Born at Midnight (Page 13)

She’d have to be careful, she told herself, not to confuse familiarity for something more.

"Hey," he said as he sat down beside her. When she looked up at him, she realized her shoulder barely came to his mid-forearm. Which meant he was tal er than Trey-probably by a couple of inches.

Kylie nodded and dropped her phone in her purse.

"So…?" he asked.

Kylie met his green eyes with flecks of gold. She knew exactly what that one-word question asked. He wanted to know what she was. She started to answer him, to tel him she didn’t know what she was, just her gift, but she suddenly found she wasn’t ready to say it aloud. To say it aloud meant she believed it. And she didn’t, not yet.

"It’s been a crazy morning," she said instead.

"I can imagine," he answered, and she sensed a bit of disappointment in him. He’d wanted her to trust him. Good luck with that, Kylie thought. Between people dying on her-meaning Nana-people divorcing on her-meaning her parents-and people breaking up with her because she wouldn’t put out-meaning Trey-her ability to trust anyone had taken a dive off some very high cliff. And it had landed on the bottom of some gul y, a mangled mess, right beside her heart.

Miranda dropped down in the seat on the other side of Derek. "Hey…" She leaned over and looked at Kylie. "We’re rooming together. Isn’t that cool?"

"Yeah." Kylie quickly tried to figure out exactly what Miranda was. She remembered the toad and for some reason guessed her to be a witch.

"I’m in with you guys, too," someone else said, and sat down on the other side of Kylie.

Kylie turned and found herself staring at her own reflection in Pale Girl’s dark shades.

Chil s ran up Kylie’s spine. Kylie didn’t know if she was a werewolf or a vampire, but something told her she was one of the two. Which basical y meant, she fel into the humans-are-on-the-food-chain group.

The girl lowered her glasses, and Kylie got a look at her eyes for the first time. They were black and slightly slanted, exotic, as if she was part Asian. "My name’s Del a … Del a Tsang."

"Uh … Kylie Galen," she managed to say, hoping her hesitation didn’t come off as fear. But it was fear and Kylie couldn’t deny that.

"So Kylie," Del a said, pul ing her glasses down another inch, "do tel . Exactly what are you?"

Was it her imagination that at least a dozen other teens turned and looked toward their table? Did they have super hearing? Kylie’s phone buzzed. "Uh, I should … take this."

She grabbed her phone from her purse, stood up, and went to stand in the corner, away from everyone. Glancing at the screen to see who to throw handfuls of praise to for cal ing at the right moment, Kylie’s heart did a tug. She’d expected it to be Sara, maybe her mom or dad. She hadn’t expected it to be Trey.

Chapter Ten

"Hel o?" she answered hesitantly, and her chest immediately fil ed with a familiar kind of missing-Trey achiness that until she saw him at the party had almost disappeared. Almost.

"Kylie?" The deep sound of his voice did another pul on her emotions.

She swal owed a knot down her throat and visualized him in her mind-his green eyes staring at her like he did when they made out. "Yes?"

"It’s Trey."

"I know," she answered, and closed her eyes. "Why are you cal ing me?"

"Do I need a reason?"

Since you’re sleeping with some other girl, you do. "We’re not together anymore, Trey."

"And maybe that’s a mistake," he said. "I can’t stop thinking about you since I saw you at the party."

She’d bet he stopped thinking about her when he got his new bang toy alone that night. Lucky for them, they’d left about fifteen minutes before the cops had arrived. So while Kylie had been sitting at the police station, Trey had probably been expanding on his luck by getting lucky with his new girlfriend.

"Sara told me that you were at some camp in Fal en," he said when she didn’t say anything. "She said your mom sent you there because of the party."

"Yeah," she answered, even though she realized it wasn’t the whole truth. But she couldn’t tel Trey the truth. Not even part of the truth. That’s when it hit her, how many lies she’d have to tel everyone she knew. That’s when she realized something else. Her mom hadn’t been lying when she’d said Dr. Day had convinced her that Kylie needed to come here. Maybe her mom hadn’t wanted to get rid of Kylie as badly as she thought. That should have made her feel better, but the achiness in her chest grew.

She missed her mom. She missed her dad. She wanted to go home. The gonna-cry knot formed in her throat and she swal owed it.

"Are you al owed to get phone cal s?" Trey asked, his voice bringing her back to the moment and away from her thoughts. Allowed? Kylie hadn’t considered that. "I think so. No one’s told me I couldn’t." But she hadn’t read the rules that were supposed to be posted in her cabin, either. Not that it was her fault; she hadn’t been al owed to go to her cabin yet. She looked up to see if anyone else was on a phone. She spotted two people talking and two more texting. One of the texting kids was Jonathon, aka Piercing Guy, who stood with two other guys. Beside them stood Goth Girl, who hung with a crowd of other goths. Kylie also spotted Lucas Parker. Not on the phone but talking to a group of girls that looked like his personal fan club. He was smiling at something someone said. And she could see the girls holding on to his every word, practical y swooning al over him. Let them laugh and swoon, Kylie thought. He hadn’t kil ed their cat.

"I’m going to a soccer camp in Fal en next week," Trey said, bringing her back to the conversation. "I thought maybe we could … maybe we could find a way to get together. To talk. I miss you, Kylie."

"I thought you were with that girl, Shannon."

"We weren’t ever real y going out. But we’re not seeing each other anymore. I could never talk to her."

But I’ll bet you did other things. It hurt to remember how the girl had hung al over him at the party.

"Say you’l at least meet me," he said. "Please. I real y miss you."

Her chest grew heavier. "I don’t know if I can … I mean, I don’t know how things are run here yet."

"I think our camps are just a mile or so apart. It wouldn’t be hard for us to meet."

She closed her eyes and thought how good it would be to see Trey. To see anyone she knew wasn’t a freak, but especial y Trey. He had always been her go-to person when things bothered her. Which was why his breaking up with her had broken her heart.

"I can’t make any promises, not until I figure things out here." Kylie looked up.