Krysta's Curse (18 page)

No, I couldn’t have another boyfriend. And even
though I was getting better at controlling my powers and staying
out of other people’s minds, I really couldn’t help it.

But oh well. That had been my mantra all summer.

Oh well.

I guess if I couldn’t change my fate, I’d better
learn to accept it. That’s what I kept telling myself, anyway.

I shrugged before trying to shake some of the
nervous energy out of my hands. Did I really want to go through
with this? Did I really want to know what two thousand teenagers
were thinking about me today?

I’d have a hard enough time trying to figure out how
to open my new locker and learn my class schedule.

I gasped, startled by the screeching sound of tires
burning rubber across pavement. I turned to see Mike’s truck
barreling my way.

I jumped onto the porch steps moments before the
truck would have mowed me down. As I stared slack-jawed at the
rattling, heaving pile of metal, my best friend AJ rolled down the
passenger window.

She tossed her blonde ponytail over her shoulder
before narrowing her blue eyes in her classic ‘I’m having a bad
day’ look. “Hurry up, Sophie! We’re late!”

I had no idea how I was able to propel my legs
forward, but I somehow managed to throw my book bag in the backseat
and get most of my body inside before Mike threw the truck into
gear and tore out of the driveway.

I guess surviving my first day wasn’t going to be an
issue, since it looked like Mike would kill me before I even made
it to school.

***

AJ

“Why aren’t you eating?”

I arched a brow at my BFF as she slouched over her
salad and absently picked out pieces of shredded cabbage. Lunch was
almost over and she hadn’t taken a bite.

Sophie turned her big green eyes to me and cringed
while placing a hand on her midsection. I could barely hear her
over the steady drone of students in the cafeteria when she said,
“Because my stomach hurts.”

“Why does your stomach hurt?”

She shrugged and flashed a half-hearted grin. “I’m
nervous.”

I could never understand Sophie. She had the world
at her fingertips. I mean, with the power to know what everyone
around her was thinking, she could rule the school. Instead, she
seemed to be withdrawing from the world, even me. I’d thought she
was improving last year, but now she was getting worse. After her
boyfriend moved away, she started changing.

And it wasn’t like she was lacking potential new
boyfriends. Lots of guys wanted to go out with her. She was funny,
smart, tall and slim with high cheekbones and large green eyes
framed by the thickest lashes ever. Actually, her lashes were so
thick, I secretly envied them. Although, if I didn’t pick at mine
all the time, I’d probably have thick lashes, too. But my obsessive
habits were another story.

What worried me now was Sophie. She used to love
going with my family to the lake, but I had a hard time getting her
to go anywhere with me over the summer.

Was her total transformation really over a guy? I
mean, my boyfriend and I decided to split this summer. Actually, he
dumped me because he said he was tired of competing with my
softball habit for attention. Whatever that meant. But Bob and I
were still sort of friends, and it wasn’t like I was going to let a
guy ruin my life, anyway.

I let out a slow breath as I struggled for the right
words to say. I was no good at this stuff. I only wished our other
BFF, Krysta, was there to help. “There’s no reason to be nervous.
If anyone gives you any shit, just give them ‘the look.’”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “Sadly, I don’t have ‘the
look’ perfected like you do. I’d probably just get my ass
kicked.”

All I had to do was flash my signature glare and
kids knew not to mess with me. Though I couldn’t read minds, I
could read the fear in their eyes. Everyone at our old school knew
me as the tough jock. And at the high school, the upperclassmen
were already whispering I was Mike’s badass little sister.

“Tell me who’s giving you trouble,” I said, “and
I’ll kick their asses.” I popped another salty, warm french fry
into my mouth. I was already starting to like Greenwood High
School, mostly because their cafeteria food tasted more like food
and less like processed food substitutes.

“Nobody is giving me trouble.” Sophie shifted her
gaze, quickly scanning the cafeteria before tucking a loose strand
of auburn hair behind her ear. “I just need time to adjust to all
these people and their crazy freaking thoughts.”

I shook my head, snickering. “You really need to
work on tuning people out.”

“I know,” Sophie sighed. “It sucks that Krysta isn’t
with us.”

“What lunch did she get?” I asked before crunching
into a fry.

“C lunch.”

“School’s almost over by then. She’s going to be
hungry.”

Sophie’s eyes widened. “And alone.”

“Yeah.” I swallowed my last fry. I hated thinking
about Krysta alone for lunch. Sure, she had other friends at
Greenwood, but not others like us.

Sophie wasn’t the only one who was gifted with
powers. My dreams weren’t really dreams. My mom said they were
premonitions. Basically, my dreams predicted the future.

Krysta, Sophie, and I met in elementary school, back
when Krysta had first started talking to ghosts. I think our gifts
brought us together. We just sensed that we were each special, and
we’d vowed to keep our gifts secret. That was, until my mom and
grandma exposed their powers to us. Although neither of them had
ever explained much about my family origins, it turned out I came
from a long line of ‘gifted’ women. My mom, grandma and step-dad,
plus Krysta’s dad, were the only adults who knew about my friends’
and my powers.

With each passing day, it felt like our powers were
growing. I think my mom and grandma were expecting me to change
because lately they’d been looking at me differently. It kinda
weirded me out. I mean, if I was going to start shooting laser
beams out of my eyes, I would have appreciated a warning.

Somehow, I suspected the way they were watching me
had something to do with the crazy dreams I’d been having lately
about a woman running through a cornfield. I had no idea who she
was or who was chasing her, because every time she’d make it to the
edge of the field, someone would grab her.

I was trying not to panic, but I’d been waking up
from the same exact dream for the past three days. My dreams
usually had a way of sorting themselves out and revealing more to
me over time. I just hoped that whoever was being chased wasn’t me
or one of my friends. I also hoped she would make it out alive.

“Earth to AJ!”

I looked up to see Sophie waving her arms at me.

I grimaced. “You been listening?” I asked, though I
knew Sophie had been good about asking permission before she
invaded my mind.

“Duh, AJ, you know I won’t go into your head without
an invite, but it’s kinda hard to talk to you when you’re busy
daydreaming.”

“Sorry. I’ve been having this bad dream.”

“Oh, crap. Your brother is going to kill us, isn’t
he?”

I shook my head before narrowing my eyes at Sophie.
“What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about?” The pitch in Sophie’s
voice rose several octaves.

“Your brother is a freaking maniac. He almost got in
like ten crashes on the way here.”

I covered my mouth to hide my smile. I couldn’t help
it. Sophie looked so funny when she got all dramatic. “You’re
exaggerating.”

Sophie clenched her empty soda can until her
knuckles whitened. If she hadn’t been a wuss, she would have
crushed it.

“No, I’m not,” she said. “He’s a terrible driver.
I’m going to start taking the bus.”

I jerked my head back. “Only losers ride the bus. My
brother is captain of the football team. Do you know how cool you
look getting out of his truck every morning?” Last year, I’d put so
much effort into helping Sophie look cool. I wasn’t about to let
her blow it.

She threw up her hands while rolling her eyes.
“Let’s see, would I rather look like a loser or die a horrific and
splattering death?”

It took me a few moments to control my laugher. By
the time I’d finished, my eyes were watering with tears. “Omigod!
We are so not going to get killed.” Then I leaned closer to her and
whispered, “I would have dreamed it.”

“So we don’t die in your bad dream? Okay, so maybe
we’ll end up with a few broken legs.”

The animated look in her wide eyes was almost
comical. Almost.

“Sophie, would you listen to me?” I hissed while
tapping my forehead. This was our universal signal to Sophie when
Krysta or I wanted her to pop into our heads. Normally, our brains
were off limits. And there was no way she could ever fool me and
read my brain without me knowing. I knew the telltale signs when
Sophie was mind-reading, like the way she chewed on her lower lip
or how she ever so slightly squinted her eyes.

Sophie was looking at me that way now, so I passed
her a mental message.

If Mike is going to crash, I will see it coming. I
am not letting you ride the bus.

Sophie arched back and shook her head. “AJ, he was
texting and checking his Facebook page. He swerved into the other
lane more than once, and he almost rear-ended someone.”

I arched a brow and leveled her with a challenging
glare.
So you don’t trust my dreams? Are you the only gifted
one?

“I didn’t say that. I just…” Sophie’s voice trailed
off before she angled her head and leaned back, looking ready to
fall off the cafeteria bench. She gasped and then her eyes widened
to saucers.

I grabbed onto the table and leaned forward, a
nervous jolt shooting up my spine. I’d never seen her look so
frightened. “What? What is it?”

She slowly turned her head until her gaze was level
with mine. “That guy over there.” She nodded behind her.

My gaze traveled toward the kid with brooding eyes
and dark, messy hair sitting with a bunch of drama freaks in the
corner.

“His thoughts,” Sophie hissed through frozen
features. “They just jumped into my head. He was…omigod!” Sophie
jumped in her seat and covered her mouth with her hands.

“What? What’s he thinking?”

Sophie’s jaw dropped, and it took her a long while
to find her voice. “ ‘Stay out of my head.’ ” Her eyes widened as
her hands visibly shook on the table. “Do you think he knows?” she
hissed.

Jerking my head back, I cast a quick glance in his
direction. He was looking straight at us! Did he know Sophie was a
mind reader? If so, how?

***

Krysta

“Hey, girlies, what’s up?” I was ready to bubble
over with excitement when I finally got to see my two BFFs sitting
in the back of history class. This high school was too big, and I
hadn’t seen them all day.

But when I looked into Sophie’s pouty face and then
back to AJ’s twisted scowl, I knew I’d just stepped into a pile of
crap.

Oh, great.

“Uh, oh.” Planting my hands on my hips, I eyed both
of them. “What happened?”

Sophie slouched in her seat. “I don’t want to talk
about it here.”

“Can we text it?” I groaned. After a stressful first
day of school, I was about to come undone, and now this.

“No.” Sophie’s pout turned into a frown as she sunk
even lower. “I don’t want this in a text.”

I quickly scanned the room before sliding into the
vacant seat across from Sophie and AJ. “Nobody is even paying
attention to us.”

AJ leaned forward and thumbed at Sophie. “We’re
having trust issues.”

“Trust?” Sophie turned around and glared at AJ.
“This has nothing to do with trust.”

AJ rolled her eyes. “I will see it before it
happens.”

Sophie shook her head. “We still need to tell your
mom.”

I could see the tension bubbling beneath the surface
of AJ’s skin. AJ clenched the binder on her desk until her knuckles
whitened.

“She’ll freak,” AJ hissed. “She’ll take away my
brother’s driver’s license, and my life will suck.”

Sophie squared her shoulders. “This isn’t just about
you
, AJ. What if he kills someone?”

I watched the exchange with a mixture of fascination
and frustration. Obviously something big had happened. I suspected
Sophie had read someone’s mind and was harboring a major secret.
Whatever the juicy details were, I really wanted to know. “Can
someone clue me in?”

Sophie quickly scanned the room before leaning
toward me. “AJ’s brother is a reckless driver. We
need
to
tell.”

AJ narrowed her eyes and arched forward, coming
within a few inches of Sophie’s face. “If I see something bad will
happen, I’ll tell her. I swear.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “By then it may be too late,
AJ.”

AJ turned ten shades of red. Oh, so not good. AJ was
known for having a short fuse, and I didn’t want to see my BFF
making a scene here.

“I saved my parents,” AJ spat.

“With only a few seconds to spare.” Sophie’s hushed
voice turned shrill. “Do you want to take that risk?”

Last year, AJ’s premonition helped save her parents
moments before they would have been involved in a deadly car
accident.

AJ heaved a sigh. Finally, she leveled Sophie with
pleading eyes. “Let me talk to Mike first. I can get him to pay
more attention to the road.”

But Sophie was no longer paying attention to AJ.
Sophie’s gaze was focused on the back door. Her jaw dropped, and
she looked ready to pass out. “Omigod!” she blurted before hastily
turning around.

I turned toward the entrance. A kid with messy dark
hair had just walked through the door.

I looked back toward Sophie. “Who is he?”

Sophie kept her back and shoulders ramrod straight
as she whispered through clenched teeth. “Just don’t look at
him.”