Covet (Clann)

chest. A lovely frown completed the look.
    He hadn’t moved from that position since I’d first entered the class, as if he couldn’t care less that I was there.
    Unlike me. The more I thought about him, the louder everyone’s thoughts became inside my head. I needed to calm down, think about something else. So I closed my eyes and imagined I was on a sunny hillside somewhere doing tai chi, a cool breeze caressing my skin…
    “Miss Colbert.”
    My eyes snapped open. Mrs. Knowles was staring at me from where she stood at the dry-erase board.
    “Could you kindly try to stay awake while you are in my class?”
    Someone giggled at the back of the room. But at least the ESP had finally turned down enough for me to actually hear the teacher for a change.
    “Yes, ma’am. Sorry,” I mumbled.
    “Thank you. Now as I was saying…” Mrs. Knowles returned to her lecture and writing notes on the board.
    Unfortunately, turning down the noise of everyone’s thoughts only seemed to increase my ability to sense Tristan’s emotions. And the emotions pouring off him now were anything but sunshine and rainbows.
    The anger and hurt were nearly overwhelming, rolling from him in dark waves that I could practically see if I had dared to look at him.
    Maybe his wounded pride hadn’t gotten over us quite as fully as everyone thought.
    I was surprised when the bell rang for lunch. Tristan was slow to leave, so I hurried to gather my books and escape first so we wouldn’t have to walk near each other out of class.
    “Hey.” A male voice near my left ear made me jump just outside the classroom door.
    I froze and looked up. It was Ron.
    “Oh. Hi, Ron.” We left the alcove that the two English classrooms emptied into, merging with the traffic already flowing through the main hall.
    “Are we meeting for lunch again?” he asked.
    “Oh, um, actually I promised Michelle this morning that I’d eat with the girls today. Can we meet tomorrow instead?”
    A low level of disappointment flashed from Ron, along with the chorus from Celine Dion’s “All By Myself” in his thoughts, which nearly made me laugh out loud. I only managed to hold it in by biting my lower lip.
    He gave a lopsided smile and a half shrug anyway. “Sure, no problem. See you then.”
    With a wave he strolled toward the library.
    Giving in to the urge to smile now, I watched him head for the library alone. If not Ron, then somebody in his family sure was a Celine Dion fan. His thoughts were harder to hear under the crowded hall’s collection of brain waves. But I could still just barely make out him humming the rest of the tune in his mind.
    He seemed like such a nice guy. Why didn’t he have any friends? Shouldn’t he at least eat with the other football jocks at lunch?
    Needle pricks of pain stabbed over my arms and the back of my neck as Tristan walked past, his long legs helping him put distance between us faster than some shorter people could manage at a jog.
    The sensation on my skin faded, taking my good mood with it. But the knowledge of its meaning refused to go away as quickly. Tristan was furious. At me? At the Clann and the council?
    Probably all of the above.
    Tears sprang to my eyes, burning them and forcing me to blink fast before the tears could run down my cheeks. He knew I had only done what I’d had to for his protection. Did he think I actually liked to feel miserable without him all the time?
    Besides, he had Bethany now to keep him happy.
    He joined the crowd exiting the far end of the main hall, and I could move again. Still, I took my time in getting to the cafeteria.
    As soon as I entered, the whole room morphed into some weird version of an audience at a tennis match, almost everyone’s heads turning to look from me to where Tristan was seated at the Charmers table beside Bethany.
    My stomach lurched.
    I sat down beside Anne and opened a book. Feeling my friends staring, I forced a smile and glanced at them over the top of the pages. “What?”
    “Are you going to actually eat?” Carrie asked.
    “Um, not right now, no. I’m not really hungry.”
    “Told you so,” Carrie grumbled to no one in particular. Eating disorder, plain as day , her thoughts added.
    Michelle leaned forward. “Savannah, is there anything you want to talk about with us? I mean, you know we’re here for you, right? We know things have been kind of tough for you lately, what with your grandma dying and moving into a haunted house with your dad, and the