Page 16 of Burn With Me

“What?” one girl pipes back as Selene continues to glare at them.

“You don’t know shit about shit,” she snaps. “So keep your big flapping lips shut and mind your own fucking business, bitch.”

“Who the hell do you think you—” I turn, locking my hand around the back of my chair, and pivot until I’m facing them. The girl talking is a tall brunette with freckles across her massive nose. She blinks at me as I stare her down.

“Go on,” I say, “finish what you were saying. I’m listening.”

Red stains her cheeks and she swivels away, gathering up her things as she and her friend hurriedly begin to move seats. “Bitch,” I hear the other girl mutter as they hastily move across the room to a new pair of seats before class can start.

I arch a brow. Oh, sure, I’m the bitch because I called them out for gossiping about me right behind my back. I sigh and turn back to Selene, only to realize the target of her irritation has shifted to me.

“If you’ve been listening to those two talk shit since you’ve been here, you should’ve said something sooner,” she snaps.

“I don’t care what they have to say,” I reply with an offhanded wave, hoping she’ll drop it. “I don’t know them and they don’t know me.”

She doesn’t drop it. “That doesn’t matter, Rori,” she huffs as she tosses her bag into the seat next to me. “Rumors aren’t good.”

“They’re just words,” I remind her.

“And words can precede you,” she says. “They can ruin a reputation.”

She takes her seat and I sigh. “I’m not like you, Selene,” I say. “I don’t need to worry about my image to be able to make it work. You’re in the limelight half of the time when you’re not at school. I’m just the daughter of a socialite. Nothing special. Not all rich people are famous.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she says, blowing out a breath. “I just hate hearing people talk shit in general. I think I get enough of that from the magazines and ‘razzi. I’m actually surprised they feel confident enough to say anything, though, what with Marcus going to this school too. He’s pretty respected here.”

I wince and face forward, biting down on my lower lip. The one time I’m hoping she doesn’t notice, however, is of course, the one time she does.

“What’s with the face?” Selene demands.

“What face? There’s no face,” I lie.

“There is so totally a face,” she snaps. “What aren’t you telling me?”

I grimace. “It’s nothing major,” I start. “It’s just that …Marcus is transferring to Eastpoint University.” I lower my voice on that last bit, hoping to just gloss over it.

Not sure what I expected, to be honest. Maybe an ‘oh really? That sucks. Sorry, Rori’ or maybe a ‘that’s not a big deal, Rori. Don’t worry about it.’ What do I get, though? I get the dramatics.

“What?” Selene’s voice takes on another several octaves. “When were you going to tell me?”

“Well, I was hoping you’d say it wasn’t a big deal—”

“Not a big deal?” Selene gapes at me in horror. “Marcus is supposed to behere. You moved all the way to California instead of going to Eastpoint yourself because he was here!”

“I came here because of you too,” I say in a quiet tone.

She shoots me a bland look. “That’s sweet of you to say, Rori, but we both know you really came here because you missed him. He’s your brother. You guys have been close since you were kids.”

“Not recently,” I mutter dourly. Before she can respond to that, though, I shake my head and sigh. “Don’t make a big thing about it. I’m trying not to. Besides, this is a good thing now. I mean, I don’t have to worry about him going all overprotective big brother on me.”

“I just don’t understand why he would do something like this to you,” she growls. “Doesn’t he know how excited you were to finally be able to see him regularly and now he’s just, what? Moving? No warning or anything?”

“Marcus does what Marcus wants.” I offer a lame half-hearted shrug. “Can we just drop the subject? Please?”

Selene goes quiet for a moment. It’s only when I feel the burn of her gaze on the side of my face that I turn to look at her. “And the rumors?” she finally asks. “Any clue where those are coming from?”

I shrug.

“It just seems a bit odd for you to show up at Hazelwood and then a few weeks later to be the talk of the town,” she says. “You haven’t made any enemies since you’ve been here, have you?”

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