Free Shifting (Swans Landing) by Shana Norris Page B

been able to focus.
    “No, it’s not,” Mara said. “I think we’re both really stressed and worried, and we’re taking it out on each other. Which isn’t a good thing. I like you, Dylan, and I want to be friends.”
    Friends. I would always be the friend.
    “I want to be friends too. I really didn’t mean anything by suggesting we share the bed. It was supposed to be a joke.”
    Mara sighed. “I guess I’m not in a joking mood these days. Sorry.”
    “I’m sorry for what I said.” I rolled my pencil back and forth on the table. “I don’t want Josh dead, you know.”
    Mara nodded. “I know.”
    A laugh nearby caught my attention. Beyond Mara’s shoulder, Elizabeth and Jackie walked through the library door. Elizabeth’s gaze caught mine for a moment, but then she looked away quickly as she headed toward the computers.
    Mara looked over her shoulder, then turned back to me, rolling her eyes. “The Swans Landing Witch is in full-force today. In gym class, she kept calling me Tuna.”
    Elizabeth sat down at the end of the row of computers. She leaned over to say something to Jackie and then laughed again.
    “Maybe she’s under a lot of stress too,” I said.
    Mara wrinkled her nose. “What has gotten into you lately?”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “That’s the second time in two weeks you’ve defended Elizabeth Connors.”
    If I wasn’t careful, Mara would figure out something had happened between Elizabeth and me. And on an island as small as Swans Landing, secrets were hard to keep. If one person could figure it out, eventually everyone would.
    But did it matter anymore?
    “Maybe I’m tired of fighting with humans,” I said.
    “We’re not talking about humans,” Mara told me. “We’re talking about Elizabeth Connors. She’s an entirely different species of her own.”
    As if on cue, Elizabeth and Jackie got up from the computers. They turned our way, Elizabeth leading the path toward our table, a smirk etched on her face.
    “Hello, Tuna,” she said to Mara. She barely glanced at me. “Fish Boy. I thought I smelled something rotten over here.”
    Mara sighed. “Your jokes are getting old, Elizabeth. Call me when you have some new material.”
    Elizabeth’s smirk deepened as she glared down at Mara. “What’s the matter? Upset your boyfriend ran off with a whale?”
    “I guess you’re still jealous that he chose me over you, huh?” Mara asked.
    Jackie sucked in a gasp, her eyes wide as she looked at Mara. “Don’t flatter yourself, Westray,” she said. “Elizabeth could have had Josh if she really wanted him.”
    Elizabeth tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I have better things to do than play around with fish.”
    My hand clenched around my pencil, but I bit my lip to keep from speaking.
    “Besides,” Elizabeth snarled, “it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s probably dead now. I always knew you people were shark bait.”
    Mara leaped from her chair, her nose an inch from Elizabeth’s. “One more word,” she growled in a low voice. “And you’ll get my foot up your—”
    “Girls,” Ms. Perez, the school librarian, hissed from her desk. “If you don’t break it up right now, you’ll all get a trip to the principal’s office.”
    Elizabeth stepped back, giving Mara one last smirk. “See you later, Tuna.”
    She turned, ignoring me as if I didn’t exist. I clenched my fist tighter, the pencil in my hand cracking. Don’t say anything.
    But I didn’t listen to my own advice.
    “Elizabeth,” I said.
    She stopped, her shoulders tensed. Jackie looked back at me, her eyebrows raised. Even Mara studied me with confusion etched on her face.
    It was several long moments before Elizabeth turned around to face me. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes held a hint of fear.
    “What do you want, Fish Boy?” Her voice dripped with contempt, as it always had whenever she spoke to me. She really was two entirely different people.
    “Tell your idiot boyfriend I