Conspicuous Secrets

Chapter One

            "Don't forget. Your name is Jaxon King. We moved here from California. Our parents died in a house fire. You can't do anything that could risk giving him a way to find us. And most importantly, never, under any circumstances, tell anyone the truth," I told my brother.

He nodded, probably having everything memorized after having it drilled into his head a million times. "Are you ready, Lydia?" I glanced at him, hearing the unfamiliar name roll off his tongue. It was definitely something that would take me a while to get used to.

I looked out the car window and to the exterior of our new school. It was twice the size of our old school in Florida. I could already see myself getting lost in the large crowds of students. "Yeah," I breathed. "Let's go."

We climbed out of the old, blue car and started making our way toward the glass front doors of the stone building. Immediately, we gathered the attention of the people around us. "Do you have your schedule?" Jaxon asked me.

My gaze left the curious strangers around us and diverted to my brother. I nodded and pulled out the folded piece of paper that listed my class information from my front jean pocket. "I have English first," I told him.

"I have Trigonometry," he replied, not needing to check his schedule. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I memorized it all last night," he informed me.

I rolled my eyes, his actions not surprising me. My brother was smart, although he didn't look it. At a first glance, you'd think he was just another carefree pretty-boy. His thin, black hair and big, hazel eyes tend to always catch a girl's attention. He looked like a jock with his strong build and athleticism, but if you knew him well, then you knew that he actually spends a good amount of his time studying and caring about his grades.

I followed my brother inside the school and into the student-filled opening room. "Well, I'll see you later. My class is this way," Jaxon said before walking into the hallway to my left.

"Wait!" I called after him, but he was already gone. I didn't know how in the world he knew where he was going, but I wish he would've directed me in the right direction before saying his farewell. Sighing, I looked around me trying to get a sense of direction. A huge part of me knew I should ask someone for guidance, but I had too much pride to do that. Taking a deep breath, I turned right.

Walking along the unfamiliar walls of my new school, I kept a confident glint in my eyes. I avoided the crowded areas in the long corridor, not wanting to draw any extra attention to myself and silently prayed I was going the right way. Probing eyes stared in my direction as if I was fresh meat that needed to be check out. I pulled my unbuttoned, green button down shirt tighter around the black tank top I had on under it and continued walking as if I didn't notice the onlookers.

At the end of the hallway, I looked at the nearest room number and realized it was nowhere near where I needed to be. Groaning, I looked around at the rushing students, knowing it was near time for the beginning bell to ring.

Suddenly, a body jammed into my shoulder as they tried to walk through the crowd. My head jerked up to the tall boy and found a cold glare staring down at me. His light-blonde hair was combed back with an excessive amount of gel and his green eyes held an intimidating threat. "Can't you see I'm walking? Stay out of my way," he demanded before continuing down the hall.

"He's a dangerous guy. It's best to just listen to him," a girl said from behind me. Her long, strawberry-blonde hair reached a few inches above her elbows and her light green eyes held a friendly glint in them.

"He sounds like a rude person," I stated, catching her contagious smile.

"Very." She nodded in agreement. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're new here."