Free Starkissed by Brynna Gabrielson Page A

means actually, of ever seeing Grant West again. In fact I was cursing the ground he walked on and if I did see him, I would have been happy to slap him across the face. But that was back when it was my choice.
    “Sydney, sweetie,” Mom stands and nudges Dad to the side. “What your father means is that he doesn’t feel...”
    “ We don’t, Clarissa,” Dad snaps.
    “Right.” She kind of shakes her head, but goes with it. “ We don’t feel this boy is appropriate for you.”
    “Why not?” Okay I’m really losing it. I’m trying to remind myself that I hate Grant, but maybe it’s just the genetic code of a teenager. If your parents forbid something, you have to want it. I’ve never felt this before. This forceful urge to rebel. Maybe because I’ve spent my entire life being so damn complacent and good. I never get into trouble. “Because he’s famous? Smart? Talented? Rich?”
    “Partly. It’s just that a boy like Grant is far too mature for you, Sydney. You’re a sixteen-year-old girl in high school and he’s…”
    “So it’s his age then?” I cut her off.
    Mom’s eyes practically pop out of her head. She steps back so Dad can’t see her and then throws her arms into the air and shakes her head from side to side so quickly I wonder if she’s attempting to give herself whip lash.
    “What do you mean, his age?” Dad says slowly.
    Crap. Crap. Crap. “Ummm...”
    “How old is this boy?”
    I turn and look toward the kitchen. In my negligible experience, I’ve never had any previous boy issues with regards to my parents – before now – but I’ve witnessed many arguments and forebodings on my sisters’ behalves. In general my dad is usually pretty cool, at least when it comes to me, seeing as besides that tiny blip in junior high, I’ve been terminally single since birth. But when it comes older boys, he’s ridiculously over protective. When Arianna was in ninth grade, she tried to date a senior and Dad locked her in her room for three weeks straight. I think it goes back to when Dad’s sister – at age 17, ran off and eloped with a 24-year-old guy. But Aunt Shirley and Uncle Mike are still together, so it’s not like it was some stupid whim. They loved each other.
    “Is that the phone ringing?” I say meekly. “Maybe I should go check.” I start to stand.
    “Sit!”
    I drop back down onto the couch.
    “How old?”
    I grit my teeth. “Nineteen.”
    “What?” his eyes are bulging now. “I thought he was your age, he was sixteen in that movie of his that Angelina always makes us a watch, and that just came out last year!”
    “He was acting sweetheart,” Mom sighs and pats him on the back.
    I probably could have gotten out of this okay if I hadn’t brought up Grant’s age. Sure, I likely wouldn’t have been able to wiggle out of the whole forbidding me to see him again thing. But come on, I was never going to see him again anyways. Now, though, I’m screwed.
    “Grounded. You are grounded.”
    “Come on! Javier was like five years older Ava!”
    “She was over 18,” Mom says, but I can see that vein throbbing on Dad’s forehead again. He really didn’t like Javier. Though he won’t cop to it, he’s probably the one who called immigration.
    Mom sidles up to me and whispers in my ear. “Why don’t you go to your room and I’ll try and talk your father down.”

Chapter Eight
    I stomp, like a five-year-old, all the way up the stairs, down the hall, and into my room. I slam the door behind me and toss myself facedown on the bed. Despite the fact that I barely had any sleep last night and could really use a nap at this point, my eyes will not shut. My mind is too stuffed full of the day’s events and when I do try to close my eyes, all I see are pictures of Grant floating through my head. Yesterday I was just normal, run-of-the-mill Sydney. Now I’m the girl who kissed Grant West. Everyone at school is talking about me, my best friend is losing her mind at the thought