Incubus by Jennifer Quintenz Page B

sneer.
    I turned, trying to follow her gaze. I could just make out a group of guys beyond the dining hall,
    gathered at the edge of the faculty parking lot at the other end of campus.
    “What is that?” I murmured, my heart suddenly leaping into my throat. Lucas saw the group a
    second later. Before he could answer, I was running across campus.
    As I got closer, I could hear the jeers of the crowd. They were looking at something on the ground.
    I reached the edge of the crowd and shouldered a few guys out of the way.
    “Dude, take it easy,” one of them said, rubbing his arm.
    I elbowed my way through to the heart of the group. Two guys from the soccer team were holding
    Royal down on the ground while Rick ran a buzzing razor over his head, sheering off the last of his
    hair.
    “ Stop, ” I screamed.
    Rick stood, grinning. “My work here is done.” The two guys holding Royal down released him and
    stood, giving Rick high-fives. Someone in the crowd gave a loud Wooo!
    “Braedyn?” Lucas arrived, winded. The crowd was already starting to disperse.
    “What is wrong with you?!” I spun on Rick.
    “Chill out,” Rick said. “It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.”
    “Why?” I was so angry I could barely speak. “Why would you do this?”
    Rick smiled a secretive smile and shrugged. “Let’s just say I owe someone a favor.”
    I lunged for Rick, ready to tear that smile off his face.
    “Don’t,” Royal said hoarsely from the ground behind me. He had pulled himself up to his knees,
    but his hands were shaking. A few stubbly patches of hair crisscrossed his bald head, but my eyes
    latched onto the red, raw places where the razor had sheared skin. A few spots of blood stood out
    starkly against his pale white scalp.
    “Later,” Rick said, walking away with a spring in his step. The last of his friends joined him,
    turning their backs on us with a last snicker.
    I dropped to the ground beside Royal. His shirt was a rumpled mess of dirt and grass stains. I saw a
    small rip at the shoulder, evidence of the futile struggle against his tormentors. He was staring down.
    The wind stirred drifts of light brown hair along the pavement. Royal lifted a shaking hand to touch
    his head. What he found there seemed to break something inside him.
    “I don’t think—” he looked at me, his brown eyes wide. He cleared his voice, trying for a measure
    of calm. “Tell Cassie I had to go home. I’ll see her tomorrow.”
    “Royal,” I tried to catch hold of his hand, but Royal pulled away from me with more strength than
    I expected. I stood to follow him into the parking lot. Lucas grabbed me by the shoulder, holding me
    back.
    “What are you doing?” I hissed at Lucas. “Let me go.”
    “I think—I think you should leave him alone for now,” he said. His eyes, tight with concern,
    followed Royal across the faculty parking lot toward the soccer field. “I don’t think he wants anyone
    to see him like this.”
    “But I’m not anyone,” I said. “I’m his friend.” As I heard the words leave my lips, I froze inside.
    I’m his friend.
    Amber. Amber had done this. A strange calm came over me, as though my mind had pulled some
    kind of emergency switch, disconnecting my emotions from my body. Like some part of me knew I
    couldn’t be trusted to act with this helpless rage boiling inside of me.
    But when I spotted her, hovering in the doorway to the girl’s locker room, I moved into action.
    Amber saw me coming and ducked inside the building.
    “Braedyn?” Lucas chased after me, but drew up short when I darted into the girl’s locker room.
    “Braedyn!”
    I ignored Lucas, determined to settle this score now. I skidded into the empty locker room. Amber
    was sitting calmly on a bench, waiting for me.
    “Leave my friends alone,” I growled, advancing on her.
    “It sucks, doesn’t it?” Amber purred. “Not being able to help your friends when someone messes
    with them. Like Parker.”
    I stopped.