Page 32 of Burning Embers

Ugh.

I seriously need to get over this stupid crush. I barely know the guy. Sure, he seems sweet, if a little shy, but that doesn’t mean I can start picturing him naked.

Though the thought of Ethan naked…

Bad, Izzy! Bad!

“You have first period with me!” Ethan flashes me a happy smile. “And third. And lunch. You have second with my friend Ashton, third with me and Emery, fourth with Reid and Emery, and fifth with just Reid. You’re unfortunately all on your own for sixth.”

“Who are Emery, Ashton, and Reid?” I query, canting my head to the side.

Didn’t Dec mention something about Desiree and Ashton? And didn’t Jake mention Ethan having a brother?

“Oh, um…” Ethan’s cheeks flash crimson yet again. “My friends. And my, um, twin.”

Something desolate passes over his features, like a bloated storm cloud moving in front of the sun. Just as quickly, he shakes his head and plasters his signature smile back into place.

“I can walk you to first period, if you want? But no pressure. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, I can walk behind you, if you want. Or in front of you.” He agitatedly forks his fingers through his hair, disarranging the meticulous strands.

“I need to stop by the office first to get some forms signed,” I say, standing from the bench and grabbing my backpack off the ground. “But if you’re okay to wait for me to finish?—”

“Yes!” he blurts…and then immediately facepalms himself. “I mean, yeah. That’s fine. I can do that. I don’t play any sports, so I have nothing I need to do this morning.” He pauses, flushes, and then says, “Well, I do play baseball, but they don’t start their season until the spring. But I doubt you want to know about that…”

I wave goodbye to Jake and Dec and follow Ethan down the hall towards the administrative offices.

“I actually know a little bit about baseball,” I confess.

One of my old foster dads—my favorite—watched it almost religiously. I don’t think he missed a single game. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer and spent most of his days in the hospital, he still found a way to watch the sport.

“You do?” A blush tinges his cheeks pink.

“I’m not an expert or anything, but I went to a few games.”

We turn at a fork in the hall, and I start going straight when Ethan places a hand on my lower back. Heat immediately migrates from where he touches me, traveling south, but I work to keep my expression impassive. Ethan guides me towards the right and then instantly releases me.

“The office is over here,” he explains, his cheeks still bright with color.

“Thanks.” I flash him a timid smile, one he returns, before his own freezes on his face.

His gaze lifts to something over my shoulder, and his entire body seems to vibrate with tension. Surprise is written into every line of his visage.

“Ethan?” I turn to face him fully, but his focus isn’t on me. “You okay?”

As soon as those words leave my mouth, a cold chill passes over me. It’s a similar sensation to when you’re in a room full of people and feel a set of eyes burning a hole in your back.

“Why don’t we go this way instead?” Ethan babbles, grabbing for my wrist and attempting to lead me the way we came from. “It’ll be easier to…”

As he talks, I slowly turn to stare over my shoulder…and immediately clash eyes with a pair of verdant ones, so similar to the man touching me that I think I’m seeing double. But then I remember that Ethan claimed to have a twin.

Slowly, the man wearing Ethan’s face begins to smile—a wicked, nightmarish, lurid,lazysmile that has chills of unease skating down my spine.

“Oh, fuck,” Ethan murmurs just as the stranger peels away from his locker—and the girl he was talking to—and storms in our direction.

Twelve

EMERY

Sweat trickles down my forehead as I move out of the weight room and to the locker room. The rest of my team follows behind me, jostling and laughing amongst themselves as they discuss the upcoming game against our biggest rivals—the Vipers.

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