A Beautiful Dark

anymore. Dan clapped, in his amused, disinterested way. “Brilliantly deduced, Holmes.”
    “Thank you, Watson.” Cassie beamed. “So which one is it? I have the dirt on both of them, so it doesn’t really matter, to be honest.”
    “I hate to break it to you, Holmes,” I said to Cassie, “but you’re wrong this time.” I unwrapped my sandwich, noisily, and took an insanely large bite. With my mouth full, I said, “They just happen to be in all of my classes. No crush.” I swallowed hard. “If you ask me, they’re actually a little creepy.”
    At that moment, Asher walked by, a small group of sophomore girls surrounding him like a swarm of bees. As he passed, he caught my eye and shot me a half grin. I felt the incriminating blush deepen and looked down at my sandwich. My appetite had deserted me, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to force any more food in my mouth in order to fool Cassie.
    “Right.” Dan rolled his eyes. “Totally creepy.”
    “Well,” Cassie continued, “I’m going to give you all the details anyway. That one over there is Asher. He and his cousin Devin, the blond one, just transferred this term from Whitehall Academy, that private school in Denver that burned down last semester. You know Emily Redwood, in my art class? She’s friends with Alison Coles, whose mom is on the admissions board, and apparently they both had perfect scores on their entrance exams. The story is that they were so freaked out by the fire that their family moved them out to River Springs to clear their minds. You can totally tell, too. They have that haunted look.” I followed her eyes to where Devin was sitting in the corner, scowling into a book, an untouched slice of pizza on the tray in front of him. She raised an eyebrow at me. “I bet he’s locking all the pain away deep inside. So tortured. You should go for the other one.”
    “How come no cute girls ever transfer here?” Dan mumbled.
    Cassie frowned. “Don’t be a pig. We’re talking about Skye.”
    “Could have fooled me.”
    Cassie smacked him on the arm.
    “Whichever one you do like,” she said, “how about you save me the other one, because the guys at this school are hopeless.” She glared at Dan, picked up her tray, and marched off.
    Dan shrugged and took a bite of pizza. “So,” he said with his mouth full, “what’s the real story?”
    I sighed. “I have absolutely no idea.”
    “Yeah,” he said, shaking his head as he watched Cassie walk away. “Tell me about it.”

Chapter 6

    T he rest of the week passed entirely within my own head. When anyone spoke to me, I had to force myself out of a fog before I could respond—and even then, I’m not sure I was making any sense at all.
    I couldn’t seem to shake off the feeling that Asher and Devin were trouble, and that their particular brand of trouble was directed specifically at me. I vowed to avoid them as much as possible. It’s not like it was easy, though. It seemed that everywhere I went, Devin was lurking behind a locker or Asher was bumping into me in the stairwell. It almost seemed as though they were following me, but what could I do? I couldn’t exactly accuse them of it—how conceited would that have sounded? But still, I ran into them too often for me to believe it was just coincidence.
    When Friday night finally arrived, I was more than ready for a little distraction. The Bean was reopening. Cassie and Dan were meeting me there.
    When I walked through the door, the smell of coffee instantly put me in a better mood. A local singer-songwriter sat at a piano on the stage, singing something soft and sweet. The place was packed. I saw Ian behind the coffee bar and saluted him in what I hoped was a strictly platonic way. He waved back. Things had been a little awkward between us since Cassie had sold me out at lunch, and I felt like I needed to go out of my way to make things okay between us.
    I searched the dimly lit room. Every table and seating area was occupied. I finally spotted Cassie and Dan on a sofa, nodding their heads in time to the music. Cassie’s vintage leather shoulder bag and gray peacoat were flung across the armchair beside them.
    I headed to the bar to grab a latte. Ian was now occupied at the other end, serving two freshman girls, so I waited around and fiddled with the sweetener packets. Suddenly Asher was leaning on the counter next to me, blocking my view of Ian. I jerked back slightly and found myself looking into his