Keep Breathing (20 page)

About the Author

http://alexiaepurdy.blogspot.com

IndieInked.com

Alexia currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada–Sin City! She loves to spend every free moment writing or playing with her four rambunctious kids. Writing has always been her dream and she has been writing ever since she can remember. She loves writing paranormal fantasy and poetry and devours books daily. Alexia also enjoys watching movies, dancing, singing loudly in the car and Italian food.

Books by Alexia Purdy

Reign of Blood

Disarming (Reign of Blood #2)

Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1)

Ever Fire (A Dark Faerie Tale #2)

Ever Winter (A Dark Faerie Tale #3)

Omnibus:

A Dark Faerie Tale Series Omnibus

Short Stories:

Evangeline (A Dark Faerie Tale #0.5)

The Cursed (A Dark Faerie Tale #3.5

The Faery Hunt

Never Say Such Things

Poetic Collections:

Whispers of Dreams

Five Fathoms

Anthology:

Beyond the Never

Soul Games

Faery Worlds

Dangerous Shades of YA

Connect with Alexia Purdy

Alexia Purdy’s Blog

Twitter

@AlexiaPurdy

Goodreads Author page

Alexia Purdy’s Facebook Fan Page

Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale) Facebook Fan page

Reign of Blood Series Facebook Fan Page

By

Komal Kant

Lincoln

I felt like an exhibit at the zoo. Or a side show act at the circus. Or one of those toddlers with a leash backpack.

Everyone was staring at me like I didn’t belong here.

Which made sense because I really didn’t belong here. I was the new boy. New in school, new in town.

I was trying real hard not to let it get to me. I’d told myself that it didn’t matter what the kids at Statlen High thought of me, but the irregular twisting in my stomach indicated otherwise. I was nervous as hell, whether I wanted to be or not.

“They dress so
plain
here,” my twin sister, Becky, said from beside me, her voice dripping with disdain.

We walked into a large courtyard that had benches placed in the center. A low wall ran around the edge of the area and, aside from the shrubbery growing beyond the wall, the surroundings were pretty bare. The students were milling around in small groups, openly staring at us like we’d just stepped off the mother ship.

I stopped to glare at her. “It’s high school, not a damn runway.”

“Whatever, Link,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You have, like, no
la moda
.”

Her terrible French accent rattled my nerves, and I resisted the urge to strangle her. “It’s
la mode
.”

“It doesn’t matter what it’s called,” she snapped, flipping her dark brown hair over a shoulder. “What matters is
you
don’t have it.”

This time I chose to ignore her because her vain talk made me want to kick myself in the face.

Brown hair and blue eyes was just about the only thing my sister and I had in common. There were all these theories that twins had some special bond, but obviously that twin bond had skipped Becky and me because we couldn’t be any more different if we tried.

Becky was obsessed with her reflection. She was always putting on way too much make-up and trying to impress guys. Popularity was equally as important to her. She had been somewhere around the middle of the social scale at our last school, but I knew she was determined to change that here. She was like a vulture, hungry to be a Queen Bee or whatever those girls called it.

As for me, being on the football team had automatically put me on top of the social scale. Eventually, I’d lost interest in that kind of stuff and realized that there were more important things in life than bragging about how many girls I’d slept with in a week. It was complete crap and something that didn’t matter to me anymore.

I wasn’t interested in making friends or impressing anyone. I was here to get through my senior year with as little trouble as possible. There would be no interacting with anyone and no socializing unless it was completely necessary, and then I was out of here.

But, damn, I wish these knots in my stomach would disappear.

When it became clear that Becky was going to be no help in finding the Admin office—she was already sidling her way towards a bunch of jocks—I began to study the red-brick buildings, trying to figure out where the Admin office was. They all looked the same, and the letters on the buildings gave no indication as to their purpose.

At my last school, there were signs everywhere directing you to the various buildings, but my old school had been a lot bigger. Heck, I was pretty sure my old school had been bigger than this entire town.

Swearing underneath my breath, I took a step back and slammed hard against someone. There was a squeal, and I recoiled as hot liquid seeped down my back.

“Hey!” I cried, spinning around to face the idiot who’d run into me.

When I couldn’t find the perpetrator at my five-foot-eleven line of sight, I lowered my gaze. And lowered it. And lowered it.

A girl, who couldn’t have been more than five-foot tall, was looking up at me with scorn on her face, and gripping a cup of coffee like it was a weapon. She was slim, with brown hair that was swept back in a messy ponytail and chestnut brown eyes that stared at me fiercely. She’d also spilled the coffee all down the front of her sweater, staining the light blue fabric.

“Watch where you’re going!” she snapped.

I was taken aback by the hostility in her tone and stepped back, folding my arms across my chest. “You’re the one who knocked into me. Do you need your eyes checked or something?”

Her lips gave an angry twitch. “What sane person walks backwards? Maybe you need your legs checked.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. “You wanna check them for me?”

Two pink spots appeared on her cheeks, and she gave me a look intended to kill. “No, I do not want to check your legs, you perverted
jock
!”

She threw that last word at me like it was an insult. Did she have something against jocks? I mean, sure I’d been a jock once, but I wasn’t any more so it didn’t offend me nearly as much as she’d probably intended.

I leaned in closer, tilting my head to the side. “You probably aren’t the best person to be checking out my legs anyway since you have eye problems.”

Her face turned bright red. Before she could throw another insult at me, Becky was back at my side. Judging from the sour look on her face, Becky wasn’t impressed by the coffee assailant. And, despite not wanting to socialize with anyone, I actually was impressed by the infuriated girl standing in front of me.

There was no falling over herself to talk to me, no fawning, no flirting. Just those qualities alone made me want to know her. Even though I didn’t want to get close to anyone.

Yeah, I wasn’t off to such a great start.

“Is that guy looking at me?” Becky asked, her voice high and pitchy

I didn’t bother turning around. I didn’t give a damn which guy had already caught her eye. “Does it look like I care?”

“Just turn around and tell me!” she said with a pout.

There was no way I was going to turn around.

“He probably is.” The coffee assailant was the one who’d spoken.

Becky finally acknowledged the girl’s existence. “Really? You think so? How can you tell?”

“Because he’s my boyfriend and he likes to make out with girls who aren’t me.” The girl didn’t bat an eye.

Surprise flooded me. I turned around to find the guy they were talking about. He looked like the typical jock-type—tall, strong build, and dark blonde hair.
She
was dating
him
? But he was cheating on her? Was that why she didn’t like the jock-type?

Don’t get me wrong, she was a pretty girl. She just didn’t seem like the kind of girl to go for a guy like that. Not that I knew anything about her or the type of girl she was. My type had always been the easy type because, well, they were easy.

“He’s
your
boyfriend?” Becky asked in disbelief, echoing my thoughts on a rare occasion.

“No, I was joking. He’s not my anything.” The girl’s expression grew dark as she pursed her lips. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

She hurried past us and I watched her walk away, unable to take my eyes off the strange girl. I could not figure her out.

“You know you have coffee on the back of your shirt?” Becky stated a matter-of-factly.

***

The Admin office was nothing more than a desk with an elderly lady stationed behind it. Beside her desk was a door that said ‘Principal’s Office’. She barely glanced up as we approached the desk and stood in front of her, waiting to be noticed.

“Excuse me?” I finally said, when I couldn’t take the waiting any longer.

She looked up at me questioningly. “Yes, what is it?”

“This is me and my sister’s first day.” I gestured between Becky and me. “We have an appointment with the principal.”

She typed something into her computer and looked back at me, her brows rising in interest. “Lincoln and Rebecca Bracks? You’re
twins
?”

I nodded, accustomed to this kind of reaction. Over the years, we’d encountered plenty of people who were fascinated with us because we were twins. As soon as they found out this little fact about us, you could see their brain working as they tried to find similarities in our appearances.

“I can see the resemblance,” she said, as her eyes glided between Becky and me.

Well, obviously.

“So, can we see the principal?” Becky asked with a yawn. I could tell she was already over this conversation.

The lady nodded, still eyeing us with interest. “Just go right in. The principal is waiting for you.”

Glad to get away from her probing gaze, I opened up the door to the right and we stepped into the small office.

An aging man was leaning against a large desk speaking to two girls who had their backs to us. The man straightened up as we entered and approached us in two long strides. He stuck out his hand, which Becky and I shook in turn. “Lincoln and Rebecca Bracks? The twins?”

I groaned inwardly as Becky nodded. “Yep, the twins,” she echoed dryly.

“I’m Principal Lawson and this is Askance Logan and Hadie Swinton. They’re going to be your buddies for the week.”

Both girls turned around and my stomach dropped. The girl on the left was very attractive, like she belonged on the pages of a magazine instead of in this small town high school. She had dark brown hair in curls that would’ve made her look cute if she didn’t have a sneer on her face. She was tall, slim, with eyes as blue as mine.

When her gaze fell on me, her eyes glittered. The look she was giving me made me feel like I was a piece of meat.

The other girl I recognized all too well. It was the girl who’d spilled her coffee on me only minutes ago. She’d taken off her sweater and was wearing a tan colored shirt that had a light coffee stain on it, though it wasn’t too obvious since it was only a shade darker than her shirt.

She shot me a look of pure loathing that surprised me. I wondered what her deal was. Did she hate me that much for knocking into her?

The other girl flipped her long locks over her shoulder as her eyes zoned into me. She flashed me a flirtatious grin. “Call me Kance.”

“And you can call me Becky.” The glee in my sister’s voice was evident. She had finally found the type of girl she wanted to be friends with.

This Kance girl was of no interest to me. I knew plenty of girls like her. I’d dated plenty of girls like her and they were mostly the same—obsessed with their appearance, being popular, and dating boys. They had no depth or substance to them and they made me yawn.

On the other hand, the coffee assailant was another story. It was impossible to ignore that look she was giving me, as though I’d done something to personally offend her. She was intriguing, and so was that name of hers.

“You’re Hades?” I asked, wondering who the heck would name their kid that. “Like the God of the Underworld?”

“How nice. You know basic Greek mythology,” she retorted, and then said one word that made no sense to me. “Hadassah.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You’re a hairdresser?”

Her bottom lip curled. “That’s my name. Ha-DAhs-sah. That’s where my nickname, Hadie, comes from.”

Wow. No wonder the poor girl was in such a bad mood. If my parents had named me Hadassah, I would’ve sued them.

Kance smirked at our exchange. “Hadassah is such a
precious
name.” It was pretty obvious that she meant otherwise. “I can’t imagine why Bennett didn’t stick around to play with you.”

Whoa. What was that all about? Who was this Bennett guy?

Ignoring Kance completely, Hadie crossed her arms and turned to Principal Lawson, her face a mask of fury. “Sir, are you sure there’s no one else who can do this?”

Principal Lawson frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Hadie. You volunteered for this, and it may not be enjoyable for you, but at least it counts towards extra credit.”

Great. So the weird-named girl was doing this for extra credit. And they were talking about me like I was some annoying chore that had to be taken care of.

I cleared my throat to remind them that I was still standing here. “I don’t need anyone to babysit me. Just give me my schedule and a map and I’ll be fine.”

Principal Lawson looked like he was seriously considering my request, but he ended up shaking his head. “I’m afraid that’s not the policy of our school. We want you to feel as welcome as possible.”

“I’d be more than happy to take care of Lincoln,” Kance jumped in.

“I’m sorry, Askance, but I’ve already assigned you to Becky. Hadie is Lincoln’s buddy for the rest of the week.”

Becky seemed thrilled by this. “Trust me, Link is a total bore. We’ll have way more fun together, Kance.”

Kance gave Becky a look as though she highly doubted this, but plastered a fake smile on her face. “Sure, we will.”

Hadie turned to me in surprise. “You named yourself after a boy who dresses in green and rescues princesses?”

I gave her a non-committal shrug which seemed to infuriate her even more, because she physically turned away from me as though she couldn’t stand to look at me.