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He definitely wasn’t in high school "I feel so special"

He stood and walked to the edge The lights frolow "It’s easier to keep an eye on things fro for?"

He caers,done"

Studying College Check

"Two chairs," she said

"I’ve got a friend orks at the Sunglass place Sos a six-pack and we shoot the shit" He paused

"You have a lot of questions about ure out how to avoid you"

He looked at her "Yeah, you look like you’re trying really hard Let’s cut the crap What’s really up with you and Merrick?"

"He’s busy, that’s all What do you care?"

"Maybe I don’t want to babysit his girlfriend"

"Fuck you" Quinn stood with enough force to ht her ar with you"

She turned fierce eyes his way "No one needs to babysit " His voice softened, just a little, just enough

"Sit down Eat your taquito I don’t like them extra spicy"

She sat in the chair and unwrapped the paper, taking a small bite from the end It was like a heart attack rolled up in a tortilla and fried, but she was starving "What’s really up with you and Merrick?"

His voice was bitter "You already know"

"No," she said "I don’t think I do"

"I don’t want to talk about them"

"Do you really want to kill them?"

"I don’t need to kill them That’s what the Guides are for"

"Would you do it, if you could?"

"I don’t really want to go to prison for doing so bad Fire Ele?"

"No!" he snapped with sudden fury "That wouldn’t make me any better than them That’s the whole reason they’re supposed to be put to death They are a danger Don’t you get that?"

She ignored his sudden vehe her voice level

"Do you really think they deserve to die, for what they are?"

He didn’t say anything for a long while, twisting the bottle of Mountain Dew in his hands,that she didn’t think he was going to say anything

Finally, he said, "You were right WhenMy friends and I were going after the rockslide And even if Mike Merrick didn’t start it, he sure as hell didn’t stop it" His voice tightened "That rock hit her, and he didn’t even get her out of the water in time He let her die, okay? So if someone wants to coet in their way If that makes me a psychopath, fine There’s no secret about how I feel"

"No secret," she replied "I like that"

He turned and looked at her, eyebrows raised

Quinn shrugged "My life is full of secrets So if she was stupid to be here with Tyler He hated the Merricks, that much was obvious It was probably a violation of her friendship with Nick that she was even sitting here

But she could hear every ounce of pain in Tyler’s voice when he spoke about what had happened to his sister Could she blame him for that? If someone contributed to the death of someone in her fa wrong, hoould she have dealt with it?

Well, if so to her older brother, she’d probably send theer in the drivehen he’d confronted Nick Was some of that pain? Resentain, Nick had threatened to kill hiht? It didn’t feel like either of them was

"I’m really sorry about your sister," she said quietly

Tyler looked up at the sky "Me, too I was a crap brother I wish I could go back and fix it"

"Do you--"

"Hey" He looked over, and she could see emotion in his eyes

"Would it be okay if we talked about so else?"

"Yeah" She paused "I’ Talk about dance I was serious, earlier Why aren’t you trying for a scholarship?"

"You don’t really care"

"I do, actually When I atching you, I was thinking--"

He broke off

Quinn straightened "What were you thinking?"

His voice turned sheepish "Nothing Forget it"

She could only i "Now you definitely need to tell rown hippo could do spins like that?"

His head snapped around "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I know I’m not built like a typical dancer"