Scarlett The Devil's Daughter (15 page)

Thinking about her words
I follow her outside where we find Piper talking to a group of
guys. They all look similar to them, dressed down and unobtrusive.
Piper waves and smiles as we approach.
“
Grace come and meet the gang.
This is Cameron, Owen and Pax. We are all self confessed nerds and
officially the Invisibles.
”
Smiling at them I see their eyes widen and
colour flood to their cheeks. Damn this locket, I am definitely
getting it checked out. Shaking themselves the boys look at me with
curiosity. Before we can say anything though the bell rings and we
head off to our next lesson.

The morning passes fairly
quickly and soon it is lunch time. Piper drags me to a shady spot
underneath a tree where there is a picnic table.
“
Come on we have our lunch here
away from trouble.
”
I wonder what she means but don
’
t have long to think about it
before the rest of the Invisibles join us. They seem a great bunch
and I am enjoying being part of their gang. With any luck my days
will all be like this, free from problems and drama. Half way
through lunch a shadow crosses the table and I see the others look
up in surprise. Following their gaze and much to their surprise I
jump up and hug the person standing there.
“
Gabe, I wondered when
I
’
d run into
you.
”
Gabe is
my cousin and the Captain of the school football team. He must be
6ft 5
”
and is a
huge mass of blond hair and muscles. He is also extremely good
looking and appears to have a different girlfriend every week.
Cally looks at us in amazement.
“
Well well. Do you two know each
other?
”
Laughing I hold on to his arm.
“
Gabe is my
cousin.
”
Piper
sniggers and says,
“
Well that explains a lot.
”
Gabe looks around and I notice that he looks
extremely cross. Pulling me to one side he says,
“
Didn
’
t you think to come and find me
straight away? It
’
s taken me ages to track you down. How on earth am I
supposed to look after you if you
’
re hanging out with these
kids?
”
Pulling
away I feel cross.
“
These kids have been really kind to me.
”
Staring at me he snaps,
“
What on earth are you
wearing?
”
Giggling I say,
“
I
’
ve had a make under courtesy of
Piper and Cally. What do you think?
”
Looking thoughtful Gabe says
slowly,
“
Actually I think they may just be the right people for you
to hang with. They
’
ve done a good job. Nobody has mentioned you so you have
obviously managed to stay well hidden. This might just
work.
”
I can
see the others looking at us in amazement and whisper to
Gabe.
“
Look
don
’
t worry.
I
’
ll find you
if I need you. Just leave me with them. I
’
ll keep well hidden and nobody
will give me a second look. I
’
m more likely to draw attention
to myself if I hang out with you and your friends
anyway.
”
Nodding in agreement Gabe says gruffly.
“
Just stay low and keep the
locket close to you. Don
’
t go anywhere near Ash and his
gang and you
’
ll
be ok.
”
Before
I can ask who Ash is he strides purposefully away. Watching him go
I wonder what on earth can be so bad about this person Ash if Gabe
is worried about him.

As the day wears on I settle down into life
at the school. Luckily one of my new found friends is in every
class with me and they have well and truly taken me under their
wing. I feel relieved to have met such a great bunch of people and
feel optimistic about my new situation. Mostly I am ignored by
everyone else and I soon realise the hierarchy of the school. There
are the cool kids who apparently are presided over by the
mysterious Ash and Skylar. Their friends are mostly avoided by
everyone else as they appear to intimidate the others. Then there
is the sporty set which Gabe sits at the head of courtesy of being
the Captain of the football team. They are the Jocks and their
group also consists of the Cheerleaders and any other sporting
groups. The group that I appear to have joined is the Brainiacs.
These kids just try to blend into the background and not draw
attention to themselves. This clique suits me fine as I am not
searching for any more drama in my life. Pushing the thoughts away
of my turbulent year at my last school I vow to keep my head down
and not to draw attention to myself.

When the final bell rings
I make my way to my locker with Piper and Cally. As we put our
books away they shout over to me.
“
Hey Grace do you fancy getting a
coffee at Violet
’
s?
”
Looking interested I say,
“
What or who is
Violet?
”
They
laugh and come over.
“
It
’
s
our local diner. Most of us head there after class to catch up and
arrange our study sessions. Are you in?
”
Nodding happily I suddenly
remember that Aunt Sarah is picking me up. Sighing I say,
“
I would love to but
my Aunt is picking me up. Maybe tomorrow though.
”
Cally smiles.
“
No problem. We go
there every day so it won
’
t matter.
”
I walk beside them to the main
entrance and wish that I could go with them. It would be much more
fun than going home with my Aunt.

As we go to leave
somebody pushes past us sending Cally flying. Her bag falls to the
ground and she lands with a thud on to the concrete step outside.
Looking up in surprise I see a large body clad in a leather jacket
turn around and laugh at us. His lip curls up in a sneer and his
eyes flash as he laughs. Feeling extremely angry I shout,
“
Hey watch who
you
’
re
shoving.
”
I
hear Piper draw in her breath and see Cally pale in fright. Turning
around the leather clad brute moves towards me menacingly.
“
What did you
say?
”
Piper
pulls on my arm and says fearfully,
“
She didn
’
t say anything Jace, its ok no
harm done.
”
From the look on his face I know that I
’
m in trouble. He moves until his
face is within an inch of mine and hisses,
“
Watch who you
’
re talking to nerd. I
don
’
t like kids
like you thinking they
’
re something they're not. Talk to me again and
you
’
ll suffer
much worse than a push to the ground.
”
Before I can respond I see his
eyes narrow as he looks at me. He stares as if trying to place
something. Then almost immediately I hear a deep voice behind me
say,
“
Come on
Jace, Principal Adams is coming. She
’
s not worth it and the others
are waiting.
”
Throwing me another evil look he storms off and I turn to
see who intervened. I watch as Cally
’
s face lights up and then as I
turn I see an extremely handsome guy behind me. He has the most
velvety brown eyes that I have ever seen and his dark hair curls up
at the ends as it hit
’
s the collar of his leather jacket. He looks at me with a
worried look and then turns to Cally who has struggled to her
feet.
“
Keep her
away from him for all your sakes and I
’
m not just talking about Jace,
understand?
”
She nods and he walks off after his friend. As I watch them
go I can see that they join a similar group of guys all wearing
leather jackets congregating around a bunch of motorbikes. I can
also see Skylar and her friends waiting for them and one by one
they jump on to the backs of various bikes and soon the hum of
exhausts fills the air as they move away.

Leaning back against the
doorframe Cally sighs.
“
That was
lucky.
”
Piper
nods and I ask,
“
Who was that?
”
I detect a slight flush in Cally
’
s face as she says,
“
Jacob Cole.
He
’
s my next
door neighbour and we grew up together. The trouble is he fell in
with that gang and hardly says two words to me now. He goes out
with Teagan Hicks, Skylar
’
s best friend so I
daren
’
t be seen
even talking to him.
”
As I help her grab her bag from the floor I can tell that
she likes this Jacob guy. We head outside and I can see my
Aunt
’
s station
wagon waiting for me. Saying farewell to my new found friends I
rush over.

Once I get in Aunt Sarah
looks at me worry etched all over her face.
“
What just
happened?
”
Shrugging nonchalantly I say,
“
Oh nothing, it
’
s fine.
”
Starting the engine I can tell
that she is not convinced. Shaking herself she plasters a smile on
her face.
“
So
how was it, good day?
”
Settling back into the seat I smile at her.
“
Yes, good actually.
Cally and Piper gave me a make under as they put it and then
introduced me to their friends. Gabe found me and agreed that it
was best that I stayed with them, so all is good. They did invite
me to Violet
’
s
for a coffee but maybe I can go with them tomorrow
instead.
”
Looking a little happier my Aunt says,
“
Good, they seem ok and
Violet
’
s is a
decent place to hang out. There
’
s never any trouble because the
owner is good friends with Mr Knight so nobody would dare try and
start any trouble there.
”

I look at her with
interest.
“
Who
is Mr Knight then?
”
Aunt Sarah looks grim.
“
He owns most of the town. He is
very unscrupulous and doesn
’
t care who he upsets to get what
he wants. People are afraid of him and anybody that crosses him
soon knows about it.
”
Feeling confused I say,
“
How does Violet fit into
it?
”
My Aunt
grins.
“
Violet
is a sexy woman who Mr Knight adores. Her husband died and she
opened the diner with the Insurance money. She
doesn
’
t
tolerate anything bad in her diner and because he worships her he
would go after anyone who tried. Needless to say, the rougher
element avoids her place at all costs for fear of upsetting
him.
”
Laughing
I like the sound of Violet already. As we carry on my Aunt looks at
me sheepishly.
“
I hope that you don
’
t mind but I
’
ve sort of found you a voluntary
job on Saturday mornings.
”
Surprised I ask,
“
Where?
”
“
The
library. Mr Watson is in dire need of some help and
can
’
t afford to
pay anyone. The library is in a terrible state and nothing is where
it should be. I figured that you wouldn
’
t mind helping him out re
arranging the shelves into some sort of order.
”
I smile at her.
“
Of course not.
I
’
d be glad to
help him poor man.
”
Smiling softly my Aunt says,
“
I knew you
wouldn
’
t mind.
Also if nothing else it will keep you occupied in some of your
spare time, away from harm.
”

As we head off home I
feel quite excited at the thought of a job, even an unpaid one.
This day hasn
’
t
turned out too bad after all.