red T-shirt. His eyes were on the sheet of paper in his hands, and he occasionally glanced up at the locker numbers. He hadn’t noticed me. Everyone he passed turned and gawked.
And casually hanging on his shoulder was my rival, Morgan. She snapped her gum and waved like royalty at onlookers as they passed.
Kieran was frowning, which was not a good look for him. I elbowed him in the stomach.
Aiden and Morgan stopped next to us, and I realized he’d been assigned the empty locker at the end of the row. Just my luck. He glanced up, noticed everyone in the hall was staring at him, and then noticed me.
“Hey, there, Zoe,” he said, trying to work the locker combination.
“Hi.”
Morgan sneered in my direction. “Poor Aiden. You’re in the slums,” she said. “I’ll have to see if we can get your locker location changed so you can be closer to mine.” She looked me up and down. “You don’t want to be in this part of the school.”
Aiden’s eyes were on Kieran. “We haven’t met officially.” He stuck out his hand. “Name’s Aiden.”
Kieran drew in a deep breath, and then slowly shook Aiden’s hand. “Kieran.”
That done, Aiden smiled back at me. “Looks like we’ll be locker neighbors, too.”
“For now,” Morgan said, sniffing with disdain and glaring at me. “Don’t get used to seeing him here.”
“See what I mean, K?” I said to Kieran.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he muttered.
“Zoe,” Cali called as she and Vash ran up to me. “Oh, Sidelle’s not here yet?” Her eyebrows wiggled. “She and Jackson must be taking the long way. Hi, Morgan.” She dropped her school bag on the floor before noticing Aiden. “Oh, hello. I’m Cali. You must be new.”
“Yep, just moved over the weekend. From California.”
“Well, welcome to lowly St. Joseph, Minnesota.” She turned toward me, making sure Aiden couldn’t see her face. “He’s hot,” she mouthed. Then she peeked at Kieran and shrugged. “Sorry,” she whispered.
When I heard the distinct clicking of stiletto shoes, my heart stopped, fearing it would be the other two sides of the Triangle coming to harass me since their leader was standing in front of me, but I was relieved to see Sidelle walking briskly down the hall, with Jackson trailing in her wake.
“Hi ya’ll. What’s happenin’?” she called as she approached. “You’re new,” she said, circling a slender index finger toward Aiden. “You all remember Jackson, Vash’s younger bro?”
Jackson walked over to Vash, who stood in a protective stance next to Cali.
“You’re handling this well.” I pulled Cali in for a hug.
“Handling what?” Cali asked.
I cocked my head, obviously not wanting to say anything out loud in front of other people.
“Oh, that. Right. Vash told me everything, so I’m up to speed about you. Now me?” She shook her head, smiling wryly. “I’m still adjusting to that.”
Both boys shook their heads, seeing us talking. “Are they always like this?” Aiden asked. “Cryptic, I mean?”
“Yes, always,” Kieran replied.
“So what do you have for classes?” Sidelle asked Aiden. She grabbed the sheet out of his hands, not bothering with introductions, then nodded slowly, one eyebrow raised. “Ah. Looks quite similar to Zoe’s schedule, actually.”
It did? I grabbed the paper out of Sidelle’s hand and quickly looked down the list. It wasn’t similar; it was exactly the same schedule. How could that have happened? There had to be a higher power working here. I handed Aiden his schedule, my eyes narrowed.
“And don’t get used to that either, Zoe,” Morgan hissed. “He’s changing his schedule, too.”
“Whatever, Morgan.” I smiled at Aiden. “I guess you’re stuck with me today. I’ll show you around, if you want.”
“He doesn’t need you.” Morgan stepped forward. “I’ll take him wherever he needs to be.”
“Whatever.”
I turned back to my locker, still confused about Aiden’s schedule. This couldn’t be a coincidence, right? There had to be a reason why he had all the same classes as I had, but I couldn’t guess at any. Oh, well. For whatever reason we’d see each other a lot, which would give me a chance to get to know him better.
“I’m off to class, Z,” Kieran said.
I grabbed my books and turned to go. A crowd had started to form at this end of the hall, mostly made up of giggling girls ogling Aiden. Seriously? Was this elementary school or high school? Eventually, they walked on, especially after meeting Morgan’s dead stare.
Rena came bounding up to Cali, Sidelle, and me. “Hey, girls. We have a new student here.” Apparently, she hadn’t noticed Aiden standing behind her.
I giggled.
“What?” she asked.
“He’s standing right behind you,” Cali informed her.
“Oh, God. He is?” Rena slowly turned around. “He is.” Her face turned bright red, but she still gave him a once-over. “Hi, again,” she said, sticking out her hand. “We met yesterday afternoon at Coffee Grind.”
“Yes, I remember. How could I forget?” He shook her hand, and she beamed.
The first bell rang.
“I guess that’s my cue to leave,” she said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “Nice seeing you again. You’ll have to join us at lunch.”
“Um—”
“Not today he won’t. And not the next either,” Morgan said. “He’ll be sitting with me and the better people.”
Rolling her eyes, Rena walked away with Cali. Vash and Jackson trailed behind them. That left Aiden, Morgan, Sidelle, and me alone at the lockers.
“You’d better hurry off to class, Zoe,” Morgan said, sneering. She leaned into Aiden and placed her chin on his shoulder. “A goodie-goodie is never late.”
I grabbed my backpack and left without comment. Whatever. If Aiden wanted to date Morgan, the leader of the Triangle, so be it. I refused to stay and watch them suck face.
“Come on, Zoe,” Sidelle said. “Let’s get to class.”
“Don’t you think Aiden looks like Shay?” I asked as we walked toward my first class.
She shrugged. “No, not really. You’re just missing Shay so much that you’re seeing him in everyone.”
“Any word on his whereabouts? Kieran has assured me that the angels are looking. But you have to admit, though, they have the same color eyes, right?”
“You’re still on that? Shay’s are more teal. Aiden’s are a little bluer. Not the same.”
“What about the hair color?”
“Different, too. Shay’s is a bit blonder. Aiden’s is browner.”
I still thought they looked similar.
When Aiden entered the room, the teacher glanced up from her desk and waved him over. “Hello. I’m Ms. Hart. Do you have your schedule?”
Aiden handed it over, and she quickly read it, confirming his enrollment in her class. She pulled a history book out of the cabinet for him, then opened a drawer in her desk, and pulled out the seating chart. She perused the diagram, tapping the paper with her finger.
“Ah, Aiden ... this seat is open. It will be your assigned seat for the rest of the year. You don’t really have to sit here every day; I don’t actually care where you sit. Just be here on time. If you do that, we won’t have any problems.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Great.” She looked at me. “Zoe, go ahead and take a seat, and we’ll get started. Class, may I have your attention, please? This is our new student, Aiden Mors. Please give him a warm welcome.”
All eyes followed Aiden as he took his seat. Thinking he might appreciate a familiar face, I motioned for him to sit next to me, but he chose another open desk. History class was a required course, so it was full, unlike some of the elective courses. Once he was settled, Aiden looked around and nodded to people who were openly staring at him.
Caden turned around and introduced himself. “Hey dude. I’m Caden. Aiden, right?”
“Yes,” Aiden said.
“Rumor is you’re from California.”
“Not a rumor. True statement.”
“Cool!”
That ended their conversation. I guessed boys didn’t need to know much. Class got underway, and I couldn’t help but notice Aiden occasionally glancing over at me. I tried not to return the look since I needed to pay attention in class, but I couldn’t resist. I was caught—twice. When class was over, some of the students rushed over to introduce themselves. Aiden had met a fourth of our grade in one hour, and it wasn’t even lunchtime.
As soon as we left the history room, I noticed Morgan leaning against a locker. Just great. What did she want now? I kept walking.
“Hello again, stranger,” I heard her purr to Aiden. “I’ll walk you to your next class. What is it again?”
“Physics,” he said.
“Boring.”
“You got that right, babe.”
“Did you miss me?”
Her pouty little question made me feel ill. I tried to ignore them both.
I’d planned to arrive a little early since I wanted to maybe get at least one missing math problem done, but the halls were filled with students trying to get a glimpse of the new guy. I pushed my way through and into my classroom, then sat in silence for a few moments, waiting for Kieran.
“What’s his problem?” Kieran asked, walking into the room and jabbing a thumb back at the hall.
“Ah,” I said. “You must have passed the exhibitionists.”
“Yep.”
“Do you see it?” I asked. “Sidelle didn’t.”
He frowned. “See what?”
“Aiden’s resemblance to Shay. I swear they could be brothers.”
“I guess I’m not seeing what you see. Then again, I haven’t stared into Shay’s eyes as much as you have.”
I punched his shoulder.
Noah strolled in with Aiden a few minutes later. “I’ll introduce you to my friends,” he offered. “I’m on the basketball team, and Coach likes all the players to sit together. Says it’s a ‘team building’ thing. We can always make room for one more.”
“Thanks, man.”
The second period bell rang. Aiden wandered back up to the front and handed Ms. Miller his schedule. She barely glanced at it before waving him off. He shrugged and found an open seat in the second row.
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