Out Of Time (Book 0): Super Unknown by Donna Marie Oldfield

repeated. “We thought you were dead!”

Chapter 2
     
    “I
can’t believe it!” said the boy, who Scarlett thought looked about her age. He
ran his hand through his hair and stared at her in stunned disbelief.
    She
looked from him to the death robot, which was fizzling and whirring pitifully
as its power died out, and back again.
    The
boy knew her name and he was staring at her like they were old friends, but she
swore she’d never seen him before in her life. She was sure she would have
remembered if she’d met a boy this good-looking before.
    As
he got closer, she couldn’t help but notice his gorgeous green eyes and, as he
met her gaze, it felt like they were piercing right through to her soul.
Scarlett blushed with nerves.
    “Wh...
what did you do?” she asked, struggling for something to say.
    “I
iced it,” he said matter-of-factly, like it was no big deal. “And that made it
short circuit and explode.”
    She
must have misheard him. She could have sworn he said he’d ‘iced it’. What on
earth did that mean? The hot boy didn’t notice the look of confusion on her
face though, he was too busy waving to three other teenagers.
    “Team,
come over here,” he yelled.
    Two
girls and another guy ran down the alley towards them.
    “Scarlett!”
    They
were gazing at her happily as though they knew her too, but she didn’t have a
clue who they were.
    “I
can’t believe it,” one said.
    “You’re
alive!” yelled another.
    “Oh
my goodness!” the third exclaimed.
    “It’s
so good to see you,” a beautiful girl with flowing blonde hair said as she
raced forward from the group and hugged Scarlett.
    Scarlett
pushed her off and took a step back. She needed some space. She stared at the
four teens suspiciously, trying to make some sense of the whole situation.
    “We
thought you were dead,” the hot boy said.
    “Yeah,
I’d kind of guessed that,” Scarlett replied as she peered at him shyly through
her jet-black fringe. Her stomach was flip-flopping all over the place and her
cheeks were burning with embarrassment. Why did she always fall to pieces when
she fancied a boy? She knew she looked dumb just standing there and she had to
say something. Anything.
    “Well,
I’m very much alive,” Scarlett mumbled as she looked down to avoid the boy’s
gaze. She noticed a bit of death robot on her arm and brushed it off. It was
freezing cold. She hadn’t misheard him – he really had iced it.
    “Thanks
for saving me from the death robot,” she added.
    “Detectobot,”
corrected a beautiful Asian girl with long dark hair.
    “Yeah,
whatever,” Scarlett said shrugging her shoulders. “Look, I really appreciate
your help, but I don’t actually know you.”
    They
all looked at Scarlett like she was crazy.
    “Of
course you do, you’re one of us,” the blonde said.
    “Us?”
What were they exactly? She cautiously took a step away from them.
    The
friendly girl noticed that Scarlett was rattled and took a less intense
approach.
    “Let
us take you for a coffee, you look like you need it.”
    Scarlett
paused to consider the offer. She didn’t know these kids and she knew better
than to go off with strangers. However, the world had gone crazy and she had
been attacked way too many times in the past hour or two, so where else was she
going to go? These four seemed to think they knew her.
    “Come
on, Scarlett,” said the boy who’d saved her. “We’re your friends, we’d never do
anything to hurt you.”
    She
turned to look at him and her heart started pounding. She didn’t know why, but
she had a strange feeling that she could trust him. As she stared at his 6ft
frame and broad shoulders, her mind started to invent sickeningly soppy
fantasies of him being her strong hero, who would protect her from anything.
    “Scarlett?”
he said gently, jolting her back to reality.
    She
went bright red, hoping desperately that he couldn’t read minds as well as
freeze things.
    “Are
you coming with