Heels clicking on the worn tiles of the school halls stops our conversation in its tracks. Delaney and two friends saunter up the stairs at an unhurried pace. Each of them personifies perfection with their expertly styled hair and clothes.
The guys’ heads, which are already trained in their direction, follow them up the stairwell. Milo takes a step down, bringing himself closer to the girls, but Ollie stops him dead with a hand on his shoulder. After a long second Milo shrugs off the boy’s touch and turns back to face me. He looks angry, his face is red and his lips are tight, I think he might just start yelling any minute.
I take another step away from them. There's no way I want his stormy eyes pointed at me right now.
“Hey,” Delaney purrs without a shred of self-preservation.
“I thought we were meeting at the front lobby, in like five minutes?” Dante sighs with a small shake of his head.
Delaney shrugs a delicate shoulder. “What can I say, I couldn't wait.” Her hand goes to the flare of her narrow hip and she arches her back slightly, pushing her chest out. Everything about her is suggestive, her skirt has to border on a dress code violation, and her painted red lips are turned up in a sultry smirk.
The two girls with her seem a little less bold but are equally alluring.
Dante, whose back seems rigid, pushes up the sleeve of his gray thermal shirt, exposing his toned forearms. The black leather cuff encircling his wrist catches my eye and I can’t seem to look away.
I need to know what's beneath that thick band. I take a step forward to do just that when Ollie’s voice jars me from my intended target, a good thing too. With my single-minded focus, I didn't even care that I would have looked crazy pawing at him with his girlfriend standing a few feet away.
With that thought, a cold sinking feeling washes over me, effectively reminding me I have no place here. Looking at the ground, I miss the fact that Milo and Ollie have moved past Dante and up to me until I feel Ollie’s fingers under my chin, forcing my head up so I meet his eyes.
“Sorry I started this here,” he says with a grimace. “Can we talk after school?” I nod without thought; his clear green eyes don't give me much of an option.
“I need to get to class,” I mutter when my tongue becomes unglued from the roof of my mouth. Ollie gives me a cheeky wink, letting the seriousness that had invaded our conversation fall away.
I turn and dash for the open doorframe that will take me to the hall where my locker is, and away from these confusing boys, but I don't make it far. I let my back hit the wall to catch my breath.
I hear murmurs from the stairwell when I'm settled enough to take a deep breath and the buzzing in my ears subsides.
Dante’s low growl is broken by Milo’s urgent hiss, “I don't care what promises you made. I'm tired of her sniffing around every time you're out of her sight. I'm not letting her, or you ruin this.”
Deliberately stepping closer to eavesdrop I hear Ollie, in a much quieter voice, soothe as he says, “that's not going to happen Milo, because Dante won't let it. He knows how important this is.” He pauses before he adds, “To all of us.”
With that I push away from the wall and rush in the opposite direction.
Last hour comes way too fast, not only do I to have to sit next to Dante in art, but I also told Ollie we could talk after school. I've already made several excuses in my head as to why I'd need to rush home instead of talking with them, but all the cop-outs sound lame, even to me.
The only one that could get me out of it easily would be to tell them the truth, that my mom disappeared.
I'm not ready for anyone to know that.
Avoiding them tonight will not get me any closer to the answers I want either, but I do need to be careful around them. I don't want Delaney getting the wrong idea.
I haven't missed all the snide little remarks she makes every time I've passed her in the halls or the cunning way she watches me in class. There's no way she's