Painfully Ordinary Special Edition (2 page)

Tami got up
from her desk, placing her arm in
new-guy’s
. She batted
her eyelashes and said, “Talon, will you walk me to second period?”

I rolled my
eyes.

“Sorry, I am
meeting up with Jace.” His voice was deep and smooth and he had the bluest eyes
I had ever seen. He fixed his gaze on my necklace then grinned, pivoted on his
heel, and left the room.

A trill of laugher
escaped my lips. Strike three.

Tami’s face turned
an ugly shade of purple. She threw her purse over her shoulder and glared at
me.

“I’ll say hi
to Ryan for you.”

Crap. This
is exactly why I don’t normally banter with her. It’s just not worth the
trouble in the end. She was going to make me pay for this encounter.

I laid my
head on my desk and waited for the ground to open and swallow me whole.

Chapter 2

New
Arrivals

I
finally
shuffled out of geometry with my head hung low, mentally exhausted from my
latest run-in with Tami.
Talon and Jace, huh?
At least
I had names for Leah. She’d be beside herself. Leah pounced on me as soon as I
got into the hallway.

“Oh my God.
You have one of them in class!” she squealed,
throwing her arms around my neck.

“Yeah, as if
I didn’t have a hard
enough
time
paying attention in geometry,” I said. “I’m really on a roll today. I managed
to get his name and piss Tami off all at the same time.”

Leah appeared
astonished. “You actually talked to Tami? What happened to your theory that she
is a waste of skin?”

We faced
each other and giggled.

“Okay, I’m
dying to know. What
is
his name?”

“Talon.”
It rolled off my tongue, as if I was singing it.

Leah raised
her eyebrows.
“Talon, huh?
It fits him, doesn’t it?”

“So…you did all
the recon this morning. Don’t you have a name for our other mystery man?”
I already knew it, of course, and was dying to tell her.
She
would be thrilled I was able to get his name.

“No. Can you
believe that? I didn’t really want to ask anyone, either. I didn’t want to look
like some sort of stalker. He winked at me this morning, though.”

We dissolved
into laughter again, but
were soon interrupted
by a voice
that was velvet over steel.

“Laughing
again? You two seem to do that a lot.” We spun around and found Talon leaning
against the lockers, wearing an amused expression.

For once,
Leah was
absolutely speechless
. She stood rooted to
the spot with her mouth hanging open.

“I’m sorry,
I didn’t mean to interrupt. We haven’t been formally introduced, I’m Talon
Raikaa
.”

Why yes you are
.

“Um, hi.
I’m Caitlin, and this is my friend, Leah.”

Leah finally
shut her mouth with a snap before stepping forward.

“Welcome to the
illustrious Edward Marcus High School. You and your friend have certainly created
quite the buzz around here,” she said with a mischievous grin.

I assessed
her with wide eyes. What was she up to? She was the picture of innocence.

Oh no, not
that look. That one usually got us into trouble. Then again, when I thought
about it, some of my greatest memories began with that look.

Talon
cleared his throat.

Wow. Even
that sounded good coming from him. What was wrong with me? I was never
attracted to a guy at first sight like that.
So not my style.

“So, where
are you headed?” asked Leah.

“I-I thought
you had to meet Jace?” I stammered.

Leah narrowed
her eyes.
Oops
, she realized I already
knew both names and hadn’t shared that bit of info with her yet. Boy, would I
pay for that slip up later.

I shot her a
toothy grin.

“Why don’t
you ladies join me? We’ll go meet up with him and then we’ll both walk you to
your next class,” he suggested.

I
agreed quickly out of fear Leah was going to resume that hopping thing she’d
been doing this morning. Panic rose again. Talon made me so nervous. What could
I possibly say to him that wouldn’t make me look like an idiot?

I took a
deep breath and tried to calm myself. “So, what do you have for second period?”
I asked in a voice I hoped sounded casual.

Talon
reached into the back pocket of his faded jeans to pull out a crumpled piece of
paper. “Hmm, looks like I am headed for world geo.”

Oh, dear God.
Could anyone really be that lucky? I was going
to end up needing some serious tutoring if he continued to show up in my
classes
.

Leah piped
up, “Caiti, don’t you have world geo second period?”

I gave her a
look of pure frustration before answering.

“Yeah, I do.”
I shrugged my shoulders at Talon. “It looks like we have class together again.”

Talon’s lips
rose up in a half-smile. “So we do. It must be my lucky day.”

I tried to
change the subject. “Where are we meeting Jace? What class did he have for first
period?”

Talon fidgeted
with his schedule and his gaze darted the length of the hallway and back. “Actually,
he’s been with the registrar this morning, trying to get his schedule fixed. We’ll
need to run by the office to grab him.”

My eyebrows
drew together creating wrinkles in my forehead. “Fixed? Isn’t today your first
day? What was wrong with his schedule?”

He shrugged.
“Nothing major.
There were a couple of classes he
really wanted to take, so he was trying to get his schedule switched around a
little.” He gestured down the hallway. “So, what is the fastest way to the
office from here?”

Leah
motioned for him to follow us. “Come on, we’ll show you.”

Everyone was
studying us as we walked down the commons and cut through the library toward
the office. I mean, Talon was plenty to stare
at
. He stood
about six foot four inches tall and was extremely muscular, with gorgeous,
thick, auburn hair that spiked up in front. You could completely lose yourself
in his beautiful, chocolate-brown eyes.

Wait a minute.

I studied his
eyes again. They were definitely a velvety brown right now, but I could have
sworn they were bright blue when he was refusing to fall for Tami’s tactics. I
shook my head. Either his eyes had changed colors or I was seeing things. I had
to draw the line at hallucinations. I really needed to get some sleep.

“Ouch!” I
cried.

I gave Leah
a dirty look as I rubbed my arm. “Why did you pinch me?”

Leah’s face
flushed then blanched as if she was going to pass out.

“
Shhh
. Look,” she hissed. “Is that Jace? He’s the same one
who winked at me this morning.”

She smoothed
back her long, silky, blonde hair while taking shallow breaths. “Do I look
okay? I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

I watched
her, amused. Anxiety was way out of character for Leah. I had never seen her so
wound up over any guy. I wondered if this was how I appeared to other people
when Talon talked to me.

Jace was
another giant. Did we somehow stumble into a Riddick movie? Roughly the size of
the mystical warriors from my favorite Vin Diesel movie, he had to be six foot
three or four inches tall as well, and just as muscular. Yet,
there was something about him that was a lot less intimidating than
Talon
. He had gorgeous, straight, chestnut hair that hung down to his
collar and strong high cheekbones. His violet eyes crinkled in the corners when
he smiled, which he was doing right now. He seemed like he might have some Native
American in his family somewhere. He caught me studying him and his white teeth
flashed against his perfectly tan skin.

“Hey Talon,
I see you are making friends already, and here I was all worried about you.”

He winked at
us. Leah stood there dumbstruck.

Talon didn’t
appear as amused. “Ha-ha, very funny.” He stared at Jace. “Did you get your
schedule sorted out?”

“Yep, I got
it all taken care of.” He patted my arm playfully. I surprised myself by not
pulling away from his touch. Normally I didn’t like strangers invading my
space, but there was something inviting about Jace.

Leah had evidently
forgotten how to move her feet, so I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer
to the group.

“Jace Adair,
this is Caitlin.” Talon put his hand in the middle of my back.

I jumped the
moment his hand made contact.

Invisible
sparks rained down my back where his hand had touched me. I stared at him with
questions in my eyes, afraid to trust my voice.

He jerked away;
his eyebrows drew together as he stared at me.

Did he feel
it too?

Jace cleared
his throat. I quickly tried to regain my composure.

I gave him a
small wave.
“Hi Jace, nice to meet you.”
I motioned to
my right. “This is my best friend, Leah.”

He took
Leah’s hand and kissed it. I attempted to stifle a giggle.
What a ham.

I swear, I
thought she was going to pass out if she didn’t start breathing normally again.

“Um…hi,
ni
...nice to meet you,” Leah said.
She looked so out of her element. I never thought I would see the day a guy
would be able to render her nearly speechless.

I took pity
on her and decided to help smooth things over. “So, Jace, what class do you
have for second period?”

“Actually, it
looks like I am headed to chemistry.”

Okay, this
was getting a little strange.

“Leah, don’t
you have chemistry during second period?” I asked batting my eyelashes at her
innocently.

She stuck
her tongue out at me. “You know I do.”

Jace brightened
and grabbed her hand. “Great, I hope you don’t have a lab partner already. You
wouldn’t want me to be all by myself, would you?”

I had to put
my hand over my mouth to keep from embarrassing myself. I was surprised that he
was holding her hand, but I chalked it up to his outgoing personality.

Leah gave
his shoulder a small push.

“Oh no, we
couldn’t have that. Although I dare say you wouldn’t be lonely for long,
whether you were my lab partner or not.” Her characteristic smile and playful
nature had finally returned.

I shot her a
look.
Nice one, Leah.
Let the banter begin.

We all fell
into a surprisingly comfortable silence as we continued down the hall. We
passed by the library, entering the commons, and I noticed Tami talking to
Ryan.

Leah leaned
over and squeezed my shoulders. “Don’t worry, it will be okay. Just ignore them.”

“Oh God.”
I moaned and shielded my eyes with my hand.

Talon and
Jace sprung in front of us, as though they were expecting an imminent attack.

What did
they think was going to happen? This was Flower Mound, not the ‘hood. It was a
little disconcerting, but I was more worried about Ryan embarrassing me in
front of them than anything else.

“What is
wrong?” asked Talon.

Oh, not this, not now
.
I really don’t want to air my dirty
laundry to Talon
. I cringed. Ryan always ruined everything.

“Really,
it’s nothing. Let’s just head to class,” I said.

To my
chagrin, Leah chose that moment to express her feelings about Ryan.
“Nothing? “
Caitlin, that’s a bit of an understatement.” She
gestured toward the commons. “You see that girl over there? That’s Tami.”

Talon nodded
and pulled a face. “Yes, I had the
pleasure
of meeting her earlier.”

Leah
continued, “Well, the guy she’s talking to is Ryan. Caitlin went out with him a
couple times. However, he can’t seem to get it through his head that she
doesn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore. He follows her around and
harasses any person who even tries to talk to her. Ryan wields intimidation
like a sledgehammer. He’s actually managed to frighten Caitlin. Up until that
point, I had never seen her afraid of anything or anyone.”

I was so
embarrassed. This subject still enraged Leah and she would gripe about it to
anyone who would listen. Talon and Jace exchanged a quick look. To my surprise,
Jace spoke up. “How long have you known him?”

I noticed Tami
and Ryan watching us avidly.

“I guess he
moved here a couple of years ago.” I said slowly

Jace appeared deep in thought. “And
he has stayed unusually close to you since then?”

“Well, yeah, I guess so. He didn’t get really
bad until recently though.” I couldn’t figure out why Jace would even care.

“What do you
mean by ‘really bad’?” probed Jace.

“Well, he
follows me everywhere. He always seems to know where I am going to be and when.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “Oh, and forget about dating. He would never
let anyone get that close to me—not that anyone has really tried.” I noticed
Talon was staring at Ryan, his immense fists clenched at his sides.

Leah grabbed
Jace by the elbow. “We better get to class. Caiti, we’ll meet you guys back
here after second period. Okay?”

What a great
time for her to pick to desert me.

Jace leaned
over and thumped Talon on the back. “Later, man.”

Talon nodded
at him. He stared down at me and said, “Do not worry about that one. We will
make sure he never gets the opportunity to upset you again.”

His accent
was stronger than it had been earlier, but I still couldn’t place it. It was
mesmerizing.
Maybe Russian?

But he didn’t
know how resourceful Ryan could be when he wanted something—or someone. For
that matter, why did he care?

Talon moved so
he blocked me from Ryan’s view and put his hand on my back to steer me toward
our class.

Ack!
Every time he
touched me, I swore I could feel the heat arc and pulse across the surface of my
body like a sunburn. I stared up at him, and his eyebrows shot skyward. Was it
really possible
that he sensed it too? I never mustered up the
courage to ask, but he left his hand there all the way to class.

I don’t
normally like people touching me—I am extremely protective of my personal space,
but I had been out of character the entire morning so far. This would be
another in a long string of oddities.

We grabbed a
couple of seats together in the back of the room. My world geography teacher
was an older woman who seemed to love to have us watch movies, and I absolutely
adored her for it. Mrs. Hicks had everyone pull their desks into the center of
the room to make sure we could all see the screen. As she flipped off the
lights, I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t realized how tense I had been
until that moment.