A Whole New Crowd(60)

He laughed softly as he caught my elbow and held it in his hand. He thumb started to rub over it in a soft caressing motion. “No, just me stating a fact. You’re not normal, Taryn Matthews. You’re different. You’re someone who sees the right path when no one else does and follows it.” The corner of his lip curved up in a slight smirk. “You show them the way. You’re not normal. Thank god.” He let the last sentence out in an exhaled breath.
I had no idea what to say. The shock at seeing their reactions doubled after hearing his words. Tray meant it. If I’d been in Pedlam and the school’s golden-prick said something like that, I would’ve laughed in his face, delivered a retort, and sauntered away without a backward glance. He wasn’t that guy. He was more.
Then he let go of my elbow. “I’ll wait for you at the car. I need to talk to the guys quick.”
I tried to say ‘okay’, but he was gone before I could get a word out. As he weaved through the crowd and left from the cave, I was left with a storm raging inside of me. I pressed a hand to my stomach, trying to calm myself. My god. It was him. He was wreaking havoc on me, filling me with emotions that were too scary for me to handle. Hope. Warmth. Other things, other emotions that I didn’t know how to process. He made me feel safe. That, right there, set me on edge. I couldn’t be safe. I couldn’t allow myself to pretend it was real. Every time, as soon as my guard dropped, something bad happened. Tray Evans was nothing special. The second I let myself feel more than I should, something bad would happen. It always did. I couldn’t let that happen. Drawing in strength, determined not to let him get too close, I began to follow the line of people out of the cave.
I was standing behind a group of guys. They were tall with bags over their shoulder so I was hidden. As we kept going, a pair of voices trailed back to me.
“Can she be any worse?”
“I know. Honestly. I was trying not to gag.”
The first one muttered, “You know she didn’t sleep last night. She was at Devon’s all night.”
The second one groaned. “Trust me. I know more than the rest. He’s a sex addict. He’s got to be.”
“My god. And she was so f*cking hyper today.”
“You know she was creaming her pants when Tray kissed Taryn up there.” Another groan. “I don’t know what she expects. She’s treated her sister like crap—”
“Please,” the first one interrupted. “She is not her sister. They adopted her and from what I heard, they were forced to adopt her.”
A sick laugh trailed back to me. “You’re right. I forgot that rumor. Whatever. That’s a ridiculous rumor, but god, I’d love for that to be true.”
“Yeah. I know. Did you see Mandy hanging all over Tristan’s group today? If she wants to pretend to be Queen Bee in that group, she can try. Tristan’s going to kiss her ass to try and get close to Matthews. You know she’s been wet for Tray since seventh grade.”
“I know. What was Mandy on today?”
A snort. “Must be nice to have a rich daddy with a prescription pad.”
“I know, right? I wish I could pop a pill every time I feel like taking a nap.”
“Ugh. You know that bitch hasn’t slept a full night in months. She takes those pills from her daddy, and she sleeps for maybe two hours. Must be nice.”
“I know, right.”
“I’m having a hard time trying to be nice to her. Please tell me I can’t sleep with Devon tonight. Please tell me that’s not the right thing and we need to be nice because of her and her wacko sister. Please tell me to do the nice thing. Amber, help me out, because I really want to cause havoc in their lives.”
Amber chuckled. “You do whatever you want. What kind of friend would I be if I held you back?”
“Oh god. This could get ugly tonight.”
The two laughed and moved further away. I wasn’t able to hear them anymore. I felt like someone had punched me in the face. They were forced to adopt me? Mandy was a pill popper? I frowned, feeling the blood drain from my face. That couldn’t be… There was no way…. Then I closed my eyes. I couldn’t process this. Mandy. Tray. Even Austin. Those were all good things that had happened. An old ache took root in my stomach and I felt a hole open there. It was vortex, sucking all the good emotions into it, leaving me feeling hollow.
“You’re Matthews, right?”
“Huh?” I lifted my head and blinked. I realized that I had stopped and was now the last in the cave.
A guy from school was frowning at me. He was waiting at the mouth and he waved for me. “Come on. You’re the last. Most everyone’s taken off already.”