"So can he."
Then I shook my head and turned away. "I'm not going to get into this with you."
"What? That Mason's better than you at running?" Logan rushed around and blocked my way to the bathroom. His cocksure smirk was back in place and he folded his arms over his chest. "Why don't the two of you throw down? I'd like to see that."
I shoved him aside. "I'm not going to race, either of you."
He taunted behind me, "Scared?"
I froze. My shoulders went up, my chin hardened, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. I turned around slowly. "What did you say?"
He looked too sure of himself. "You heard me."
Both of my eyebrows went up.
"I think you're scared."
"Come again?" I laughed out with a pout.
He took a step close. "I think you're scared of losing."
"I wouldn't lose."
He took another step closer and he was against my chest. He peered down, through his thick eyelashes. His breath wafted over my skin. "I think you're scared of everything."
Something snapped and I shoved him back again, this time he slammed against my bedframe.
My arms were stiff against my side and I clipped out, "I'm not afraid of anything."
He laughed as he pushed himself up from the bedframe. "Whatever you say to yourself at night."
"I mean it."
"Yeah, yeah." He dismissed me with a wave. "See ya, sister. Have a good one tonight."
When he left and the door had closed behind him, I let out a shaking breath and realized my fingers were pressed into the palm of my hands. I pulled them out and saw the blood start immediately. They'd been pressed so tight, so hard. I hadn't felt a thing.
My jaw trembled when I went back to the bathroom, but I turned on the shower.
I wasn't afraid. I wasn't afraid of anything.
The football stadium light's lit up the field, bleachers, and two of the parking lots around it. As I approached my school's field, a different sense filled me. I wasn't a fan of the game, but I had come at times to support David. Now I came to support the enemy, or who I had considered the enemy.
Lydia, Jessica, and Jeff at times had sat beside me.
After I got a soda and a football program, I sat alone this time. My two ex best friends were higher on the bleachers and I knew Lydia's mouth had fallen at the sight of me. Jessica refused to look, like always. Jill was on the track in front in her cheerleader outfit. She paused in her stretching to glare at me.
I sat back and drank some soda. Then I saluted her with the thing.
Her nose wrinkled up and she turned her back when Ashley DeCortts approached her. Both girls glanced over their shoulders at me after a moment. I gave them a wide smile this time.
It wasn't long before the teams ran out on the field. The Academy side gave Adam a big cheer when he was introduced in the line-up, but when Mason and Logan were introduced, I swore the ground shook.
I had no idea. It was as if they were gods. I shook at my head at how weird it seemed to me.
When the ball kicked off, I tried to pay attention to Adam, Mason, and Logan's numbers. The one that was most obvious was Jeff's, 33. It blared up at me as he stood right in front of where I sat. He didn't play the whole time, but that was fine by me.
During halftime there were a lot of announcements and drawings for the charity raffles. Ashley and Jill giggled into the microphone at one point for some sell-off. I had no idea what they were talking about. Their cheerleader-esque language kept creeping into the microphone. I grew tired of trying to figure out what 'pep' actually meant to them, but it seemed to go over well with the crowd. There was a big cheer and Jessica's name was announced after.
Lydia screamed the loudest. Jessica stood in surprise, but it was fake. She had a small smirk on her face and I knew whatever had been done was all a scam. She had known the whole time she was going to win. As she passed by me and didn't seem to realize I sat there, I sat up straighter. Whatever she had won must've been important for her to forget the chill-factor any time she was in my vicinity.
I nudged the girl next to me. "What'd she win?"
"A date with Logan Kade."
I grabbed her arm when she started to turn for her friends. "What?"
Her lip curled up and she gave me a look in disdain. "Like I said, a date with the ever-so-great Logan Kade. Get your hand off me."
I let go, but scooted closer. "Was that a drawing or something?"
She shrugged and rolled her eyes. "I have no idea. Can I talk to my friends now?"
"Oh yeah. Whatever."
The girl's bitchiness didn't bother me. She was a sophomore. She had two more years to get stepped on and I knew it'd happen. It always happened.
Then she surprised me when she looked back at me. "Aren't you Samantha Strattan?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Shouldn't you know about your new brother being auctioned off?"
Everything stopped for me. The hairs on my neck stood up. My claws came out. My tongue fell thick, but I gave her the most polite look I would muster in all my years and asked in a voice so professional my mother would've been proud, "What do you mean by that?"
The sophomore narrowed her eyes, but rolled them after. "My twin sister goes to public. Logan Kade said that you were his new sister. Is that, like, not true?"
My heart started to pound and my chest got heavy. I felt a heart attack coming on, but I still asked in that painfully polite voice, "What do you mean?"