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in the direction of Parker’s table. Sure enough, his eyes hadn’t moved an inch, only it was no longer just him who was focused on me. The look on Cassidy’s face was full of animosity as she glared at me. Brynn leaned over and whispered something in her ear before they both looked back at me, their lips tilted down in twin expressions that let me knew I wasn’t going to be making friends with them any time soon. Parker seemed oblivious to the laser beams his girlfriend—or ex -girlfriend—was shooting at me, but one thing was for sure. If those were the types of people he chose to associate with, then Parker Owens wasn’t someone I needed to be spending any time around.

    The bell dismissing school finally rang and I let out a sigh of relief, thankful for the day to be over. But as soon as I stepped through the door, that relief was replaced with frustration. Rain was pouring down in sheets as the wind blew fiercely. We were in the middle of a decent storm, and I was without a car or an umbrella.
    I sucked in a deep breath, stepped out from under the awning that covered the front door of the school and began my trek home. The rain beat down on me as I started up the road leading to my house. I was surprised by just how cold each frigid drop felt against my skin as it fell from the sky. I hadn’t dressed appropriately for such a drastic temperature drop. I’d barely made it halfway home when my teeth began chattering. My soaked t-shirt and jeans did nothing to ward off the chill that had my body trembling. I hugged my arms around my waist, trying to get any semblance of warmth I could, but it was useless. My feet were numb, my fingers were tingling, and I was pretty sure my lips had turned blue.
    This sucks! I was really starting to despise Sommerspoint.
    When I heard the sound of a truck approaching from behind me, I stepped to the side of the road as best I could so it could pass, trying not to slip and slide along the soft shoulder.
    I kept my head down, embarrassment heating my cheeks as I silently prayed that whoever was passing wouldn’t recognize me. ‘Drowned rat’ wasn’t really a good look for me. I listened closely to the sound of the tires on the road and to the shift of the engine, hoping the driver of the truck would just keep going, but of course I couldn’t have been that lucky.
    “Freya?” The chill that ran down my spine just then wasn’t from the cold. I kept walking, thinking that if I didn’t acknowledge Parker, he’d just move along. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what he’d had in mind. I could see his truck in my peripheral vision, creeping along next to me as I kept walking. “Freya, get in the truck. Let me give you a ride home.”
    Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Out of everyone who had to drive by as I walked home in the rain, why did it have to be the strange boy who seemed to evoke emotions in me that I’d been trying desperately to ignore?
    “I’m f…f…fine,” I stuttered as I tried to suppress a shiver.
    “You’re not fine. You’re freezing. Just let me take you home.”
    “I s…said I’m f…fine.”
    “Your lips are purple, Freya. Stop being so difficult. If you don’t get in the truck, I’ll just keep driving alongside you. Imagine how much fun that’ll be. All those pissed-off drivers trailing behind me, honking their horns, all because you’re being stubborn.”
    Damn it. He had me there. It was as if he knew how much I hated drawing attention to myself and he was using that against me. My eyes were narrowed into slits as I made my way around the hood of the truck, scowling at him the entire time. I jerked the passenger door open and climbed in, slamming it closed more forcefully than necessary.
    “You know,” Parker started as he put the truck into gear and began driving. “You have a real messed-up way of showing appreciation.”
    I kept my focus pointed out the passenger window as the heat in the cab of the truck finally began to ward off