Thanks to Terriah, Dulce Ambrosia,End-of-ur-world, cat-eye jane, moongoddess0808 and Perceive for their reviews.
Chapter 13
Clara's jacket had slipped to her elbows, leaving her bare arms in her short-sleeved shirt. Goosebumps hit her arms as soon as she entered the library and it wasn't just because they kept the air-conditioning on full blast. She'd been dreading this moment all day.
She shivered involuntarily and pulled the fabric up over her shoulders and hugged her arms about her middle. She was glad to have her auburn hair falling about her shoulders and framing her face. It would be a nice curtain to duck behind if she needed it.
Her eyes surveyed the silent room. Two librarians were speaking in soft tones behind the counter while checking through a stack of books they'd just received. Clara nodded to them tentatively and moved further into the room.
She caught the whiff of worn book pages and the cedar wood bookshelves. She moved passed several rows of shelves, the floor creaking gently beneath her feet. She tucked her head into the break between the rows. Several tables were arranged in a square-like fashion. A few were occupied.
Her eyes were immediately drawn to the one on the far left. A boy sat there with a few books splayed before him and his elbows propped against the tabletop. His dark hair fell over his forehead and he didn't look up when she moved into view.
Clara chewed her trembling lip. She hated this. She had never broken up with someone before. She never had to because she was too shy to even have a boyfriend. The worst part was that she was gathering a small audience from the students at the tables.
"That's the girl Bracken's dating?" A girl whispered to her friend at her left. "But I thought she was that shy girl. You know—the one who never speaks."
Her friend's reply was too inaudible from this distance.
Clearly their whispering wasn't too inaudible for Bracken's ears. He looked up suddenly, a slow smile breaking across his features. He motioned her to the table.
He really is a good-looking guy, her mind thought rather distantly. But for some reason, that smile didn't seem to make her turn to mush anymore. She really didn't know that much about Bracken—only what she had heard from gossip. And now what she had gleaned from Drew's mind.
She had been more focused on Drew than Bracken, so that gleaning created only a small inventory to go on. She knew that Drew held a deep and angry jealousy for his brother, although he denied it, even to himself. Clara supposed it must have been hard for him to grow up with the most popular boy in school—to always have his parents compare him to Bracken. But that didn't mean that Bracken was a bad person, did it?
Something kept her from being completely at ease as she moved to the table and took the seat Bracken had pulled out beside him.
"Hey," she whispered, her hair sliding forward to cover part of her face. She gave him a weak smile and eased into the seat, feeling the smooth wood beneath her.
A crease appeared between his baby blues and her reached out to take her hands. "Are you all right? What's wrong? Has my brother been bothering you?"
Clara bit her lip and shook her head.
"Are you sure? Someone told me you got in the middle of one of his fights this morning," Bracken replied with a searching glance. He rubbed his thumb along her palm.
She pulled away and folded her hands in her lap.
"It was fine," she assured him. "Really. They stopped fighting as soon as I got near. Don't worry about it."
"Then what's wrong?" Bracken said, waving his hands about and looking for the right words. Finally he allowed them to rest at his sides. "You're exuding—I don't know…anxiety?"
"Oh. That," Clara responded. She could never hide her emotions. They always seemed to reach her face. And it was usually so embarrassing because she was generally feeling shy or wanting to kick herself in the head for speaking before she thought something through.
Right now she was more occupied with the eyes that were boring into her from all directions. About a dozen pairs of eyes were watching to see what would happen between Bracken and his "supposed" girlfriend. She didn't know what she had been thinking by dreaming of this kind of attention over the past couple of years. This wasn't what she wanted. It only made her feel more ill at ease.
"Do you think we could talk?" She asked softly and nudged her head in the direction of the other students. "Without an audience?"
He looked up as if he hadn't even noticed the dozens of eyes. He probably hadn't. Bracken was probably used to the attention.
He nodded and drew back his chair. It scraped along the floor, making Clara cringe. It was a great way to gather more attention, if all the attention was not already surrounding them.
He took hold of her arm and pulled her to her feet. He jutted his head toward the back of the library. They moved through what seemed like eons of bookshelves. The library was pretty large for such a small school, but Clara was taking every moment and stretching it to its capacity in her mind, her heart thumping oddly.
She knew where he was leading her and she wasn't very comfortable with the prospect. There was a small nook at the back of the library with a couple of stuffy couches that were worn and old with some of the stuffing springing forth out of the cushions.
It was only half-lit because most of the long rectangular glass covering the fluorescent glow had been smashed by Drew's gang a few years ago, and the lights beneath had been also destroyed. No one had bothered to replace the damage, but thankfully the tiny bits of glass that littered the floor for a week following the even had finally been removed. It showed how often the librarians ever came back here.
Just about never. That is why it had become a very popular make-out spot among the students. That was why Clara was unhappy.
Bracken stopped once he had reached the nook and turned around to face her with a half-smile. He took both her hands.
"I think we should be well enough alone back here," he announced and then asked. "What did you want to tell me?"
"I—" Clara began, swallowing with a dry throat. "I…um—Bracken, I…"
She was battering herself thoroughly in her mind. Why couldn't she just say the words? Why was it so hard anyway? But her mind was running wild on her, trying to find the best way to break up with someone. She had to do it without hurting his feelings because she was afraid of what he'd think of her if she didn't.
Why did she have to be born with a curse like this? Why should she even care anyway? She'd seen from her venture into Drew's mind that not everybody thought this way. Not everyone thought out their sentences to thorough precision before allowing themselves to open their mouths.
She didn't want to be like this anymore. And she didn't want to always take everyone else's feelings into account before her own. Besides, it was impossible to make both Drew and Bracken happy. And she loved Drew.
She couldn't say the same about Bracken. Sure she had admired him for years. Even idolized him. But loved him? No.
It was a moment of clarity. I do not love Bracken, she thought. A smile curved along her lips as she thought this.
Then she realized that Bracken was looking at her oddly. Her head shot up as she realized that she had been daydream. She shuddered to think how long she had been off in her own world. She felt her cheeks tinging red.
"Sorry!" She apologized and hated herself for saying it. More than that, she hated herself for realizing that if she wanted to change it wouldn't be easy. Even as she was thinking about changing, she was also preoccupied with what he thought. She could feel the anxiety rising in her.
"It's okay," Bracken soothed and pulled her even closer. They were only a few inches apart.
Oh no! He was probably going to kiss her. She had to stop him somehow. She couldn't bear to hurt Drew again. And this was the surest way to do so.
She took a step back, shaking her head.
Bracken paused, giving her an odd look. There was something almost grating about his tone. "What's going on?"
"I—" she began again. "I want to break up."
Bracken looked positively perturbed. "What?" He demanded. "Why?"
"Because I'm not in love with you!" She blurted. "I'm sorry!" she added, backing up even further. Her shoulder blades came to rest upon a book shelf that hid the nook from view. "I'm just not. I can't change that."
"Clara, I know you felt—" He stopped himself, as if he were about to say something incriminating. Instead, he said, "Does this have something to do with my brother?"
"I—yes," she said finally. She might as well tell the truth. "I know you lied to me about him. He's there is no terrible thing that he's done that I don't know about."
"Clara," he shook his head vehemently. "You don't know what you're talking about. You can't trust him. How else would you know what you think you know?"
"I know!" She said stubbornly. There was no way she could tell him how. She worried that that information could be incriminating. Drew's warning rested at the back of her mind. Never let anyone suspect you know of the Night World.
He placed a hand on either side of her, boxing her between the bookshelf and himself. His voice came out in a growl and his eyes shone with a silver light. He looked inhuman—which was true.
"Stay away from my brother, Clara. Do you hear me? Stay away from him."
She shook her head. "No!"
His hand moved from the bookshelves to her throat. There was nothing caressing about the gesture. His eyes shone with pure malice as he jerked her forward until their faces were only inches apart.
"If you ever—and I mean ever go near my brother again—I'll kill you. Do you hear me Clara?" He hissed. "I'll kill you. And don't believe I won't. I don't care about you. I never did. So watch your back."
Clara gasped beneath his bruising grip. For a moment she thought he would choke her until she could no longer breath, but his hands slid away.
"I mean it," Bracken whispered sharply.
And then he was gone.