Shifters Rule (Rule Series) (31 page)

Hot! didn’t come close to describing him.

Every time she saw him it was like seeing him for the first time.
 
It really should be a sin to be so incredibly gorgeous and be such a jerk.
 
Everything about him shouted Danger! from his dark hair, spiked on top, razor sharp—it didn’t exactly invite feminine fingers to delve into it—to the tattoo peaking from beneath the short sleeve of his black T-shirt.
 
Although she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, a few students claimed he carried a switchblade.
 

His clear blue eyes looked deceptively sleepy, disinterested in his surroundings.
 
Kristen knew that was a lie.
 
He was always watching, always waiting—for what?
 
And every time those eyes rested on her or one of her sisters, they took on a heavily disapproving darkness that was close to suffocating.
 

Zach stopped at his locker.
 
He swung the metal door open but didn’t peer inside.
 
Instead, he slowly turned in her direction.
 
She tried to look away; it was too late.
 
The jerk had caught her staring.
 
His eyes narrowed on her face, and his lips twisted into a sneer.
 

She lifted her chin a fraction and met his gaze head-on, silently daring him to do something about it.
 
Zach
Bevian
had better watch his attitude.
 
Titan High was her playground, and she could annihilate him if she got the urge.

Brittany
intruded on her thoughts with, “FYI, I think I might hook up with
Bevian
this year.”

“Forget it,” Kristen said.
 
“He has a worse reputation than you do.”

Brittany
stuck her tongue out, showing off her tongue piercing.
 
She stared at the object of her desire with a secretive smile.
 
“Why do you think I like him?
 
He’s so extreme.”

“Dad would hit the roof, and you know it.
 
He would ground you for an entire year.
 
You’d miss Senior Prom and everything.”

In a sing-song voice,
Brittany
said, “I bet it would be worth it.”
 

Kristen preferred to fly solo while
Brittany
made out with every guy she got near, and Cyndi had a steady boyfriend named Jake Petrie going on two years now.
 
They were talking marriage.
 
It would be a cold day in hell before Kristen fell into that trap.
 
Someday the twins would learn the lesson she had learned years ago.
 
Love didn’t exist.
 
People often mistook physical attraction for love and wound up in deep trouble.
 
It wasn’t going to happen to her.
 
She certainly wasn’t going to let some guy ruin her future plans.

.

*****

.

The first class of the day went well for Kristen.
 
She had one of her favorite teachers for World History and was looking forward to the challenging assignments.
 
Familiar faces surrounded her as she reached her locker.
 
Since she’d arrived fashionably late to school, she hadn’t had the chance to catch up with friends.
 
There were hugs, laughter, and plenty of comments about what she was wearing.
 
Everyone talked at once, rushing because they only had ten minutes between classes.
 
She’d been in
New York
with her mom all summer and hadn’t seen the gang in months.
 
Questions flew at her, and she did her best to answer them.

 
Cyndi shooed away the crowd after a couple of minutes.
 
Once everyone was out of earshot, she searched Kristen’s face as if looking for something important.
 
Hugging her books tight to her chest, she said, “Britt’s not here, so you can talk to me.
 
What’s up with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Right,” Cyndi scoffed.
 
She leaned close and lowered her voice.
 
“I can see your aura, you know.
 
It’s usually a soft blue or green pastel, but right now it’s a yucky...”

“Dad called me reliable this morning.”
 
Kristen slammed her locker, annoyed with the memory.

“I’m... sorry.”
 
Cyndi frowned, confused.
 
“What?”

Kristen fumed.
 
“You call a middle-aged woman reliable, or an old faithful car, not a girl in her teens.
 
I’m not even going to be an official adult for another eight months.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of my birthday too.”
 
Cyndi apologized after being hit by a heavy glare from Kristen.
 
“Sorry.
 
Jokes aside, you have been acting pissed off since we left mom’s.
 
Did she say something to you?”

“She did say something, yes, and I think she was right.”

“That’s crazy talk.
 
Mom’s never right... about anything.”

Kristen scowled, remembering her mother’s words.
 
“She pointed out that dad has been grooming me to follow in his footsteps since I was in diapers.
 
He told me that I wanted to be a businesswoman.
 
He insisted that I was born to run the
Hong Kong
offices.
 
He brainwashed me!”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?”
 
Kristen made a face.
 
“Do you remember our tea parties?
 
Do you?
 
I remember them very clearly?
 
I remember dad making my teddy bear into a Japanese businessman.”

“Maybe he did that because that’s what he’s comfortable with.
 
If he was a dentist, we would have been having tea with a patient.
 
You know, you should just be happy that we have a dad who cared enough to play with us.”

“I still think mom was right, and I’m tired of being his little puppet.”

“You seriously need to stop listening to mom.”

“It’s not just mom.
 
Dad called me reliable, and teachers always look to me to run for office, oversee committees, and tutor failing students.
 
They don’t even ask if I’ll do it anymore.
 
They just assume I will because they think I’m reliable.”
 

“Wow.
 
You really don’t like that word, do you?”

Kristen wasn’t listening.
 
Ever since her enlightening conversation with her mother, she’d been rethinking her priorities.
 
She was going to make some changes.
 
Thinking aloud, she said, “I’m not going to completely blow my grade-point-average this year, but I want to try something new just in case I decide later that I don’t want to be a businesswoman.
 
Maybe I’ll even decide I don’t want to go to college.
 
I don’t want to be known as Miss Perfect anymore.
 
I’m thinking maybe I should have a little fun this year.”

Brittany
caught the end of the conversation.
 
Stepping between her two sisters, her gaze swung back and forth between them.
 
Her mouth curved, and a wicked glint entered her eyes.
 
“Did I just hear someone say they want to have fun?”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”
 
Kristen glared at
Brittany
.
 
The other girl would give her endless crap over wasting her life if she found out about Kristen’s doubts.
 
No way was she going to let
Brittany
know what their mom had said to her over the summer.

“If you really want to have fun, I can help you.”

“No thanks.
 
Your kind of fun gets people arrested.”

Brittany
rolled her eyes.
 
“Relax.
 
I’m not talking about that kind of fun.
 
I’m talking about the game.
 
We can make it more interesting.
 
Let’s have a side bet this year, just you and me.”

Kristen’s eyes narrowed.
 
“Side bet?”

“You get to pick my mark, and I’ll pick yours.
 
I want you to Crush tall, dark, and scary.
 
If you win, I’ll give you my allowance for the whole year, every cent, and you can take the car to college with you.”

Cyndi’s soft gasp slipped between
Brittany
’s outrageous statement and Kristen’s reply.

“You’re out of your mind.”

Brittany
laughed.
 
“I knew you didn’t have the balls to do it.
 
You’re always bragging about being the queen of Crushed, always bragging that you can put a spell on anyone and make it work.
 
Well, it's time to prove it, sis.
 
I dare you to Crush him.”
 
She winked at Cyndi before adding, “I double-dare you.”

“What, are we in Kindergarten now?”

Cyndi took a step away from them.
 
“This is getting a little too intense for me.
 
I’m going to try to find Jake.
 
I haven’t seen him all summer, and I can’t get him on his cell.”

“Do you want to…?”
Brittany
started to ask.

Before the question was out of her mouth, Cyndi nodded.
 
“Then after school we can…”

“Right.
 
Make sure you…”

“Don’t I always?”

It was that weird twin thing again.
 
As if dressing alike wasn’t enough, the girls had to talk in code.
 
Kristen wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but their telepathic talks made her feel like an outsider.
 
She retrieved a yellow notebook and matching mechanical pencil from her locker.
 
Then she hesitated.
 
There was something she needed to talk to Ms. Wilson about after Math class.
 
Should she take the red notebook and pencil for English or would she have time to stop at her locker again?
 

Reading her mind,
Brittany
sighed.
 
“Yeah, you’re going to have fun this year.
 
You won’t be able to pull your nose out of the schoolbooks long enough to notice if your pants are on fire.
 
You’re too afraid of getting into trouble.
 
Face it, Kris.
 
You’re a good girl, and good girls can’t be bad.”

Kristen threw the yellow notebook and pencil back into the locker, slamming it shut for the second time.
 
She’d show
Brittany
she didn’t have to be perfect.
 
“I’m going to class unprepared today... because I don’t care what anyone thinks.”

“Yes, you do.
 
Don’t be stupid.
 
Take the notebook and pencil or risk having a heart attack.”

“I can be fun, Britt.
 
Just watch me.”

 
“Whatever.
 
I hope you aren’t going to freak out anymore today.
 
I want to relax and have a good time this year, not
babysit
a crazy person.
 
I’m a senior too, you know.
 
So chill.”
 
She put her sunglasses on and wiggled her fingers.
 
“TTFN.”

The hair at the base of Kristen’s neck prickled, signaling Zach was nearby, probably at his locker.
 
She didn’t understand why she felt his presence like a tangible force.
 
It was ridiculous.
 

Brittany
strutted down the hallway like a model in
Paris
working the runway.
 
She went in Zach’s direction, and for one horrible second Kristen thought her sister was actually going to engage him in some stupid form of conversation, one idiot to another.
 
Kristen let her pent-up breath out in relief as
Brittany
passed him by.

Satisfied, Kristen reopened to her locker and retrieved her supplies.
 
Still, the hairs on the back of her neck continued to bristle.
 
She hated Zach
Bevian
—so why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

Her nerves sizzled whenever he was close by.

It wasn’t normal.

She headed for class before her eyes could wander back to him again.
 
A familiar face caught her attention and held it.
 
It was Cyndi’s boyfriend, Jake.
 
Kristen started in his direction but stopped cold when a feminine hand touched his cheek, caressing him… and it wasn’t Cyndi’s hand.
 
He laughed and bent down to whisper something in the brunette’s ear.
 
Kristen’s biggest rival, Gina Bentley, laughed up at him.
 
The sound was more painful than fingernails on a chalkboard.
 

Kristen’s heart dropped to her feet, and the blood drained from her face.
 
That lowdown loser had betrayed her sister!
 

The two cheaters turned at the same time and looked directly at her.
 
Jake at least had the good sense to flush guiltily, but Gina’s smile widened.
 
The mean and nasty girl knew exactly what she was doing.
 
For the past five years, she’d tried to take Kristen’s place in everything from the cheerleading squad to head of the Junior Prom committee.
 
She’d worked hard to get under Kristen’s skin and failed, so now she was coming at her through her sister.
 
Big mistake.