Page 3 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
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Thirteen YearsAgo
Odessa sipped fromthe bottle of light beer, grimacing. Mads shoved the bottle in her hand, despite knowing the vile brew did nothing for her.
Speaking of—
Her best friend and invitation to this cool kids’ party had vanished on her. That had been happening more and more often. They no longer hung out in the same social circles at school and new, more popular people wanted his attention. At least he thought to invite her in the first place but giving her a beer bottle to clutch all night wouldn’t make her cool or able to speak without saying something embarrassing.
Moving like an invisible wraith through the crowd, she found the kitchen and dumped the beer down the sink. She rinsed the bottle out and filled it with tap water.
She didn’t know how Mads did it. Despite being incredibly dorky, his natural charisma drew people in. Or maybe he always seemed so interested in what people had to say, always asking questions. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew she didn’t have it.
“What are you doing?”
Odessa turned around, her cheeks burning, and tried to hide the water-filled bottle behind her back.
Jamie Becker, Mr. Varsity Football and genetic superstar with his all-American good looks, watched her with amusement. “Are you pretending to drink beer?”
“No. I mean, I was going to, but I haven’t yet, so technically no,” she managed, stumbling over her words.
“Technically no.” He grabbed the bottle from her and examined the label. “Well, this is practically water anyway. No harm, no foul,” he said, returning the bottle to her.
She clutched it to her chest, unsure what to say.
He planted a hand on either side of her, gripping the counter, and leaned in. He smelled nice. Well, it smelled of cigarettes and stale beer, but under that, the him part of his odor, was nice, like milkshakes and bubblegum.
“How about we get out of here?” he asked.
“But the party—”
“My friends are only interested in drinking until they puke and that’s boring. Let’s go somewhere quiet, where you don’t have to pretend to drink beer. I want to know what goes on in your head, Odessa Muller.”
Wait, Jamie Becker was interested in her? No way. No freaking way. Popular, good-looking guys like Jamie didn’t give dorky girls like her a second glance, but here he was, practically undressing her with his eyes.
Odessa shifted, uncomfortable with the sudden attention.
“There you are!” Mads appeared at her side, frowning at Jamie. “We have to leave.”
“Now?” She took a swig from the water-filled bottle, trying to play it cool, even though she desperately wanted to go only minutes ago.
“Now,” Mads said.
“I can take her home,” Jamie said. He and Mads stared at each other like two wolves working out who was the alpha.
“My parents will freak out if I’m not home soon,” she said, breaking the tension.
“Are you sure?” Jamie touched her lightly on the elbow and Mads snarled. “What the hell, man? Relax. I’m just being friendly.”
“Let’s go.”
As Mads pulled her away, she tossed a weak smile over her shoulder to a confused Jamie.
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Twelve YearsAgo
“Dessa, wake up.”Cool breath blew across her face, tickling her nose.
