Free DIFFERENT (Different Series Book 1) by Erin J. Cross

didn’t want to think about Brandon. I still had the bruises on my arms that he’d caused, and the warning he’d just given me was swirling around in my head.
                  ‘Now Megan’s all cosy with Leo, you could put in a good word for me with her. You know, tell her how good I’d be for her brother and stuff. We could go double dating, or triple dating if you dated one of Brandon’s friends.’
                  ‘It’s never going to happen between you and Brandon. He is a horrible person. Besides, you’re just a silly little kid,’ I screamed at her.
                  She came to an abrupt halt and instantly started to cry.
                  ‘Look, Louisa, I’m sorry, okay?’ I pleaded.
                  ‘Just stay away from me,’ she sobbed out as she hurried up the road.
                  I stood there and watched her walk off until she was no longer in my sight. I’d managed to mess things up with the only person in this stupid town that I had left. I hadn’t made her harm herself or encased her in a box of fire; instead, I’d managed to hurt her just with my words. I’d hurt her by just being myself.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Six
     
    I arrived home to Gloria standing in the hallway, her arms folded and a serious expression on her perfectly made up face.
                  ‘Celeste, do you know why Louisa came home crying and has now barricaded herself in her bedroom?’ She confronted me as soon as I stepped inside. I hadn’t even had chance to take my shoes off. ‘Celeste?’ she repeated, after I stood there silently.
                  ‘It’s my fault, but I didn’t mean to upset her. I will go and talk to her now.’
                  ‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea. Just go to your room and I’ll deal with it.’
                  ‘I’m sure if I apologised she’d be okay.’
                  ‘No, Celeste, you’ve done enough damage. Just go to your room,’ Gloria snapped.
                  She’d never raised her voice before, and it caused a jolt of anger to rise up in me. I looked past Gloria at the large floral vase that was by the stairs, and it shattered into hundreds of pieces that scattered across the floor so that it now looked like an abstract piece of art.
                  ‘How did you do that?’ Gloria said, looking stunned.
                  ‘I didn’t, I was nowhere near it,’ I said before I started running up the stairs.
                  Gloria didn’t shout after me or follow me, and I didn’t blame her. I was a freak who’d come in and messed up her perfect family.
                  I closed my bedroom door behind me, fell onto my bed, and sobbed into my pillow. I hadn’t meant to break the vase. I’d just been so shocked by the way that Gloria had reacted, and I’d felt betrayed. I wasn’t Gloria’s daughter. I was just the outsider.
                  I fiddled with my phone and lingered over Leo’s number before I let out a sigh as I placed it down on my bedside cabinet. Leo was preoccupied with Megan, but even if he weren’t, I couldn’t tell him the truth about what I could do. He wouldn’t have believed me, so I’d have to show him, and then he’d be so terrified of me he’d never want to be around me ever again.
                  Whoever Finn was, he knew what I could do, yet he wasn’t afraid to talk to me. He seemed to know about me than I did, and I needed answers. I was going to meet him in the park later and I was going to find out the truth, even if I had to make him tell me it.
    ***
    I thought that sneaking out of the house would have been hard, but I guessed that the Prestons weren’t bothered about what I did tonight as long as I stayed out of their way.
                  I managed to