Page 121 of Ruthless Legacy

During the drive, I let my mind wander to Thea. She all but dared me to find her. Does that mean she’s missing our games, too?

My sister Hayden’s stretched out in front of the pool with her friends when I get to my parent’s house. I always use the back entrance of the house when I come to visit, because odds are good that’s where she’ll be. I like to see her before I check in with my parents because my talks with my folks last a while. Hayden’s usually in bed before they’re over. This way, she gets as much time with me as she wants.

Her friends are here, so I don’t imagine she’ll want much big brother time today. I remember her warning from a few months ago about not embarrassing her. She jumps to her feet and rushes over to me. “What’s wrong? What are you doing home?” She looks behind me, as if expecting to see someone else there.

“Nothing’s wrong. Dad asked me to come home.”

That only makes her more worried. “What’s wrong with daddy?”

“Dad’s fine. It’s probably just some inheritance stuff he wants to talk about.” Or league stuff, but I’m not allowed to mention that to her.

She releases her breath. “Oh, okay. I’m so glad I’m not old enough to have to deal with that boring stuff yet.”

I’m glad too. Knowing what’s in store for her, I want her to enjoy being a kid for as long as possible. Whispering over by the pool chairs has me turning in that direction. Her friends are staring at me, one of them doing a not-so-subtle head bob. I don’t recognize her. But if she’s here, that means my dad's determined she’s not a threat to Hayden.

She sighs, grabs my hand, and with an eye roll, drags me closer to her friends. Pointing to the new girl, she says, “Holden, this is Amaya Ward. She just transferred to our school.”

I stare at the girl. She blushes, and a tiny hand whacks me on my stomach. “Stop scaring them.”

I haven’t done anything scary, but Hayden says I’m supposed to smile and be polite to her friends, and because I love my sister and want her to have friends, I say, “Hello.”

Two of the other girls have been here before. I know their sisters. The new girl’s family name doesn’t sound familiar. “Did you just move to town?”

“I went to Palisades High.”

That’s the public school over by the old county line. One of the other girls blurts out, with a hint of derision in her tone, “She’s one of our new scholarship students.”

One of? How many did Abbington Prep let in on scholarship this year? Amaya says, “I’m a science buff and my teacher convinced me to submit my science fair project last year. Abby Prep offered me a scholarship to come.”

That factoid makes her more interesting. I already like her more than the other girls drinking our strawberry lemonade. “I’d like to see that project. Could you take a picture and send it to Hayden?”

Her cheeks get redder when she says, “I have a picture on my phone.”

I hold out my hand and she drops a refurbished two-year-old phone in my palm. I ignore the snickering from the other girls and zoom in on the photo.

“The next one is a video of the project in action.”

I flip to it and watch as she drives the remote control car with solar panels around the parking lot. “The panels are still big and bulky but I think this design shows that ultimately they can be molded and bent to the standard frame design for NASCAR, and lower the fire related accidents.”

“This is impressive.”

“Thank you. I love formula one racing, but um, my passion is computer logic and information systems. I’m trying to design a computer system for race cars to help mechanics do their jobs even faster and limit the time and frequency of cars needing to pit.”

The snickering grows and my sister groans. “Please don’t speak computers with him. He’ll drag you away from the pool, and make you his new best friend.”

That silences the other girls. I hand Amaya back her phone. “She’s right. I would. Maybe next time I see you, you can show me some of the coding you’ve done.”

Amaya glances at Hayden. “I’d like that, um, if Hayden would be okay with it.”

My sister looks over at me, nods, and says, “Hayden would be totally okay with that.” She grabs my hand and drags me towards the house, calling over her shoulder. “Be right back.”

When she shoves me into the house, I say, “If you’re not okay, you need to tell Amaya. Don’t just agree.”

She wraps her arms around my middle and squeezes. “I’m okay with that. Really. And thank you.”

“For what?”

“You were really nice to Amaya.”

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