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? I asked. I waited for his nod before continuing. “I think it’s the Rover.” I reached behind me with my hand and smoothed my palm along the driver’s side door. I made a sound deep in my throat, it sounded awfully like a moan. “She’s just so damn pretty,” I purred.

All three guys laughed at me.

“Yeah,” Abel said without taking his eyes off me. “She is.”

My face heated up because I had a feeling he meant me and not the car. All these compliments were bound to give me a big head if they didn’t stop soon.

“Time for class,” I announced loudly.

They followed behind me as I headed towards the school building for another day in paradise. After leaving school yesterday, I’d completely forgotten about the fact that I would have to come back today. In fact, I hadn’t thought about school at all. I’d gone to bed last night without a heavy heart and no tears. The only time I cried yesterday had been because of physical pain.

I felt like dancing until I stepped into the building. It was like the first day of school all over again. Everyone stared. Only difference was they weren’t entirely staring at me, but my companions instead.

“Good grief,” one of the twins muttered under his breath.

“Fucking vultures,” muttered the other twin.

Tyson chuckled as he placed his hand on the small of my back and gently urged me forward. Heat shot up my spine, causing me to shiver. Why did that happen when they touched me? It was so bizarre.

“Too much drama for us, Ariel girl,” Tyson whispered in my ear. “Let’s bail and hope they follow the twins.”

A plan I could definitely get behind.

Tyson and I walked together through the halls, all the while his touch burned the skin at my back. I ignored it, or at least I tried to. A girl could only fake so much, even to herself. I had to stop perving on my new friends, but first, I had to get them to stop touching me. The more they touched me, the more I wanted to touch them back. Tyson’s heat threatened to burn right through me, making my body quiver. Yes, I definitely needed them to stop touching me.

When we walked into first hour my entire body stiffened and I had to bite my lower lip painfully to keep from groaning aloud. Tyson must have felt me stiffen because his hand immediately started rubbing soothing circles into the small of my back. He crowded close to my side as he leaned into whisper at my ear, “Ignore them. Everything’s going to be fine. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Easy for him to say. He didn’t have the Pretty Princesses giving him the stink eye. Which is exactly what they were doing to me. They made no bones about despising me.

Tyson had to shove me all the way down the narrow aisle. Today he pushed me into the very last seat as he took the one in front of me, acting as some sort of human shield. This was new. I blinked at his back as he swiveled in his seat and glared menacingly at any unfortunate person who dared look in my direction.

I burst out laughing. My entire body shook with mirth. Two days ago he’d shot that look at me and now… He looked at me with wide eyes and a stunned look on his face as my laughter died down. His dark eyes heated as they roamed over my face.

“Hey, freak show,” Chucky called out loudly as he plopped down into the desk beside mine. I flinched and stared straight ahead, refusing to look at him. The insult stung even worse today. “What happened to your face? Did your boyfriend here beat you up or something?”

I felt him move as he leaned across the aisle towards me. His coffee breath floated across my face, making me crinkle my nose. I made a mental note to not breathe in anyone’s face after drinking a cup of coffee because it was a rather unpleasant thing to experience.

The giant brunette beside me either didn’t notice my discomfort or he didn’t care because he didn’t back up and I saw his dimple pop out.

“If you want, I could beat him up for you.”

This surprised me so much my lips parted in shock and I stupidly turned to look at him. He grinned at me devilishly.

“Whaa… what?” I sputtered.

“If you go out on a date with me I’ll beat the shit out of whoever did that to your face.” He placed his right first in his left hand and cracked his knuckles loudly.

Good lord.

What would he have to say if I told him it was my mother who’d messed up my face? But, no, I’d already told too many people.

And, seriously? “You just called me freak show less than two minutes ago. And now you want to help me?” My voice sounded as baffled as I felt. I looked at Tyson in question but he didn’t notice because his angry eyes were burning at Chucky. He looked about two seconds away from launching out of his chair and tackling the big, dimpled football player.

“You are a freak show around here. You’ve got all those piercings in your ears and the one in your lip.” Chucky shrugged unapologetically. “Not to mention the goth thing.”

“Goth thing?” I asked.

“Black clothes.”