A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) - Darynda Jones Page 0,80

a set of blindingly white teeth. “See ya later.”

Before she could say goodbye, he took off.

Auri watched him walk away, then she looked around, astonished that the students had pretty much accepted her. She wasn’t getting nearly the number of glares as she was yesterday, and nobody had spray painted her locker or tried to frame her for theft. The day was definitely looking up.

She turned a corner to get to her next class and saw the L&Ls, Lynelle and Liam with Aiden Huang, the kid she’d interrogated. Liam had Aiden Huang by the collar while Lynelle read him the riot act, poking his chest with a razor-sharp fingernail.

The kid looked more annoyed than scared at first, but then Lynelle said something, and he paled before her eyes.

He held up a hand in surrender and took the USB she handed him.

She fired off one more threat before Liam shoved him away and they walked off into the sunset together. Or the glare from the plate-glass windows at the front of the school. Either way.

It was a classic love story. One that would be repeated for generations to come.

Girl asks first boy for a favor. First boy refuses. Second boy grabs first boy by the collar. Girl threatens first boy while second boy shakes him like a rag doll. First boy finally agrees to said favor, and girl and second boy fall in love.

A tad dysfunctional? Yes.

Would it last? Not unless they found themselves riddled with bullets like Bonnie and Clyde did before they could realize they weren’t as compatible as they’d originally assumed and spent the next ten years breaking up and getting back together and breaking up again, bringing strife and misery to everyone they came into contact with.

Fingers crossed.

Auri sat in her second-period class, Lynelle and Liam completely forgotten as her thoughts traveled once again to Jimmy Ravinder and Sybil St. Aubin.

Her mom had a good point. They both went missing around the same time. It would be a hard stretch to convince anyone it was a coincidence, but it had to be. Or at the very least, there had to be a good a reason for it.

First, Sybil and Jimmy didn’t know each other. Auri spoke to Jimmy often. They hung out. They’d been close for years. The fact that she’d had to keep it a secret from her mom was ludicrous on several levels, but her grandparents knew and supported their friendship. They had a special place in their hearts for Jimmy.

But what they didn’t know was that Jimmy had saved her life when they were kids. Jimmy and one other member of the Ravinder family. No way would she abandon him just because her overprotective mother said the whole lot of them, every single Ravinder, was more trouble than they were worth.

She couldn’t help but wonder if that carpet diagnosis applied to the Ravinder her mom was in love with.

The tardy bell rang, and a few seconds later, a television powered up in class. A weekly student news program popped on.

“Good morning, Lions!” a peppy brunette said from behind an anchor desk. A desk that looked like it had been made from cardboard, but that fact only added to the charm. “Welcome back! This week, we have a special investigative report brought to you by the Journalism Club. Roll it, Aiden!”

The screen went black, then Lynelle Amaia popped into the frame holding a microphone and standing in front of the sheriff’s station.

Auri’s palms slickened instantly, and she fought the urge to reach for her inhaler.

Lynelle wore a million-dollar smile as she took over the spotlight. “Thanks, Callie. We have a special story for all of you Lions out there. If you didn’t already know it, we have a new sheriff.” She gestured to the lettering on the building.

Auri glanced around, becoming a little concerned. What was Lynelle doing? Besides being really, really perky?

“So, we decided to check her out—to dig into her past, so to speak—and see what we had to look forward to for the next four years. After all, we got a brand-new lioness in the deal. Aurora Dawn Vicram? Welcome to Del Sol High!”

Auri froze. This was not happening. Dig into her mother’s past? There was no way they could’ve found out the truth. It was buried along with the Ark of the Covenant, Jimmy Hoffa, and her pent-up emotions.

“Liam?”

The camera cut to Liam Eaton in front of the monument the town put up in Auri’s pretend dad’s honor, and the edges