Free Chaos (Book 4) (The Omega Group) by Andrea Domanski Page B

caught.
    Broken glass lay all around Orano, along with splattered
paint and several markers. When he reached out to clean up the mess he would no
doubt be blamed for, the sun streaming in through the windows reflected off his
arm in a thousand tiny prisms.
    The jar smashed by the kickball had been full of glitter,
and it now covered Orano from head to toe. He swiped at his arms and shirt,
desperate to remove the glimmering stuff before being forced to rejoin his
tormentors in class. They would never let him hear the end of it if they saw
him like this. No matter how hard he tried, though, the glitter remained. His
day was about to get even worse.
    The door behind him opened, and Orano readied himself for
the chastising he would surely get from Mrs. Greer. But none came.
    “What happened?” a sweet voice asked.
    Orano turned around to see a tiny girl with red pigtails
standing in the open doorway, eyes wide.
    “Nothing,” he growled, still trying to wipe himself clean.
    Ignoring his hostile tone, the girl skipped over to him.
“You’re never going to get glitter off like that, silly. Come here.” She
grabbed a roll of packing tape from the teacher’s desk, tore off a long piece,
and wrapped it around her hand. When she patted his arm, the glitter stuck to
the tape, leaving nothing behind.
    Orano quickly snatched more tape and copied the girl’s
actions. Within a few minutes, his skin and clothing were clean.
    “See? Easy as pie. My name’s Gracey, by the way.” She
reached out her hand and waited patiently for him to respond.
    “I’m Orano,” he said as he shook her hand. “Thanks.”
    “No problem.” Gracey’s smile beamed brighter than the
glitter. “This is my first day. You wanna be friends?”
    Orano, dumbfounded that someone actually wanted to be his
friend, just stared at her.
    “You don’t talk much, do you? No matter, I talk enough for
the two of us. At least, that’s what my mom always says. Anyway, I need to get
to my locker. The bell’s going to ring soon and I don’t even know where I’m supposed
to go next. This place is so confusing. I’ll meet you at the front doors after
school so we can walk home together. See you then.”
    Orano stood silently as Gracey spun around and skipped out
of the room. Although he knew her desire to be his friend would disappear as soon
as she realized he was an outcast, that didn’t stop him from enjoying the
moment. When the bell rang, he walked into his next class sporting a rare grin.
    “You all right in there?”
    Gracey’s voice came through the bathroom door and brought
Orano back to the present. When he opened it, he saw her standing with her arms
crossed over her chest, wearing the same beaming smile she’d sported since
childhood.
    “Damn, Sparkles. How much time do you spend at the gym?” She
poked him several times on his bare chest with her finger. “Do you bench press
cars?”
    Orano sidestepped his way past her and climbed into bed,
closing his eyes.
    “Seriously? We haven’t seen each other in a decade and
you’re not even going to talk to me?”
    Her breath on his face told him she hadn’t followed his lead
and gone to bed like he’d hoped she would. When he opened his eyes, all he
could see was her crinkled nose and her tongue sticking out a few inches from
his face.
    “Very mature,” he said.
    “It worked, didn’t it? So, what have you been doing all
these years?” she asked.
    Orano took a deep, defeated breath and pushed himself to a
seated position. “After high school, I went to Middle Tennessee State
University. When I graduated, I moved to Jacksonville to work for Finley. I’ve
lived there ever since.”
    Gracey twisted her face into a scowl. “Very concise. I’m
glad to see you haven’t changed.”
    Orano felt a slight blush rise on his cheeks, something that
he remembered happening every time she called him out when they were kids.
“What about you? Where’s your husband?”
    “My what?” Gracey plopped