"About what?" she asked, trying not to stare.
"You, they're curious about you. Maybe if you opened up a little..."
"Open up?" Okay, that annoyed her. She'd been giving him the benefit of the doubt about being the normal one, but not if he was going to start acting as if she was being the unfriendly one. "The only ones who spoke to me were the blond guy and Miranda, and the other one, and I talked to al of them."
He quirked the other eyebrow at her. And for some reason that pushed her button. "Do you have a nervous twitch or something?" she asked, and then bit her tongue. Maybe she was overcoming the too-nice disease. Sara would be proud. Her mom ... wel , not so much. Her mom.
Just like that, the image of her mom standing there in that parking lot fil ed Kylie's mind.
"You don't know ... do you?" the boy asked, and his eyes widened, his gold flecks seemed to sparkle.
"Know what?" she asked, but her mind seemed stuck on her mom. On the fact that she hadn't even hugged her good-bye. Why had Mom done this to her? Why had her parents decided to split? Why did any of this have to happen? The familiar knot, the need-to-cry knot, formed in her throat. He looked over at the door and when Kylie fol owed his gaze, Miranda and Pale Girl were stil there. Had al three of them gone to the camp before and they were like buddies and she was the new kid on the block? The new kid they'd decided to pick on?
The lady behind the counter spoke up. "Hey, you wanna pay for that gum?"
Kylie looked back at the cashier. She dropped a couple of bucks on the counter and left without getting her change. She brushed past Miranda and the other girl with her chin held high and without blinking. She dared not blink for fear the flutter of her eyelashes would bring on tears. Not that their snotty attitudes made her want to cry. It was her mom, her dad, Nana, Trey, Soldier Dude, and now even her concern for Sara. Kylie couldn't care less if these weirdoes liked her or not.
Chapter Five
An hour later, the bus pul ed into a parking lot. Kylie had seen the Shadow Fal s Camp sign posted in front. A wiggle of fear stirred in her stomach. She shifted her gaze around, almost surprised the place didn't have a high fence and a locked gate. They were, after al , considered to be
"troubled" teens.
Kylie heard the bus engine rumble to a stop. The bus driver jumped down from the seat and stretched her little chubby arms up over her head. Kylie still didn't know how she reached the gas pedals.
"We're the last bus to arrive, guys," she said. "Everyone is waiting in the mess hal . Leave your things in the bus and someone wil bring them to your cabins later."
Kylie looked at her suitcase. She hadn't put a tag on it. How would they know it was her suitcase? Easy-they wouldn't. Great, she could take the luggage with her and risk getting in trouble for not fol owing the rules, or leave it and risk losing al her clothes. She was not going to lose her clothes. She reached for her suitcase. "They'l bring it to you," Miranda said.
"It doesn't have my name on it," Kylie replied, trying to keep the sharpness from her tone.
"They'l figure it out. I promise," she said as if trying to be nice.
But was Kylie going to believe her? No.
Suddenly, the green-eyed Trey lookalike moved into the aisle. "Believe her," he said.
Kylie looked at him. While she didn't trust Miranda, there was something about this guy she believed. While standing there, he reached in his pocket and pul ed out some money and dropped it in her hands.
"Excuse me," Goth Girl, said, and pushed past Miranda.
Kylie stared at the dol ar and few coins.
"It's your change from the store." He motioned for her to step into the aisle.
She dropped the money into her purse and started out. His footsteps dogged hers. She felt him behind her. Felt him lean in a little closer, his shoulder brushing against her back.
"My name's Derek, by the way."
Caught up in listening to his deep voice and feeling Derek behind her, she didn't see Blond Boy jump out into the aisle. In mid-step motion, Kylie had one of two choices. Plow into Blondie or fal back into Derek. An easy decision. Derek's hands caught her by the upper forearms. His fingers pressed against her bare skin where her sleeves ended.
She looked up over her shoulder and their gazes met.
He smiled. "You okay?"
Amazing smile. Like Trey's. Her heart did a little jump. God, she missed Trey.
"Yeah." She pul ed away, but not before noting Derek's warm touch. Why that seemed important she didn't know, but the pale girl's coldness had left an equal y odd impression.
They moved out of the bus and made their way into a large cabin-like structure. Right before Kylie entered the door, she heard a strange kind of roar. Like a lion. She paused to see if she heard it again, and Derek bumped into her. "We'd better move inside," he whispered. Kylie's stomach fluttered with fear. As she took that first step over the threshold, she somehow sensed her life would forever be changed. About fifty or sixty people fil ed the huge dining hal that had large picnic tables running paral el to each other, and the air smel ed like pork-nbeans and gril ed hamburgers. Some of the kids were sitting, others were standing. Something felt off, odd. It took her a minute to realize what it was. Silence. No one spoke. If this was the school's lunch room, she probably wouldn't be able to hear herself think. And that's what everyone appeared to be doing right now. Thinking. A quick sweep of the crowd had Kylie once again feeling as if she didn't belong here. There was a large amount of what Kylie's mom would cal
"rebel ion evidence." Sure, Kylie rebel ed. But she guessed she did her thing in less noticeable ways, not so much with her clothes and such, but in her surroundings. Like the time she and Sara had painted her room purple without permission. Her mom had freaked. These kids, they didn't just paint their rooms, they wore their rebel ion boldly. Like Miranda's hair or that other kid on the bus who had nose rings and piercings. As Kylie's gaze shifted around, she noticed a couple of kids had tattoos or shaved heads. And there were tons more goth-dressed kids. Black obviously had not gone out of style with troubled kids.
Uneasiness started crawling on Kylie's skin. Maybe she had hung out with Sara too long, but it seemed evident that she didn't fit in. But unlike Sara, Kylie wasn't so eager to become one with this crowd.