Chapter 61 Control
933words
Other than Belinda glaring me into the afterlife—things were normal.
Mom and Dad resumed their efforts to find their next big discovery. Hector had somehow managed to lure Mom to the mountains on a scouting mission for Bigfoot—and Mom came back with evidence.
A picture of a giant footprint in the mud, which I had no doubt was a staged effort by the old man himself. At least he managed to steer her from the waters, so I wasn't going to complain about his methods.
I was grateful for it, after what I now knew resided inside those deep, murky depths.
Sunday morning, I was busy cleaning out my caravan from the aftermath of a sleepover party with Ember, Poppy, and Ella. Though we've all become close, I was still closer with Ember and our secret.
Ella seemed to have finally gotten over her issues with Ember.
I picked up an empty candy wrapper from the floor when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." I chugged the wrapper into a bin bag.
Ember stepped inside, grinning. "Ella almost took a nosedive into the sea. Literally."
I snorted a laugh. "Is she okay?"
Ember shrugged. "Yeah, she almost miss-stepped the raft. Lucky for her, Kayn came to the rescue. The way she looks at him...I'm convinced she has a crush."
"Yeah, I've gotten that idea too."
"So, I wanted to thank you for the weekend." She bent down to pick up a stray cheese curl on the floor. "It's great to do something normal."
I smiled. "I had so much fun. We should do this more often."
"Hell yeah," Ember agreed, dumping the cheese curl into the bin bag. "I used to hang out with Belinda, but her idea of fun is, well, so not fun."
"You used to hang out with her?"
"Unfortunately wasted time I would never get back again." Ember took a seat on the bed. "So, what happened between you and Kayn?"
"What do you mean?"
"He's been avoiding you like the plague," she explained. "Did he try to kiss you again?"
"No," I answered. "He acknowledges my presence at school but rarely says anything to me. We haven't been hanging out since the weekend I found out what you are."
"Okay, weird," she frowned.
"Why is it weird?" I asked. "Isn't it a good thing? He knows I know. Therefore he doesn't see a purpose any longer to make my life difficult."
"It's not that, it's…" she sighed. "Forget it. Let me help you clean up."
The following Monday was the first time in weeks I had any interaction with Kayn.
During lunch, Derek stopped by our table to ask if I had already started with my English assignment and wanted to group up with him.
I hadn't felt much going on between this weird bond thing I had going with Kayn, not up until now.
Anger and irritation spiked through me. I twisted around to peer over where he was sitting across the cafeteria, glaring at us.
It wasn't that bad, not until I agreed to meet up with Derek. I recognized it immediately as jealousy and wondered what on earth—or in the ocean, in this case—could make Kayn feel jealous over Derek.
I watched Derek as he wove through the crowds of people toward the other side of the cafeteria.
When I turned back, Kayn was standing by the table.
My hand flew to my chest, and I scoffed. "You scared me."
"That is a bad idea," he said, sinking onto a seat across from me. "Hanging out with him, I mean."
"Anything other than the fact that he's—" I lowered my voice, leaning toward him. "Human? Are you serious? Kayn, you have a problem with that now too?"
"I don't trust him," he responded.
"And I should trust your word for it?"
"If you want to use a scoreboard, then yes," he shrugged. "Considering how many times I've saved your life."
I groaned. "Not this again, Kayn…"
"He's the kind of guy that starts with a homework assignment here, a party there," he went on. "And next thing you know, your drink got spiked, and he leads you into some vacant bedroom, and well, you can picture the rest."
"It's a stupid assignment," I sounded incredulous. "You're getting way ahead of yourself here."
He gritted his teeth together. "Carly, trust me on this."
"Would you relax, okay?" I said. "I'm pretty sure I can spot a red flag from a mile away. Kayn, look, I appreciate the fact that you've saved my life repeatedly, but it doesn't give you a one-way ticket to control my life."
He got up and walked away, without so much as another word. A jealous fire that wasn't mine burned inside my chest, speaking volumes on his behalf.
The rest of the day, everyone talked about the school charity dance coming up. Ella drilled on about how exciting it would be, though it wasn't something I particularly cared about.
Poppy seconded me on my feelings about the whole extravaganza.
"You girls have to come," Ella nagged, dragging her chair closer to the table in Biology. "It's going to have this whole James Bond theme."
Poppy and I exchanged looks.
"Oh, come on, you two can go with each other if you don't want to take dates."
We both turned down her offer.
