Starbound by J.L. Weil

If you want Seth, why don’t you just go get him.” She popped a seedless grape into her mouth. Claudia thought everything was at her fingertips, including boys.
    This was hard to admit. I played with the cap from the water bottle. “Believe it or not, I did.”
    “And…” she prompted, hating to be left dangling.
    I sighed. “And he wasn’t interested in me.”
    “He what?” she shrieked and then glanced at Seth, studying him. “Hmm, he must be gay.”
    “Claudia,” I grumbled, my lips twitching.
    “What?” she replied innocently when she was anything but. “Look, I am going to be straight with you. I know guys. I know how they think, what they want. I have two brothers, so it’s like second nature to me. And I am telling you, no matter what comes out of Seth’s edible lips, he wants you.”
    I rolled her words in my head. “Maybe, but it looks a little late now.”
    She pursed her lips. “Girl, it is never too late. Fact. He couldn’t be any less into that blood-sucking vampire chick if he tried. Any minute he is going to remove her leg from his. She is suffocating him.” Claudia sat back, and I propped on my elbows as we both watched, waiting.
    Sure as shit, Seth nudged her leg and leaned as far back in his chair as possible. Elena scowled.
    Claudia grinned, completely pleased with her guy-intuition, and popped another grape. “Told ya.”
    I had to hand it to her; that had been pretty impressive. But I couldn’t dwell on it for long, because the damn black spot in my head was nagging me and our next classes were about to begin.
    “Don’t be late for practice today,” she warned, flipping her dark hair as she stood up from the table.
    I rolled my eyes. “Whatever you say, warden.”
    She walked backwards, grinning. “You know it. I am going to be on you like stink on shit.”
    Lovely .
    ***
    I arrived at practice right on schedule, to Claudia’s delight, and thank God, because when Harper walked in five minutes later Claudia started busting her chops.
    Jeesh , and I thought I was having a heinous day.
    “Listen up, bitches.” Claudia’s voice boomed through the gymnasium. “Our first game was a freaking debacle.” Her blue eyes found mine, and she gave me a pointed look that said it was entirely my fault.
    I shrunk.
    “We are not leaving tonight until we have performed this routine flawlessly. Got it?”
    There were a bunch of grumbles and groans from the squad. I wanted to crawl under the bleachers. Cassandra bumped into me as we got into our points. “Nice job,” she mumbled under her breath.
    Clearly everyone on the team was pissed at me. I stood there wide-eyed and red-cheeked, wishing this day would come to an end. I was ready to throw my pom poms in.
    Claudia cued the music and counted down the first steps. Mindlessly, I fell into the moves, but my heart just wasn’t feeling it. Not ten minutes into our grueling practice and I already couldn’t stop thinking about Seth, seeing his devastatingly handsome face. God, I was Seth crazed. I needed to find a way to purge myself of him, or something. He was interfering in every aspect of my life without even trying.
    Yet I couldn’t stop seeing his eyes, the color of dark pines, his lazy grin and how it transformed his face. He could go from harsh and cold to irresistible and charming in two seconds flat, with just a curve of his lips. Don’t even get me started on his mouth. Heaven help me.
    Then like a cloud had been lifted from my vision, the memories of last night unfolded in my head, a tumbling of pictures. From the circle, to Elena’s contempt, to the magickal blue flames and how Seth’s face was revealed in the smoke after I dropped a piece of my hair into the spell—it all came back in a rush.
    I stumbled.
    Seth .
    Seth was mine.
    He was the piece of me I was missing—my starsoul.
    I jerked back to the present, standing still while the others kicked and clapped around me. My lungs hurt, and my body went numb.
    Damn him .