The Rush (The Siren Series) - By Rachel Higginson Page 0,67

on Ryder as he talked and laughed with Chase and Phoenix at the top of the stairs in front of the school.

“I have no idea. I’ve wondered if maybe he was sick as a kid, maybe went through what Smith did. I keep meaning to ask him if he’s ever had cancer but somehow it keeps slipping my mind.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Exie whispered.

I relaxed into the seat a little, relieved to be able to talk to somebody about this. “I make him mad all the time. It’s like I was born just to piss him off.” I laughed at the thought, how absurd it was to think he was the only male I could make mad besides Nix. “And he’s constantly making fun of me. And not in the flirty way, like he actually thinks I’m stuck up.”

Exie snorted unladylike. “I’ve got to meet this guy. And Sloane too! Sloane would die to see someone make fun of you.”

“He actually works at Delice. We could go get coffee after school?” I didn’t want to acknowledge the happiness that suddenly ping-ponged around inside of me. How messed up was that? I could have any guy I wanted…. literally. But that thought left me utterly dead inside. The one guy that wanted nothing to do with me however? Yeah, he somehow brought my body to life…. gave me emotions and everything.

I was so screwed up.

“I am so all over this!” Exie squealed with excitement. “I’ll clear it with Sloane and call you.”

I jumped out of Exie’s car and into the dreary day, but the weather no longer dampened my mood. I waved goodbye to my friend and headed up to meet with my…. other friends. Weird. They were surprisingly happy to see me. Even Kenna. Well…. kind of Kenna.

I fell into the school routine easily. I hadn’t been in school for six months, but somehow the constant schedule, the forty-two minute class periods, the bells and hall passes felt easily natural. And I was kind of thankful for that.

I liked to learn, I liked to study. I even liked to take tests. College would have been exactly where I wanted to go next but there was no way that was in the cards for me. It was escape or enter the trade. Or worse, take Nix seriously and join his household.

I was wrapped up in those thoughts as I took a pass in English and headed toward the bathroom. I loved school, but that didn’t mean Mrs. Wade didn’t get excruciatingly monotonous.

“Ivy Pierce,” a nasally valley girl voice called as Amber walked out of a stall to my left.

“Hi Amber,” I said softly. I recognized the ugly bitterness she was throwing off her in waves.

“It’s because you’re easy,” she said matter of factly while washing her hands.

“Excuse me?” I asked in a pathetically quiet, meek voice. The thing about high school girls was they could be the best friends you ever had with the fiercest sense of loyalty or your worst enemy with the flick of a switch. We were emotional creatures, I got that. But every girl was hard-wired with animosity against me already, born leery of me, waiting for me to betray them. Maybe I already crossed a line with Amber and didn’t remember it, or it was one of those crush things there was no way I could have known about… and probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway…. or she just recognized the enemy inside me that I was to her. It didn’t really matter because obviously Amber had it out for me.

Exie would have told her to mind her own business. Sloane would have figured out just what buttons to push and dated whoever meant the most to her.

Although, apparently I was already doing that.

I cowered in fear.

The truth was, girls scared me.

“You’re easy,” she repeated slowly as if to a child. “Their fixation. Why guys won’t leave you alone. It’s not like you’re all that pretty. It’s just that you’re easy and boys have short attention spans.”

I thought about Sam and his attention span, how it had ultimately led to the car accident. I thought about Chase and how he didn’t push me to spend time with him or be something I wasn’t. I thought about Ryder and how devoted he was to Kenna. Some boys were interested in one thing; I had known enough of that kind to not be completely naïve. But I also knew some of the other kind now and so with deafening