A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

downright foreboding.
    “Are you ready for this?” Cassie asked. “First day back?”
    “No,” I said. “But that’s never stopped me before.”
    We pushed through the big front doors, and the typical din hit us hard as we walked in. I kept my head up and my eyes straight ahead, trying to feel confident with Cassie and Dan by my side. A few unfamiliar faces turned from their lockers to watch me as I made my way through the hall. Their blond hair flashed in the harsh lighting. My heart beat fast. There were so many of them. Ardith turned from her own locker to nod at me reassuringly as I passed.
    I couldn’t help notice that other kids I’d known for years eyed me, too, whispering in small groups. I wondered what kind of rumors had been circulating about me while I’d been gone. I could only imagine the pregnancy speculation, the talk of drugs. Running away with my delinquent boyfriend. I wondered if anyone had set them straight or if my reputation had been established as a total badass. I wasn’t sure which I preferred.
    Next to me, Cassie stiffened on her crutches. “Let them stare,” she muttered. “Nosy bitches.”
    At the stairs, Dan hung a left. “See you guys at lunch,” he called. We turned the corner, and I could see Asher leaning against my locker at the end of the hall, his arms crossed, staring down some freshmen girls who passed him in a giggling cluster. As we walked up, he uncrossed his arms.
    “Did you hear I knocked you up?” he asked, his eyes wide. “You already had the baby and gave it up for adoption. Wow. We work fast.”
    “That’s me,” I said, tossing my hair over my shoulder and spinning the combination on my lock. “To-tal badass.”
    “Hey, Asher.” Cassie grinned, opening the locker next to mine. “Looking good.”
    “Cassie,” I whispered.
    “You two have a nice mini break?”
    Asher laughed. “News really travels fast around here, huh? Did you start that pregnancy rumor?”
    “Please,” said Cassie. “That rumor was the work of an amateur. If I had started one, it would have been way more interesting.” She shifted on her crutches. “Hacks.” Someone opened the locker door next to hers, whacking her arm. “Ow!” she said loudly. “Hello! Invalid here!”
    The locker door closed, and Cassie was face-to-face with a guy I’d never seen before. He had dark, perfectly messy curls, and was wearing jeans and beat-up sneakers, wire-rimmed glasses, and a faded T-shirt in some kind of stoner-skater-mathlete look. A hot skater-stoner-mathlete. Cassie’s eyes widened involuntarily.
    “Oh,” she said in a small voice. “Hi.” She may have been smitten, but my stomach clenched. Was he a Guardian? He didn’t have blond hair. . . .
    “Guys,” Asher said. “This is my friend Gideon. He’s one of the RSH transfers.”
    “Hey,” said Gideon. He smiled at us. Next to me, I could almost hear Cassie gulp.
    “Hi,” I said. “I’m Skye.”
    “I know,” he said. “Asher’s told me all about you.” His smile seemed genuine, and I felt instantly that I could trust him. But there was a playful quality to his voice that made me think Asher had told him about more than just my powers.
    “Oh, really?” I made a face at Asher.
    “All good things,” he said.
    “That’s what I’m afraid of.” I turned back to Gideon. “I wish I could say the same, but Asher’s been very tight-lipped about you .” Gideon glanced at Asher.
    “Oh,” he said as we closed our lockers and began walking down the hall. “Well, we’ll get to know each other soon enough.” He grinned at me knowingly, and I was startled to realize there was something dark in the depths of his eyes. He may have been smiling, but Gideon had something bottled up deep inside him. I knew that look, because I saw it every day in my own mirror. “Later,” he said and peeled off into a classroom on our left.
    Cassie, Asher, and I continued to homeroom. As we paused outside the door, all I could think of was the first time that I’d stood between Asher and Devin. The look in their eyes could have cut diamonds as they glared each other down. I’d been so innocent then. I had no idea, standing in that hallway on the first day of the semester, how much that feeling of being caught in the middle would continue to haunt me.
    “Come on, Skye. You made it this far,” Cassie said. She nudged me reassuringly with her elbow and hobbled in ahead of me.
    “I’m right behind you,” Asher whispered