Inborn (The Birthright Book 1)

Chapter 5

Xavier and I were back to our usual timing the next morning. When I rushed out to the car, he tilted his head like, "See, it is your fault we can't leave earlier." I chose to ignore him.

We kept my meeting with Kenji and her group to ourselves for the time being. I was undecided if I should tell my parents at all. They'd been reserved about the murder, though I felt like they'd been watching us more closely, upping our general security measures. Neither of them made a peep about the shed intruder after that one night. It was odd.

When we got to school, Joss skipped over and took my arm. "Why are you so happy this morning?" I said, skimming the parking lot for Lachlan, but I didn't see him. Or his bike. I was pretty sure he'd said he'd meet up with me in the morning.

"I just found out that Matt broke up a fight between two juniors, who are both suspended now." Matt was in some of the same classes as my brother, so she tried to stalk him through Xavier. That didn't work so well. My brother paid zero attention to anything that couldn't potentially wind up in one of his inventions.

I slanted my eyes. "And how did you find this out?"

"Uh...school grapevine?" She grinned.

"You are going to be sorry for stalking him online." I sighed. I would be sorry for it too.

"Somebody got video... So, how was your study date?" She bobbed up and down.

"It wasn't a date."

"Oh, fine. How was studying with the new hottie? Mimi is totally jealous, by the way. He walked up to her in the hall yesterday when you weren't around...I wish you'd seen it. She flipped her hair like, 'Finally!' And then...he asked if she'd seen you! I thought she was going to stab him with her pencil." Joss grinned from ear to ear. "So...spill!"

I should have expected this outpouring, but I didn't plan for it, so I had no idea how to let her down gently. "Well, um...it didn't work out."

Joss stopped dead in her tracks and yanked me around to face her. "Didn't work out? What happened?"

I shrugged, trying to avoid her eyes, but not look like I was avoiding her eyes. "Something came up–at home. I'll ask him again...later."

Joss' face was all scrunched up in disgust. "You better or I will completely disavow you as my best friend. Was it your parents?"

"Um...no." I started walking again. It was easier to elude her questions facing straight ahead and moving.

I caught her eyes squint up suspiciously. "So if it wasn't your parents, what was it that prevented you from studying with the hottest guy in our school right now?"

"It was just something that happened and I had to go right home and couldn't deal with explaining Lachlan to my parents right then. It's no big deal."

I could sense she didn't believe me, and part of me wanted to just tell her about Earth Patrol. But it could mess up their work, and I reminded myself it wasn't the only secret I'd ever kept from her.

"Besides," I added before she replied, "you were against this."

She rolled her eyes. "Please. Like I meant it. Have you seen his hair?"

"I'll get another chance." Not that I could promise that, but I had a feeling Lachlan wasn't history yet.

"If you say so. See you later." Joss blazed off, not even giving me a chance to say good-bye.

"Great," I muttered, dropping my bag in front of my locker.

I spun through the numbers on the lock, rifling to get the right books as kids emptied the hallways into their classrooms. The roar died down and I balanced my books in my arms, my notebook sliding onto the floor when I knocked the door shut with my elbow. I snatched it off the tile and rushed forward, bashing headlong into Tanner, who was running the other way. His books exploded out of his arms, but I managed to hold onto everything but the stupid notebook again.