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  I think about it. I guess it wouldn’t hurt. I mean, I don’t want to start the year off on the wrong foot, with Raine and her friends determined to make me miserable. And Brody might be right – showing up with him might make them think I’m not interested in Cam. And I’ll get to see him – Cam. The thought makes my heart race.

  “All right,” I say finally.

  “Good.” He stands up and brushes off the back of his jeans. “Should I get your cell number? Just in case?”

  We trade cell phones and program each other’s numbers in. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I ask as he hands me my phone back.

  “Because,” he says simply, “I like you.”

  It’s only when I’m watching his truck pull out of the driveway that I realize I forgot to ask him how he knew where I lived.

  Chapter Eight

  Campbell

  All morning I’ve been looking for Natalia, so that I can tell her that I need to pick her up early for Raine’s this afternoon. Fuck Brody and his threats— if he wants to test me over this, he can bring it. I’ve gone up against Brody on the football field and he isn’t as fast as me, even if he might be a little bigger and stronger. I’m not afraid of him and he’s not going to bully me into changing my plans.

  That’s why I’m stunned when, on the way to math class, I see Natalia and Brody over by the first floor vending machines, talking together like old friends. So stunned that instead of walking up to them and saying something witty, or at the very least continuing on my way, I just stop and stand there like an idiot. Staring.

  And then Brody sees me. His face breaks into a wide, assholish grin. “Hey, it’s Cam!” he says, loud enough for the entire hall to hear him.

  Natalia spins and looks at me, then moves her gaze to the floor as her whole complexion reddens.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, clearing my throat as I approach.

  “Decided on a pre-calc snack?” Brody says. “Nice.” He offers up his fist for a pound but I just nod instead. He laughs.

  “Yeah, I was in the mood for something sweet,” I lie.

  “Sorry, they’re all out of Natalias,” Brody says, looking her up and down.

  She glances at him when he says it but I can’t read the expression on her face.

  “Is that so?” I reply.

  “Yeah, I got the last one. Very rare around these parts.”

  Natalia finally meets my gaze and half-smiles as if apologizing for Brody’s antics.

  “Hi, Cam.”

  “Hey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. About tonight.” Let Brody hear me tell her I’m picking her up early. Screw him.

  “Yeah, about that—” she starts.

  Brody turns to her. “What did we decide, three o’clock, Natalia?”

  She hesitates.

  I’m even more confused now, if that’s even possible. “Three o’clock?” I repeat, like a retarded parrot.

  “Yeah, that’s when I’m picking her up for the party.” Brody grins again. He starts unwrapping a pack of gum.

  “That’s funny, I thought we’d said I would give you a ride.”

  But she refuses to look at me now. “I’m…I’m sorry…I just...”

  “Hey, whatever. No biggie. As long as you have a ride and all, that’s what’s important.”

  “Yeah, she’s fine, buddy. You really shouldn’t worry so much.” Brody holds out the pack of gum to me and I take a piece.

  “Thanks,” I say. Then I turn and leave without looking back.

  The rest of the day I can barely focus. Just a few hours ago the guy called her a skank and now he’s taking her to Raine’s party? Doesn’t she realize he’s using her simply to prove a point to me?

  Brody’s just threatened because he needs to be top dog all the time. It’s not about him liking Natalia, it’s about him showing me up.

  Well that’s fine, I decide. Natalia wasn’t who I thought she was. In fact, she showed me her true colors—she blew me off without a second thought. It annoys me way more than it should.

  At least Raine has always been consistent, I think.

  So when I bump into her and Becca and Teri—the triad—in the hallway, I make sure to be extra friendly.

  “Hey Raine,” I say, as they’re passing.

  Raine spins, gives me a look that tells me she isn’t altogether happy with me at the moment. “I’m running late, Cam.”

  “It’ll only take a sec.”

  She gives her friends some kind of unspoken signal and they keep walking. Raine approaches me as I pull out my phone. “Just wanted to get your address and cell number for this afternoon.”

  She sighs. “When should we expect you and—whatever her name is?”

  “Oh, her?” I yawn. “Yeah, that’s not really happening.”

  Raine’s eyes positively light up when I say it. “Oh, that’s too bad. Is everything all right?”

  I look at her. “Yeah. Everything’s more than all right. As long as I get to see you tonight, anyway.”

  She slaps my chest. “Don’t be cute.”

  I grab her hand. “I’m not. I’m serious.” For the first time since the new girl arrived, I’m actually feeling interested in Raine. She’s hot. Hot as hell, and she’s not playing games with me.

  “If you’re serious, then you’ll be ready for tonight.”

  “Ready for what?”

  “Anything and everything.”

  “Always.”

  She pulls her hand away from mine, but not too hurriedly. Our fingers are entangled for a long moment. She tells me her address and phone number and I put it into my phone, and then she walks away, looking back over her shoulder once as she goes.

  For a second I’m confused all over again about Natalia. I still can’t figure out why she would want to suddenly ditch me for Brody. Is he really such an amazing catch?

  I don’t get it.

  Whatever, I tell myself, she’s not worth it. You don’t even really know her.

  And she’ll realize that I did a lot better for myself when she sees me with Raine tonight, while Natalia’s forced to sit around and stroke Brody’s fat ego the entire time. I smile a little. I’m going to make sure Natalia knows that I’m not even remotely bummed out about not going with her, and if she thinks I’m spending my time crying over her and Brody, she’s got another thing coming.

  Chapter Nine

  Natalia

  “This is kind of awkward,” I say as I buckle myself into Brody’s truck that afternoon.

  “Why?”

  “Um,” I say. “Going to Raine’s? She hates me.”

  “Who could hate you?” Brody says. He pulls the car out of the parking lot and turns onto the main street behind the school.

  “I’m being serious.”

  “So am I.” He looks over at me and grins. “No, but seriously,” he says, “You worry too much. Just relax, it’ll be fine.”

  I take a deep breath and lean my head back against the seat. Of course Raine isn’t the one I’m really worried about. Well, not totally. I’m worried about Cam, too.

  I didn’t know what to say to him this morning when I ran into him near the vending machines. I mean, I wanted to apologize, but I didn’t want to seem like I thought it was a big deal that he was supposed to drive me.

  But then he started acting like it was a big deal, and then I didn’t really know how to backtrack, so I had to just go along with it, and then Brody started saying all that stupid stuff about Natalias being sweet and blah blah blah. It was like a pissing contest, right there in front of me. With me as the prize! But I’m not stupid – it could have been any girl there, and they’d have been doing the same thing. Whatever’s going on between Brody and Cam is way deeper than me.

  When we get to Raine’s house, Brody leads me out to the backyard, where Cam and the two girls from their lunch table are hanging out on the deck near a hot tub. Great.

  No one told me to bring a bathing suit.

  “Hey,” Cam says, giving us a
huge smile. Obviously he’s over the whole awkward encounter from this morning. Maybe I was reading into it too much. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  “Hey,” Brody says. “Becca, Teri.” He sits down on one of the benches at the patio table, and the two girls say hi to him and then ignore me. I sit down next to Brody, and Cam sits across from us. Becca and Teri are at the other end of the bench, smoking cigarettes, their heads huddled together, deep in conversation.

  There are voices coming through the kitchen window from inside the house.

  Raine and what sounds like her parents. You can’t really make out what they’re saying, but their tones sound heated.

  “What’s going on in there?” Brody asks.

  “Her parents,” Cam says easily. “She didn’t think they were going to be home until later, but they showed up and here we were, drinking.”

  “Shit,” Brody says, shaking his head. “They flip?”

  “Big time,” Cam says, “They’re fucking pissed. She’s trying to calm them down, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we all have to leave.”

  But when Raine comes back a few minutes later, she doesn’t look like anyone has to leave. In fact, she’s all smiles. “It’s okay,” she tells us, rolling her eyes. “We just have to keep the drinking covert.” She looks at me, her eyes darkening. “Hi, Natalia.”

  “Hey,” I say. I give her a half smile, which of course she doesn’t return.

  The three girls peel their clothes off, revealing bikinis underneath, and then slide into the hot tub.

  “You going in?” Brody asks me.

  “I didn’t bring a suit.”

  “That’s okay,” he says. I feel Cam stiffen across from me.

  “I think I’ll just hang out here for a second,” I say.

  “Come on,” Cam says, “At least put your feet in.”

  I hesitate. But things feel okay between us after the weirdness that happened this morning, and I don’t want to screw that up. Plus I don’t want the girls to think I’m a total bitch. I don’t know why it even matters, but somehow it does. And Brody’s the only one who’s been even halfway nice to me, and I don’t want him to end up feeling like he has to baby-sit me.

  So I roll up the bottom of my jeans and perch on the side of the hot tub. Brody does the same, and so does Cam.

  “You guys,” Teri says, “Come in.” She leans over and picks up a bottle of beer she has stashed on the ground behind the tub and takes a sip, then hides it again.

  “I will,” Brody says. “But first I’m just going to hang here for a second.”

  “Me too,” Cam says, giving Brody the evil eye, which in turn earns him a dirty look from Raine. The three girls start talking about some TV show I’ve never heard of, and so I say to Cam, “Listen, I’m sorry. About the mix-up with the ride.”

  “It’s okay,” he says, “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Cam’s a big boy,” Brody says. “Aren’t you Cam?”

  “No, I feel bad,” I say, “I should have let you know, but I didn’t have your number and – “

  “It’s fine,” he says, “Seriously. But I appreciate you apologizing.” His eyes get kind of stormy, and before I can say anything else, he’s sliding into the hot tub. He grabs Raine around the waist and pulls her into the water, and she squeals in delight.

  They wrestle around for a few minutes, and then she takes his hand and pulls him out of the tub and leads him into the house. Probably so they can go make out or something. I put my hand in the water and let the bubbles swirl around my fingers, telling myself it’s stupid to be upset about some guy I don’t even know.

  “So,” Brody says, looking at me. “Why’d you transfer to Santa Anna?”

  “Just… needed a change.” I feel the hot water on my toes, and I flex them a few times. Becca and the other girl are pushed up against the other side of the tub, ensconced in their own conversation.

  “Just needed a change, huh? Yesterday you told me that it was because you wanted a better education.

  “Well, I wanted a change of a better education.”

  “Ahh,” he says. “Sounds like you have a scandal you’re not telling me about.”

  His tone is teasing, but something in his eyes seems serious, and I swallow. Hard.

  There’s no way he could know about what happened at my old school, but it’s still unnerving.

  And then, all of a sudden, he leans over and kisses me. I’m so shocked, that for a split second I don’t know what’s happening, but then I instinctually start kissing him back. He’s not a bad kisser. His lips are soft, and firm, and I try to relax and just go with it, but I can’t.

  “Sorry,” I say, pulling away. “Sorry, I just – “

  “No, I’m sorry,” he says, “I shouldn’t have – “

  “No,” I say, “You didn’t do anything wrong.” But my vision is getting kind of weird and blurry, and I stand up. The sound of the water from the hot tub rushing around is echoing in my ears, and I can’t make it stop. “Where’s the bathroom?” I say, trying to keep my voice as even as possible.

  “Um, it’s in there,” Brody says, “Through the sunroom and second door on the left.” He gets up to go with me, but I stop him.

  “No,” I say, “It’s okay. I’m fine. I’ll…I’ll be right back.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” He sits back down, and I stumble out of the hot tub and into the house.

  Cam and Raine aren’t in the sunroom, but as I walk by, I catch a glimpse of them kissing on the couch in the living room, his hands in her hair, her body on top of his.

  I rush by and into the bathroom, my heart pounding in my throat. I close the door and lock it, then turn the cold water on full blast. You’re okay, I tell myself, this isn’t like the other times. I splash water on my face, and take deep breaths like they told me to do whenever I started having a panic attack.

  I sit down on the closed toilet seat and take a few minutes to calm myself down, counting to five on the inhales and exhales and waiting for my heart to slow to a normal rate. When I start to feel better, I wash my face and then reapply my lip gloss.

  On my way back out, Cam and Raine aren’t in the living room anymore, but I can hear voices coming from the kitchen. The same voices I heard before. Raine and her parents. Arguing.

  “Raine Lynn!” her mom’s saying, “I cannot believe that after we specifically told you no alcohol, you did it anyway!”

  “You’re grounded, young lady,” her dad adds. I’m almost at the sunroom now, tiptoeing so they can’t hear me. I’m expecting to hear Raine starting to go postal any minute, but instead, her voice gets almost low.

  “Listen,” she says slowly, “This is not a big deal. I’m old enough to drink if I want to.” She’s being so calm that it’s almost creepy.

  I wait for her parents to start going crazy again, but all I hear is silence. I quickly push through the sunroom and back out onto the deck, but when I get there, everyone’s gone.

  “Brody?” I try.

  No answer. Weird. I walk down the steps and onto the lawn, figuring maybe they all went through the gate and out to the front yard after Raine’s parents freaked out.

  There’s a butterfly flying around the hedge, and it flutters in front of my eyes as I walk by. That’s weird, I think, peering at it closely. The wings look like they’re getting darker.

  “Natalia?”

  I turn around. Cam. “Hey,” I say, “Where did everyone go? I figured – “ And then I stop. Because he doesn’t look so good. He’s pale, and he’s walking kind of…

  hunched over. “What’s wrong?” I ask. “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know,” he says, “I feel a little weird.”

  I start to take a step. But before I can get to him, he collapses on the lawn….

  TRICKED

  (The Witches of Santa Anna, Book Two)

  By Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine

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

  Chapter One

  Natalia

  Cam’s on the ground, and I have no idea what to do. I’ve never been that great in a crisis, but there’s no one else around, and so I rush over to him. “Cam?” I ask, kneeling down next to him on the grass. “Cam? Are you okay?”