Page 46 of Roaring Flames

I feel…strange, and I’m sure my red cheeks reflect that.

To be completely honest, I’ve never had a lot of friends. It was hard to build and maintain relationships when I knew I would be passed to the next foster home as soon as my current family got sick of me. I pushed people away because it was the only way I knew how to protect myself. If I allowed no one into my heart, then it was impossible for me to get hurt.

Yet everything has changed. I have friends who care about me now. Who remember my birthday and buy me gifts. Who text me to check in. Who arrive late to school just to give me a ride.

I’m not used to this.

At all.

As I watch Mimi take her seat, my gaze collides with Desiree’s. She looks as immaculate as ever in a perfectly ironed white blouse. Her brown curls cascade loosely around her face, stopping just below her shoulders. She opens her mouth as if she wants to say something, desperation etched across every line of her face, but I immediately look away.

Whenever I stare at her, I see Ashton bending down to kiss her. Emery hovering over her in a darkened classroom while Ethan watches on.

God, I feel like an idiot.

I refocus on the teacher as he drones on and on about electrons and protons and molecular mass. It’s hard to focus on him, though, when I can feel Ethan’s and Emery’s gazes on the nape of my neck. They’re directly behind me, so close that I can almost smell them, as creepy as that sounds. I wonder if it’s a “mate” thing.

And I wonder if they know yet that I know.

Halfway through class, something whacks me across the back of my head. I frown at the rolled-up piece of paper but ignore it.

Ansel, however, reaches for it. He arches an eyebrow at me inquiringly, and I nod once, giving him permission to read it. He smooths out the piece of paper and frowns down at it. I can’t help but peek at the hastily scrawled words out of the corner of my eye.

Izzy. We need to talk. After school?

If I had to guess, I would say the handwriting is Emery’s. It’s messy and chaotic, just like he is.

Ansel smirks as he grabs one of his pens and writes in big letters,FUCK OFF.When Mr. Holter is distracted, Ansel throws the piece of paper over his shoulder.

Someone releases a growl.

When class finally ends, I’m the first one out the door.

I don’t look back.

Seventeen

IZZY

“So…are you going to tell me why we hate Ashton and his friends?”

Those are the first words Jake says to me when I plop into the seat opposite him in the cafeteria. Jake’s best friend, Dec, looks between the two of us inquiringly, his mouth half full of meatloaf.

“We hate them?” he asks, confused.

“We don’t hate anyone,” I stress. “I’m just…”

Pissed off?

Annoyed?

Feeling betrayed?

All of the above?

Jake waves his fork back and forth in the air. “I don’t think you understand how this thing between us works.” He points the fork at me. “If you hate someone, then I hate someone, and vice versa.”

“What if I told you one of the people I was mad at was Desiree?” I ask, trying to smother my grin.

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