Free Prophecy by Julie Anne Lindsey

him. To my utter disbelief, he tucked me against his side.
    “Yeah. I’m okay.” My heart pounded. What the hell had happened here? My head spun with the implications of two guys fighting over me. In school. With an audience.
    “No PDA.” Kirk motioned to me at Liam’s side.
    The librarian harrumphed. Maybe she’d seen Kirk dry humping Hannah in the hallway between classes, too. I fought the urge to stick out my tongue and focused instead on the vibration starting in my hands and chest. Adrenaline kicked my heart into double time. Holy crap! What happened?
    Liam’s gaze drifted over me, checking for injury, I assumed. The top of my head leveled below his shoulder. I did some mental math as the principal appeared, lectured on school policy, and insisted we follow him to his office. If I was five foot four and Liam’s head and neck were a foot tall… Wait, how tall was a person’s head?
    Principal Mansfield led our group, with Kirk at his side, pleading his case. Detention would interfere with football practice and that wouldn’t serve anyone. I rolled my eyes. Liam walked behind them by a step. I followed on Liam’s heels.
    He glanced at me. “I apologize if I offended you back there. I’m not good with words. And my social filter isn’t one of the best.”
    I smiled. Stupidly. He hadn’t intended to be harsh. “Apology accepted. This time,” I warned. “I don’t mean to respond to Kirk the way I do. I know it’s stupid, but he hounds me until I want to choke him.” A tiny laugh bubbled in my chest. “I’m a struggling pacifist.”
    He sniffed out a silent laugh. “Very well. I imagine pacifism isn’t easy.” A wicked gleam lit his eye as if I’d somehow missed an inside joke.
    “How tall are you?” I whispered.
    “Six four.”
    Justin was six one and that was tall. “Will you be in much trouble for this?” I had no idea what his parents were like. Would they go berserk like Allison’s or shrug it off like my mom would? My gut twisted at the thought I’d caused him more trouble in a school already scrutinizing his every move.
    “What’s the policy?” he asked.
    I moved to his side, matching my pace with his. “A week’s detention, probably, but I meant will your parents be very mad?”
    He shook his head and walked in silence the rest of the way to the principal’s office, leaving me cast aside once more.
     

Chapter 5
     
    Principal Mansfield interviewed us separately before calling our parents. Fighting was grounds for a three-day suspension, but we lived in football country and Kirk had taken our team to state since freshman year. There was a sharp curve on acceptable player behavior several months a year. He’d never be suspended during football season. Detention was doubtful, too. If detention kept Kirk from practice, there’d be hell to pay in the form of a football-dad mob and raging protests from the boosters. Parents ran small-town high schools with their wallets.
    Kirk strode out of Principal Mansfield’s office first with a look of smug satisfaction. Liam went in next and left with his usual mask of complacency and annoyance, as if high school was too trivial to bother with and attending was a punishment. I went in last, explaining the situation as well as I could without giving away my bias or revealing Kirk’s hurtful words.
    Principal Mansfield dialed my home and handed me the phone. The call woke Mom. She slept while I was at school. It took effort to convince her I was serious about being in trouble for a fight in the library between two guys. When I finished “explaining myself” as Principal Mansfield instructed, he spoke with her. I got detention, but Principal Mansfield got an earful from my mom. Her voice carried through the receiver, unintelligible to me, but audible. Mom was like that. Sensible. I’d had nothing to do with them attacking each other. Though, Liam had tried to defend me. Baffling. Maybe it wasn’t about me. Maybe he really didn’t like