Chapter 3
Kin
I took my time packing up my messenger bag when the bell finally rang at the end of history. A glance over my shoulder showed me that the beautiful curly haired brunette was still packing away her things. So I waited until she was on her feet before standing. When she turned toward me I realized I was taller than her by at least a few inches, but that wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to. I felt freakishly tall at five foot eleven inches.
As we left the room together, my new friend offered me her hand. “I’m Lucy.”
“McKinley. But you can call me Kin.” I tossed my messenger bag over my shoulder. I only let those closest to me call me Kin, but I already knew that Lucy and I were going to be close.
“I heard about your mom,” Lucy said as we passed a bay of lockers. “Sorry for your loss.”
My jaw tightened. I’d tried not to think about my mom all day and for the most part I’d succeeded. But now she was forefront in my mind. “Thanks.”
“Shit, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Lucy sighed. “Way to go, Lu. Try to make friends with the chick and you end up alienating her.”
My jaw loosened and I nearly grinned at my new friend, all thoughts of crying evaporating. “Are you seriously talking to yourself?”
She grimaced. “Yeah. Coping mechanism. My shrink says it’s healthy. I think it just makes me look like I need to be in a psych ward with a straightjacket strapped on.”
“O-kay.” The grin broke free and I couldn’t help but shake my head at her. “So, is the lunch any good here? It isn’t that vegan crap, is it? I need red meat and grease.”
My subject change instantly put Lucy back at ease. “The lunch here is high end. As in, world class chefs from Italy, France, and Japan. There is a vegan selection, but there is a lot more to choose from than that. But you aren’t going to find any grease on the menu, and red meat? Only on Fridays.”
As we walked I noticed several people stopping to stare while I walked next to Lucy. Some eyes lingered on me, but it seemed the braver of the onlookers kept their gazes on Lucy. My new friend, however, seemed oblivious to everyone. Keeping her eyes on me as we walked into the cafeteria and picked up our trays, she explained the best foods to go after and which ones to avoid at all costs.
Once we had our meals—mine was grilled chicken strips and sweet potato tots while Lucy had Greek yogurt, half a club sandwich on wheat bread and some carrot sticks—I stopped to look around for somewhere to sit. Without a word Lucy led me to a table in the back that was completely empty. Glancing around, I saw that almost every table was overflowing with students, but this one table? It was empty?
And the stares just kept coming.
“Do I have something on my face?” I asked Lucy as I took my seat beside her with my back to the wall so that I could people-watch.
Lucy frowned, then followed my gaze to the people around us. Sighing, she opened her bottle of Voss water and took a small sip. “Maybe I should warn you. I’m kind of the oddball here.”
Her confession didn’t even faze me. If this chick was odd then I was mental, because honestly, she was the only one who had spoken to me today besides my stepsisters when we had first arrived at this freaking over-the-top, expensive private high school. But still, my curiosity was piqued. “What’s that supposed to mean?” To look at her she seemed above normal to me. Exceptionally beautiful, nice, obviously smart from the intelligence shining in her eyes.
“Well, it’s not me, per se, but my family.” She sighed again and picked up her cup of yogurt. “Everyone here is a kid of a celebrity in some shape or form. Like Piper over there?” She nodded her head to a girl who was sitting at a table crowded with a mixture of guys and girls, but honestly, to me, she looked like she was all alone in the world the way she was eating her apple and reading something on her Kindle. “Her mom is some kind of princess, both literally and figuratively. Her mom does some reality show about being royal. Thinks she’s the next Kardashian or some crap… And Brody? His dad is a famous soccer player in England, but his mom lives here.” Lucy’s head inclined toward a table several yards to our left and I saw a boy who was maybe my age with the darkest hair I’d ever seen in my life and a face full of freckles. It should have looked odd, but surprisingly it didn’t. Maybe it was the smile on his face as he winked at the girl sitting on the opposite side of his table.
“There are politicians’ kids here. Sports stars, pop stars, supermodels and, you name it, I’m sure that there is at least one kid here who has a parent in the movie biz. Much like you, I guess, since your dad is the top director these days and only does a few movies. And then you have me…” She grimaced and took a bite of her yogurt.
“So what do your parents do?” I raised a brow, more curious by the minute.
“My dad’s a Demon.”
It was a day for lots of blinking. “A demon? As in he’s demonic and worships the devil or whatever the crap they do? He has superpowers and you can turn into some scary chick with horns and a tail?”
That produced a laugh from my new friend. “No. Not that kind of demon. He’s the drummer for Demon’s Wings…”
I’m sure she would have said more, but my scream stopped her. “Holy crap!” I turned in my chair and grabbed her by the shoulders. “You are LUCY THORNTON!”
It was Lucy’s turn to blink, but she didn’t get as far as opening her mouth again before a firm hand touched my shoulder and my head snapped up. “Release her. Now.”
My eyes nearly bulged out of my head as I got a closer look at the man standing over me. If you’ve seen bodybuilders in suits, then you might begin to understand what the beast of a man who was staring down at me with cold, emotionless eyes right then looked like. His hair was cut short, as if he were in the military. His eyes darkened and narrowed on me as if I planned on chopping Lucy’s head off and scooping out her insides to do some kind of voodoo spell on the entire school. Veins bulged out of his neck, disappearing into the collar of his shirt and suit jacket.
“Um… Okay. Okay. Sorry.” I lifted my hands, leaving them there in an ‘I surrender’ stance.
Lucy grimaced. “It’s okay, Marcus. Kin was just really excited. She wasn’t going to murder me.”
“You sure you’re okay?” Marcus kept his eyes on me while he directed his question to Lucy.
“Yes. I’m fine. If I need you, I will scream. Don’t worry.”
After another tense moment Marcus backed away and then disappeared as if he had a secret passage to hide in. I hadn’t seen him coming, but it was obvious he had to have been watching Lucy like a hawk. To hide my discomfort, I picked up a chicken strip with my fingers and dunked it into the container of ranch dressing I’d snatched from the salad bar. “Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry.” Lucy pushed her tray away, her appetite apparently gone now. “Anyway, that’s why I’m the oddball here. This place has the best security in the country. There’s a team of security guards patrolling the grounds and halls at all times. But my dad, he won’t let me leave the house without Marcus. And because of my Aunt Em, the school has accepted him as my shadow.”
I chewed my bite of chicken before wiping my fingers and mouth. “I’m sure he has his reasons.”
She nodded solemnly. “Yeah. He has plenty.”
I took another bite of my chicken as I watched her face cloud over with what must have been bad memories. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized who Lucy was when I’d first seen her. The girl was talked about in the rock world like she was royalty and, as the daughter of a Demon, she pretty much was.
I had gotten interested in Demon’s Wings music when I was eleven. Caleb was a huge rock fan and it’d rubbed off on me. It was around that time that I’d heard something bad had happened to a few members of the band because of some crazy fan. I’d tried to find out what it had been about, but there had been very few stories on it. Someone’s PR must have been working overtime to make sure that the tabloids hadn’t gone bonkers with the full story.
I wondered if that was why Lucy’s parents were so overprotective, or if it had been something completely different. But I didn’t feel like I could ask. I liked her and didn’t want to pry. If she wanted to tell me, then she would.
My new friend was quiet for the rest of the meal. I finished up my lunch and we walked together to toss our trash. As we walked silently out of the cafeteria, I pulled my schedule from my messenger bag and looked it over. A computer class. Boring.
“What’s the rest of your day look like?” Lucy asked as she glanced down at the papers in my hands. Seeing what was next for me, she scrunched up her nose. “Do you know how to type?”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?” It was probably way too soon in our friendship for me to admit that I’d gotten into trouble more than once for hacking. Computers were nothing to me thanks to the tutelage of Caleb and Angie. Angie more so than Caleb. My stepsister was more than just a pretty face, but it was that pretty face that had gotten her out of the hot water I figured most people would have to face for some of the cyber crimes she had committed.
“Then you’ll pass the class.” Her dark eyes scanned over the last class on my schedule, easily reading it upside down. “Awesome. The newspaper.” She glanced up at me, a grin on her face telling me that her bad memories were long gone, at least for the moment. “I’m your editor.”
“Great. At least I’ll have someone to talk to.” I put the papers away and turned toward where my locker was supposed to be. I hadn’t been to it all day so I figured I’d better at least find out where it was.
Lucy followed me, and it was only then that I noticed the slight shadow behind her. Marcus. Huh, so he didn’t have a secret passage. He just knew how to blend into the background. That was pretty cool. I lifted my head enough to met his gaze, tilted my chin at him in acknowledgement and then decided it was best to ignore him. I didn’t want to make Lucy uncomfortable by continuing to draw attention to her guard.
“Do you like writing? Not many new students want to join the paper. Especially with the way I run it. I’m a bit of a dictator when it comes to getting the weekly paper out.” Lucy had her phone in her hand now, her thumb skimming over the screen as she read through what I assumed was email or social media.
“I can handle dictators,” I assured her with a smirk.
Finally reaching my locker, I started working on the combination before answering her first question. “I like to write poetry and songs. I’m a huge music fan.” I lifted my eyes to meet her gaze, letting her know that I wasn’t trying to score points or blow smoke up her ass with what I was about to admit. “I’m a big fan of Demon’s Wings and OtherWorld. Drake Stevenson is a freaking god with the way he plays the guitar.”
“That’s awesome. Aunt Emmie will love you. She appreciates true fans of the guys.” She leaned back against the locker beside mine. “And Drake is something special.” Dark eyes brightened as she grinned. “I wouldn’t trade him for anything.”
My brows lifted as I got the locker open and I found a pink gift bag overflowing with pastel colored tissue paper inside. “What the hell is this?”
Lucy didn’t even move. “It’s a ‘welcome to Malibu Academy’ gift bag. It has the essentials, according to the captain of the cheerleaders. The boys get one too, but it just has cologne, a bottle of water, that stupid pamphlet and—if they’re cute enough—your stepsister’s cell number.” I snorted at the thought of Georgia and that stupid parking spot sign as I lifted the bag and peeked inside. “There’s lip balm, a bottle of water, some kind of sickeningly sweet perfume, and hair spray.”
I shook my head as I lifted the pamphlet from the bag. “And this?”
Lucy grunted and pushed away from the lockers. “That’s the list of clubs and other crap, but it’s more of a hierarchy booklet if you ask me. It shows how popular you are by which club or sport you happen to be in.”
Opening the booklet, I saw what she meant. It had the sports and clubs listed in the order you would expect popular kids to be in first and ending with Latin Club. What was wrong with Latin? Rolling my eyes at the list, I dropped it back into the gift bag and replaced it in the locker. I wasn’t likely to visit my locker often anyway, so this crap could just stay in there.
As I shut the door, the bell rang. Lucy pushed a few curls out of her face as she moved a few steps closer. “See you in an hour.”