Death and the Girl Next Door

The cheerleaders lifted the lid, leaned in, and brought out a very embarrassed Jared Kovach.

I gasped aloud as the crowd cheered. Girls all around me screamed as Tabitha introduced the newest recruit to Riley High, like he was some kind of rock star. If they only knew.

In sympathy, Brooklyn wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Just think,” she said into my ear, “none of them have ever been called a flame licker by the guy.”

“He didn’t call me a flame licker.”

“Right, sorry,” she said absently, punching keys on her phone to check messages. So much for sympathy.

* * *

“Well, that was interesting,” Brooklyn said as we strolled through the parking lot. Glitch had a team meeting before the big homecoming game, so the rest of us decided to hang at the Java Loft until then.

Despite the fact that we were all technically grounded, Brooklyn and I managed to get permission to go to the game. It was homecoming after all. The big game. The one event that we languished over all year.

Okay, we exaggerated a tad. But at least we got permission to go—with conditions, of course. We had to be home right after the game, missy. No ifs, ands, or buts. Later, when we inevitably got home late, we would simply explain that, first we had to wait for Glitch to help with team stuff, then Ms. Mullins wanted to talk to us about how well we did on the nine-weeks exam—emphasis on well and nine-weeks exam—then the parking lot was so full, we just sat there for-like-ever. We had no idea it would take us so long just to get out of a parking lot, Grandma.

I would look distressed and worried and on the verge of tears for missing the curfew that I would never dream of missing, ever in a million years. Grandpa would slide Grandma that let’s forgive her look, just this once. Grandma would give in with a smile that held the tiniest of warnings. And life would return to normal.

Well, maybe not normal. Probably never normal again.

Anyway, all that should buy us just enough time to do some paranormal investigating.

I shook out of my thoughts, trying to remember what Brooklyn had commented about. Oh, right. The pep rally.

“Yeah, it was very interesting. Did you see how the cheerleaders were staring at Jared? It was bizarre.”

Brooklyn’s brows knitted together. “Lor, the entire student body was staring at Jared. He was kind of the main attraction.”

“I know. But did you see Ashlee and Sydnee? They were totally freaked out.”

After a quick shot at Jared from over her shoulder, Brooklyn said teasingly, “You were pretty freaked out when you first met him too.”

I leaned in to her. “Yeah, but I was hot and bothered by him. They’re just, like, bothered.”

Brooke laughed.

Of course, Jared seemed bothered too. When we met up with him after the pep rally, Cameron smirked and said, “You’re just going to fit right in, aren’t you? Be a part of the in-crowd.”

Jared ignored him, but he kept his head down as we walked to the parking lot. He seemed embarrassed, uncomfortable. The tension between him and Cameron hung thick and palpable in the air, and I wondered if they could ever be in the same room together without exhibiting homicidal tendencies.

I guess after his lunchroom confession, I wanted soft, knowing glances from Jared and winks full of affection. I also wanted promises of undying love and an endless supply of backrubs, but that could wait. Instead, all his energy was focused on postal boy. Cameron was totally stealing my bliss.

When we got to Cameron’s pickup, he shoved the key into the lock cylinder. “So who prayed?” he asked without looking at anyone in particular.

I looked at him, confused, but Jared answered before I had a chance to ask who Cameron was talking to.

“Everyone prays eventually,” he said as though they’d been talking the whole way.

Did I miss something?

“I just bet they do.” Cameron scowled at him from over his shoulder. “You must enjoy that. Prayers of desperation. The suffering of others.”

“Not especially.”

Without warning, Cameron took hold of the jacket Glitch had loaned Jared and shoved him against the pickup.

Jared spread his palms apart and let him. Completely unafraid.

“You’re a thief,” Cameron said in a whispery hiss, “the worst of your kind. You come down to Earth and take what you want without considering the consequences, the chaos you leave in your wake. You hide behind shadows and legend and pretend to be noble.”

While Jared’s expression remained impassive, mine was not. I decided to put an end to this once and for all. So, like the idiot I tended to be in crisis situations, I tried to jump between them for, like, the millionth time, but Cameron turned on me, furious. His vehemence startled me and I stood there, unmoving, like a deer caught in the glow of headlights.

Jared’s hand shot out and wrapped around my upper arm. He pulled me beside him protectively, his long fingers locking around my biceps, his expression no longer impassive. A hard warning glinted in his eyes. But Cameron grabbed me as well and tried to shove me out of the way.

It was the wrong thing to do.

The emotions coursing through Cameron’s veins seeped into me, mixed with mine, churned and swirled. They encircled me like a vise, tightening around my chest. I gasped for air as breathing became almost impossible. For Jared as well. As though I were a conduit, I siphoned the turmoil out of Cameron and into Jared.

“Stop,” Jared said as he pushed at Cameron, trying to catch his breath. I clutched on to Jared’s jacket. “Lorelei, stop.” This had never happened before. For some reason, I could feel Cameron’s pain and I was passing it on to Jared. All the emotion. All the anguish. All the rage.