“Calm down. I doubt you want the whole school knowing what you are, Maxx,” I soothe him, not having a clue why I feel like I should.
“He can’t have you,” Maxx states, the glowing calming down into a light shimmer around his skin instead. Maxx lifts his hand, picking up a strand of my hair and twirling it around his finger before letting it fall. “Austin is not someone you can date.”
“What do you mean by ‘can’,” I ask, moving my hand away and stepping back.
“I don’t like him,” he points out, like that explains everything.
“Who I date has nothing to do with you, Maxx. You made it clear you don’t like me, and you have Iris,” I snap, and he all but growls at me.
“I don’t like you, but I won’t let you date that asshole. He doesn’t deserve you, and there is nothing like that between Iris and me,” he tells me. “I protect her, I always will, but I don’t have feelings for her.”
“Whatever, Maxx. You don’t own me, we aren’t even friends, and you don’t get an opinion on who I date,” I tell him, ignoring his angry glare as I walk away. I also ignore the fact that I don’t even want to go on this date with Austin, but between Austin’s blackmail and Maxx’s demands, I don’t have a real choice.
Chapter Sixteen
“You really don’t get the whole staying away from my Maxx thing, do you?” Iris asks, smacking her tray down next to me on the lunch table. I glance up at her, seeing her perfect blonde hair is falling over her shoulders and her makeup is done to perfection. I tug at my pink hair, knowing I must look like crap with my tired eyes and lack of any makeup on. Abby slides into the seat opposite me, also looking great but in a more natural way. She smiles at me before opening her can of pop and pretending like there is no one else in the world as she plays on her phone. I put my sandwich down and face Iris, shrugging my shoulders at her question.
“He isn’t your Maxx, and he isn’t mine either,” I say. “I don’t want to argue with you over someone that is a total dickhead to me most of the time.” Abby bursts out in laughter while Iris doesn’t look one bit amused as she taps her fake nails on the table and muses over my words. I finish eating my food and drink my Coke before seeing if she is still looking at me, which she is. I quickly glance around the lunchroom and see how all the students are watching us, whispering between each other and no doubt taking bets that we are going to fight or something. I’m not crazy enough to even think a fight with Iris would go well, and I’m not fighting over Maxx damn Faraway.
“Maxx likes you…I know it,” she bites out. “Are you seriously telling me you don’t like him?”
“If I do or not, it isn’t your business,” I retort, because there is no way I am admitting anything to her. Especially not something like that.
“Remember, he is promised to me. I will always be there and never go away from his life. If you want to be with Maxx, you will have to fight me for the rest of your life to have him. So maybe you should just disappear and let him get over it,” she says, and I shake my head, looking away from her and going back to my food. I can’t deal with the bitch after everything I learnt today. I’m starting to think moving to this damn town was a terrible idea.
“Maxx said you know everything now,” Abby says into the awkward silence. I don’t know if her comment makes it more awkward or not, but I know I can’t just ignore her. At the end of the day, she is just here for her sister.
“That you guys are glowing aliens?” I ask and answer myself before she can. “Yep.”
“You will glow too,” Abby replies, grinning. I haven’t even thought about the fact I could have power, or I could possibly do that disappearing thing that Maxx does.
“I don’t know if I want to glow, it would make me crap at hide and seek,” I say, lightening the mood, and we both laugh. Iris starts picking at her food while playing on her phone, and I’m surprised at how comfortable it is to be sitting like this with them.
“You two are annoying,” Iris eventually says, but I spot a little smile on her lips. I quickly finish eating my crisps, so my plate is empty before getting up. I slide my tray to the end of the table, where the staff collect them before pushing my seat back in.
“What class do you have?” Abby asks me as she gets up and does the same as me.
“I don’t have class as art was cancelled. I’m going to get the bus which will be here in ten minutes. I thought I might as well get lunch while I wait,” I explain, annoyed that I even bothered coming into school today with my main lesson cancelled. All of today has just been a disaster.
“If art was cancelled, that means my class was as well, want a lift home?” Abby asks, looking thrilled. I forgot that she was in my class for a second. The only reason I know the teacher isn’t here is because I had to sign in late and the receptionist told me.
“And how am I meant to get home after class?” Iris asks, sounding beyond pissed off.
“Flash? Walk? Get the bus? I don’t know, figure it out, sis,” Abby says, and I kind of enjoy the non-amused look on Iris’s face before she storms off out of the lunch hall.
“Well, do you want a lift or not?” Abby asks when I look back at her. “It would piss Iris off if I gave you a lift home.”
“I want a lift,” I reply with a beaming smile, and quickly grab my bag before jogging to catch up with Abby. We run through the light rain to get to her red car, and quickly get inside. It is always raining here.
“Iris likes you, you know,” Abby randomly points out as we both pull our seatbelts on, and I flash her a look that suggests she is crazy.
“No, she doesn’t. Iris has threatened to kill me and looks at me every day like she is waiting for the chance. Now I know what you guys are, I know she was being more serious than I thought,” I say, ignoring how scared that actually makes me to think about it like that. I doubt I would be able to fight her if she can do the disappearing thing like Maxx. I might just have to stick around Maxx and Landon so she can’t get to me.
“Iris didn’t mean that. She couldn’t kill a fly, and she doesn’t know how to fight. Iris is a healer,” Abby states, waving off my concerns. “And I know my sister well enough to understand her. She likes you, she just won’t admit it, and she is scared of you taking Maxx from her.”
“Maxx isn’t hers,” I say in frustration, and it comes out way too possessively even to my ears.
“I know, he is yours. Iris has known that a long time, she just can’t admit it,” Abby tells me and starts the car, driving us out of school. I don’t correct her because it seems pointless when it sounds like Abby’s mind is made up. I couldn’t think of Maxx as mine at all, even if we are soulmates.
“Then why doesn’t she move on? Find someone else?” I ask.
“After what happened with me and a human…she wouldn’t risk it. I got my heart broken because I thought a human would want to be with me despite what I am,” she admits to me, her hands tightening on the wheel and a light green glow spreading over her skin.
“I heard what happened,” I reply, feeling sorry for her. I couldn’t imagine being in love with someone and them not only rejecting you but running away. It must have been horrible. I wonder if I can ever have a normal relationship now with Maxx always hanging over my shoulder and the possibility I might not be just human.
“Humans are not designed to be with us, and I made a mistake thinking I could break all the rules I had been told my entire life by my mother,” she says, her voice full of emotion, and most of it sounds like pure pain. She clears her throat and looks over at me for a second before watching the road again. “Iris can’t date a human, her soulmate is dead, and Maxx is the only straight guy of her kind we know. That is why she is so desperate to hold onto any chance of them being together again. Maxx only dated her the first time because he felt guilty and wanted to see if there could be anything between them. But there wasn’t.”
“It makes more sense when you put it like that,” I mutter, understanding Iris a lot more now. I can’t say I feel sorry for her, but I don’t hate her as much suddenly.
“One day, someone will walk into my sister’s life and change her view on everything, and she will know it was worth waiting for,” Abby states. “But I doubt it will be for a long time, so you will have to put up with her until then.”
“You will find someone…maybe not a human next time,” I say, and she smiles sadly at me.
“I doubt it. I will always love him, even if he hates me enough to run away,” she tells me. “Some things you won’t be able to just get over.” There is an awkward silence in the car as Abby drives us down the road.
“Who says I will be around for long anyway?” I eventually say to get rid of the sadness and tension in the car.
