Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(83)

"Is she nice?" Was Tina Sara's new best friend?

Sarah chuckled. "Not really, but her brother is hot."

"Hmm," Kylie teased. "Good thing I didn't have a brother or I'd think you were just interested in him all these years."

Sara laughed and Kylie joined in. A little of the awkwardness faded.

"It was strange that you called," Sara said. "I was just thinking about you. Do you remember when we were thirteen and you did that backward flip and knocked both of us off the trampoline? Our moms took us to the emergency clinic by our neighborhood because they thought you had broken an arm and I had a goose egg on my head."

"Yeah," Kylie said. "What made you think about that?"

"Who knows," Sara answered with the same tight voice.

Kylie leaned back on her pillow. "You thought the doctor was cute."

"He was cute." Sara sounded normal again. "Any hot guys at the camp?"

"Yeah." Kylie took in a deep breath and when she released it, it came out as a fog. Strange. She'd thought the spirit had left but she was moving closer.

"You hooked up with any of them?" Sara asked.

Kylie's heart tugged. "Kind of, but ... we sort of ... called it quits." Or he called it quits. A shiver ran down Kylie's back and she looked around again for the ghost. She still hadn't materialized, but her chill filled the room.

"That sucks," Sara said, and in the background Kylie heard someone call out Sara's name. "Hold on a sec."

The line went silent as if Sara had covered the receiver. But Kylie's ears picked up Sara's intake of air. Whether Sara had moved her hand, or if it was Kylie's hearing abilities, she wasn't sure. She still didn't grasp how this whole gifted hearing thing worked. It came and went. Just like her strength.

"No, I'm not using my insurance." Sara's voice filled the line. "I'm paying cash. Of course my mom knows. Look, is the doctor going to see me or not?"

Kylie frowned when she realized that Sara had lied about being at the mall. The reasons for the lie filled Kylie's head. Had she run out of birth control pills? Or did she think she was pregnant again? Tightening her grip on the phone, Kylie was reminded of how different they were. How sad was it that they couldn't share things-neither werewolves or sex? "Kylie," Sara said. "I need to go."

"Okay. Bye." Kylie put her phone back on the nightstand. When she looked up, the ghost sat at the foot of her bed, appearing incredibly sad. Kylie started to speak but the spirit faded.

"Great," Kylie muttered. "Communicating with spirits is almost as bad as communicating with old friends."

At eleven thirty that night, Kylie walked with Della and Miranda to the campfire. Her heart swelled with the fear of what would or wouldn't happen to her tonight, but she refused to show it. Of course, Della pretty much knew what she was feeling because she kept studying Kylie with an enormous amount of sympathy.

The moment the three of them cut through the clearing, Kylie spotted Derek standing in a group of four other fairies. He glanced at her. The full moon offered enough light for her to see the soft concern in his eyes. No doubt he could read her fear. Stopping, she muttered to Della and Miranda to go ahead and let her talk to Derek. Her two roommates walked off.

Kylie waited for Derek to come and offer her his comforting touch-just a touch to ebb the fear from her heart. She could really use a little of his calm right now, not to mention his touch. His gaze met hers, but instead of moving over, he glanced back at his circle of friends. That's when Kylie got the first hint of how things would be between them from now on.

Obviously, being just friends meant no more kisses and touches. Kylie's first impulse was to beg him to stop this nonsense. Her second impulse didn't involve begging. Anger crowded out some of her fear.

Even though she knew Derek was partially right-in the beginning, there was some truth to her confusion with Lucas stopping her from going out with him-didn't Derek trust her enough to know she wouldn't cheat on him?

His lack of faith in her just plain ol' made her mad. Really, really mad. Sure, it might be her uncontrollable werewolf-related aggression bringing on the fury, but she felt it all the same. And once again, being mad felt better than being hurt, even better than being frightened, so she clung to the anger and hoped Derek would read it. She even stepped closer, giving him ample opportunity.

She knew it worked when he turned back around and his green eyes met hers. She didn't blink, didn't attempt to look away, wanting to make sure he read every bit of her anger. A frown tightened his brows and he walked away, probably wanting to get out of emotion-reading range. While tempted to follow him and cloak him in her emotional state, she didn't.

Just go. Her chest tightened as the hurt crowded out the anger. Just remember, I wasn't the one who called it quits.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around until she spotted another lone soul who looked almost as miserable as she felt. Perry stood by himself, leaning against a tree and watching Miranda chatting cheerfully with a group of guys-one of whom was Kevin. Knowing misery loved company, Kylie went to join Perry.

Perry snarled at her when she walked up. "What? Are you going to tell me how much she likes me again?"

"Nope," Kylie said. "I've come to the conclusion that anything to do with the opposite sex should be banned and considered illegal."