Kellan shook his head. “I’m not really sure.”
“What?” I looked up, confused.
“You just asked what happened. I don’t know why you snapped. What were you feeling?” He swung those composed sapphire eyes to me again. The old Kellan was back, smooth, controlled, and oh so dangerous. He wasn’t riled any longer.
I narrowed my eyes at him, thinking it hadn’t been hard to push Kellan’s buttons.
He doesn’t get that pissed with me.
Gus was right when she’d said those words.
“Shay?” Kellan prompted.
“Oh yeah. Uh…what was I feeling?” I shrugged, “I don’t know. I guess…I wasn’t sure actually. I just wanted—I was frustrated. I wanted to help that kid, but I knew I really couldn’t. Those guys would be beating him up later this afternoon and then you were there…I don’t know. I just ‘snapped,’ I guess. It won’t happen again.”
Kellan nodded and pulled me in for a hug.
I closed my eyes and rested my head against his shoulder for a second. He was a lot of things, probably none of it was good, but he was my brother. And I knew that Kellan would do anything for me. Anything.
“Anyway,” I pulled away and muttered awkwardly.
“Go ahead.” Kellan read my mind and gestured around the corner. “I’ve got some things to do. I’ll see you in humanities.”
Humanities it was. That wasn’t until seventh period, the only period I shared with Kellan and my other siblings. Kellan was a senior. I was a junior, where Gus and Vespar were both sophomores—twins. We tried to share one elective class a semester, and humanities was the chosen class this time.
I turned and left. I didn’t want to ask what he’d be doing the entire day. I didn’t want to know. And really, a big reason why I snapped was the pressure I always felt from Kellan. It was for the best if he was gone, for right now.
“That’s new,” Giuseppa drawled as she stopped by my locker.
I turned and looked. Sure enough—Scott, Luke, and Pete were walking down the hallway. Both Scott and Pete had their arms on Luke’s shoulder, leaning in as if sharing a joke.
We weren’t the only ones watching. Everyone in the hallway stopped to stare.
“It’s the talk of the school,” Gus informed me. She flipped her golden curls over her shoulder and hugged a book against her blue tank top. She eyed me, knowingly. “It’s almost like someone magically told them to be friends.”
Rolling my eyes, I retorted, “Shut up. I already got an earful from Kellan this morning.”
“Yeah, well, you should listen to him. You changed their lifelines permanently. That’s serious, not something I could pull off. I know that much. But still, Shay, there are others who are tuned into that stuff. They’ll know a big player’s in town now.”
I scoffed at the idea of being a ‘big player.’ “I’m hardly that, Gus. I just… It’s not that big of a deal. He’s not getting his underwear stuffed into his mouth anymore.”
“Whatever. It’s kind of funny, though.”
“What is?” I was wary.
She gestured around the hallway as three slim silver bracelets jangled around her wrist. “Look at them. They don’t know what to do. Two big jocks are now buddies with one of the nerds. Classic, Shay. Classic. It’s like all their asses were turned upside down.”
I wasn’t sure about the imagery, but Gus thought it was funny. Just then, as my sister continued to laugh uproariously by herself, Leah and two other girls approached us. Or, well, Leah approached us cautiously. The other two stayed back, a few yards away.
Gus immediately stopped laughing as she eyed Leah down, hostile.
Leah fidgeted with the sleeve of her top. She wore a violet wrap-around light cloth shirt and kept tugging down the end of her sleeve, only to push it back up, and tug it down once more. The girl was terrified.
“Um…” She eyed us nervously and pushed forward bravely. “I was wondering… Do you know where your brother is?”
Gus stood to her fullest height, all five feet and ten inches. Comparing the two, Gus was the supermodel with her willowy figure, but I knew Leah was popular among the school. She was shorter by a few inches, slim, and her hair hung in two brunette braids that rested over her shoulders. There was a reason why Kellan had chosen to sleep with her, more than once.
“If he doesn’t call you, I wouldn’t go calling him,” Gus warned thickly.
Leah backed up a step, but remembered her need. “I need to talk to him. He wouldn’t talk to me yesterday, and I really need to talk to him.”
“Why? If you’re pregnant, it’s not his. I guarantee that.”
Leah flushed. “That’s not what this is about. I just really need to talk to him.” She glanced over her shoulder. I saw both of her friends give her supporting smiles, but neither of them budged forward. Leah was on her own.
“If you think you’re dating him, you’re not.” The hostility increased in Gus, but before she could say anything else, I intervened and pulled my sister behind me.
“This would go a lot easier if you told us what you wanted from Kellan. We might help you.”
Gus growled, which drew attention from every male in the hallway…who wasn’t already watching.
I elbowed my sister as Leah tugged her sleeve down again. “Um, well, Kellan said that he’d help me with this thing if I needed it. And, well, I guess…it’s like, it’s now, you know?”