Swans Landing #1 - Surfacing by Shana Norris

sucked air in and out, trying to control my breathing. I had grown tired of being pushed around by this little princess.
    “Jab your finger into me one more time and see if I don’t break it,” I told her.
    Her lips curled into a snarl and she raised her hand, finger pointed, and aimed it at me. I braced my legs for the pounce, ready to spring at her as soon as she touched me.
    But a hand stopped her halfway. Dylan looked down at her, anger etched across his face.
    “I have told you before that your temper is going to get you into trouble,” he said to her in a low voice.
    Sailor’s face turned red with fury waiting to be unleashed. “She’s pissing me off, hanging all over you and acting too stupid to do anything on her own.”
    “I am not —”
    Lake grabbed my arm to keep me from lunging at Sailor. “You need to learn to control your attitude as well,” he said.
    A short laugh escaped my lips. “What would you know about my attitude? You’ve barely spent enough time with me to know even what color my eyes are.”
    Lake released my arm and he stepped back slightly. He opened his mouth, but then closed it, not saying a word.
    I fought back the churning in my stomach and looked away so I didn’t have to see the hurt in his eyes. I would not feel sorry for Lake.
    “I’m taking Sailor home,” Dylan said, still holding her hand tight in his. “And we’re going to have a talk again about how keep yourself out of trouble. Isn’t that right, Sailor?”
    “You made a promise to me,” she snapped at him. “Don’t forget that.”
    “I was a kid when I made that promise,” he said. “It’s not fair to hold me to it now.”
    “Because of her ?” Sailor asked, glaring at me.
    “Because I’ve grown up,” Dylan told her. “And it’s time you do the same.”
    Her chin quivered slightly and she looked for a moment like she was going to cry. But then Sailor pushed her shoulders back and her chin up.
    “I’ll be the meek little pushover if that’s what you want me to be,” she said to Dylan. “But I’m not forgetting what you promised.”
    She spun around and marched across the beach, kicking up sand behind her.

Chapter Twelve
     
    “I hate the library,” Sailor muttered as Dylan and I followed her through the heavy double doors.
    “Big surprise,” I said.
    Sailor paused, letting her gaze scan over the books and other students gathering at the tables. “It’s too quiet in here and it smells funny.”
    “It’s fine,” Dylan said, steering her toward a table in the far back corner, away from everyone else. “Come on, we don’t have much time to get our work done and I don’t want to spend my lunch hour in here.”
    We had been assigned to research the history behind some of the books our English class had read so far during the school year. I was at a disadvantage, since I hadn’t read all of the same books that they’d read in Swans Landing. I’d only managed to read a couple of the books that had been assigned at my old school during my mom’s illness, so I had a very limited list to choose from. I’d chosen The Crucible , which I had read simply because it was short, and so my research was on the Salem witch trials.
    Sailor swept in ahead of me and threw herself across the chair next to Dylan at the table. She shot me a satisfied smirk, but I rolled my eyes as I sat down in the chair across from him.
    The sound of Elizabeth and Jackie and their friends laughing behind us echoed through the otherwise quiet room, causing Ms. Perez, the librarian, to come over and shush them.
    “Some people shouldn’t be allowed in the library.” Sailor shot a hard scowl over her shoulder toward them.
    “I agree,” I said as I opened my notebook. “So could you please leave?”
    Sailor snapped her own notebook open and then got up to stomp over to the computers.
    “Nice,” Dylan said. “You actually ran Sailor off.”
    “Not very far. But at least it’s an improvement.”
    “Can’t you two