Page 37 of Saving Stella

“Tyler.” Hopefully, that sounded as unenthused as she had thought it did. “I was just looking for my?—”

“So, that was you, right? In the video?”

“What video?” Maybe he would go away if she played dumb.

He chuckled. “Of course it’s you.” Shaking his head, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I had no idea you were adopted. I’m so sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” She shrugged his hand away. “My parents are the most loving and generous people.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.” He put his hands up defensively. “I mean, I’m sorry about your sister. That you were separated and all.”

The mention of her long-lost twin mollified her—somewhat. Definitely not enough to continue this conversation. “If you’ll excuse me, I should get my stuff, or I’ll be late for class.”

Stella had hoped things would get better, but they did not. The following day, she had received even more disturbing messages on social media, plus the buzz around school grew even louder. A few students who were adoptees themselves came up to her to share their stories, which she appreciated as she was always open to listening to students.

However, her cell number had somehow gotten out, and now she was receiving calls—a lot of dumb prank calls, but also now local media people were calling her, trying to get her to do morning talk shows and interviews. While going on a few shows or maybe even getting the word out through newspapers would help the story spread faster, this wasn’t exactly what she was hoping for. All she had wanted was for someone to see her video and her face and maybe someone who knew her sister would see it.

Or maybe that her sister herself would see it and reach out.

Not even her work provided her respite. As if her current students whispering to each other wasn’t enough, students who weren’t even in her classes kept “accidentally” entering her classroom just to check if she really was the woman in the video.

Fed up, Stella grabbed her things and headed to the faculty break room.

“Stella! I’m glad you’re here.”

Not again, she groaned at the sound of Tyler’s voice. This time, he was surrounded by a group of teachers as they drank coffee by the lounge area.

“I was just … going to grab a cup before I went back to my classroom.” She could always lock it between periods, she supposed.

“Oh, Stella!” Jane Fenton, the English teacher, hurried over to her side and grabbed her hands. “I just wanted to tell you how brave I think you are, putting yourself out there to find your long-lost family.”

“Er, thanks?” She tried to pull her hands away, but Jane only held her tighter and dragged her toward the others.

“Tell us all about it!” The rest of the teachers nodded. “How did you even find out you had a twin?”

At that moment, Stella felt like the proverbial deer in headlights—she couldn’t tell them the real story, because that would reveal too much info about Devon and the Lycans.

“It was one of those DNA website tests, wasn’t it?” Harry Johnson, the math teacher interjected.

“Yeah! That’s exactly it.” Thank the Lord that Harry being a know-it-all worked to her advantage. “I found a long lost … relative who pointed me in the right direction.”

“Have you tried looking into your records?” Jim Fowler, the football coach, asked. “Surely you can get a judge to grant you some kind of order so you can find your sister.”

Another teacher said, “If you need help, I know a lawyer.”

“My husband can?—”

“There’s also?—”

“Hold on now.” Tyler held up a hand. “I think Stella’s feeling a bit overwhelmed.” He placed an arm around her, which made Stella’s stomach curl. “We can use your support though. We’ll get through this.”

“We?” Stella was so caught off guard, she couldn’t help but say it aloud. “What do you mean ‘we’?”

“If you’ll excuse us ….”

Tyler steered her away from the others, but before they could even reach the door, she tried to shrug him off. When that didn’t work, a vibration rumbled across her chest that she was pretty sure Tyler had heard. It made him drop his arm to the side.

“Did you tell them anything about us?” she asked.

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