My eyes narrowed. I didn’t even want to know what he was referencing. There was nothing wrong with my jeans or my shirt. I looked like everyone else in the classroom, with the exception of kids who had their shirts tucked into their pants. I hadn’t seen a cowboy hat or teased bangs yet. These kids looked like the kids in Florida, just with less potential for skin cancer.
Lesa and her friend had stopped talking, watching Daemon and me with openmouthed stares. I swore to God if Daemon said anything ignorant, I was going to lay him out in class. My splint was heavy enough to do damage.
Leaning forward, his warm breath danced along my cheek when he spoke. “Less people will stare without the splint is all I’m saying.”
I didn’t believe for one second that was all he was talking about. On top of that, with him this close to my face, everyone was staring. And we weren’t looking away from each other. We were stuck in the middle of an epic stare-down I refused to lose. Something passed between us, reminiscent of the strange current I’d felt with him before.
A boy on the other side of Daemon gave a low whistle. “Ash is going to kick your ass, Daemon.”
Daemon’s grin went up a notch. “Nah, she likes my ass too much for that.”
The boy chuckled.
Eyes still on me, he tipped his desk forward even further. “Guess what?”
“What?”
“I checked out your blog.”
Oh. Dear. Baby. Jesus. How did he find it? Wait. More importantly was the fact that he had found it. Was my blog now Googleable? That was awesomesauce with an extra heaping of sauce. “Stalking me again, I see. Do I need to get a restraining order?”
“In your dreams, Kitten.” He smirked. “Oh wait, I’m already starring in those, aren’t I?”
I rolled my eyes. “Nightmares, Daemon. Nightmares.”
He smiled, his eyes twinkling, and I almost smiled back, but luckily the teacher started calling roll, forcing an end to, well, whatever was going on between us. I turned around in my seat, letting out a slow breath.
Daemon laughed softly.
When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, I couldn’t get out of there quick enough. I did so without looking back to see what Daemon was doing. Math was going to suck butt more than it normally did if he sat behind me in class every day.
Out in the hallway, Lesa and her friend fell in step with me. “You’re new here,” said the brunette. Observant.
Lesa rolled her dark eyes. “That’s not obvious, Carissa.”
Carissa ignored her friend, pushing her square-framed glasses up her nose as she deftly stepped out of the way of another stupid kid barreling through the crowded hall. “How do you know Daemon Black so well?” Considering the first kids to talk to me were doing so because I’d been talking to Daemon, I wasn’t thrilled. “I moved in next to them in the middle of July.”
“Ah, I’m jealous.” Lesa pursed her lips. “Half the population at this school would love to trade places with you.”
I’d gladly change positions with them.
“By the way, my name is Carissa and that’s Lesa if you hadn’t figured it out yet. We’ve lived here our whole lives.” Carissa waited.
“My name is Katy Swartz, from Florida.” Oddly, they didn’t have thick accents like I’d been expecting.
“You came here, to West Virginia, from Florida?” Lesa’s eyes went wide. “Are you insane?”
I smiled. “My mom is.”
“What happened to your arm?” Carissa asked as they followed me up the crowded stairs.
There were so many people in the stairwell I didn’t want to announce what happened, but Lesa apparently knew. “She was mugged in town, remember?” She nudged Carissa with a curvy hip. “The same night Sarah Butler died.”
“Oh yeah,” Carissa said, frowning. “They’re holding a memorial for her tomorrow during the pep rally. So sad.”
Unsure of how to respond, I nodded.
Lesa smiled as we reached the second floor. I had English at the end of the hall that I was pretty sure I shared with Dee. “Well, it’s nice meeting you. We don’t get a lot of new people here.”
“Nope,” Carissa agreed. “No new kids since the triplets arrived here when we were freshmen.”
“You mean Ash and her brothers?” I asked, confused
“And the Blacks,” Lesa answered. “All six of them showed up within days of each other. Had the entire school going crazy.”
“Wait.” I stopped in the middle of the hall, earning a few nasty looks from people I knocked off course. “What do you mean all six of them? And all of them came here at the same time?”
“Pretty much,” Carissa said, fixing her glasses. “And Lesa isn’t kidding. It was crazy for months afterward. Can you blame us, though?”
Lesa stopped by a classroom door, brow wrinkling. “Oh, you didn’t know there’d been three of the Blacks?”
Feeling even more confused, I shook my head. “No. There’s Daemon and Dee, right?”
The warning bell rang, and both Lesa and Carissa glanced into the classroom filling up. It was Lesa who explained. “They were triplets, too. Dee and there were two brothers, Daemon and Dawson. They were completely identical, like the two Thompson boys. Couldn’t tell them apart if your life depended on it.” I stared at them, rooted to the floor.
Carissa smiled sadly. “It’s really sad. The one brother—Dawson—he disappeared a year ago. Everyone pretty much believes he’s dead.”