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  DENIAL

  (The Witches of Santa Anna, Book Eight)

  by Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine

  Copyright 2011, Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine, all rights reserved This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

  Chapter One

  Natalia

  Here is how Monday is supposed to go:

  1. Cam and I will show up at school, and it will be like this weekend never happened. We’ll talk about the homecoming game (Santa Anna won 21-7), we’ll have lunch together in the cafeteria, we’ll pass notes during study hall, we’ll hold hands in the hall. In short, we’ll just be normal.

  2. Raine won’t be at school. In fact, she’ll never be at school. She’ll transfer or move away or just… be gone.

  3. Brody will apologize for the crazy things he told me yesterday. The crazy things about how I can’t be with Cam, how this whole thing with Raine is going to get even worse, how there’s going to be a war. He’ll tell me he made it all up, that he was just jealous of me and Cam, that it’s going to take some getting used to, but that he hopes we can all be friends.

  “You okay?” Cam asks. He reaches over and squeezes my hand. We’re in his car, on the way to school, and I must seem distracted. Probably because I’m so caught up in wishing for my ideal Monday scenario, a scenario I know has pretty much no chance of coming true.

  “I’m fine,” I say, turning from the window and giving him a smile.

  “No, you’re not.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I can tell.” He grins. “I told you not to worry, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah.” He did tell me not to worry. That’s all he’s been telling me all weekend.

  But how can I not? I mean, there are so many things to be nervous about. The way Raine disappeared on Saturday night. The way we just left Becca. The way Brody showed up at Starbucks yesterday. The fact that we still don’t know why Derek was taking all those pictures of us.

  Cam pulls the car into the student parking lot, and I look up at the building in front of us, thinking about my first day of school at Santa Anna, just a couple of weeks ago. I finger the white butterfly necklace I’m wearing and think about how much everything has changed since then.

  “Hey,” Cam says. He reaches over and pulls me toward him. “It’s going to be okay. Let me worry about it, all right?”

  “Okay.” I bury my head into his shoulder, inhaling his scent, letting myself believe for just one second that it really is going to be that easy. That I can just take all my angst and anxiety and put it on him to deal with. But I can’t. I know it and Cam knows it.

  He pulls back, and looks at me, his deep blue eyes searching mine. He kisses my lips, softly, and a shiver runs through my body. I close my eyes and lean back into him, letting myself just enjoy the fact that I’m here, kissing Cam. That we don’t have to keep our relationship secret anymore.

  “You ready?” he asks.

  I look up at the front doors of the school. “Yeah,” I say, unbuckling my seatbelt.

  “I’m ready.”

  ***

  When I walk into the junior hall, I’m expecting something big to happen. People to stop and stare. Brody to be standing by my locker. Raine to be waiting, ready to confront me. Something. But it’s just like any other day. Kids rushing to their classes, locker doors slamming, the sound of everyone greeting each other after the weekend.

  “See?” Cam says. “I told you. Everything’s normal.”

  I scan the halls, looking for Raine, Becca, or Teri. But I don’t see them. I don’t see Brody, either. Or Aiden. Who I do see, though, is Adrianna, standing by my locker, waiting for me. And she doesn’t look that happy.

  “Uh oh,” I say. “Adrianna.”

  “She’s probably pissed that you left her at the dance,” Cam says.

  I sigh. “That was pretty shitty of me.”

  “Totally shitty of you,” Cam says, teasing. I go to shove him in the shoulder, but he reaches up and grabs my hand playfully, blocking it. Then he pulls me toward him and kisses me again. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but I feel like some of the kids in the hall are watching.

  “I better go apologize to her,” I say. I pull back from him, not sure I’m ready for everyone to see us kissing in the halls. I’m glad we don’t have to pretend we’re not together anymore, but still. It feels weird. Like we’re on display. But I guess that comes with the territory when you’re dating the hottest guy in school.

  “I’ll go with you,” Cam says.

  “You’ll go with me?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him.

  “Yeah.”

  “To my locker?”

  “Yes.”

  “Cam, I’ll be fine,” I say. “I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m only going twenty feet down the hall.”

  “I know you’ll be fine,” he says. He rolls his eyes, like he can’t believe I’m even insinuating that I won’t be. But I know better. “I’m sorry,” he says, sighing. “I just… I don’t want you out of my sight.”

  “It’s fine,” I say. “Raine probably won’t even be in school today.”

  “Okay,” he says, finally. “But I’m meeting you after every class. And I’m walking you to homeroom.”

  “We’ll see.” He kisses me once more, and I walk over to my locker.

  Adrianna’s still waiting. Her dark hair is pulled back into a sleek ponytail, and her school uniform looks neatly pressed. She’s in sharp contrast to me, with my hair still wet from the shower, and my uniform rumpled because I threw it on this morning in a rush. I was at Cam’s all weekend, and he drove me home this morning, then waited for me while I ran in and got ready for school.

  I’m kind of a mess. I haven’t even done any of my homework.

  “So you and Cam are together now?” Adrianna asks, without even saying hello.

  “Yes,” I say carefully, waiting for her reaction. I turn the combination dial on my locker.

  “So that’s why you left me on Friday night? And then didn’t answer your phone all weekend? Because you were with Cam?” Her tone is accusing, and her eyes are flashing.

  “Yes,” I say, “I was at Cam’s. My phone died, and the charger was at my house.”

  She crosses her arms. “You couldn’t have used Cam’s phone? I was worried about you, Natalia. Not to mention that you left me alone with Lancaster.” She sighs and then readjusts the strap of her messenger bag. “I had to ride home with him in the limo.

  By myself! All you guys disappeared and took off.”

  “Yuck,” I say, “Was he still drinking?”

  “No, he finally stopped,” he says. “But he spent the whole ride home puking.”

  “Eww.” I finish sliding the books I need for the morning into my bag. “Look, I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t have just left you like that.”

  “You’re right, you shouldn’t have.” She looks at me like she’s waiting for me to say something else. And for a second, I think about telling her everything. All the things that happened this weekend. The stuff with Raine that’s been going on since I started school here. All of it. But I doubt she would believe me. And even if she did, she’d be in danger. And I don’t want to be responsible for that.

  “I’m really, really sorry,” I tell her. “Listen, do you want to hang out after school? We could talk about this. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

  She hesitates. “Okay,” she says finally, not sounding completely convinced.

  “See you at lunch?”

  “See you at lunch,” I say, relieved. Adrianna’s been nothing but nice to me since I got to Santa Anna, and the last thi
ng I want to do is screw up my friendship with her.

  She heads down the hall toward her homeroom, and I shut my locker door and then spin around, heading back toward Cam’s locker. But when I do, I slam into someone. Hard.

  Her books go falling to the floor.

  “Sorry,” I say, crouching down to help her pick them up. “I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

  “It’s okay,” the girl says. I startle. She has the same voice as me. I mean, the same accent. Well, not exactly the same. My British accent is pretty much gone after living in the states for so many years. This girl’s is more pronounced. Like she just got here.

  “Sorry,” I say again, shaking my head when I realize I’ve been staring at her. “I just… your accent. I was born in England, and I just didn’t realize someone else here was British.”

  “That’s probably because I’m new,” she says. She smiles, revealing a row of even white teeth. “It’s my first day.”

  “Wow,” I say, raising my eyebrows. “That’s weird. I just started a couple of weeks ago, and I figured I’d be the newest new girl for a while. Apparently they don’t get that many of them around here.”

  “I’m Hadley,” she says, holding her hand out to me.

  “Natalia.”

  Her hand is smooth, her nails perfectly manicured to a pearly pink. Her long light brown hair is curled on the bottom, with side swept bangs and blonde highlights. Her tan skin is flawless.

  “So any new girl tips you can give me?” she asks.

  Honey, you have no idea, I think. But instead, I just say, “Yeah. Watch out for the cafeteria food. And make sure you keep up with the reading.”

  “Will do,” she says. But her dark brown eyes flick over my shoulder, distracted.

  I turn around to see what she’s looking at. Cam’s walking toward us, his easy stride sliding down the hallway toward me. I smile at him, then turn back to Hadley.

  “Who is that?” she asks, cocking her head to one side. “He’s gorgeous.”

  “That’s, um…that’s Cam,” I say, “He’s my boyfriend.”

  I expect her to apologize, or at least be embarrassed for checking out the guy I’m dating, but all she says is, “You have really good taste. They don’t make them like that at my old school.”

  “Thanks,” I say, not really sure if it’s a compliment.

  “Hey,” Cam says, coming up behind me and circling his arms around my waist.

  “Hey.” I lean into him. “Cam, this is Hadley. She’s new.”

  “Two new girls in two weeks,” he says. “Santa Anna better be careful, we’ll start getting a reputation for taking anyone.”

  Hadley smiles. “Do either of you guys know where room 103 is? That’s my homeroom.”

  “Mine too,” Cam says. “I’ll walk you.”

  Um, what? What happened to walking me to homeroom?

  It’s not that I don’t trust Cam. But this girl already told me she thinks he’s hot.

  Although. I probably shouldn’t be getting all psycho jealous already. I mean, Cam and I have only been together for two days. Besides, I don’t know anything about this Hadley girl – it’s wrong of me to assume she might be the type to try and steal someone’s boyfriend. With all the weird stuff that went on this weekend, the last thing I should be worried about is Cam being friendly to a new girl. I have way bigger problems to deal with.

  But still, as Cam kisses me goodbye, and the two of them go walking down the hall together, I can’t help but have a pit of anxiety in my stomach. After everything that’s gone on, I’m starting to learn that you can’t trust anyone around here.

  Even Cam? a voice in the back of my head whispers. But I don’t even want to think about that. So I push the thought out of my head before it can take over.

  I’m going to have to get used to girls hitting on Cam.

  I guess that’s another thing that comes with dating the hottest guy in school.

  Chapter Two

  Campbell

  When Nat started at Santa Anna she was so nervous, like a jittery colt. All big eyed and fidgety hands and worried about what people thought of her.

  But this girl, Hadley, is nothing like that. She’s smiling and talking like she’s been going to school here her whole life.

  “So, Cam, you’re a footballer?” she asks as we pass by a group of kids that includes Lancaster and Brody.

  Lancaster shouts my name and thumps his chest for some reason. Brody just stares as I go by. He looks hollow-eyed and tired.

  “A footballer?” I ask. “Is that some kind of English term?”

  “It means you play football, obviously.” She gives me a little glance and a smile.

  “I always used to have the biggest crushes on the footballers at my old school.”

  I laugh a little. “I don’t think it’s the same kind of football.”

  She stops and thinks for a moment and her face reddens. “You play the one with helmets and all of that.”

  “Yup, that’s the one. What you’re talking about is soccer.”

  “God, I feel like an idiot. You’d think that speaking the same language would make it easier to fit in when you move to a new country, but apparently not.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I always thought it made no sense to call it soccer. And how’d you know I was a footballer, anyway?”

  Hadley smiles. “Your shoulders. But I need to get my sports straight apparently.

  It’s bad enough I almost called you a bloke.”

  “You’ll figure it out., “ I tell her, “You seem like a smart blokette.”

  She laughs.

  Right before we’re about to go into homeroom I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn. Brody.

  “Can I talk to you?” he asks.

  I’m about to tell him no, that I’m showing Hadley to homeroom, but she’s waving and walking into the classroom without me.

  Brody’s still waiting. “Fine,” I say, sighing and following him as he weaves through the crowd in the junior hall.

  “Who’s the new girl?” Brody asks.

  “Some British chick.”

  His eyes narrow a little but he doesn’t say anything else.

  We go to the boy’s bathroom.

  The smell hits me right away and I recoil. “It smells like someone brought a horse in here,” I say.

  Brody laughs. “A horse would be ashamed to make a smell like this,” he says.

  Then he walks down the row of stalls and kicks the doors open one by one. He peers into the last stall and turns away from it with a grimace. “Ugh. That’s the offender right there.”

  I fold my arms and lean against the sink. “I guess you probably didn’t bring me in here to talk about how bad the bathroom smells or strategy for the game against Springfield this weekend.”

  He runs a hand through his hair, which kind of looks like it hasn’t been washed in a day or two. He’s also got some stubble coming in, patchy, around his chins and cheeks.

  “No, I didn’t want to talk about the game.”

  “Okay. Well Nat told me about your little convo at Starbucks. So…let’s not rehash that.”

  He looks at me and his eyes are bleak, haunted. It creeps me out a little. “I know you and Natalia like each other Cam—“

  “Don’t tell me what you know about us,” I say, my throat tightening. “You don’t know shit about me and her.”

  He laughs, and it sounds forced. “My point is, I’m not trying to stand in your way because I like Natalia. I admit, I do have feelings for her. But she made her choice and I accept it.”

  “Great. But whether you accept it or not doesn’t change anything.”

  He shakes his head. “Whatever, Cam. There are more important things than whatever stupid grudge you have against me.”

  “I told you I don’t want to hear about magic and battles and whatever other whacked out stuff you’re going to try and convince me of.”

  “You need to hear this,” he says.
“You need to realize how much danger you’re putting Natalia in when the two of you are together.”

  “Danger from who?” I say, stepping toward him, my fists clenching. “Are you threatening me?”

  “No. I’m trying to warn you. Where do you think Raine is right now?”

  I stop as if someone just threw cold water on me. I hadn’t really thought about Raine, beyond being happy she wasn’t in school today. “I have no idea where she is.