Starcrossed

Chapter 12c: efrin (part 3)

CHAPTER 12 (Part 3)

efrin (EF-rin): Hell; used as a mild curse

I let out my breath, only then realizing how on edge I'd been. Then I turned to Rigel. "So what was that about? Really?"

He didn't meet my eyes right away, so I reached out and took his hand. The second I touched him, I gasped at the roiling emotions I sensed—anger, fear, jealousy, and again that tinge of sadness I didn't understand.

"Rigel?" I prompted, alarmed.

He looked at me then, apology written on his face. He'd clearly registered my worry. "I'm sorry, M. I really need to learn to control my feelings better."

I gently tugged him toward the courtyard door, since we needed to get to class. "I don't ever want you to hide your feelings from me, Rigel. But you can't let Sean—or anyone else—goad you into doing stuff you shouldn't. What did he say to get you that upset?"

We went inside, into the lovely warmth of the hallway. Rigel put an arm around me and rubbed my arm to warm me faster. "It's my fault you're cold, too."

"Never mind that. I'm fine. Answer me."

Rigel sighed, then nodded. "Okay. As far as I can tell, Sean totally freaked out when he heard we were bonded. He doesn't believe it—thinks I just made it up, like some kind of come-on line, to take advantage of you."

I snorted. "Molly didn't believe it either," I told him, "but I thought she'd at least decided to give me the benefit of the doubt. Guess Sean wasn't willing to do that."

I was kind of ticked Molly had told him at all, since it had led to so much trouble, but that wasn't fair. It's not like I'd asked her not to. In fact, I'd half hoped she would tell him, so he'd be less likely to flirt with me. I definitely hadn't expected it to backfire like this.

"Still, I shouldn't have let him get to me like that," Rigel said. "It put you in the middle and that's not fair."

"No, he's the one who put me in the middle," I pointed out. "Except I'm not really in the middle at all. I'm on your side, Rigel. Always. No matter what."

To my relief, I felt the negative emotions start to drain out of him.

"Thanks, M," he said as we reached the door to our History class. "I'll do my best not to make you put that to the test."

"I appreciate that," I answered with a grin. "And I'll do my best not to make that promise harder for you to keep."

I wished I could believe Sean would help with that, too, but I knew I couldn't count on it. My pleasant fantasy of all four of us becoming good friends was apparently just that—a fantasy. Unless I could somehow fix things.

Of course, Bri and Deb both wanted to know what was going on as soon as we joined them in History, and I'd totally forgotten to come up with something to tell them. Luckily, Bri made a guess of her own before I could say anything too stupid.

"It's something to do with Rigel's party Saturday, isn't it?" she asked as I stammered.

I immediately seized on that. "Yeah, actually, it was. He, um, had an idea for something kind of crazy, and I needed to talk to him about it, make sure he didn't commit to anything without asking his parents. I didn't want him to get in trouble on his birthday. Right, Rigel?"

"Yeah, and she was right, just like she usually is," he said, managing a chagrined smile. "I think we'll keep things simple after all."

"But if you can't go crazy on your sixteenth birthday, when can you?" Bri protested. "Don't wimp out."

I sensed Rigel tensing beside me and knew he was thinking of Sean instead of his party. Quickly, I changed the subject.

"Trust me, it's better this way. Hey, did you do the reading last night? I'm betting Rosa Parks will be on the final. Don't you just love everyday heroines like that?"

Deb jumped in with an enthusiastic agreement and a tidbit about Rosa Parks she'd found on Wikipedia, which kept us on safe topics until class started.

Molly, I noticed, didn't say a word during any of this and seemed preoccupied all during class. I wondered if she was still worried about the possibility of Sean and Rigel fighting—and whether she had a reason to worry that I didn't know about.

Sean was on the other side of the room, which meant at least I didn't have to worry about him saying anything that might blow my cover story or get Rigel upset again. Not for the next forty-five minutes, anyway.

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