Page 142 of The Broken Note

Finn picks at his bass guitar. “I wonder who that is?”

“The only person crazy enough to knock on our door like that is Cadence.” Zane points a drumstick in her direction. “And she’s in here.”

The thuds sound again.

“Dammit.” With an annoyed scowl, Zane stalks to the door and throws it open. “Who the hell do you think you… Miss Jamieson?”

My brother stares at our Lit Teacher with shocked eyes.

The tiny woman pushes him out of the way and storms right into our practice room, eyes on fire and chest heaving.

I don’t know what this is about, but whatever it is… our step-sister lookspissed.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SEVEN

CADENCE

The voice that blasts from the doorway of The Kings’ practice room surprises me. Since I’ve known the Cross brothers, no one has ever dared to call them out.

Not in the hallways.

Not in the classrooms.

And definitely not in their own domain.

But Miss Jamieson doesn’t have an ounce of fear.

The moment Zane opens the door, she explodes past him and storms right into the room. Chest heaving, she careens to a stop in front of Sol.

Dutch stiffens beside me, his eyes narrowing as if he’s bracing himself for action. Finn’s watching it with a bored, almost detached look. Sol looks slightly amused by it all.

And Zane…

I stare at Dutch’s twin, a little alarmed by his expression. Zane has this intense, almost frightening gaze when he looks at Miss Jamieson. I don’t know how to describe it except that it’s dark and… greedy.

Why is he looking at a teacher like he owns her?

Miss Jamieson’s angry brown eyes skip over everyone and land on Sol.

She takes in a ragged breath. “You.”

Sol lifts his chin, unintimidated.

What’s going on?

The room feels too charged for this to be a simple matter of a teacher scolding us about skipping class.

And that scolding would be fully deserved.

I admit, since I embraced the privilege that comes with living in Dutch’s shadow, I haven’t been concerned with my grades or my attendance. The world suddenly felt much bigger than the halls of Redwood Prep.

But just because Ifeltthat way doesn’t make it reality.

The truth is that I amstillin high school.

I amstilla scholarship student.

And I shouldn’t be here, so close to Dutch I’m practically sitting on his lap, when school is going on.

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