Page 5 of Lines

“Miss Campbell,” Mrs. Rayan says without giving her a second glance. “I’m glad you could join us. Go in and take a seat.”

Amelia just stands in the doorway, her long strawberry blond hair falling over her shoulder in waves and hiding her face. Small and invisible, that is all she wants to be. But it’s impossible. People notice her, turn around to take a second look, yet she doesn’t see it. She doesn’t see anything. Sometimes I wonder if there is some kind of shield surrounding her, impeding her to see anything outside of it, keeping her cloaked. Off limits.

Then I see them.

Hands on her hips.

Big, clearly male, hands.

My hands grip the desk even tighter, holding for dear life. “Goody-goody decided to pass to the dark side,” Drew’s mock whisper gets my attention. He’s as subtle as an elephant walking into a room.

From the corner of my eye, I see him leaning against his desk to have better look at me. His eyes narrowed. I see other people in class turning my way because they heard him. But the only thing I can concentrate on, the only thing I can see, is her.

It’s always been her.

She turns around and looks at the guy standing behind her through a shield of wavy strands of her hair. He lifts his hand as if he wants to move them away to see her better, but Amelia does it before he can. She is uncomfortable, tense.

He whispers something to her and she smiles. It is a smile that takes my breath away.

I haven’t seen her in so long. Just a few times over the summer, from distance, which doesn’t count for shit. We haven’t been this close since the school ended. It’s not something unexpected. During the summer we rarely see each other because we are not moving in the same circles. It’s like she vanishes during the summer months, and if I’m lucky enough I can get a glimpse of her, a shadow or maybe an illusion. Just a passing taste that I have to savor as long as I can until I see her next time. And now she is smiling at some random douchebag.

What the ever loving fuck?!

There is a bitter taste in my mouth, something that feels an awful lot like jealousy.

“Derek,” Andrew calls.Is this the first time or did he call me before while I was too stuck in my own mind to care?“You have to calm down. You look like you are about to snap.”

“I’m fine,” I manage to utter through gritted teeth.

I can’t say anything, can’t do anything. After everything that happened, I have no right.

I watch them enter the classroom. Amelia practically runs to her seat behind her best friend, who looks at her like she just grew another head. The guy, on the other hand, walks slowly behind her. Confident like he owns the place, he slowly looks around.

His eyes land on the girl sitting next to Brook. It’s the first time I see her. New students? And two of them, no less. I’m surprised I didn’t hear anything until now. News like that travels fast in our town. Greyford isn’t small per se, but people are tight knit and like to gossip.

Now that I’m paying attention I can see they look a lot alike—tall, dark hair and olive skin.

The girl looks at her wrist then at him. “You are late.” Her tone is disinterested, almost bored, but her eyes say completely different story.

“Mr. Sanders,” Mrs. Rayan interferes. “I’m happy that you found your way to school. Now if you don’t mind, take your seat and let me finish with my job.”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Rayan.” His voice is smooth, easygoing. “I’m sorry we are late, but our Amelia here had car trouble so I had to stop and help her out.”

I could bet he did. Dickhead.

OurAmelia. We’ll see about that, buddy. She’s not the kind of girl you share. Not just because she is not like that, but because only an idiot would be willing to share someone like her.

An idiot like you who let her get away.

“And here I thought you had an accident on that demon motorcycle of yours, Max. I was about to start calling cops.” I would think she’s worried if sarcasm doesn’t drip off her words.

“Don’t worry, sis.” He ruffles her shoulder-length hair as he passes to the only empty seat behind her, and next to Amelia. He winks at Amelia when he catches her staring which makes her blush and hide behind her hair again. I want to growl at him to stop it, but I don’t. “Big brother isn’t going anywhere.”

Mrs. Rayan sighs in defeat. “Everyone,” she calls to the classroom. “As you could notice by now,” she pointedly looks in direction of the little group in front, “we have some new students this year. These are Sanders twins, Maximilian and Jeanette who came all the way from California. Please, make them feel welcome.”

Yeah, right. And maybe the hell will freeze over.

Amelia

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