Don’t ask. Just read.

--

aeriform (adj) : having the form or nature of air; characterized by lightness and insubstantiality. see 'ethereal'.

ethereal (adj) : aerostatic, celestial, illusory, dreamlike, unworldly, heavenly, intangible, fanciful. see 'emery'.

--

chapter. one:

she’s cold and she’s cruel, but she knows what she’s doing

--

“Hey, did you hear about that new chick we’re supposed to get?”

Marcus Cavalier’s face exploded into my range of vision, waaaayyy too close to my own face and scaring me the hell out of my reverie.

I jumped about a foot, banging my knees against the bottom of my desk. Heart pounding a mile a minute, I flattened my palm against my heart.

“Marcus, you bastard, you almost gave me a heart attack! Jesus...” I swallowed, glaring at him. “I should shoot you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Marcus, my best friend since our (very) early sandbox days, could tell the difference between the threats I meant and the threats I..well, didn’t mean, which was why he wasn’t running. Blue-eyed and chestnut-haired, Marcus could charm the temper out of (or the pants off of) almost anyone in a way that I was immune to. So naturally I was still irritated.

“So, did you hear?” I roll my eyes at the way he gets right back on topic, but nod.

“Yeah, I’ve heard.” He tips back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head.

“Apparently she’s not too bad in the looks department,” Marcus said, wiggling his eyebrows. “J.T. says she’s a redhead, but Joey says she’s a blonde and Miles says she’s a brunette. But they all agree she’s pretty hot.”

“Well, you’ll get to meet her soon enough,” I say, glancing towards the front of the room as our homeroom teacher enters. The new girl was supposed to be in our homeroom, which was semi-exciting. I was curious to know what she actually looked like; though I’d heard the rumors, nobody really knew for sure. “She’ll probably be here in a little bit, to be introduced and find someone to show her around and stuff.”

“You’re right,” Marcus said, letting the chair drop on all fours with a resounding thwack. I roll my eyes again; he’s such an attention whore, but he’s my best friend. What could I do about it?

I could...sit here and wonder about this new girl. My ‘sixth sense’ had told me something was going to happen today; a nagging tickle at the back of my mind that warned me of some event. I guessed it to be the new girl’s coming, since that was big enough; or at least, everyone else made it sound like a big deal. I wasn’t so sure about her; I’d never met her or really even had a solid idea of what she looked like. But then, I doubted anyone else did either.

“Okay, guys!” Miss Cameron’s voice came vibrating from the front of the classroom in that dominating soprano, commanding our attention. Though she didn’t seem like she’d be able to handle our unruly sophomore class, she was definitely able to. “I’m sure everyone’s heard about the new student–” Several catcalls cut her off, and she smiled good-naturedly until they’d died down. Then she continued.

“I expect you all to treat her with respect and welcome her as a friend. Please don’t exclude her and make sure she feels welcome, and help her in any way you can. Alright?” Miss Cameron didn’t wait for us to agree, cupping one hand around her mouth and calling out, “You can come in!”

My eyes riveted on the door and an expectant hush fell over the room. I just wanted to know what she looked like, really, and if she actually merited all this buzz.

The door opened wide and the first thing I saw was a pale hand, long, slender fingers cobwebbed over the knob. And then she came in, and I knew why there’d been such a fuss.

Pale, was the first thing I registered, milky-white all over her slender, wiry body in a way that would be frightening if she didn’t look so very alive. Her hair was the color of fall leaves, rusty-red and copper-brown infiltrated by dashes of gold drifting to her elbows; full and pink against her white skin, her lips were set in an emotionless line beneath a straight nose and high cheekbones. Her eyes were molten silver tinged the faintest bit of green if you stared long enough, rimmed by long, dark reddish-brown lashes, and I could swear she was coated in a layer of light, as if she was glowing a shade lighter than the rest of the room.

She was beautiful, terribly so, and I was amazed.

But nobody else seemed to be struck by this ethereal creature in the same was that I was; Marcus, beside me, was whistling. He looked impressed as he eyed her up and down, but I had the feeling it wasn’t for the same reason I was staring.

“I’d like you all to welcome Emery Day,” Miss Cameron says, gesturing at the girl. “Emery, will you write your name on the board?”

“Certainly,” she replied, her voice smooth as silk, and went to the board.

She walked with a certain fluid grace, I saw, like a river flowing weightlessly over the sand below it. Her hand lifted to the board, a purple marker in her long fingers, and the tip traced over the white background to write her name. Her handwriting was elegant, all soft angles and long, dipping, dramatic lines and quirky flourishes.

“Thank you, Emery. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself, now?”

Emery looked at us, her liquid-nitrogen gaze sweeping the classroom. For a second her eyes landed on me, lingering a bit and–did they darken? Or was it just me?–then disregarding me. Her mouth opened and her musical voice emerged once again.

“My name is Emery,” she stated, garnering a laugh from the class. In return she flashed a quick smile that made my heart jumpstart in my chest. “I’m from California, and I’m sixteen years old. I have two sisters and two brothers, a dog and a bird. My hobbies are anything that can keep my interest for an extended amount of time, including volleyball and tennis.” Again a chuckle and again she flashed that smile.

It was weird, to hear her give such a normal description of herself when she looked anything but. She sounded like a normal sixteen-year-old when she looked like an angel; there were no flaws to be found on any inch of skin that I could see. Her arms were slender but gave the pretense of muscle underneath, hinting at a hidden strength. Her body was streamlined and she looked like a runner, but still softer and not as hard as an athlete.

“Any questions?”

Quite a few hands went up in the air; mine weren’t one of them. Emery scanned us again and picked Lauren Connor, who shook her platinum blonde head and asked, “Is your hair real?”

I almost rolled my eyes at that; Emery had only been here for five minutes and already Lauren felt her position of alpha bitch was being threatened. I would never understand how girls worked.

But Emery just laughed and nodded. “Yeah,” she said, “It’s all natural.”

She tossed her bangs from her face, turning away from Lauren’s scowl, and fixed her silver gaze on Mason Sebring, who asked the inevitable question.

“Are you single?”

Emery smiled wryly, raising one eyebrow. “..Yes,” she answered after a second, as if she’d had to debate with herself. “But don’t get your hopes up.”

Without waiting to be called on, Marcus asked, “What’s your type?”

Emery picked him out of our class easily, and I could swear she glanced at me before attending to Marcus. “Guys who aren’t complete idiots.”

“Alright, you guys,” Cameron broke in, stranding up. “If you have no real questions, we can move on to other things. Emery, can you write your schedule on the board?”

“Of course,” Emery said agreeably, turning to the board again with a blue marker this time.

Without having to pause to remember, as if her paper had been right there in front of her, she wrote out her schedule. I watched as her hand moved effortlessly across the white surface, keeping her writing in a straight line. I could hardly do that on a piece of lined paper; I had to admit I was jealous of her handwriting skills.

Emery’s first period was math; second period was art; third period was literature; fourth period was speech and debate; fifth was earth science; sixth was Spanish; and seventh, gym.

A sinking feeling, tainted by some unwarranted excitement, rose in my stomach. That was my schedule; and I knew that no one else in my homeroom had a schedule that matched mine.

Except for Emery’s.

“Who has most of these classes?” Cameron asked, and I was torn between raising my hand and sinking down in my seat. I didn’t want to know how awkward it was going to be to have to show this excruciatingly gorgeous girl around school all day, making a fool of myself the entire time. But then Marcus elbowed me sharply in the chest and my hand jerked into the air involuntarily; glaring at Marcus, I committed myself to the hand-raising.

“Dallas?” I groaned inwardly, sinking down into my seat just a little. “You have these classes?”

“Yeah,” I answered lamely, trying not to wince at how dumb I must sound to her. “All of them.”

“So you won’t mind showing me around, then?” This was hardly even a question, the way her voice was so flat; the begrudging air about her confused me. What had I done? “So I don’t get lost.”

“S-Sure.” I can’t believe it. That damned stutter, come back to haunt me at the worst possible time. And I wasn’t that nervous–was I? Though I definitely had reason to; Emery was so surreal it was almost scary; but she spoke and acted like a normal teenager. It set me on edge just a bit.

“Great,” She said, and Cameron glanced at the clock on the wall.

“It’s five minutes till class officially begins, but there’s nothing wrong with a head start.” Cameron fished a piece of paper from her desk and handed it to Emery. “Have your teachers sign this, and good luck with your first day!” She glanced at me as I stood uncertainly, looking from Marcus to Emery. “And don’t worry, Dallas doesn’t bite.”

“That’s good.” Emery took the paper, smiled, and headed for Marcus and I. Our classmates, going the opposite direction, parted like the Red Sea and stared at her as she walked past. I stared too; her steps were unbelievably graceful, like she was dancing on point rather than walking.

“Hey,” Marcus said, grinning widely at Emery when she stopped in front of us. He took her hand and kissed the back of it, looking at her mischievously. “Marcus Cavalier, at your service.”

“I’m...honored.” Her words were dry, but she looked amused until she turned to me. Then her liquid-silver eyes were calculating and cool, assessing me. “Dallas, right?”

“Dallas Cleary,” I said, just for her benefit. After a short pause she–in a motion too smooth to be called jerky, but definitely not as fluid as her previous movements–extended her hand and after a split-second decision, I took it.

As soon as our fingers connected her eyes hardened, soft silver turning stony gray, and her mouth compressed tightly. I was trying to keep from gasping in the meantime, settling for biting my lip. It was as if she was a power plant of some kind; her fingertips nearly sparked as they brushed mine and an electric jolt of something burst where our palms touched, making my heart flutter anxiously. Her hand, glowing in a way that seemed to suddenly intensify when it met mine, was smooth and hot but not clammy, and it fit perfectly into mine. How odd.

How very, very odd.

“Emery Day,” She said, probably because I’d looked like I was too busy staring at her face to have heard anything I said. She dropped my hand quickly and my heart settled itself. “Nice to meet you.” Those words sounded as if she was forcing them out, and I winced.

“You too,” I murmured, looking down as red touched my cheeks. Inwardly I cursed my paleness; it was so easy to see when I blushed.

“Well, we’d better get going then, i–if we don’t want to be late, I mean,” I stuttered lamely, furrowing my eyebrows. Marcus just grinned widely, elbowing me in the side. This was where we split up until speech and debate as usual, but today it felt like he was abandoning me. I had no idea how this ‘showing Emery around’ thing was going to work.

“Have fun, you two,” Marcus said jovially, practically skipping out of the classroom. Emery waved after him, temporarily softening. But her cool had been switched back on when she looked back at me, her eyes meeting mine. I wanted to flinch back but I couldn’t; something inescapably alluring, something dangerously predatory lurked in her and I couldn’t resist it.

“Sorry about him,” I said after a moment, frowning at Marcus’s retreating back. I took a tentative step toward the door and, when she mirrored me, I continued. “He’s a little bit...well, he’s just Marcus, that’s all. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I know,” Emery said shortly, not looking at me as she walked at my side.

I opened my mouth and blanked; there was nothing to really say. God, this was awkward already

and we’d just now left the classroom.

I could only wonder why she’d clammed up after I introduced myself. It was like she had some grudge against me; except I’d never met her before, or anyone even remotely like her. No,

Emery Day was the first person I’d seen who was so breathtakingly spectacular, so graceful. Next to her, under the scrutiny of awed freshmen, curious juniors, and partially interested seniors, I was aware that I had to look hideously plain. I wasn’t anything to look at in the first place; just pale and black-haired. My friends had likened me to a vampire, but with Emery as pale as she was I felt tan in comparison.

Maths was first. Maybe she would be as adverse to our other classmates as she was to me; but no, I had a feeling that I was being singled out. She would probably greet them with that heartstopping smile and take her seat and find someone more attractive to hang out with. My guess was that she’d end up the girlfriend of some idiotically built athlete within two weeks.

I opted for uncomfortable silence and led blank-faced Emery down the hallway and into my–our–maths class. I’d expected the same response that our homeroom had given her, and I got it; the boys whistled and the girls looked threatened; all but a few, that was, who just sort of looked, conversed, and looked away.

The math teacher looked up, and even he seemed momentarily stunned by Emery. I couldn’t fault him, but the man was forty years old; that kind of reaction freaked me out, just a little bit.

“So this is the new student!” He sounded way too excited. Eww, bad images.

“This is Emery,” I offered, trying to give her an opening to start her introduction. But the glare she cast me from the corner of her eye carried all the heat her face wasn’t conveying, staying pleasantly tinted.

I almost recoiled. What had I done to her? Why was she looking at me like that?

“Emery Day,” she said, as if I hadn’t spoken, smiling and nodding. “I just moved here from California.”

“Welcome, Emery,” the teacher said. “Why don’t you find yourself a seat?”

“Thank you,” she said brightly. The sudden mood change shocked me; I guess it was just me she reacted negatively to, after all. And I would be stuck with Emery, moody and uncooperative and untalkative for the rest of the day–maybe even the rest of the week.

“Hey, Em!”

Well, that was shocking. Who actually knew her here? I looked around for the source of the call and found it; a girl sitting with Summer Lawrence and Addison James, grinning widely.

She was almost as beautiful as Emery, I realized; strikingly pale, with a heart-shaped face framed by waves of red hair, and just as silver-eyed. She was skinny and lithely folded into her seat, looking totally at home in her surroundings. They both radiated that same faint glow, that same dangerous attractiveness.

“Hello, Bianca,” Emery responded, her voice smooth and warm over my ears. Which was when I realized I was standing there in the front of the class still, like an idiot, and started toward the back of the class. I wasn’t worried about where Emery would sit; she would probably sit with Bianca, whom she (as far as I could tell) knew already. So I was free to sit with my friends.

My friends, minus Marcus, consisted of Amanda Lacey, Jennifer Winters, Theo White and Benjamin Latona, and we sat in the back corner of the classroom because we were too loud to be anywhere else. I didn’t mind sitting in the back; more than anything, it kept me off of the teachers’ radar and out of trouble, most of the time.

Benji, a blue-eyed brunette, whistled as I approached them, taking my seat between Theo and Jennifer in the little semi-circle they’d already formed. “Nice catch, Dally,” he said, smirking at me.

“I didn’t catch anything,” I told him, frowning just a bit. “I’m just showing her around today, because we have all the same classes.”

“Sure,” Benji said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. I had to agree; my excuse wasn’t exactly original.

I needed a change of subject; anything away from Emery. Anything. “So what are we doing today?”

“It’s on the board, smart one,” Amanda said, gesturing toward the front. When I looked up and blushed, realizing that it actually was up on the board, she grinned widely. “Looks like Emery’s got you a little confused.”

Why could I never successfully change the subject? “No, I just..”

Jennifer (who wasn’t the dumb blonde you’d expect her to be), sensing I needed help, came to my rescue. God, I loved that girl. “Hey, we’re going out tonight, right? Didn’t we decide to rollerblade?”

“No, Benji and Marc decided they wanted to rollerblade,” Theo put in, rolling his blue eyes. Theo was every inch the typical all-American teenager on the outside; blond, blue-eyed, tanned, athletic. I say on the outside because I don’t think America’s idea of the typical teenager listens to screamo and would rather stay inside and read than play football. “And the rest of us wanted to ice skate, remember?”

“You can’t rollerblade in winter, anyway,” Jennifer said, raising an eyebrow at Benji, who pouted. “It’s too cold, even in the rink. Let’s just skate.”

“Either way I’ll end up hurting myself,” I interjected, frowning a bit. “You guys know I have no coordination at all, period.” This was true; it was practically a miracle that I’d managed to walk

Emery here without tripping over my own feet. I’d been so nervous about saying something stupid that I hadn’t had time to trip myself up.

“Yeah, but that’s why we take you places like this,” Amanda said, grinning. She pushed her dark bangs from her face, brown eyes mischievous. “Because we like to see you fall all over yourself.”

“You guys are horrible,” I told them, my frown turning to a scowl. “You make me very unhappy.”

“That’s why we’re your best friends,” Benji told me, kicking his feet in my general direction from across the semicircle. “Because we make you unhappy, and you love it.”

“God only knows why,” I snorted, cracking open my math book and tearing a sheet of paper from Jennifer’s notebook as she laid it on her desk. She just shook her head at me and sighed as I stole her pencil too, as I was prone to forgetting my own supplies.

“Mmhmm,” Theo murmured, and we all lapsed into comfortable silence.

I was on problem number eight out of thirty-five when Amanda jerked in her seat, skidding back a few inches. I looked up, jolted by the sudden movement in my peripheral vision, and found that Theo and Benji and Jennifer had been disturbed as well.

“What happened?” I asked, taking in Amanda’s wide eyes and startled expression. She was looking at something behind me; I turned in my seat to look too. There was just the window, closer to the front of the empty half of the classroom; everyone had migrated to Emery’s side of the room to talk and work. Outside it was just dark and gray, snow swirling down in gentle flurries.

“Nothing, I–” Amanda’s face was troubled, but returned to somewhat normal. “I thought I saw someone by the window, but I guess not.”

“That’s...weird,” I said, nodding decisively. Picking up my pencil with the intent to finish factoring out ‘x’ from my equation, I paused. The feeling that there was someone watching me tickled at my shoulders and I turned sharply, frowning.

There was nothing there; still the same flurries sliding past the window in complex designs, dampening the windowsill. When I looked back, they had all paused to look at the window as well. Theo’s face was annoyed already, lips turned down in a scowl.

“Well, this is going to be irritating,” he said, his tone sarcastic. I laughed, picking up my pencil again. Once more I paused, resisting the urge to look over my shoulder, and shook my head at myself. Now, six times two was twelve, wasn’t it?...

--

Much, much later, I set down my pencil and rubbed my fingers. Problem number twenty was finished, the answer circled emphatically, and I was satisfied with my work so far.

I glanced up at the clock; ten minutes until we were let out. My eyes flickered to Emery of their own accord and to my surprise she was staring back, her beautiful face contorted in an angry expression, dark gray eyes boring into my own. I flinched, just slightly, but couldn’t move otherwise; I was caught in her gaze, the force of it rendering me incapable of looking away.

Suddenly she looked over at Summer (who I supposed had asked her a question) and her face transformed in an instant; from angry and archangelic to astounding and warm. But as she laughed something in her eyes flickered. I just wasn’t sure of what it was.

Amanda and Jennifer were talking, I noticed, about what we were going to do later tonight. Benji’s thumbs were skipping rapidly over his phone, not bothering to be secretive, and Theo was drawing on the surface of his desk.

To occupy myself I decided to write on my desk, too; just what to write, I wasn’t sure of.

I thought for a moment and then my hand began to move, responding to some command I hadn’t realized yet. The words that formed were ‘Who is this?’ and I guessed that was good enough; it wasn’t like anyone was going to write back. How interesting that would be...

Again my thoughts turned to Emery, prompting me to glance at her out of the corner of my eye. Her face was angled slightly toward her work, hair falling in model-like sheets around her face, but her eyes were on me even as her pencil moved across the paper. I found it rather disconcerting how she managed to dislike me so intensely and still concentrate at the same time.

How many more people were in her family? I wondered, pursing my lips as I traced over the ‘t’ again. Though Bianca didn’t look much like Emery when you got past the infallible beauty–her eyes were deeper set than Emery’s, her mouth just a bit wider–they could possibly be related. But if she had more relatives and they’d moved here with her, that meant more of these impossibly beautiful people raising the bar here.

“Hey, Dally,” Amanda’s voice broke my concentration, sounding slightly concerned. I blinked and looked up at her, glancing at the clock once again; three minutes. I began to divide my attention between Amanda and packing up.

“You and Theo and Benji have class outside next, right?” I nodded, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, art.” Our art class was in the arts building–where else?–which was outside, separate from the rest of the building just like the gym was. “Why?”

“Well, this sounds dumb, but I want you to be careful, okay?” Amanda’s face was definitely a little anxious, and I frowned. I felt bad that we had class outside now; she shouldn’t have to worry about us. Or, more accurately, me; Benji and Theo were definitely capable of taking care

of themselves. And, though I was loathe to admit it, even to myself, was not. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I just imagined that guy out there earlier, but just in case...”

“Yeah, Mandy, we’ll be careful,” Theo interjected, and his frown matched mine. “Now, why couldn’t you tell all of us at the same time?”

“Because you two dunderheads never listen to me!” Amanda said in exasperation, turning to poke Theo in the chest. I, for one, was speechless; did she just say dunderhead?

“Dunderhead?” Theo seemed to have the same mindset that I did, ignoring the insult. “Did you just call me a dunderhead?” His pretty blue eyes were wide with amused disbelief.

Benji snorted, throwing his free hand into the air. “Who actually says dunderhead anymore–or ever, for that matter? I’m pretty sure you’re the first person I’ve ever heard say that word..in normal conversation...with a serious face.”

“Shut up,” Amanda said, turning to Jennifer. The blonde girl was covering her laughter with one hand, her crinkled eyes belying her bemusement. “Shut up!”

“Alright, guys,” I said, smiling even as I waved a hand for silence that was punctured by the occasional snort of laughter. “Let’s take Mandy seriously for a second–sorry, I couldn’t resist,” I added when I saw her face, smiling at her too. “We probably should be careful. Let’s just get to class in one piece, okay?”

“Sounds like fun,” Theo enthused flatly. I chuckled; the way his tone contradicted with his words was so strange that it was funny.

“Yes, I’m sure it does. Now let’s get going,” I said, sweeping my books into my arms and stepping away from our half-circle. This was where our group split up until fourth period, where we all finally met up and Marcus joined our ranks once again. Jennifer and Amanda had creative writing this period, and since they were taking history as their third period class, we didn’t see each other until fourth period.

Second period...where was Emery? I looked towards where she’d been sitting and found her standing with Summer, who had art next too. Emery caught my eye for a second and gave no explanation, no excuse; she just turned and walked out, Summer in tow.

“I guess that’s that,” I said under my breath, sighing.

As Theo, Benji and I left the classroom and made our way toward the end of the building, deciding to stay on the path so as not to worry Amanda, we theorized about her vision.

“Maybe it was a serial killer,” Benji speculated cheerily, grinning ear to ear as he glanced behind us. The hallways were still crowded, even as we stepped outside and the cold air bit at my exposed wrists, the occasional flake of snow pricking at my skin. “That’d be kinda cool.”

I rolled my eyes. Benji was forever the eccentric one, dreaming up inane possibilities for any possible scenario and looking at it positively. Theo was the pessimist, who made everything sound either boring and/or life-threatening, which only pumped Benji up more. And I was stuck with being the paranoid one who actually took real life into consideration.

“I think that’s kinda highly unlikely,” I said, frowning a bit. “What are the odds that there’s actually a serial killer on the loose out here?”

“Something to the effect of ‘not very high’ to ‘why the hell would there be a serial killer out there’, I think,” Theo said smarmily, shaking his head at us both. “Reeves City is too damn boring for anything like that to happen.”

“You have a point,” I agreed, my shrug turning into a shiver of sorts. My skin was freezing already where it was exposed, meaning my ears were aching viciously. Benji was dancing around like an idiot as always, his excessive movement keeping him warm; Theo just didn’t seem to notice, even though I could see that the tip of his nose was already pink.

“But we got Emery today, and Bianca too,” Benji pointed out. “And they have siblings too, I’ve heard. And they’re definitely interesting enough.”

“Emery is just a little odd, though,” Theo said, wrinkling his nose a bit. Benji gaped at him over my shoulder.

“She’s hot!” Benji exclaimed reproachfully. “She’s got all that blonde hair and those pretty blue eyes and she’s so tan; it’s practically unreasonable! Tell me you’ve seen a girl like her since you’ve come back from Florida and I’ll give you ten bucks.”

“...I...haven’t.” Theo paused for a second, his face briefly confused at Benji’s description of Emery. He glanced at me, eyes wavering minimally from Benji’s, and I shrugged a little, preoccupied. Why did Benji describe Emery like that?

I was sure I wasn’t mistaken; there was no way to confuse that white skin, those icy gray eyes rimmed by black, that copper-rustic-gold hair. Maybe he was talking about a different girl...but somehow I got the feeling that he wasn’t seeing the same thing I was.

Theo and I lagged behind, letting Benji be the first to walk under the low-hanging tree in front of the building. I knew from experience not to walk directly behind him; as soon as he was out from under the tree he’d turn and shake the branches, and you’d be doused in either snow or water, depending on the season.

Benji just waited for us, holding open the door and shifting his weight from foot to foot almost anxiously. “Hurry up!” he complained, making Theo roll his eyes. “It’s really cold out here!”

“Why weren’t you complaining before?” I asked, quickening my pace nonetheless. It did look warmer inside the art building than outside of it, that was for sure.

“I was,” Benji responded, letting the door swing shut as Theo came in. He exhaled deeply in contentment, rolling his shoulders back. “In my head.”

“Okay,” Theo said, nodding. “That’s not weird at all.”

“Nope.”

I grinned, shaking my head at their conversation, and pushed the door to the art studio open.

I swept the room for Emery’s radiance before I could catch myself; and she was there already, crooked gracefully over the edge of a table in the center of the room to talk to Summer, who seemed to be introducing her to people.

I made a mental note to stop doing that, and found our regular spot in the back of the room (yet again). Already our tablemates were there; Cody Adams watching Bryan Roderick doodle lazily on the desktop, moving steadily farther away from his paper.

“Hey, Cody, Bryan,” I greeted, dropping my books on the floor and sitting down. Only Cody looked up, grinning at me.

“Hey, Dally,” he said. “And Theo. And Benji. Hey, you’re not all snowy.”

“Because we were smart and we walked behind him this time,” Theo said, elbowing Benji in the side. “And because he knows I would’ve murdered him if he did it again.”

“Yep,” Benji said, nodding emphatically.

“Well, that’s pretty hood.” Cody flashed some complicated gang symbol at us and turned to Bryan, who’d looked up.

“What did I tell you about throwing gang signs?” Bryan asked, exasperated. Cody just giggled like some spoiled three-year-old.

“You know he doesn’t ever listen to anyone but Theo,” I pointed out, stating the obvious. “And that’s only because Theo is scary–” Theo’s head snapped away from his books, which he’d been putting down, and he glared at me. “–sorry! Don’t eat me!” I pretended to cower away, holding my hands up defensively.

Theo just rolled his eyes and hit me with the flat side of his sketchbook. Hard.

I whined, rubbing my arm. That, specifically, was why Cody listened to Theo. Because being around Theo was painful when he was angry.

From a few yards away I heard Emery’s laugh; I had no idea how I could recognize it already, but my head instinctively turned in that direction. Her pretty face was flushed pink at something someone had said, and she looked like she was genuinely enjoying herself.

I sighed, setting my sketchbook on the table. This was hardly fair.

Why couldn’t I make her laugh?

--

Just an idea. Let me know if you like it and want me to continue.