I was already annoyed when I pulled into the school parking lot. It didn't help that it was raining, and the only spot I'd been able to find was a five-minute walk from the doors. By the time I got inside, the rain had soaked my jeans. At least my jacket and shoes were water-proof.

The bell hadn't yet rung, so students were still filling up the hallways as I made my way to my locker. The song coming through my earphones — AC/DC's newest single — drowned out the sounds around me. Still, I heard a group of girls shrieking and giggling loudly, trying in vain to attract the attention of the newest addition to the student body. Despite my best efforts to the contrary, I'd remembered his name. Dominic Asher.

He and his new friends were leaning against the lockers opposite mine. It didn't surprise me that a guy as gorgeous as Dominic had been immediately included in that group. Calvin Newton, Robbie Bryans, Landon Moore, and Julian Lost were all gorgeous, and obviously, they'd thought the attention a new guy would get would work out nicely for them, too. They weren't wrong. They now had the attention of every single girl in our year and the one below us — me included. Though my attention wasn't given willingly. There was just something about him that made it impossible to look away. He was tall, with the type of muscle you only got from actual manual labour. His black hair curled slightly at the edges, though he kept it too short for it to have any actual curls. His dark skin looked soft and just begged to be touched; his lips were full and perfectly kissable. He was every girl's daydream in the flesh, and it irritated me to no end. Luckily, his personality made up for his looks. He was just as awfully sex-oriented as the other guys in our year, and he wasn't shy about it. It made it very easy to stay far, far away from him, especially as I'd made it an art not to attract attention.

As I was putting some books in my locker, my phone slipped out of my hand and landed on the ground, immediately followed by the contents of my bag as I bend down to retrieve it.

"Fuck!" I cursed, quickly shoving my stuff back inside.

"Language, Miss Benedict," Vice-Principal Gurd said. Looking up, I saw he was frowning at me, which only deepened when I pulled out one earbud and said, "Sorry, what?"

"I said, language, Miss Benedict. As this is the third time I've caught you cussing this semester, make sure it doesn't happen again, or you'll be finding yourself in detention," he warned.

"Of course, Vice-Principal Gurd." He didn't catch the sarcasm in my words, instead just nodding and carrying on down the hall. I rolled my eyes, zipped up my bag and stood up. The bell rang just as I swung my locker shut.

My first class of the day was Bio. The teacher, Miss Winston — or Mia, as she wanted us to call her — was one of my sister's best friends, and she smiled warmly at me when she saw me walk through the door. Like my family, she was a Savant, someone with a gift. Hers gave her the abilities of a siren which came in very handy as a high school Bio teacher.

"Okay guys, today we're gonna be talking about the eye!" She began brightly, and I immediately tuned her out. I liked Mia. She was sweet, and I'd known her for so long thanks to her friendship with Cerise she almost felt like another sister. What I did not like was Bio. It was the one science subject that didn't come easily to me; it took me no time to grasp the concepts we studied in Chem and Physics, and even Maths took me hardly any work. But Bio? No. Somehow, I could just never keep my attention on what we were supposed to be doing.

Toward the end of the class, Mia handed out the graded tests we'd made last week. When I saw the big fat red 'D' at the top of the page, I wanted to bang my head on the table. Instead, I stuffed the paper in my bag, not bothering with putting it in my folder. I wouldn't care much if it got accidentally torn up. I was debating whether to feed it to a stray dog on my way home when Mia had circled back to me.

"Cam, you need to get Victor or Atoosa to sign that test before next class," she whispered to me, her hand fluttering just above my shoulder, unsure if she should let it rest there or not.

"Yeah, I will," I muttered. Her hand touched my shoulder for a second, then fell back to her side.

"Alright. Don't forget, sweetheart." She moved back to the front of the room, reminding us of the lab we had next week and the preparatory work we needed to do for it. Luckily, before she could get too in-depth, the bell rang.

The rest of my morning classes passed much quicker, AP Calc and AP Chem followed by French, all subjects that were much easier than Bio. Still, by the time Lunch came around, I was more than happy for a break.

Atoosa, in an effort to make me feel at home, packed a lunch for me every morning. I was sure it was also as a thank you for the hours I put in baby-sitting. She and Victor had three girls, and they were hell-raisers. They weren't my parents; Victor was my cousin, the son of my dad's older brother. As my parents were dead and my brother, who I'd lived with since I was seven, away for work, I'd moved in with them. As nice as they were, I couldn't wait for December, when Rowan would be back: Victor and Atoosa tried to parent me a little too much.

I was going to miss the lunches, though. She made some damn good sandwiches.

My table in the cafeteria didn't stay empty for long. The reason I knew so much about Dominic Asher was not because he was so hot it felt like a crime not to look at him. No, that was because he and his friends sat at my table for lunch. Some people might say that I was 'part of the popular clique.' I disagreed, for that would mean they were my friends. I didn't do friends. Unfortunately, other people seemed determined to miss that memo.

Sabrina Owens, for example. While the boys usually left me alone, she had yet to give up talking to me. Though I never answered in more than short sentences, she appeared to think of me as her best friend. As my jeans were still wet and my poor grade in Bio was hanging over my head, I was in even more of a grim mood than usual. It didn't stop Sabrina from sitting down opposite me.

"Hey, girl!" she said, plopping her tray down. The guys at the other end acknowledged her with small grins and muttered, 'Hey's,' but it was me she kept her attention focused on. I ignored her. "You're coming to the party this Friday, right?"

A party? That was worth a conversation. "Depends. Who's throwing it?"

"Blake, but it's at the house of, um…" she hesitated, wondering if she should tell me the rest. I already knew what was coming: Blake had the habit of throwing parties at the houses of his girlfriends. I would know; I was his most recent one. Until I dumped him last month, that is.

"Yeah?"

"Um, my neighbour? I think you met her, Emily?"

Emily, huh? What a surprise. She was the reason I'd broken up with him in the first place: he'd had too hard of a time keeping his eyes off her, and I was bored with his lack of an attention span. I'd looked amazing that night, but I'd had to find my compliments elsewhere than my boyfriend. I snorted. "Yeah, I met her. I'll go to that."

"You will? I mean, great!" Sabrina brightened, and I knew she was glad I wasn't hung up on Blake. She'd never liked him, which was the only reason I'd dated him. He was a year older and had graduated last year. I'd hoped if I was constantly with him, Sabrina would leave me alone. It hadn't worked, and I regretted ever starting something up. That was eight months of my life I would never get back.

"Brie, can I eat your muffin?" Julian asked then, a gleam in his eyes. Sabrina chucked the muffin from her tray at his head, blushing furiously. She liked him, but instead of doing something about it, she seemed content with his daily stream of inappropriate comments and hearing him talk about other girls. It irritated me because she deserved so much better than an immature ass like Julian. I kept my mouth shut, though. No use in stirring shit up.

Besides, the moment had passed already. Dominic was talking to him about something, and Sabrina was checking something on her phone. A text came in on mine and I thought it was her, but when I went to check it, any hint of amusement I could've felt about the meme she might've sent me evaporated. Instead, I was filled with dread.

Cam, Zed and Sky are in town, so we're having a family dinner in Wrickenridge. Can you be home by five?

It came from Atoosa, which left me with even fewer options than if Vick had sent it. Sure, my cousin might seem scary and mysterious, but it was his soulfinder I really feared. She was much too good at reading me. I quickly typed a response, hoping it was legible. I didn't bother doing a spell check; my hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold my phone. She would probably know I meant something like 'Yeah, sure.'

"Crap!" I cursed softly, but Sabrina still heard me. She looked up, eyes wide.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine," I bit out, still cursing inwardly. Without waiting for a response, I grabbed my stuff and stalked to the bathroom. It was empty, and I locked the door to prevent anyone from coming in. I leaned on the sink, taking a few deep breaths to get my breathing under control. My hands were still shaking and felt ice-cold, so I held them under the warm water. I hated that I still felt like this; it had been ten years since my father died, and I still couldn't look Uncle Saul in the eye. They didn't even look that much alike, which made it even more frustrating. I barely even thought about my parents anymore, for God's sake.

I splashed some water on my face, then walked out of the bathroom again. Outside, I was surprised to find Dominic waiting for me. I raised my eyebrow.

"Hey, you okay?" His obvious concern surprised me even more.

"I'm fine," I said. He didn't look convinced, so I added, "I just really had to pee."

"So you locked the bathroom?"

"I like my privacy."

"You like your privacy," he repeated after me. "Right." He looked away from me, looking annoyed. I felt myself getting mad. What did he care why I went to the bathroom and what I did there? And why the hell did he think I owed him an explanation?

"Did you want anything?" I asked him, wondering why I even bothered. I could just walk away; I didn't owe him a thing. But I found myself rooted to the ground, unable to move.

"Yeah, actually. When's your birthday?"

His question took me by surprise, something he was making into a habit. He was constantly doing things I didn't expect, and it frustrated me to no end that it only made me more curious about what he'd do next.

"Why do you want to know?"

He blew out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, now. I know you're a Savant. So am I. Didn't your parents drill the importance of checking for your soulfinder into you?"

"My parents are dead," I said, the bored tone of my voice at odds with the hurt those words still caused. It wasn't a secret, but there were still only a few people at school who knew this.

"Oh," he said stupidly. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too." I turned to walk away, but his hand shot out to grab my wrist, holding me back.

"You didn't tell me your birthday," he pointed out, and I sighed inwardly. Could no boy ever take a hint? I had no desire for a soulfinder. I didn't want to fall in love. All that would leave me with was more people to hurt me when they inevitably died.

"What's yours?" I shot back.

"October 31st."

"Well, then our problem's solved. Mine's not anywhere near that," I said. "Now, can you let go of my wrist?"

He immediately let me go, and I stalked off.