Chapter Four

Selena

Disturbing the Hive

An annoying buzzing filled the cafeteria as everyone discussed the new kid’s arrival. Or maybe my freaky reaction to the new kid’s arrival. Who knew? I certainly hoped it was more the former.

Normally, the town gossips knew pretty much everything going on in our community, sometimes before it happened. But given the amount of chatter floating around the room, this piece of information must have slipped through the cracks. Uncle and nephew were entitled to their privacy. Except, I also knew that in Newcastle, where everyone knew everyone, secrets never stayed hidden for long. The biddies down at the diner missed this one. Not even Grams, the leader of the town gossips, mentioned anything about a newcomer when she got home from her shift at the diner last night.

With a frown, I dumped a brown paper bag on the table’s glossy surface and plopped into my seat. “Look at them, talking about Mr. Sloan’s nephew like he’s so awesome. People need to get a life.” I raised my voice for the last bit, not caring who heard me. A crumpled napkin sailed my way, which I dodged.

Kyle set his tray down to my left. “It shouldn’t surprise you. He’s new.” He took a bite of his sandwich as his jeans made contact with a chair. “And he’s cute. Can anyone smell Prom King?”

I latched on to the word “cute” and didn’t even think of the consequences when I asked, “You mean he’s your type?”

He snorted into his drink. “God no! I hate you for even mentioning it.”

I lifted both my hands. “Okay! Jeez. You don’t have to give me the stink eye. You said ‘cute’—”

“And that gives you the right to ask me if he’s my type?” he interrupted.

“You never talk about your type.”

“Damn right I don’t. I was just stating a fact. And if you repeat what I said here, I quit as your best friend.”

I sat there, speechless. I didn’t think he’d bite my head off for a simple question. I should have known better. Kyle came out in middle school after Penny had asked him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. He’d been about to turn her down when she told him she’d known all along and only asked him to save him from having to turn down other girls. “The humanitarian thing,” she’d said. Their relationship had been like that ever since—going to every dance together. I, of course, stood there in super shock when he eventually told me he liked guys. But after a long talk, and making me pinky swear I wouldn’t tell anyone else, I understood why he kept it quiet. As someone with my own stuff to hide from a busybody town, I accepted why he wanted things on the down low and moved on.

His grumpiness pulled me back to the buzzing cafeteria when he said, “I don’t go for arrogant types.”

Since he seemed chatty today, and we were already on the topic…

“Well, if you did go for someone, who’d it be?”

He leaned back and folded his arms. I held my breath. His pose had SHUT DOWN written all over it. He scanned the crowd. My lungs burned from the waiting. Then he shrugged, breaking the tension.

“My type,” he finally said, “isn’t here.”

I exhaled slowly, letting my brain catch up with what he didn’t say. “You mean he’s not here.”

“Something like that.”

I wanted more, but his tone—all final and flat like that—stopped me. Sometimes, Kyle clammed up. To avoid further awkwardness, I changed the topic. Well, technically, I returned it to the original one.

“Anyway, the school is treating Dillan like a shiny toy on display.” I paused from unwrapping my lunch as I spotted the third member of our triumvirate heading our way.

With each step, Penny’s long, black braid bounced against her ruffled, pink shirt. Her almond-shaped eyes, the same color as her hair, stored a good amount of mischief. I loved Penny to death, especially after saving me from Bowen this morning, but on days like these, being her friend could be hard. Compared to her polished appearance, I was gangly and awkward—coppery curls that broke brushes, a complexion like I’d never heard of the sun, and long limbs meant for banging into things.

“Hey, bitches!” Her volume barely made a dent over the buzz, buzz, buzz.

“Sit down before you fall over.” Kyle pointed at a chair.

“I have news!” Penny’s eyes sparkled as she took the seat to my right. Sandwiched between my two best friends, all was right in my world.

“Let me guess…” He shook his head.

She nodded like a bobble-head doll.

“What do you know about Dillan Sloan?” I asked to keep her from exploding.

The doll deflated. “You already know his name?”

“We have algebra together.” Kyle reached behind me and patted her shoulder.

“Oh. Well…that doesn’t change a thing!” She brightened. “Anyway, Dillan Sloan, as you already know, is the nephew of Mr. Sloan, our wonderful and impossibly attractive history teacher.”

I gave Penny my best duh face, tearing a piece of my egg sandwich and popping the morsel into my mouth. Yum. Grams added grated cheese today.

“I’m just getting started.” She wiggled her perfectly plucked eyebrows at me. “Dillan’s also the son of the legendary duo of archeologists: Dr. Jarvis Sloan and Dr. Lillian Sloan.”

At the mention of Dillan’s parents, Kyle-nerd emerged. “You mean the two who proved Atlantis is really in South America and not in Spain? Those Sloans?”

“You make them sound like superheroes out of a graphic novel.” I poked him.

“Yep, those Sloans.” Penny ignored me. “Dillan’s National Geographic royalty. But that’s not all.” Her hand rose to stall any further questions. “It seems young Dillan has also been part of several, and I mean several, ad campaigns for designers like Calvin Klein and Armani, to name two, and was once approached to star in a movie. He’s even rumored to have dated every young Hollywood starlet and immerging singer you can name. You know that Taylor Swift song—”

“The one about the guy who dumped her?” Kyle asked.

“Aren’t they all about guys who dumped her?” I asked back.

“Anyway,” Penny said exasperatedly, “here’s the best part.”

“There’s a best part?” I scoffed. Her lower lip jutted out at me. “Okay, okay. Shutting up now.”

“As I was saying,” she continued. “Rumor has it Dillan was responsible for unearthing a lost civilization in the Amazon.”

“That can’t be true!” My palm tingled from slapping the table, reminding me of the electric handshake.

Offended, she asked, “Which part?”

“Starting anything with ‘rumor has it’ only means it’s a ru-mor. Where’d you get your info so fast from anyway?”

“Google.” Her patented eye roll showed off her latest Cover Girl mascara.

“And when did you have time to Google him?”

Penny fished out a tablet and handed it to me. “iPad,” she said like I was supposed to know what she meant, which I did, but I resented the insinuation anyway.

“Is that the latest one?” Kyle grabbed the device and tinkered with the touch screen. “It shouldn’t even be out yet.”

“Connections.” Penny shrugged. “Daddy got it for me so I can stay connected during my internship in New York.”

My forehead met tabletop. “You Googled him,” I groaned.

“I’m sorry, it’s just—”

Seeing the guilt on her face, I headed her off with: “That’s why I keep you around. You supply all my TMZ needs.” I sat up and squeezed her thigh. “Speaking of His Highness…” I tilted my chin toward the cafeteria entrance.

A gaggle of girls in the orange, black, and white of Newcastle High’s cheerleaders stood around Dillan. That much pretty in one room should be considered against the rules. If I squinted hard enough, I knew I’d spot glitter and shine on the patina of popular coating their spotless skin. And too white teeth. And perfect hair. And…

I turned in disgust to see Penny gape before she said, “Our guy moves fast.”

“Wipe the drool off your face. It’s icky.” I threw a wadded up tissue at her, which she swatted away.

Kyle looked up long enough to acknowledge Dillan’s presence before going back to playing whatever new game Penny had downloaded from the App Store. When his inner gamer came out, nothing short of a natural disaster could distract him. I shook my head and couldn’t resist returning my attention to the popular crowd swarming the guy of the moment.

While walking toward an empty table, he said something that caused the swarm to laugh. The buzzing that had ruled the room died down. Heads turned toward him like homing missiles recognizing a heat signature. Then, of all places, Dillan’s gaze flicked toward me.

“What was that?” Penny glanced from me to him.

“What was what?” I asked back, acting nonchalant. I already knew what she’d meant. Not like I could escape it.

“Dillan just gave you a look.”

I blew a stray curl off my face. “Oh, you mean the ‘I’m-shocked-this-person-is-even-here’ kind of look?”

“No, more like ‘I-can’t-believe-I’m-in-the-same-room-with-this-person’ kind of look.”

“Really? To me, it looked more like an ‘I-can’t-stand-this-person’ kind of look.” Kyle smirked at his own cleverness.

“That just sounds like you’ve put words and hyphens together.” I nudged his shoulder, thankful for the comfort his addition to our conversation gave me.

Penny shook her head in dismay. “Go back to playing with your toy, Kyle.”

He blushed and returned his attention to the tablet, the friend that truly understood him.

“Boys. What can you do?” She sighed.

I sighed along with her. “Dillan gave me that look in algebra, too. You know he actually shocked me?”

“Shocked?”

“As in electrocuted,” I clarified. “I don’t know what happened. We shook hands, electricity zinged through me, then it’s like I have leprosy.”

“Maybe that’s how he normally looks at people.” Kyle reluctantly slid the tablet back to Penny. “Plus, it could just be static.”

“Oh, believe me, that look was definitely directed at Selena.” She slipped the device into the front pocket of her bag.

“Can we change the topic, please?” I begged.

“Are you ever gonna tell me why you broke up with Bowen?”

I gasped, completely forgetting that Kyle didn’t know. “You just got back yesterday—”

“Now’s as good a time as any,” Penny interrupted.

“Penny knows?” His brow wrinkled.

“I got back a week early.” She faced me again. “Come on. He deserves to know what that asswipe did.”

My shoulders tensed. Telling Penny was a thousand times easier than telling Kyle. I knew how he would react. Even if he got back from science camp as early as Penny did from her summer internship, I still wouldn’t have known how to break the news. I dropped my gaze, gathering my courage. He did deserve to know. Despite her matter-of-fact declaration, Penny slid closer. She hugged me and didn’t let go.

“Selena?”

The worry in the way Kyle said my name ripped my eyes away from the remnants of my lunch to meet his gray gaze.

“A month ago…” I swallowed. “Bowen cheated on me.”

He slapped the table and got up. Penny let me go so we could both grab an arm. We yanked him back down.

“That fucking asshole.” He growled. Remember the Labradoodle?

I shook my head. “He’s not worth it.”

“Yeah,” Penny backed me up. “Don’t get suspended and ruin your perfect record for that pond scum.”

“Just because he won State doesn’t give him the right to put his dick in someone else.”

“More like tongue.” I blushed. I couldn’t help it. “Just let it go, please? We’re over.”

Closing his eyes, Kyle puffed out a breath. Penny and I maintained our hold in him. When he opened his eyes and they were less stormy, we removed our hands from his arms. Penny returned to hugging me.

“You saw your break-up a week after you started dating freshman year.” He tugged on the stubborn copper curl by my ear, telling me he let his anger go…for now anyway. “I don’t understand why you keep thinking your visions won’t happen. They’ve been proven time and time again.”

“Call me stubborn.” I gave him my Oscar-worthy, determined expression.

“I, of all people, should know your dreams come true. I learned that the hard way.” He flexed his left hand self-consciously.

Of course he’d say that. In the fifth grade, I had a vision where Kyle broke his arm on the jungle gym. Even after I’d told him about it, he insisted on hanging from the metal bars. Five minutes later, he was rushed to the emergency room, a bone fragment sticking out of his wrist.

Guilt ate at me. Even now, years later, I still felt like I should have done more to stop him. I’d have reached for him if Penny’s arms didn’t pin mine down.

“Well, it wasn’t really about the vision.” My eyebrows pulled together. “I had to see where our relationship would go. He was my first real boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I know where he went, straight down another girl’s throat.” Penny squeezed me tighter. “He doesn’t deserve someone like you.”

“It’s been hardest on Grams. She’s always been Team Bowen.” I felt my face crumple. “She found out through the town gossip line. I literally had to stop her from stabbing him. And forget about Gramps. He totally doesn’t know, and we plan on keeping it that way.”

“You know what they say about breakups…” Penny finally let me go. I didn’t like the way she smiled when she added, “The best cure is a great rebound.” She gave Dillan an oh-so-obvious glance.

“Not gonna happen.” I wagged a finger at her, thankful the object of our conversation was looking in the other direction.

She took an exaggerated breath. “Oh, but smell the tension in the air. It has potential.”

“Leave it alone.” I did my own eye-rolling when she pursed her lips. “Anyway, Maggie’s Diner after school?”

The bell rang. The buzzing morphed into chair scraping and shuffling.

“I have to get back to Hay Creek early today. Sorry, babe.” Penny bounced away. “I’ll text you tonight, promise.”

“Kyle?” I brought out the puppy-dog eyes.

“Not today. Sorry.” He placed his arm around my shoulders. My consolation prize.

“But we always go to Maggie’s after school.”

“I have an errand to run.”

“You’re not going to corner Bowen somewhere and beat the crap out of him, are you?”

He hugged me tighter. “You know I’d bury a body for you, right?”

The truth in his question warmed my insides. Yes, he would, and Penny would be the look out. My friends were the best, unlike some people. My attention drifted to Dillan just as he reached the exit. As if he felt my gaze, he returned my curiosity with a glare that held a combination of confusion and annoyance, like I disgusted him in some way. The guy really got on my nerves.