Free Keep it Secret by Olivia Snow Page A

she
stood next to a table in the middle of the room. She threw her arms
around me once we were close enough to each other.
    “Rough day so far?” She
asked sweetly.
    “Nothing I can't handle. How
are you?”
    “Do you remember that boy I
talked about?” She said, all in one single breath.
    “Yeah...” I nodded smiling.
She’s so freaking cute.
    “Well, I needed a gym credit
so I signed up for swimming. He’s the TA in my class!” She squealed
like a little piglet in mud I’ve never seen Vanessa act this way
before it was refreshing, not to mention funny as hell.
    “So? Who is he?” I asked
sitting down at the table Vanessa came from. Thing One and Thing
Two were nowhere in sight . Thank
God.
    “He just walked in.” Vanessa
whispered nodding towards the entrance. Gabriel and Talon had just
entered. Oh, no…oh, no.
    “His name is Gabriel
Mason.”

    Fuck. You.
Universe.
Chapter
Eight
    Vanessa

    “Since he's the swim team
captain the Headmistress offered him a teacher aide position as
extra credit. It'll look good on his college application.” I said
sort of rambling trying not to sound like a love-crazed schoolgirl.
My mouth clamped shut my eyes locking on Ava’s in horror as I
watched Gabriel and Talon walking in our direction.
    Oh my God they're coming
towards us!
    “Relax, Van. Don't be so
obvious play it cool.” Ava said. Sure, I’ll do that. How the hell
do I do that? Ugh. I felt so silly being this freaked out over a
boy, was this normal?
    “Hello, Ava.” Talon Hunter
said just as he and Gabriel reached our table. How did he know Ava?
I wondered if they had a class together.
    “Hello, Talon, Gabriel.” Ava
greeted. “This is my cousin, Vanessa.” She signaled with her head
towards me.
    “Wow. You’re related to
Vanessa Saint John? Damn, I can see that unattainability runs in
the family.” Talon said. Wait…what? I’m unattainable? Since when?
The confusion is obviously painted all over my face because Ava
gave me a wide-eyed-what-the-fudge look. I shrug involuntarily. In
response to Talon’s comment, Gabriel glances at me with a strange
look in his eyes. Like it was the first time he’d ever seen me his
stare gave me butterflies in my stomach. But these were not your
average dainty winged type butterflies these were massive winged
pterodactyl type creatures. My skull began to prickle I felt my
face starting to burn up. Dear God, this was so
embarrassing.
    “To what do we owe the
pleasure, gentlemen?” Ava asked trying to distract them from my
idiotic blush. She was trying to keep the attention on her so I
wouldn't be humiliated. She’s awesome,
right? Before either of them could answer,
Katherine Alexander or Katy as she likes to be called walked up,
hatred spewing from her pores. My mind wandered back to her twelfth
birthday when she first gave me an equally impressive look of
dislike after I accidentally on purpose ruined her cake. But
really, it was totally an accident.
    “Aren’t you guys going to
introduce me to your new friend?” She gave Talon and Gabriel a
flirty smile twirling a long blonde strand of hair with her finger.
I wonder if that actually worked on guys.
    “Katy, what are you doing?”
Gabriel warned.
    “Nothing, Gabe, I’m just
wondering who your new friend is. Her cheap knock offs tell me
she’s not from around here, obviously . Made me wonder why you're
over here slumming it?” Her tone is no longer flirty. Redirecting
her nastiness to me she said. “Oh, but wait she is sitting with
Vanessa, I guess Mr. Saint John finally picked a charity
case.”
    I saw the look in Ava's
eyes, her jaw clenched she struggled to keep quiet. Luckily, her
back was to Katy so she wasn’t able to see what nasty looks she was
giving us. Like it made a difference because suddenly Ava twirled
around on her seat standing up inches away from Katy’s
face.
    Oh, no.
    Frantically, I stood up
terrified of what Ava might do or say. She’s always been