Path of Destruction (Broken Heartland, #2)(16)

Cami knew it hadn’t been worthless. Kyle had gone there and he was smart. He’d taken French, too. She pictured Kyle and Brantley sitting side by side in the classroom, reciting phrases back to their teacher in their adorable drawls. Then she thought about being his “Belle” and how she’d never hear him say it again. She shook it off, not wanting to cry in front of this guy she barely knew. He was looking like the only person in the room interested in holding a conversation with her. She might need a friend if she was going to stick out this committee thing.

“I know it’s not. Was not,” she corrected.

A moment passed between them, and she wondered what he was thinking. He wasn’t looking at her like everyone else did. There was something strangely familiar about him, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Maybe it was the fact that she knew he’d probably known Kyle—at least on some level. If they hadn’t had French class together, then surely in some other way. She’d seen him with Kyle’s younger sister and Hope’s Grove wasn’t all that big.

“So, what are you doing in here?” she asked before she let her curiosity get the best of her and brought up Kyle’s name. She still hadn’t talked about him to anyone. Talking about him in the past tense would make it all so much more real. “Pardon me for stating the obvious, but you don’t seem much like the social committee type.”

“I was forced into this as punishment because I can’t serve detention after school. I was planning to keep my mouth shut and stick to the heavy lifting, but now, I’m realizing just how badly I need to cast my vote on the color scheme.” He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to get everyone’s attention.

“Don’t,” she said on a laugh, reaching over to grab his hand and pull it down. “It’s not worth it.”

Not that he couldn’t handle it, but getting on the shit list of the popular kids would make his time here even more intolerable. She knew. She used to be the head bitch in charge.

He stared at her hand on his, and a strange, unwelcome tingle shot through her skin before she pulled back.

“You sure? I’m happy to cause a scene if you want.”

“Nah.” She shook her head. “I appreciate the gesture though.”

“You looked like you needed to smile,” he confessed.

Her heart swelled at his words. Aside from Hayden—who’d been supportive but as distant as the day was long—he was the first person to do something for her. And for no apparent reason.

“Why?”

“Why not?” He shrugged. “You’re gorgeous and always dressed like you’re two seconds from jet-setting off to your next modeling gig. You seem to have pretty good taste,” he said, once again sending warmth throughout her body that she’d thought she’d been incapable of feeling. He’d just told her that she was gorgeous. But it was short-lived. “In most things,” he added.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Your choice of boyfriend could use a little work,” he huffed out gruffly.

She scowled. She barely knew this guy and she’d known Hayden her whole life. Brantley Cooper didn’t know shit. “You don’t know him. He’s had a rough summer and—”

“Oh, I know him. He’s a douche.”

“That’s not a fair assessment,” she countered, feeling herself becoming overprotective. “He’s always been good to me.”

“Yeah, you and every other poor, na?ve girl who crosses his path.” His words were laced with contempt.

If this was what he thought of her, then maybe she shouldn’t have been so flattered that he thought she was pretty. Pretty stupid was more like it.

“Now wait just a damn minute—”

“Easy, girl,” he said, warranting a glare from her.

A little piece of the old Cami surfaced, not liking it when people told her to calm down. Not to mention his choice of words. Easy, girl.

For just a moment, the world around them fell away, and Brantley Cooper transformed before her eyes into an entirely different boy—a man, really—one with blond hair adjusting his hat in the sunshine outside of her pool house. But then he was gone and only a stranger remained.

“Well, I guess it’s easy to judge people when you hardly know them.” With that, she’d had enough. Enough of this big oaf’s speculation about her and Hayden. Enough of Raquel’s condescension. And enough of this damn school. She didn’t care if she still had a class left. She was going home for the day.

She pushed her chair back from the table and stood. Before he had a chance to catch her with another one of his comments, she was out the door, making a point to toss her useless binder into the wastebasket on her way out.



She wasn’t sure which was worse: being in that meeting with all the people who didn’t understand her anymore or being at home with the ones who were so sure that they did.

“I don’t understand why you don’t understand where this is coming from?” her mother argued as Cami flipped through the channels on the television, trying to find a rerun of America’s Next Top Model and ignore her mother. Unfortunately, even the drama on Teen Mom couldn’t drown her out. “You signed up for this pageant months ago, Cameron. You can’t go back on your commitments. Besides, you look incredible and I really think you’ll win this year.”