She grabbed her phone from her purse, stood up, and went to stand in the corner, away from everyone. Glancing at the screen to see who to throw handfuls of praise to for cal ing at the right moment, Kylie's heart did a tug. She'd expected it to be Sara, maybe her mom or dad. She hadn't expected it to be Trey.
Chapter Ten
"Hel o?" she answered hesitantly, and her chest immediately fil ed with a familiar kind of missing-Trey achiness that until she saw him at the party had almost disappeared. Almost.
"Kylie?" The deep sound of his voice did another pul on her emotions.
She swal owed a knot down her throat and visualized him in her mind-his green eyes staring at her like he did when they made out. "Yes?"
"It's Trey."
"I know," she answered, and closed her eyes. "Why are you cal ing me?"
"Do I need a reason?"
Since you're sleeping with some other girl, you do. "We're not together anymore, Trey."
"And maybe that's a mistake," he said. "I can't stop thinking about you since I saw you at the party."
She'd bet he stopped thinking about her when he got his new bang toy alone that night. Lucky for them, they'd left about fifteen minutes before the cops had arrived. So while Kylie had been sitting at the police station, Trey had probably been expanding on his luck by getting lucky with his new girlfriend.
"Sara told me that you were at some camp in Fal en," he said when she didn't say anything. "She said your mom sent you there because of the party."
"Yeah," she answered, even though she realized it wasn't the whole truth. But she couldn't tel Trey the truth. Not even part of the truth. That's when it hit her, how many lies she'd have to tel everyone she knew. That's when she realized something else. Her mom hadn't been lying when she'd said Dr. Day had convinced her that Kylie needed to come here. Maybe her mom hadn't wanted to get rid of Kylie as badly as she thought. That should have made her feel better, but the achiness in her chest grew.
She missed her mom. She missed her dad. She wanted to go home. The gonna-cry knot formed in her throat and she swal owed it.
"Are you al owed to get phone cal s?" Trey asked, his voice bringing her back to the moment and away from her thoughts. Allowed? Kylie hadn't considered that. "I think so. No one's told me I couldn't." But she hadn't read the rules that were supposed to be posted in her cabin, either. Not that it was her fault; she hadn't been al owed to go to her cabin yet. She looked up to see if anyone else was on a phone. She spotted two people talking and two more texting. One of the texting kids was Jonathon, aka Piercing Guy, who stood with two other guys. Beside them stood Goth Girl, who hung with a crowd of other goths. Kylie also spotted Lucas Parker. Not on the phone but talking to a group of girls that looked like his personal fan club. He was smiling at something someone said. And she could see the girls holding on to his every word, practical y swooning al over him. Let them laugh and swoon, Kylie thought. He hadn't kil ed their cat.
"I'm going to a soccer camp in Fal en next week," Trey said, bringing her back to the conversation. "I thought maybe we could ... maybe we could find a way to get together. To talk. I miss you, Kylie."
"I thought you were with that girl, Shannon."
"We weren't ever real y going out. But we're not seeing each other anymore. I could never talk to her."
But I'll bet you did other things. It hurt to remember how the girl had hung al over him at the party.
"Say you'l at least meet me," he said. "Please. I real y miss you."
Her chest grew heavier. "I don't know if I can ... I mean, I don't know how things are run here yet."
"I think our camps are just a mile or so apart. It wouldn't be hard for us to meet."
She closed her eyes and thought how good it would be to see Trey. To see anyone she knew wasn't a freak, but especial y Trey. He had always been her go-to person when things bothered her. Which was why his breaking up with her had broken her heart.
"I can't make any promises, not until I figure things out here." Kylie looked up.
Holiday and Sky were moving to the front of the room. "Lunch is ready," Sky said. "Let's let the new people start first. And then we'l jump into introductions."
Introductions? The thought of having to talk to the group had butterflies nosediving in her stomach. Kylie saw Derek turn and look at her as if wondering if she wanted to get in line together. She kind of liked the idea of standing beside him, instead of standing alone.
"I have to go, Trey," she said.
"But Kylie-"
She hung up. She hadn't done it to be mean, but the idea that he might feel a bit rejected didn't bother her too much. Payback could be hel . Derek stood up and waved her over. Yup, Derek was tal er than Trey. Moving Derek's way, Kylie tried not to flinch when Del a joined them, and the three of them walked to the line together.
Del a ended up behind Goth Girl from their bus and they started talking.
Derek turned and focused on Kylie.
"Boyfriend?" he asked.
"Huh?"
"The phone cal ?"
"Oh." She shook her head. "Ex." Instantly she remembered how several of the other kids had looked at her when Del a had asked what she was. She leaned closer to Derek. "Could you hear me on the phone?" She lowered her voice. "Could everyone hear me?"
"I couldn't. It was just ... your body language." He seemed to note how she looked out in the crowd. "But yes, some of the others have super hearing."
"But not you?" She hoped he would tel her what she wanted to know. That he'd tel her what he was.
"Not me," he said, and they moved a few steps forward. His arm brushed up against hers and for a second, she didn't know if she wanted to back away or lean closer. The fact that he wasn't cold seemed to make closer an option. When her arm met his again, something so comforting spread through her.
"So what are you?" she asked, and then bit her tongue. It wasn't fair for her to be asking questions that she herself didn't want to answer. "That's okay, you don't have to answer that."
She looked away, embarrassed, and listened to the chatter of the crowd. Unlike earlier, when silence had reigned, now if she tried real y hard, she might convince herself that she was in a room fil ed with regular teens.