Dark Secrets (Dark Secrets #1)(12)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“You heard that?” Everything suspended in slow motion around me. “How did—”

“Bathrooms echo, Ara.”

It felt like a hot-air balloon had just been let off in my face. I bit my quivering lip tightly. “I can’t believe you heard that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” David gently grabbed my wrist and started walking, dragging me along behind him. “They’re not nice people. I’m just sorry that of all the girls you had to run into in there, it was those two.”

“Well, thank you—” I stopped and pulled my arm from his grip, “—for standing up for me. No one’s…ever done that before.”

“Really?” He looked amazed, or maybe mortified.

“I never needed it.” I reached down and picked up my bag as an excuse to avoid eye contact. “Thick skin and quick wit were kind of a requirement at an all girls’ school. But…I guess I just lost my nerve.”

“You shouldn’t have to stand up for yourself, Ara. People should mind their tongues.” David softened a bit then, quickly bending to grab our books off the floor by his feet. “And for the record, mon amie, despite what those girls just said—” He took a step closer, “—I think you are very pretty.”

Yep, that did it. Cheeks hot; heart tumbling down the stairwell; lust-meter at fifty. “So, you—you speak French?”

“Seulement quand je parle avec mon coeur.” David started walking, but I caught a glimpse of a smile as he turned, shouldering his bag.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Google it.”

A second passed before I forced myself to run after him. “I will, you know—look it up.”

He just stared ahead, his dimpled smile making my heart race as we walked in silence.

Chapter Three

The bell tolled before we even made it to the cafeteria. David smiled gently and jerked his head in the other direction. “Come on, your next class is this way.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, running after him.

“I read your schedule, remember?”

“Yeah, but, how did you retain all that info? I can’t even remember what classes I actually signed up for.”

David said nothing, just smiled—a kind of secret smile—as we headed back up the stairs, past a waving carrot-top girl.

“Um, hi,” I muttered, returning the wave.

“That’s Ellie.” David leaned in. “She’s in our music class.”

“Oh, okay.” I looked back down the stairwell at her just as she glanced up to gush over David. “She likes you.”

“No, she doesn’t. She’s just…I don’t know.” He shrugged once. “I think they all suffer from a ‘desire the unattainable’ disease around here.”

“Oh, so you think you’re too good for them?” I challenged playfully.

He fanned the collar of his shirt, humour lighting the smugness on his face. “I don’t think I am. I know I am.”

I laughed. “So…you’ve never dated any of the girls—ever?”

“No. And I don’t plan to.”

“Oh,” I said, falling suddenly through the earth.

David’s head whipped up as he came to an abrupt halt. “Um—I, uh—I really didn’t mean it like that. I—”

“Dave? Ditching class, man?” the same jock from earlier said, slapping David on the shoulder again.

“Hey, you know the code, bro.” David grinned, pointing down the hall at him.

“Ditch school; ditch life,” they both said, and laughed.

As soon as the boy disappeared around the corner, so did David’s smile. “I—”

“I need my books.” I pointed to them.

He gently drew them from the stack and placed them in my waiting hand.

“Thanks.”

We stood looking at each other for a moment, surrounded by the sound of a teacher’s voice talking about today’s lesson in history.

“So, this is your class,” David said.

“I figured.” I smiled softly, but my heart was completely broken. “Well, thanks.”

“Hey, Ara.” He grabbed my arm. I looked up from his hand to his lovely green eyes. He let go. “When I said I don’t plan to date, I wasn’t talking about y—”

“It’s okay, David, you don’t owe me an explanation.” I tried to grin. “I only just met you, after all. And I hadn’t placed myself in that category, anyway.”

David’s jaw set stiff, his eyes fixing on the ground.

“So, I’ll see ya later?” I said, slowly backing in through the doorway.

“Ah,” the teacher said. “Ladies and gentlemen, we finally have a new student.”

I turned away from David, leaving our conversation before his response, but felt better suddenly seeing a familiar face in the room. “Hi, Dad,” I whispered so no one else would hear, then stole a quick glance at the now empty corridor.

“Attention please.” Dad’s voice rose above the chatter. Everyone hushed. “This is Ara-Rose. I’m sure some of you have already met her—”

“Actually—” I cringed. “It’s just Ara.”

He looked sideways at me for a second. “Okay, this is just Ara.”

“Nice to meet you, Just Ara,” someone called from the back of the room, and a low hum of laughter erupted over the entire class.

“Settle down, Maverick,” Dad said sternly.

“Thanks a lot, Dad,” I said under my breath.

“Uh, Emily?” he called to a girl in the front row of the raised, auditorium-style seating.

Without hesitation, the same girl I met this morning, with her swinging ponytail, bounded over. “Yes, Mr Thompson?”

“You’ve met Ara?” Dad aimed his thumb at me.

“Yes, sir.” She added a little too much ‘cutesy’ to that eyelash batting, and my mouth fell open. She totally had a crush on my dad.

“Right. I want you to help—” he looked at me as he passed some papers to Emily. “Just Ara?”

“Ara’s fine,” I said. Hint, hint.

“Help Ara get up to date with our lessons, please?”

“Sure thing, Mr Thompson.” Emily grabbed my hand and dragged me to sit next to her—right in the front—right where Dad would be able to see my every move.

“Um, do you always sit here?” I asked, plonking down.