The Soul's Mark: FOUND (9 page)

“Hello,
Amelia.
 
I’m Doug and you’ve already met
my Jessica.”
 
He stepped forward out of
the crowd and Jessica dropped Amelia’s hands.
 
He was taller than Amelia but not by much and he had a deep tan.
 
The kind of tan you could only get by
spending hours out in the sun.
 
He had on
a white button up dress shirt with a tie and black slacks, a bit formal for a
Saturday, but Amelia quickly noticed that all the men were in the same sort of
get-up.
 
He gave Jessica a look that made
Amelia blush.
 
It was the kind of look
that should be private, filled with raw passion, devotion and pure love.
 
His eyes lingered on her for a moment, before
turning back to Amelia.
 
“Aren’t you a
cute little
thing!
”

“Um, thanks I
guess,” Amelia said, thrown for a loop.
 
What was wrong with this town?
 
The idea of spending the day studying was looking better every minute.

“Look at her
hair,” another girl said, stepping out from the crowd.
 
She was tall with an hourglass figure and
looked like she had just stepped off the runway.
 
Everything about her
shined, from her long silky black hair right down to her patent leather bright
red heels.
 
She took one of
Amelia’s hands and examined it closely.
 
“And oh my God, she’s a biter.
 
Those fingernails are hideous.”
 
She put her hands on her hips, drumming her perfectly polished
fingernails against them, and looked Amelia over with a scowl.
 
“And what in the world are you wearing?
 
How could you possibly think that yoga pants
and a baggy sweater are flattering?”

“Wow, did you
really just say that?”
 
Amelia said,
looking the girl over.
 
Who did she think
she was?

“I’m Fiona by the
way,” the rude girl said.
 
“And we won’t
be seen with you if you don’t make an effort Amelia.
 
You aren’t some trailer trash anymore.
 
You are one of us now and you need to act
like it.”

Amelia
bristled.
 
“You seriously need to back
off.”

“I could give her
a manicure,” Jessica offered timidly, looking back and forth between Fiona and
Amelia as if she was waiting for the claws to come out.

“And I might be
able to do something with this frizzy mess,” another girl said from behind
Fiona.
 
She stepped out and gave an
apologetic smile to Amelia.
 
She looked
like a knock-off of Fiona: same hairstyle, same clothes, and same make-up.
 
The only difference was that while Fiona was
hard looking and mean, this girl looked… friendly.
 
“I’m Amber,” she introduced herself.

“Now ladies,”
Eric said, strolling in and draping an arm around Amelia’s shoulder.
 
“Millie looks just fine.”

“
Right,
and you would know,” Fiona sneered, and Eric laughed,
putting up his hands in surrender.

He winked at
Amelia and mouthed
I tried
and then
sauntered off to the gathered crowd of people, who were watching the girls, all
with amused smiles.

“There’s nothing
wrong with the way I look,” Amelia said through clenched teeth.
 
What kind of guests came into someone’s home
and acted this way?

“Amelia, you’re a
VIP now,” Fiona said, wagging a finger at her like she was a child that needed
to be reprimanded.
 
“You can’t be seen in
the community looking like… like you just rolled in from the streets.”

Amelia looked at
Angelle for help.
 
“Don’t look at me,”
she said, her overly bright smile plastered on her face.
 
“I think it’s a good idea.
 
You never know, you might actually have fun.”

With Angelle’s
okay on the situation, the three girls grabbed Amelia and dragged her off,
promising she would look like a beauty queen when they were done with her.

There were twenty-two houses on the gated
street, Amelia found out, all owned by Mr. Lang.

After the three hour makeover, which she
had to admit was fun, Amelia was set in the living room like an expensive
museum piece on display.
 
For two days,
the residents of the little community came to meet her.
 
They all fawned over her, telling her how
pretty she was, which was crazy.
 
Amelia
had never seen so many flawless looking people in one place and she couldn’t
help but wonder if they all used the same plastic surgeon, because no one could
look as perfect as they did.
 
It just
wasn’t natural.

While on display, Amelia had also found out
that all of the people in the little gated complex worked for Mr. Lang in one
way or another, since he really did own most of the establishments in
town.
 
It was mind-boggling; she wondered
how old he was.
 
She had assumed that he
was the same age as her roommates, but that would make him too young to be as
important as he was.
 
Maybe it was family
money?
 
Whatever it was, she was getting
more and more nervous about meeting him.

When Monday morning finally rolled around,
Amelia jumped for joy because she couldn’t take much more of the meet and greet
that had been happening all weekend.
 
She
just couldn’t understand why any of them cared about her.
 
Was it normal for neighbors to make such a
big deal about a poor scholarship kid moving in?

If she had hoped that the buzz would die
down, she was mistaken.
 
As soon as
Amelia hopped out of the car at the University, people flocked to her as if she
was some kind of rock star.
 
She soon
found out that the majority of them had grown up in Willowberg or had been
around long enough to know who Mr. Lang was, but their excitement was rubbing
off on the other students and before long, everyone wanted a chance to meet
her.

When her first lecture started, Amelia had
never been so happy to listen to the monotone drone of her professor, who
clearly wanted to be anywhere but teaching.
 
Professor Patterson started right into the what-you-can-expect
speech.
 
He went through the lectures,
the labs, the assignments, and the grading system he used.
 
He told when everything would be due, and
explained his no make-up policy.
 
Basically, no make-ups unless you are dead and then you don’t need
to make anything up anyways.

People stared at her throughout the
class.
 
Amelia had thought she would be
used to it by now.
 
People always stared
at her.
 
But this was different.
 
They weren’t staring at her because she was
new; it was because of whom she lived with.

The three-hour lecture ended too soon.
 
Amelia didn’t rush out because she really
wasn’t ready to smile and meet more people.
 
She stayed put, finishing up her notes, and tried not to notice the line
of people who were waiting for her.

“What are you guys staring at?” snapped a
female voice.
 
“Have you never seen
someone writing notes before?
 
Shoo.
 
You vultures need to find somewhere else to
be.
 
Nothing to see
here.”

Amelia’s eyes snapped up to see the girl
she had met shopping.
 
The
one who had given her the rose.
 
She searched her brain, trying to remember her name.
 
Erin?
 
Yes, she was pretty sure it was Erin who was expertly dismissing the
gawkers.

Once Erin had herded the last of them out
the door, she plopped down next to Amelia.
 
“It’s worse than I thought,” Erin said, grinning.

“Yeah, you really weren’t kidding about the
celebrity thing,” Amelia sighed.
 
“I just
don’t get it.
 
I’m just a scholarship
student.
 
I’m not important.”

Erin’s grin faded and she looked Amelia
over as if she was crazy.
 
Had she said
something wrong?
 
If she had, Amelia
didn’t know what.
 
After a long moment,
Erin’s grin returned and she shrugged.
 
“It just goes with the territory.
 
You live with the rich kids and
well,
most of
us don’t get to see them.
 
They’re all
pretty secretive and keep to themselves so you’re like the shiny toy and
everyone wants to see what’s behind the gate.”

“Well it sucks,” Amelia groaned.
 
“I don’t think I like this popularity thing
very much.”

Erin laughed and rolled her eyes.
 
“You better get used to it ‘
cause
it’s only gonna get worse.
 
Let’s go grab something to eat before the
next class.
 
I can sneak you into the cafeteria
without anyone seeing you.”

Erin kept her word and managed to get
Amelia to the cafeteria almost undetected.
 
They went through the library and down a service hall and ended up in
the back of the cafeteria before Amelia knew it.
 
It was frustrating that she had to hide and
sneak around.
 
She really wanted to see
the school, check out everything, but with the constant people or sneaking
around, she barely had a chance to explore.

Erin sat Amelia in a far corner shielded by
some fake trees and went off to order their lunch.
 
She returned with a couple of egg salad
sandwiches and bottles of water.
 
She
handed over a sandwich to Amelia and had just sat down when her eyes widened
and she groaned loudly, “Here comes the Barbie Squad.”

The Barbie Squad?
 
Amelia turned around scanning the room to see
what Erin was talking about and then giggled.
 
Fiona, flanked by Jessica and Amber, were heading straight for her, all
wearing identical and unflattering scowls.
 
And they did kind of look like Barbies.

“Amelia,” Jessica said, rushing over.
 
She blew delicate air kisses on either side
of Amelia’s cheeks and sat down beside her.

“Hi Jess,” Amelia said, forcing a
smile.
 
Couldn’t she just have a quiet
lunch?
 
The three of them looked magazine
perfect.
 
For most people their outfits
would have been everyday boring, but with their flawless skin and curvy figures
the low-rise jeans and snug turtleneck sweaters, all a slightly different shade
of purple, looked stunning.
 
Each wore a
sparkly diamond pendant around their neck.

Fiona and Amber didn’t bother to greet
Amelia; instead, they glared at Erin, a cold, hard glare that made Amelia’s
skin crawl.
 
“Did you forget what side of
the gate you’re from?” Fiona said.
 
“The
trash gathers over there.”

Before Amelia could say anything, Erin
jumped from her chair so quickly it clattered to the floor, and she got right
up in Fiona’s face.
 
“We aren’t behind
the gate, Fiona.
 
You’re on my turf now.”

“Amelia will not have lunch with the likes
of you,” Fiona sneered.
 
“Scram Erin, no
one here wants you.”
 
Annoyed, Fiona
shoved her hard, causing Erin to stumble back a step.

Frozen, Amelia watched, unable to believe
what she was seeing.
 
Erin struggled to
regain her footing.

A second of tense silence filled the air
before Erin said, “You better be careful, Fiona.
 
All that frowning is going to make you
wrinkle.”
 
Her lips twitched up into a
smile and she folded her arms across her chest.
 
“And by the way, Millie’s a big girl.
 
She can pick who she wants to have lunch with all by herself.”

Amelia didn’t think it was possible, but
Fiona’s frown grew even deeper.
 
“Run
away, freak, before I change my mind in letting you go so easily.”

“Fiona!” Amelia snapped, finally finding
her voice.
 
“Pretty sure you’re the one
that needs to run away.
 
What the hell’s
gotten into you?”

“She’s just looking out of you, Amelia,”
Amber piped in, fidgeting back and forth, clearly nervous.
 
“You don’t want to be seen with that
freak.
 
It’ll ruin your reputation.”

Fiona ignored Amelia and took another step
towards Erin, and Amelia jumped up and got in between them just as Fiona raised
her hand to slap Erin.
 
She slapped
Amelia instead.
 
Hard.
 
Hard enough to bruise, hard enough that
Amelia almost screamed out.
 
White-hot
rage bubbled up inside her; all Amelia saw was red.
 
“I think it’s time for you guys to leave,”
Amelia said tightly, clenching her fists into little white-knuckled balls.

“Oh my God,” Fiona said, her face turning
paper white.
 
“Amelia, I’m so
sorry.”
 
Her voice quivered, and she was
shaking visibly.
 
She backed up with terror
in her eyes.
 
“Please forgive me.
 
I didn’t mean to hit you.”

“She didn’t mean to, Amelia,” Jessica
added, eyes pleading.
 
“Please don’t tell
him.”

“You guys need to screw off,” Amelia hissed
through clenched teeth.
 
She felt her
cheeks flare red with anger.
 
They must
have seen it because all three whirled on their heels and scampered off like
scared little mice.

“Way to take a stand Millie!” Erin chirped,
giving her a high five and doing a little happy dance.
 
“I’ve never seen them back down like that
before.
 
Are you okay?
 
You know you’re probably going to get in shit
for that when you get home, right?
 
They
all stick together and you just dissed them.
 
They’re not going to let that go.”
 
She was rambling again, the words tumbling out in a fast, excited
stream.

“Whatever,” Amelia said,
and sat down hard.
 
Her cheek was throbbing, pulsing and tingling
and she could already feel the bruise forming.
 
She took her bottle of water and held it against her cheek, easing the
sting a little.

Wow,
Fiona could hit hard
, Amelia thought.
 
And who wasn’t she supposed to tell?
 
Eric and Luke?
 
What would they care if she got into a little
fight?
 
And who the hell did they think
they were?
 
And why was Fiona so freaked
out that she had hit her and not Erin?

“So, I’m having this party on Friday,” Erin
said, bringing Amelia back from her thoughts.
 
“You in?”

Amelia didn’t have time to answer, because
just then some guy slipped into a chair beside her.
 
“Hey, Erin.
 
Who’s your friend?” he asked, giving Amelia a
lopsided grin.
 
He had shaggy, light
brown hair which was styled perfectly messy, falling just above his deep brown
eyes, and he was sporting a bit of stubble on his chin.

“You’re kidding me, right?”
 
Erin rolled her eyes.
 
“Damn Ty, where have you been?
 
This is Amelia Caldwell.
 
Like Amelia Caldwell from the Lang house.”

“Shit, sorry,” he apologized,
blushing
just a soft hint of color.
 
Amelia thought he may be cute, but with Eric,
who was droolicious and Mitchell, who was absolutely
dreamy,
her cute radar was kind of off these days.
 
He was dressed in faded blue jeans, and a form-fitting white t-shirt
that showed off his abs, but they definitely were not Eric or Mitchell kind of
abs.

Amelia smiled, which stung her tight
cheek.
 
“Actually, it’s refreshing to
find someone who doesn’t know who I am.”

“What happened?” he asked, nodding towards
the bottle she held against her cheek.

“
Run in with the Barbie Squad,” Erin said.
 
“Millie here was defending my honor and got
in the way of Fiona.
 
You should have
seen it.
 
The look on Fiona’s face was
priceless.
 
I’ve never seen her so
scared.”

Tyler laughed.
 
“Nice.
 
Bitch had it coming, that’s for sure.
 
You want some ice?”