Breed of Envy (The Breed Chronicles, #02) (7 page)

It was better this way. Class was about over anyway, so I’d just talk to Mr. Sheldon about it if I still had problems next week.

When class was over, Linc eyed me as he rose from his seat. “What, did you break your tablet already?”

I frowned. “No. I just decided to take a break,” I half-lied. Technically, the tablet had decided I needed a break, but then I’d decided it was right.

He pretty much shook his head at me the entire elevator ride down to the first floor. He hadn’t actually said anything since Demonology, but he was giving me
the look
. The one that said he was silently mocking me in his mind. “Oh, shut up,” I muttered under my breath and stepped off the elevator.

Someone’s shoulder bumped into mine. I twisted around to see whom I’d hit and to apologize, but the words died on my tongue as I found four girls glaring at me. Felecia’s old friends, the ones I’d almost walked into last week. (Tasha had pointed them out to me again the next time we’d seen them and told me who was who.)

The girl closest to me—Rachel Clarkson—tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. She was a few inches taller than I was, had mean, dark brown eyes, and a pierced eyebrow. “Oh, look,” she drawled slowly, sneering at me. “If it isn’t Director Greene’s little pet Prospect who got Felecia kicked out.”

The other three girls didn’t say anything, just snickered at Rachel’s words. Rachel was, apparently, their new leader or whatever.

Leslie Howland was a Felecia look-alike, with her blue-eyed death glares and black hair. Kristina Ray had dark, auburn hair and green eyes that rolled whenever I looked at her.

At the back, standing behind them, was the fourth girl—the P1 from my Orientation. I’d overheard someone talking to her, so now I knew her name was Amber Marshall. She was shorter than the others, pencil thin, and had pale blonde hair and dark green eyes. She looked unsure of her place and reminded me a little of one of the girls from The Pond—Jennifer. Jennifer wasn’t—or hadn’t been—all that bad when she’d first gotten to The Pond, but she’d wanted to fit in so much (or avoid getting her butt kicked) that she’d started to follow the others around without question, which meant she turned into a fight-ready snob.

The Marshall girl didn’t look like she was a snob yet, but if she hung around Felecia’s gang for too long she’d turn into one. I almost felt sorry for her.

Shaking my head, I said, “Yup, that’s right. I’m the one Felecia almost got killed twice, yet I’m the bad guy. I know you guys have to defend her honor or whatever, but it happened two months ago.” Actually, I was surprised they hadn’t started this sooner. Maybe after Greene’s no-second-chances speech, they’d decided to let some time pass. “And for the record, I didn’t ask for her to be kicked out.”

I hadn’t, and probably wouldn’t have. The first time she almost got me killed (with the whole prank-gone-wrong demon-escape thing), I’d almost hoped for it. The second time had been…I didn’t want to call it an accident, but it hadn’t been like the first time. She’d acted stupid and, instead of almost getting herself killed, I’d been the one to pay the price by getting attacked by a vampire.

Either someone forgot to tell these chicks that or they just didn’t care. Considering everyone here knew everyone else’s business, I was guessing the latter. Plus, they’d hung out with Felecia—obviously they had weird taste in friends.

Beside me, Linc muttered something under his breath, grabbed a hold of my arm, and marched out of the elevator. He lost his grip when, instead of getting out the way, the girls moved in and blocked my path.

“Just back off,” I said, resigned. Why did someone—or something—always want to fight me? The Sharphinx demon, Felecia, the Sharphinx demon again, Felecia again, vampires. And now more crazy-like-Felecia chicks.

If I really was a magnet for trouble, how the hell did I get rid of the magnet part?

“Look, I’m sorry your friend got kicked out, but it’s not my fault or my problem. And I’m the one who saved
her
from getting chewed on like a little vamp chew toy. Isn’t expulsion or whatever better than death by vampire?” I wasn’t mentioning the saving thing to sound conceited or anything. I only brought it up because had I not wanted Felecia around, I could’ve solved my problems right then and there. Of course, that would’ve been a slightly twisted and murderous way to go about it…

Shut up, Jade
, I said to myself. Sometimes I had a big mouth, even if it was an internal one.

I hadn’t really expected my words to have any effect on them, which was good, because they didn’t. They were still in full-on glare mode. Well, most of them. The fourth girl, the one who’d looked unsure what to do before, now she just looked scared.

Behind them all, Linc looked ready to fight (or probably defend, since I didn’t think he’d hit a girl (except me), even if one of them hit him first). Or, worse, he looked ready to go get a teacher. I sighed and, instead of saying anything else to the girls and wasting even more of my breath, just shoved by them.

For two and a half seconds, I thought they’d be smarter than Felecia and not try to attack me when my back was turned, but I heard their footsteps and whirled around. I saw Peter walking up, shaking his head. A slow smile curled my lips.

They didn’t know he was coming, so Rachel thought I was trying to be cute or something. It was really petty, and probably kind of stupid, but I almost hoped one of them would throw a punch.

Peter stopped when he reached us. There was a moment’s pause, like he too was trying to see what they’d do. Most of them looked ready to throw a punch but none did.

“Is there a problem, ladies?” Peter asked, his tone laughing.

All the girls jumped. Quickly, Rachel whirled around, and in a sweet tone, said, “No. No problem.”

I rolled my eyes. Linc did, too.

Peter locked gazes with me. “Jade?”

“There’s no problem.” It wasn’t a lie…exactly. Right now, there wasn’t a problem, though I was willing to bet there’d be one soon. If not today, then tomorrow, or next week.

Rachel and her group stormed away in the opposite direction. They made it a few steps before they all—minus Unsure/Scared girl—glanced over their shoulders. One of them flipped me off. I just shook my head.

Peter turned around long enough to look for the girls, but they were already gone, probably off planning their next attack.

C
HAPTER 04

“Do you look for trouble, or do you have some invisible tattoo somewhere that asks for it?” Peter said.

My jaw dropped open. “I don’t ask for trouble! I’m nice.” I tossed my hands to my hips. Linc snorted, so I proved my I’m-nice theory by slugging him in the shoulder. “See?”

“Then what’s going on, Jade?” Peter looked down at me and I could see concern in his eyes.

I made a face but didn’t answer immediately. Linc, either thinking I was taking too long (true) or that I wouldn’t answer at all (also probably true), said, “They’re Felecia’s friends. They blame Jade for getting her kicked out.”

“I didn’t get her kicked out,” I mumbled. Why was that such a hard concept for people to understand?

“Sorry. For
her
getting herself kicked out, then,” Linc corrected in a you’re-a-pain-in-my-butt-Jade tone.

Peter nodded. “I see.”

“It’s not a big deal. I’m used to bullies.” Heck, compared to the girls from The Pond (aka The Tadpoles, as I so aptly named them), the girls here were downright pleasant. Mostly, anyway.

“Do I need to talk to Director Greene about this?”

“Only if you hate me.”

Peter blinked, as if my words hadn’t sunk in yet, and then his brown eyes lit up and he laughed like it was the best joke of the century. “Thanks. I needed a good laugh.” His gaze moved away from me for a second, then back. “Look, I’ll make you a deal. We won’t talk to Director Greene about this now, but if they get worse, come find me and tell me. We’ll keep the director out of it if we can, since I’m sure it’d only make things worse.”

“It would. Greene tried talking to Felecia about her crap last Phase and it only pissed her off more.”

“So, do we have a deal?” He held out his hand.

I grabbed his hand and shook it. “Deal.”

“Good.” His gaze went to Linc. “Keep her out of trouble.” He winked, waved, then walked away.

Linc moved in front of me. He tilted his head to the side and shot me a wicked grin. “You know, I think that was basically permission to boss you around some more.” He latched onto my arm and started to drag me away. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t argue or resist—what would’ve been the point?—or even point out his use of
some more
, like he’d been given permission for it before, because he hadn’t. He didn’t wait for it.

If he would’ve been a jerk boss, in the I-control-you type way, I would’ve kicked his ass. He only got away with it because he actually meant well and only bossed me around when I forgot to eat, or, you know, sleep.

But if he woke me up before six in the morning again, I was going to rethink the kick-his-ass part.

*~*~*

Friday wasn’t my best day. I spent the whole week
not
looking forward to it and hoping someone, somewhere, had invented a machine to skip days. Sadly, when I woke up, it was Friday, which meant that invention hadn’t been invented yet and I still had an appointment with Doc. I wasn’t sure what ‘time-consuming’ physical tests Greene wanted her to run, but I really wasn’t looking forward to them, especially if Doc wouldn’t let Linc stay.

My appointment was in thirty minutes and I was dressed comfortably in workout clothes, as directed by Greene. Yesterday, when Greene told me to wear workout clothes, he also told me not to eat or drink anything after midnight, so my stomach was rumbling embarrassingly loud. I was starving. If this test or tests (I wasn’t actually sure what or how many there’d be) lasted too long, I’d be forced to chew my arm off.

Walking to my window, I looked outside. The South Tower still had that wall thing around the entrances so I couldn’t see anything past it (they were roofed too, so even though I was on the fourth floor and should’ve been able to see over them, I couldn’t). There were still big trucks parked out front, backed up until they were just under the edge of the fence line and out of sight.

When I’d woken up at seven that morning, the construction had already been in full swing if the sounds were any kind of indication. Though I still couldn’t figure out why they had to guard the entrances and make it impossible to see anything other than the men who came and went throughout the morning.

“Probably more torturing devices,” I mumbled to myself, turning away from the window since I couldn’t see anything interesting.

My stomach grumbled again as a knock sounded at my door. I shhh’d my stomach on the way to open the door. I found Linc standing outside, leaning against the wall carelessly. “’Bout ready?”

“To escape? Yes. For the other stuff? Not so much. Oh! Maybe we can get you a wig and you can pretend to be me.”

He made a yeah-right sound. “I’ve dressed as a girl exactly once, and that was for Halloween two years ago. Never again, not even for you, Hall.”

My heart thudded against my chest at the mention of Halloween two years ago. I cleared my throat, turned away from Linc, and squeezed my eyes shut. “Well, you’re no fun,” I said after a second, hoping my tone wasn’t as strained as it felt. I went to my desk and grabbed my ID. Turning back, I plastered on a fake smile. “Ready.”

His blue eyes narrowed. “You okay?”

I nodded quickly. “Yeah, fine.” I walked out of the room and shut the door behind me. “Let’s get this over with. I’m going to need food soon.”

My pace was fast and I refused to meet his eyes, so there was no question in my mind that he knew something was wrong. But he didn’t question it again. That was something I liked about Linc. Even if he knew something was wrong with me, he’d ask once, and if I didn’t say, he’d just wait until I told him. Probably because he figured I would eventually.

But this time, I wasn’t sure if I could tell him or if I really wanted to.

Everyone was so excited about Halloween, because it was apparently a big production at the CGE. How could I ruin that for everyone else? How could I ruin it for Linc and Tasha, my two best friends?

And how did I—or could I—casually bring up the fact that my mom and brother had died on Halloween, and that this coming Halloween would mark the second year since they died?

I didn’t know how to say anything, or if I really even wanted to, so I didn’t try, and ended up staying quiet on the way to see Doc. Thankfully, it wasn’t that far of a trip and by the time we reached Doc’s office, I’d mostly distracted myself with the stupid tests I was there to have done.

“Hey, Jade. Linc,” Doc said in greeting when she answered the door. “Come on in.”

Doc started Linc’s blood work first. I couldn’t sit and watch or I’d make myself sick, so I roamed the room. It’d barely been five minutes before I heard, “We’re going to another room.”

“What?” I groaned and spared Linc a glance. “I have to get scanned again?”