Free Shadow's Dangers by Cindy Mezni Page B

dismay that she showed me the table where Travis was flirting with the blonde girl, a moment before. He was no longer around, same for the girl. The reason for their departure didn’t require much imagination. Only Garreth was still sitting at the table, his nose buried in a book. I never thought he was the bookworm kind of guy, but apparently he was. Contrary to his brother, I never saw him talking to a girl—even if a lot of them tried to attract his attention. I heard a girl say that he was too handsome not to be gay—I didn’t get the logic in that. Personally, I just thought he has someone in his former town or wasn’t interested in any girl here. But remembering his reaction when he understood that he was the cause of my fainting, maybe he indeed was. Such a pity for the female gender if it were true, I told myself, the thought coming out of nowhere.
    “What?” I asked, not understanding what she wanted me to look at.
    “He looked at us, a few seconds ago,” she whispered in my ear.
    “Who?” I inquired, foolishly.
    “Garreth, of course.”
    “So what?”
    She lifted her brows, an expression that meant, “You know very well what I mean.”
    “Maybe he was looking for his sister,” I retorted, silently blaming Leighton for putting such stupid ideas in her head.
    “Unless his sister is much like you or he has big eyesight issues, I lean towards the assumption that he was eyeing you up.”
    I could not help but laugh at this nonsense. Garreth? Looking at me? Last time I checked, we weren’t in The Twilight Zone . Hayden glared at me with her chocolate brown eyes.
    “I’m sorry I laughed,” I declared when I was calmer. “Seriously... you’re wrong. He was just looking for his sister,” I added.
    “If you say so,” she gave in with a casual shrug of the shoulders. “But when you get together, I’ll remind you of this moment.”
    Holding a new laugh, I nodded in response. I didn’t need to argue, I knew already that it would never happen. Even so, I had to admit, a small part of me had imagined it and had even hoped for it, in recent weeks. But ultimately, it was better this way.
    I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of stuff. Besides I always wondered about their family. They lived with their aunt and uncle, who were their legal guardians, but I still didn’t understand why they came here -- so far from where they lived before. When I asked Leighton questions, she just told me they wanted to start fresh. Then, each time, she quickly switched the conversation to another subject. I wasn’t fooled: this was all lies. The more time I spent with them, the more I thought there was something wrong about the Wates’ family. The fact that they hung out with us, with me in particular, reinforced this feeling. I wasn’t good company since the death of Tess and yet here they were always there, near me.
    “Uh um,” my friend overly coughed before giving me an unmistakable look and turning her attention to Garreth’s table.
    Wearily, I sighed and threw a glance in his direction. The evidence that Hayden rambled was that Garreth didn’t look at us and seemed always absorbed in his reading. In observing him more, I noticed his tight jaw. What got into him? It couldn’t be his reading that put him in such a state or he should change his book. Again, the more I watched him, the more the need to run away from him overwhelmed me. Suddenly, no longer able to endure it, I exclaimed:
    “Can we go out and get some fresh air?”
    Hayden appeared suspicious but eventually, she gave me a small nod in approval. I took my bag and headed for the exit without looking at him, Hayden on my heels. It was absolutely necessary to stop letting myself be surprised by that boy. He turned my brain upside down and most importantly, I felt that something was wrong with him. I reacted at his sight like a moth when seeing the light of a flame. He was dangerously attractive and I had to fight against the urge to approach him. But