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He waved his hand at the air toward the direction I pointed, dismissive He closed the distance between us and looked at his brother and Gabriel “When is it?”
“Three days” Gabriel held up three fingers “On the sixth”
“Holy shit,” North said He turned those intense eyes on ?”
“Will you guys stop talking about that? Who cares? Is the school on fire?”
North’s mouth dropped open “What do you mean who cares? I told you to tell me important shit”
“North,” I bellowed at hier in the air toward the squadron of fire toward the entryway “The school ”
“I’ht now”
“You said tell you i”
“I s about you Like when your birthday is”
I rolled ht now”
North grunted “Where’s Kota? Does he know about this?”
Gabriel pointed “He went that way looking for you guys And yeah, he picked up her phone and found out”
“Luke, stay here with her Gabe, come with me Text Silas Did anyone tell him?”
Myopen and my hands drifted up in disbelief as Gabriel and North stalked off after Kota, still talking
Luke laughed He dropped down to the grass, sitting cross-legged He tugged at my hand “Sit doith me”
I loweredtoo oing on toward the school It felt aard sitting as everyone around us was still standing I felt closed in
Luke continued to tug at my hand “I rass in those clothes”
“I got in trouble last time I sat in Kota’s lap at school”
“Oh yeah,” he said He brushed a couple of blond locks away fro them behind his ear “It’s just a lot of other students do it Okay, so what do you want for your birthday?”
A series of barks drew my attention Policeht was that they were drug dogs It didn’t et everyone out so they could cos? It seemed excessive Not that I wouldn’t put it past Principal Hendricks Maybe he found another way to kick bad kids out of his school
“Sang,” Luke tugged at my sleeve “What do you want?”
“Princess, why are you sitting on the ground?” Victor approached The breeze picked up, tossing around his broavy hair He re He sat on top of it He ers “Come here”
“I just told Luke I’d get into trouble—”
“It was Mr McCoy that gave you detention and he’s not here” Victor curled his fingers at rass”
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to sit in his lap, but I orried about getting another detention with a teacher or even Mr Hendricks He was probably right, though I got up and let hiain until I was parked in his lap sideways, facing Luke
Luke inched closer on the grass so he could collect one of ure out what to get her for her birthday”
“Yeah,” Victor said He wrapped his arms around my waist His fire eyes sparked at me “Why didn’t you text me back?”
“You sent a text toand Kota took my phone You started the class unless it is an eency”
“It was an elad we didn’t miss it”
“And now there’s fire trucks here And you guys are otten about, too”
Luke laughed “So deal”
“It was a big deal last tis into the school if there is a fire, do they?”
They blinked ata hand over his eyes to block the sun, and gazed over toward the building “She’s right There’s a pack of dogs”
“We haven’t been called in” Victor turned around again His palers traced between a couple ofsafety The students are out here and well out of range for a fire or anything else thatMr Blackbourne hasn’t sent word, so it’s probably sos or so”
Luke’s eyebrows
furrowed “I’m not sure”
With the way I was sitting, it was difficult to twist around and check Part of me sensed Mr McCoy just beyond where I could see The boys assured me he wasn’t here, but I still couldn’t help wonder where he was I sensed other eyes watching us Most students were engrossed in their cell phones or talking, not really concerned with the school except to hope we’d be out of class longer I scanned the group, trying to figure out why I felt so uncomfortable
“Hey,” North’s voice bellowed at us
Students cleared out of the way as North, Gabriel and Kota returned They were tailed by Silas and Nathan
“Baby,” North said, ”Get out of his lap You’ll end up with detention”
Victor squeezed his arhter around my hips “McCoy’s not here The other teachers don’t care”
“Thereafter school today if we’re going to figure out what to do for her birthday Besides, she’s supposed to be dating Silas”
“No one is paying attention,” Victor said
“Are we going to skip football practice on her birthday?” Silas asked
“Are we skipping school on her birthday?” Gabriel asked “We should”
They continued their debate I refocused on as going on across the parking lot Luke relanced back at hi so
Nathan followed s and the police There was so set up by the policemen They’d removed a box of equipment fro by
“Sang,” Victor squeezed ain “You still haven’t told anyone—”
“Kota,” Nathan said over him, his tone serious He nodded toward the school “What is this?”
I crawled out of Victor’s lap to stand up between Nathan and Luke I sensed Victor following, standing behind me Everyone else turned toward the school
My heart leapt, pleased that Nathan and Luke were taking this seriously I understood the boys not wanting to worry too s we couldn’t control, butwas terribly wrong My old school never went through anything like this just for a fire drill