The Year I Became Isabella Anders (Sunnyvale, #1)(35)

“Ha! I won that round.”

“Only because I let you.”

He’s grinning from ear to ear. “I like this.” He points back and forth between the two of us. “We should do this more often.”

“Do what more often?” I ask.

Before he can respond, Braden, one of his stoner friends, strolls up to Kai.

“Hey, did you bring that thing we were talking about the other night at that party?” he asks, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Kai glances at me, and Braden tracks his gaze. He blinks, either stunned or high—it’s hard to tell for sure, because his eyes are really, really bloodshot.

“Hey,” he says, blinking again as he checks me out, “I know you, right?”

I shake my head, trying not to squirm from his attentive gaze. “Probably not.”

Kai rubs the back of his neck and tensely glances around the hallway. I know what’s coming. Like the time he was caught walking home with me, he’s going to make some lame-ass excuse of why he’s here with me.

“I’ll see you later,” I say, deciding to let him off the hook.

Before anyone can say anything else, I turn around and walk back toward the stairway. As I make my way downstairs, I notice that fewer people are looking in my direction, but some still stare. I ignore the gawking the best I can, but by the time I make it to my locker, I feel sick to my stomach. I have no idea how I’m going through with my plan of making some real friends, when I can barely handle people staring.

Give it time. You’ll get used to it.

That’s what I try to tell myself through my morning classes and during lunch, when I sit at the same corner table by myself, like I did the previous three years. I get desperate enough that I try to spot Kai at one of the tables, but he must leave campus for lunch, because I don’t see him anywhere. I end up eating lunch while texting Indigo, so I won’t have to deal with the staring plague that seems to have taken over my school.

I’m not positive what’s causing the gawking. I haven’t heard any gossip that includes my name and my mental stability, so I don’t think the rumor is causing people to act crazy. Still, the thought hovers there in the back of my mind. What if they all think I’m insane? Do I care? I don’t want to, and the Isa who was overseas wouldn’t, but being back at home, where everyone knows the real me, I kind of do.

By the time the final bell rings, I’ve made a total of zero friends, and strangely, the handful of people I did talk to during my junior year won’t even look me in the eye.

Frustrated, I hurry out of the school, pushing my way through the mob of people on the sidewalk. As I reach the parking lot, my phone buzzes from inside my pocket, so I dig it out.

Indigo: Dude, I forgot how lame high school is.

Me: What r u talking about? You’re at school? What school?

Indigo: I’m talking about the lameness of your high school and all high schools in general.

Me: R u here?

Indigo: Duh. How could I not come pick u up after all those depressing texts u sent me?

My gaze lifts to the parking lot and I spot her, sitting on the trunk of my grandma’s car, with her hair pulled up in a bun, smoking a cigarette. I run to her. I don’t even care how crazy I look at the moment. I’m just so damn glad she’s here.

She hops off the trunk, and I hug the bejesus out of her. “So, I’m guessing by the crazy hugging that your first day totally sucked?” she says as she hugs me back.

“It was awful,” I tell her. “Everyone kept staring, and even my old friends wouldn’t talk to me. The only person who said anything to me at all was Kai, and that’s because he wanted his present.”

“Aw, Kai.” The tone of her voice implies something. “He wouldn’t happen to be around, would he?”

I move back and eye her over suspiciously. “Why?”

She shrugs, dropping her cigarette to the ground and stomping it out with the tip of her boot. “I’m just curious. I mean, other than Kyler, he’s the only person from Sunnyvale I’ve heard you mention. And you’re in love with Kyler, so it makes sense why you talked about him, but with Kai,” she bobs her head back and forth, wavering, “I want to find out why he’s always so stuck in your head.”

“He’s not stuck in my head. I talk about him, because he’s, like, one of the few people who’s ever talked to me at school, and that was only on rare occasions.” I frown as she stubbornly keeps looking at all the people walking by us. “And I have no idea where he is. I haven’t seen him since this morning.” I head for the passenger side of the car. “Please tell me you’re taking me for ice cream, because I’m in desperate need of some sugar.”

Her back stiffens. “We actually need to go straight to Grandma’s.”

I grasp the door handle. “Why? Is everything okay?”

She won’t look me in the eye, which is completely out of character for her. “Something happened between her and your dad. They got in a fight and . . .”

“And what?” I press.

She sighs, meeting my gaze. “And she got a name out of him.”

“She did. Yes!” I fist pump the air then hop into the car, bubbling with excitement. Holy shit, she has a name. A freaking name. I’m so excited I can’t sit still.