He nodded, dropping his gaze again. “Come on. Don’t want to be late.”
…
Kyle, to my surprise, was his usual calm-and-cheery self when class started, considering what we had planned for this afternoon. Visiting his parents’ grave couldn’t be easy, but he stood in front of everyone with the rest of our group. Our diorama presentation for American History went straight to an A+.
If he could handle the anniversary of his parents’ death like a pro, I certainly could chill over my vision. Maybe if I didn’t worry about it too much, the answers would come. So by lunch, I’d let go of my worries and let the hum of conversation wrap around me like a security blanket. My normal.
Kyle and I ate at our table when an unusually subdued Penny came and sat down. She took a bite off the apple she held with an audible crunch.
“I’m pissed at the both of you,” she said and pouted after taking another bite. “Just so you know.”
“What’d we do?” Kyle pulled the tab off his soda can.
“Why aren’t any of you responding to my texts, huh?” She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, a smirk forming on her pale, yet well-glossed, lips.
My brow crumpled. Yet another thing I had to apologize for. “I’m really sorry. The weekend took it out of me. Plus, you know the reception at Valley View is spotty.”
“That’s two nights worth of dish you’ve yet to fill me in on, Selena Fallon.” She glanced around. “Or should I say Selena Sloan?”
Kyle choked on his soda.
“Has a nice ring to it, if you ask me.”
“What?” I gaped. Images of what almost happened in the Valley View library decided to haunt me then, sending a full on blush to my cheeks. “Where’d that come from?”
“Constance is talking about all sorts of things, and no one can rely on what she has to say. Remember the fingernail in the cola incident last year?”
I shuddered. Constance insisted she’d found a fingernail in her drink. No one believed her since she couldn’t show any evidence. Maybe there was hope for me yet.
“It’s obvious she has more of a crush on Kyle than Mr. Rock-Star-National-Geographic. So that leaves you.” She gestured with her apple at me.
“How come I don’t get a special name?” Kyle mocked.
Penny rolled her eyes at him. “As long as you come home to me, Mr. Two-Timer, we’re square.”
“You’ll always be my beard,” he said with satisfaction.
“So, what do you have to say for yourself Mrs. Dillan Sloan?”
“Stop saying that!” I hissed through my teeth.
“Yes, what do you have to say for yourself?” Dillan gave everyone at the table a cheeky grin before he sat down beside Penny.
Kyle laughed at the look of horror that must have been evident on my face. My heart had a mind of its own whenever Dillan was around. It pumped like there was no tomorrow. In my case—death vision excluded—maybe there wasn’t where he was concerned. I didn’t need any more aggravation from him. He still owed me answers for what happened at Valley View.
I took out my annoyance on Kyle by pushing him off his seat.
“Ow!” He picked himself up off the floor.
Dillan’s expression turned conceited as he took out a sandwich from a paper bag.
“You plan to eat here?” I shrieked.
“Keep your panties on, Selena. It’s a cafeteria. Eating is expected.” He took an exaggerated bite from his sandwich and smiled as he chewed. “And I think I’m adding to your cred by being here.”
“I know a few things you can do with—”
“Selena.” Penny nudged me with an elbow. She leaned across the table toward me and turned to where the swimming team usually gathered. “Bowen’s looking this way.”
I followed her gaze, and sure enough, Bowen gave our table a curious glance. Before I could make out his expression, a push on his shoulder by one of his teammates quickly distracted him. They all laughed at something. Then my eyes landed on the table beside theirs where the cheerleaders congregated.
“Great!” I sagged into my seat. “The cheerleaders look like they’re going to eat me! If Sheila Easton had a knife, she’d be sharpening it right now.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Penny sounded as if the world continued to revolve around her. “You know cheerleaders hardly eat.”
“Well, I think they’ll make an exception.” I winced when the gaggle of girls whispered to each other.
Penny glanced at the primly pony-tailed group in white and orange with black trim uniforms and whistled. “I think you’re right.”
I wanted to say something else, but Dillan’s all-knowing grin distracted me.
“I think I just got my answer.” Penny winked at him.
He shamelessly returned her wink as she stood up.
“Penny!” I grabbed her arm. “What answer?”
“Oh, if you don’t know by now…” The traitor kept her sentence unfinished and yanked away her arm, leaving the cafeteria with an extra bounce in her step.
Ugh! Shoot me.
No.
Shoot Dillan.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dillan
Dazed and Confused in Italian
Dillan walked into the bookstore hoping to decompress from another day at Newcastle High. He rubbed his arm through his sweater sleeve when the cold air from the overkill AC hit him. Two women stood by the romance section. But other than that, the place seemed empty. Did no one read in this hick town?
His gaze eventually landed on the girl he loved to hate but couldn’t seem to anymore. Her expression when he sat down at their table for lunch was priceless. Thoughts of teasing her into agitation pulled his lips up mischievously. Nothing like seeing Selena pissed to make his afternoon better.
She stood behind the counter with her back to the door, feather duster in hand. The words Divine Comedy in gold script stretched over the spine of the book she held in the other. He smirked, approaching the counter.
“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate,” he said.
“I’m sorry?” She whipped around then froze when she recognized him. Her beautiful eyes squinted. He would have paid a million dollars to know what she was thinking right then.
He gestured at the book, “It’s from Divine Comedy. ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.’”
It took three seconds for her to digest. Ah, he loved the wrinkles on her brow when he annoyed her.
“So, does quoting Dante in…” She flicked the feather duster at him.
“Italian,” he supplied.
“In Italian get you the girls?”
“Nope. I go to Shakespeare for pick-up lines.” He raised his eyebrow a notch, knowing the action coaxed out his favorite expression of all from her. “When I’m facing the gates of hell, I quote Dante.”
She scowled. He liked it when she scowled. Maybe a little too much, because her nose scrunched up and the tops of her cheeks tinted pink. She clutched the handle of the feather duster so hard its feathers quivered. Her lips contorted. Whatever promises he’d made himself about avoiding her went unfulfilled. Something about her always pulled him in. Why fight it? If getting to know Selena better cracked the nut of Newcastle’s mystery, then who was he to say no?
“Okay, you’ve moved from mildly annoyed to eye-gouging angry.” He raised both hands, stifling a chuckle by pressing his lips together. “This is a public place, Selena. I like reading, remember?”
She gingerly slid Dante’s Inferno back into its place then pointed at the door. “The supermarket’s that way.”