Prophecy (4 page)

Kirk appeared at my side, pulling me against him as I walked. “Hey, sorry about earlier. We’re cool, right?”

If “we’re cool” meant he was brain dead, then yes. I shrugged him off me outside my first period class. “Kirk, I know I broke your heart and you’re having a tough time getting over me, but I told you, we’re through.”

A round of snickers rose up around us. Kirk’s face twisted into a scowl.

I flipped my hair and strode into class. “Concentrate on trying to please Hannah, okay?” I’d pay for that later.

I slid into my seat, imagining ways Kirk might retaliate. To my chagrin, the next person through the door stared me down with a look somewhere between disdain and curiosity. I silently cursed my life. I locked stares with him, ready to tell him what I thought of… Wait, who was he? My mind puzzled, overlooking the obvious. To make matters worse, he was enchanting. I pulled in a breath when lack of oxygen insisted. Not male model perfect or Hollywood hunky, but…something. He was something. Not a guy I’d want asking too many questions about my contentious relationship with Kirk, for sure. He stopped at the teacher’s desk and handed her a slip of paper, glancing my way, as the teacher signed his slip.

“Hale.” Mrs. Potter examined her tiny laminated seating chart and pointed at me. “Take the seat beside Ingram. Welcome to Ohio History.”

Hale
. My heart leapt. I should’ve expected he was one of the Hale brothers, but hating on Kirk had scrambled my brain.

His lips curved down as Mrs. Potter waved him off to sit with me.

I narrowed me eyes. Jeez. After all the awful things I’d heard about him, we had an even playing field as far as I could see.

He slid into the empty chair beside me. The room was small, set up for discussion, like most of the advanced classes. It was probably a closet a hundred years ago when the school was built. Two rows of tall tables and metal stools served as seating, repurposed from wood shop when that class got better ones. There were twelve kids in class now.

I smiled at the side of his head. “I’m Callie Ingram.”

He turned his face my way and lifted his chin infinitesimally. He lacked the honey hued skin of the other students, remnants of their fading summer tans. His jaw was square in an interesting way and his face composed of long straight lines. The misty green of his eyes was something I’d never seen before. Reluctantly, I dragged my gaze away from his face. His shoes were some sort of canvas loafer, nothing anyone I knew would wear. Jeans. Those were normal, though his were perfectly crisp, not wrinkled from spending last night on the floor, like mine. Above the waist, he wore a blue and green plaid button-down.

I swallowed hard and touched my cheek with one hand. His was the shirt I’d run into in the hallway. Maybe that was why he wasn’t speaking to me.

Hannah arrived as the tardy bell rang. Kirk slapped her on the rear as she sashayed inside, looking victorious.

The Hale guy clucked his tongue. “Looks like he took your advice and got over you.”

I whipped my head around and my mouth fell open. He’d heard me in the hallway and threw my words back at me. His clear green eyes invited a response, but his expression was blank and unreadable. What could I say? A dozen things ran through my mind, none of which I wanted to say aloud.

Hannah took a seat at the table in front of us and swiveled in her chair to smile at my new table partner. “Wow, Callie, stare much?”

I glowered in response. For some ridiculous reason, it irked me that their golden blond hair matched. Hannah wore hers with platinum highlights and a streak of blue underneath, taking team spirit to a new level in case anyone dared forget her status as the football king’s girlfriend.

I tapped my pencil erratically against the table, praying for class to start and the awkward tension to end.

She extended her hand to the Hale brother at my side, pointedly ignoring me. “Hannah.” She wiggled her fingertips when he didn’t respond. Her sparkle polish twinkled under ugly fluorescent lighting.

“Liam.” His voice was low and rough.

Nerves slicked my palms and I dropped my pencil. Again. Embarrassed and hurrying to pick it up, I cracked my forehead on the desk. Heat shot up my neck and scalded my cheeks. I forced my eyes open, despite the pain shooting behind them.

Hannah gaped at me, rolled her eyes, and turned away. Liam didn’t bother making eye contact, but his cheek lifted slightly in what I imagined was his wildest show of emotion.

Finally, Mrs. Potter started class.

“In the interest of keeping your attention and in the spirit of the season”—Mrs. Potter lifted a stack of books and moved to the front of her desk—“we’re going to spend a few weeks looking at
Haunted Ohio
.” She walked the aisle between tables, dropping small paperbacks on each as she passed.

“We’ll concentrate on the long and significant history of each location during class, not the wild imagination of those reporting apparitions and whatnot, but you’ll be permitted to include those details in your papers, should you choose, so long as the paper is based on historical fact and relevant to this class.”

“Now, who can name a historically relevant building in Northeastern Ohio and tell me why you chose it?”

Every hand went up, aside from mine and Liam’s, and I wondered absently if we had the same historically relevant building in mind. I ran my fingertips over the book sitting in front of me, eager to check the table of contents. I dared a glance at Liam. If Hale Manor was on those pages, as Buddy suggested, what else about Liam’s family was true?

I speed walked to Allison’s car before lunch and waited. The sun warmed my cheeks as I leaned against her hood, shuffling my feet in the loose gravel lot. Hot metal stung my palms. My stomach growled from missing breakfast, but I needed to see her alone. I dug the apple mom sent out of my bag and took a thoughtful bite. The past three hours had passed in an endless loop of gossip and drudgery. I took another bite, searching the school exits for any sign of Allison, who notoriously took her time socializing before she left at lunchtime for college. Allison would have the facts on my new neighbors. She defined diligent when hot guys were involved. My classmates had circled through the same fanatical theories about Liam’s family. Teachers, to my surprise, had seemed ambivalent to the Hales, almost obviously so, while students buzzed endlessly with speculation.

From the little I’d overheard between daydreams of icy green eyes, Liam had a younger brother named Oliver and Oliver was the anti-Liam. I hadn’t seen him yet, but word was the brothers looked alike, with the exception of their general dispositions; Oliver’s being sunny and Liam’s falling somewhere between indifference and silent rage. Every girl noticed Liam’s unreasonable attractiveness. Most stared or whispered. Some dared attempt to make his acquaintance. All had been shot down irrefutably. It shouldn’t please me he was an equal opportunity hater, but it did.

My heart stopped and restarted when I sensed someone near and, for one millisecond, thought it might be
him
approaching. Two breaths later, a pair of girls from homeroom came into view, walking through the lot, deep in conversation. The girls stopped a few cars short of Allison’s hatchback, apparently skipping lunch or the rest of the school day entirely. I looked at my shoes, hoping to blend in with the cars.

The girl with the keys opened her door and stared in defiance at her friend across the hood. “He’s mean and I won’t speak to him again.”

Her friend swung long black hair over one shoulder. “He’ll warm up. Look how sweet Oliver is. Funny too. Did you hear him talking about the weather in Iceland?”

“If Liam wants to be a loner, whatever.” The driver scowled. “Fine. Be a loner. Don’t be a dick. Simple. Plus, the whole brooding thing is over. Congeniality’s in now. Maybe Liam didn’t get that memo all the way across the pond.” She slid behind the wheel and slammed her door.

Her friend rolled her eyes before getting in the passenger seat beside her.

Iceland wasn’t across the pond. Iceland was way the frack up north.

“There you are!” Allison hustled through parked cars to my side. Her wide toothy smile said it all. She had information she couldn’t wait to share.

I smiled, still pleased at hearing Liam had an attitude toward everyone, not just me. And Hannah. My enthusiasm slipped a little. “Get all the scoop you hoped for?”

“There are two of them. Liam Hale is a senior and Oliver Hale is a junior. Both are super smart, kill-me-now gorgeous and Oliver played rugby back home.” Her jaw dropped and she widened her eyes for dramatic effect. “Rugby. Callie, how hot is that?”

“
What
is that?” I teased.

“Who cares? Did you see them? Girls are throwing themselves at both brothers. Ollie’s eating it up. Liam’s more reserved.” Her nose scrunched.

“Ollie?” I raised an eyebrow. The family must travel because rugby didn’t seem like an Icelandic sport to me, not that I was an Icelandic expert, or that I cared.

She pretended to swoon and lay over the hood, one arm across her forehead. “He’s delectable. I call dibs on Ollie.”

“He’s all yours. He’s a junior. You spend half your time at college.”

“He’s shiny, new and from freaking Iceland. Those things make up for at least a year of school, I think. Plus, some juniors are really mature for their age. You were. Ollie and I might be the same age, just in different grades.”

I blinked. No arguing with that mess. Hot foreigner trumps age and grade. “Okay. What do you mean about Liam being reserved? I heard people think he’s mean.”

She snapped up from her swoon. “Why? Did you see him? Wait. No. Did you talk to him?” Her hands fluttered around her mouth as if she wasn’t sure where they belonged.

“He sat beside me in Ohio History. It was awful. First, he saw me smart off to Kirk before class and then he watched me whack my face on the table after I dropped my pencil.”

Allison snorted. “All your best moves. Slow down, tiger.”

I lifted my bangs, revealing the light purple line across my forehead to Allison. I’d swiped powder from my compact over the bruise after class. The swiping hadn’t helped. It had kinda hurt, actually.

I laughed. “Our actual first encounter was when I ran into him in the hall before homeroom. Like literally walked right into him.”

“Ah, you. Nothing but graceful.” She smiled and hugged her notebooks to her chest. “We must work with what we have. Seduce him with your awkwardness.”

“Shut up.” Laughter rumbled through me. The day’s tension had mounted to unmanageable proportions and lack of food made me goofy. The apple in my hand was down to the core. “I think my brain is on hiatus today. I’m more ridiculous than usual.”

I’d battled with myself since first period over two basic things. One, what the hell was Liam Hale’s major malfunction? Would it kill him to be congenial? Good grief. It was rude and a little intimidating to ignore people, not to mention it fueled rumors his family was unstable. Two, why? Why? Why? Why did I care? I shouldn’t. I didn’t. I’d only had one class with him so far, and now that I knew what he was like, I could avoid conversation and eye contact. I turned my face away from the school in protest of his inexcusable jerkiness. Done.

Except, I wasn’t done. Even as I fumed over his indifferent stares, all I wanted was to get another look at him.

Allison checked her face in a compact mirror. “Did you tell him you’re afraid of his house and have been since birth? Not to mention all the ghost stories about it? Oh!” Her eyes went wide. “Maybe he can show you around the place and keep you safe in his room a while.” Allison made a kissy face and batted her long black eyelashes.

I refused to wonder what kind of kisser he was. Probably a rude one.

“He fits the gossip. He’s detached, unapproachable, and kind of douchey.” A pang of guilt hit my chest as I spoke the words. I’d never been the new kid and it probably wasn’t easy, especially in a small town where your family was thought of as criminals…or worse. The moonlit image of his house from the night before came to mind. “Maybe they aren’t a nice family. I thought I heard someone scream inside Hale Manor last night. It woke me.”

“Someone screamed inside an enormous home on the other side of a cornfield from you and it woke you?” Allison shook her head. She was fearless and proud of it.

I was basically afraid of my shadow and had no problem admitting it.

“Maybe.” When she put it that way, my imagination seemed the more likely explanation.

“Are you saying you think he’s dangerous?” She looked me up and down. “Because you could use a bad boy in your life right now.”

“I had a bad boy in my life. Look where it got me. Humiliated, for starters.” I gave Allison my most pointed look. She knew the hell Kirk had dragged me through emotionally before
and
after our breakup.

“Kirk isn’t a bad boy, Callie. He’s an asshole.” All humor left her. “I hate him.”

“Me too. The good news is Kirk got what he deserved: Hannah.”

This seemed to change Allison’s mood. “I heard Liam shot Hannah down. In the bathroom, I overheard half the cheer squad analyzing how that was possible. You know, since she’s perfect.”

“He did. I saw it. She introduced herself to him and he looked right past her.” My smile weakened. “He told her his name, though.”

“Not the warm reception she’s used to. I like him.” Allison opened her door. “I have class in half an hour. Do you want to hang out this afternoon? I can pick you up after school.” She turned her eyes down, tapping the screen of her phone.

“No. I—”

Liam approached his car ten feet away and my heart seized. How much of our conversation had he heard? I’d heard every word of the two girls’ conversation before Allison arrived. My tummy coiled. He beeped open the doors and folded himself sideways onto the driver’s seat, door open, legs sticking out. His feet planted against the ground.

I pulled my attention back to Allison, still tapping away at her screen. “I want to swim a few laps before I go home.”

“Ugh. Why can’t you run like everyone else? Text me later.” She slid behind the steering wheel and started her engine. I held my breath as she drove away, wondering if she’d notice Liam’s legs sprouting from his car. She didn’t.