Taken by Lauren Barnholdt, Aaron Gorvine Page A

look on her face changes from one of self-righteousness to one of annoyance. But then it’s gone and she’s back to looking at me with disdain.
    “Look,” she says. “You have my necklace, I get it. But that’s not how it works.
    You can’t just take my necklace and expect it to give you power.” She shrugs, and the overhead streetlight glints off her bare shoulders. “My necklace is only made for me, and yours is only made for you.”
    I keep my eyes on her, not saying anything. I’m not sure how I know, but I can tell that she’s lying. She holds her hand out. “So give it back.”
    I laugh. Raine looks taken aback, and Cam steps back toward me. “Nat,” he says, “Please, let’s just go, let me take you home.”
    “Listen to him,” Raine says, moving a few steps closer until she’s standing right in front of me. “Let him take you home, Natalia. Who knows? Maybe you guys will finally have sex. I’m sure Cam’s ready to go again, aren’t you, Cam?”
    I reach out and slap her. My hand connects with her cheek so hard that her head snaps to the side. She looks back at me, her blue eyes widening in surprise.
    “Natalia,” Cam says, taking my hand. “Come on, that’s enough.”
    “Get away from me, Cam,” I say in a low voice. He drops my hand but doesn’t move.
    “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Raine shrieks. Her cheek is turning red where I hit her.
    “Don’t you ever say anything about him again,” I say. My voice is quiet. And even though I’m a little scared, I feel strong. Powerful. I’m not really afraid of Raine, just of the situation. I know it could get out of control, could go places I’m not prepared for.
    “Really?” Raine asks, and grins at me again. “I’m not supposed to say anything about him? Still hung up on him even after he hooked up with Kaci?”
    This makes me falter a little bit. How does she know? I turn around and look at Cam, my face questioning. But he shakes his head. He didn’t tell her.
    “Don’t look at him,” Raine says. “It’s not his fault that everyone knows about it.”
    “It’s all over school,” Becca yells from the other side of the car. She’s smoking a cigarette and leaning against the hood, looking bored.
    Teri’s standing next to her, her arms wrapped around herself, trying to stay warm.
    “Can we go, Raine?” she whines. “It’s too cold for this shit.”
    Raine gives them both a dirty look, silencing them. She turns back to me and holds out her hand. “Give it back.”
    “I’m not giving it back,” I say. “So you should turn around now, Raine, and go home.” Even as I’m saying the words, I know she’s not going to. I know what’s going to happen, that we’re headed for a confrontation. And the weird thing is, I can feel this white hot rage burning up inside me, and I kind of want it to go there. I want to be able to take all my frustrations out on her.
    “I just told you,” Raine says. “It doesn’t work that way. You can’t put my necklace on and expect to be powerful. All it will do is knock you into my head. I’ll kick your ass because you’ll be too out of it to do anything.”
    “Nat,” Cam says again. “Please, come on.”
    “I know,” I say to Raine. “I was already in your memory. I know you took the iPad.”
    She rolls her eyes like I’m the most ridiculous person ever. “Of course I have the iPad!” she shouts, and throws her hands up in the air. “What the hell did you think happened to it?”
    “I didn’t even remember having it! You erased my memory, remember?” I step closer to her, then reach out and push her hard in the chest. She falls down to the ground, landing hard on her butt.
    She stands up, her eyes narrowing, her mouth curling up in a snarl. “Don’t do this, Natalia,” she says. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
    “Oh, really?” I shoot back. “Is that what you told the guy I saw in your memory?
    The one that was getting led away by