Hunter: on my way to the library

Clay: She’s not in the library and I can’t find her on any of the cameras.

Annoyance barrels through me. Once I’ve claimed her, she’ll learn the rules, and her place. Then I won’t have to seek her out, she’ll be where I tell her to be waiting for me.

A new message pings on my cell just as I’m shoving it into my pocket, and I quickly click into the screen.

Clay: Just checked the footage for the parking lot, she walked off the school grounds about five minutes ago.

Me: And went where????

Clay: No idea, she walked off the site and out of the camera’s view.

Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m running out of the building and toward my car that’s parked in the lot. We all drove together, but I don’t care. I’m just starting the engine as the others appear and jump in, then we’re careening out of the lot and down the street.

“Where the fuck would she go? There’s nothing around here, no stores or restaurants, it’s too far for her to walk back to her house, it’s at least five miles,” I mutter distractedly as I drive too fast, my eyes scanning the street for her.

“Could she be getting a ride with someone else?” Evan asks.

“I doubt it, she doesn’t speak to anyone but the cheerleader,” Hunter says.

“There,” Clay shouts, leaning between the front seats to point ahead of us where Starling is climbing onto a Green Acres city bus.

The bus pulls away from the curb and into traffic before I can even process what I’m seeing. She rides the bus, of course she rides the bus, why didn’t I consider that? She rides the bus everywhere else, it makes sense that she wouldn’t hang out after school for an hour, when she has an alternative way to get home.

“I didn’t even know the city bus stopped in North Acres,” Evan says, his tone perturbed.

“The bus, huh,” Clay mumbles, his voice that odd tone that means he’s intrigued by something he wasn’t expecting. Clay is a genius and not just someone who thinks they’re smart, he’s a legit genius. His IQ is off the charts high. He could have finished high school and probably be on his way to graduating college by now, but he didn’t want to do it without the rest of us, so he’s stayed in school and takes online college classes to keep his brain active.

“I’m going to her place, I’ll drop you all off at home first.”

“Do you think ambushing her at her house with her mom there is the right way to go?” Hunter cautions.

“I’ve been waiting a fucking year, I’m done waiting.”

“Bro, you’ve never even spoken to her, turning up at her house and telling her she’s yours is going to scare the shit out of her. You need to at least try to ease her into this.”