Cold Kiss

us. Across the hall, two sophomores turn around, curious, and I fume.
    “And I want you to back off.”
    “No.” It doesn’t seem possible, but he straightens up another inch, as if sheer size is going to convince me. “You’re being reckless. You don’t know what you’re doing, and you could get really hurt. Not boo-hoo, broken-heart hurt, either, but hurt . You need to let me take care of this for you.”
    I don’t care how big he’s trying to seem—fury makes me feel seven feet tall. “Are you kidding? Who are you, my knight in faded denim? I am not some lame princess in a tower who needs to be rescued, thank you very much.” I don’t even need to put on the scorn; it’s completely honest.
    He’s immovable. “You weren’t exactly refusing my help the other night.”
    If he can’t feel the power gathering strength like a storm cloud in me right now, he’s a sucktastic psychic. “So? I asked for help because I thought you were a friend. And now I’m telling you to back the fuck off. Because I don’t need your help with this, no matter what you think.”
    His cheeks are hot with frustration now, and his eyes are darker, as stormy as the roiling power in my gut. “You are barely five feet tall. He’s six feet. And I don’t think he’s exactly going to be down with your plan for the evening, Wren.”
    Everyone passing is slowing their steps to listen, looking over their shoulders at the two of us, and I can’t help the furious zing of power that slams a locker shut two doors down. A freshman girl jumps back with a gasp and shoots me a strange look as she hurries down the hall.
    But before I can say anything else, another hand on my shoulder startles me, and I find Jess there, Darcia beside her. They’re glowering, and Jess lets her voice carry when she says, “I think she told you to drop it, new boy. What part of that didn’t you understand?”
    Across the hall, Yuri Fiske snickers, but Gabriel just rolls his eyes. “You actually don’t know anything about this, so…” He spreads his hands as if this explains everything, and for a minute I actually feel sorry for him.
    “What I know is that my friend is telling you to leave her alone, and you’re not listening,” Jess says steadily, and Gabriel might not understand what it means when she gets that calm, but I do, and so does Darcia. She actually swallows and takes a step back, although I’m pretty sure Jess won’t take a swing at him. “I also know that guys with testosterone poisoning are gross, and need to walk away and go lift metaphorical weights somewhere that is completely else.”
    A few lockers down, Sera Fine and Jilli Beckett clap. Yuri grins, leaning against the opposite wall and looking Jess up and down like he wants to eat her for lunch, which is gross, but whatever.
    “Wren,” Gabriel says, and I can’t tell if it’s a warning or a plea, but I don’t really care at the moment.
    “I’m doing this,” I tell him, standing up straight and looking him directly in the eye. I know speculation about what “this” is will be all over school in less than ten minutes, as well as hotly discussed between Jess and Dar, but I don’t care about that, either. It’s not like anyone will ever guess. “And I don’t want your help, not this time.”
    I don’t want it to mean good-bye, but it’s up to Gabriel to decide how to interpret it. I have to say good-bye to the first boy I ever loved tonight, for real this time. If I’m still standing by the time it’s done, I’ll be relieved.
    But as I walk away, locker and books forgotten, the outrage in my chest is already melting because Jess and Dar are right behind me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

    MOM DOESN’T QUESTION ME GOING OUT later that night, and I don’t try to hide it. She’s still up watching TV, and when I tell her that I have one last thing to take care of, she just looks at me for a long moment before nodding.
    “Be careful?”
    “I know,” I say. “I will.”
    She pushes hair off her forehead and takes a deep breath. “Back to whatever passes for normal after this?”
    I shrug. There’s normal and then there’s normal, and then there’s the big question mark of my father still lingering between us, punctuating the one thing I still need an answer to. “We can try?”
    I know she knows all of that. It’s there in the tilt of her head, her clear, warm eyes. “I’m willing if you are. School tomorrow, remember.”
    When I shut the door behind me to