Unraveling Soren by Marisa Maichel (books under 200 pages txt) 📕

“Oh my god,” said Iris, a pretty Asian girl with purple hair. “She’s gorgeous.”

I looked up, and saw Sarah. Girls and guys alike stared at her as she walked by. She sat beside me.

“Hello, Ari. Hi, Cate,” she said, smiling.

“Hi, Sarah,” Ari greeted. “This is Amber, Iris, and Lucy.”

“Hi, girls,” she greeted. They murmured greetings back. “I see you’ve met my boyfriend Reese already.”

“Boyfriend?” Iris looked stunned and hurt.

“Yeah, I know. What’s a straight girl doing here?” Sarah giggled. “I came to support my friend. I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight, Reese.”

“It was kind of an impulsive decision,” I said.

“I uploaded that video, Ari,” she said.

“What video?” I asked.

“It’s a video where I do her makeup,” Sarah replied. She tugged on her ear. “Damn, my earrings are bothering me today.”

“Take them out,” I said. “I did.”

“You had earrings?”

“A long time ago. I eventually took them out, and the piercings closed up.” I showed her the scar on my ear.

“Sarah’s amazing with makeup,” Ariella gushed. “Well, duh, I mean, look at her! Her makeup is amazing. She put this pink eyeshadow on me that brings out the brown flecks in my eyes.”

“You made Ari look good?” Cate said to Sarah. She nodded.

“Hey! I always look good.”

“It’s okay, babe,” Cate smiled at her. “I love you, anyway.” This brought on a fit of the giggles from all of my female company.

“What are you, anyway?” Amber asked me.

“Me? I’m bi.”

“Really? Me, too. Lucy and I just started dating.”

“That’s cool,” I said. “What’s your coming-out story?”

She shrugged. “It’s not that interesting, really. I knew I was bi since I was twelve. That’s when I started noticing the popular girls. My mom went through my laptop a few weeks ago, and she saw my search history. It wasn’t anything dirty, more along the lines of ‘how to come out to your family’ and shit like that. What about you?”

“I’ve known since I was thirteen, but I didn’t come out until I was sixteen. The first person I came out to was my father. He was always supportive and proud of me. It took a while for my uncle and grandfather to accept it, though. But my mom and stepdad and my sister are all accepting of it. My cousin doesn’t care either way; he just does not care. I actually dated a guy named Evan first.”

“Evan Byrd?”

“How did you know?”

“He’s my cousin! He talked about dating a goth guy named Reese, but I didn’t realize it was you!”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, it’s nice to meet you finally. I admit I wasn’t very nice to him, and I regret that.”

“He said you ignored him.”

“Not true. I liked another person. This person, in fact.” I put my arm around Sarah. “But I never ignored him.”

“You’re such an asshole, Reese,” Sarah told me.

“I know. I’m a huge jerk.”

“Wow, Reese,” Ariella said. “Why don’t you tell her your innermost secrets?”

“It’s not a secret,” I said. “It’s my life, and I’ll spill it as I see fit. If I’m going to be hanging around, I may as well be honest.”

“I like him,” said Lucy, speaking up for the first time. “He may be an asshole, but he’s brutally honest. That’s rare.”

I felt ashamed of myself. I hid my face, my hair acting as a curtain.

Sarah squeezed my hand, and I smiled weakly at her. She leaned forward and pecked my cheek.

“What are your plans for the weekend?” I asked her.

“Work,” she replied. “And study. Studying and working. I’m a waitress at a restaurant,” she explained to the other girls. “Reese, Ari, and I go to North Hampton.”

“Lucy and I go to Martin Luther King,” said Amber. “Iris is homeschooled.”

“It sucks,” Iris said. “I don’t get to see my friends every day, unlike you lucky ducks.”

“Yeah, but there’s cliques,” I told her. “That’s almost worse.”

“You’re just as guilty as the rest of us,” Sarah told me, patting me on the back. “You and your goth friends hang around that one center table.”

“You and your friends take up a whole table,” I reminded her. “Sarah here is Miss Popular. So is Ari.”

“Ari? Popular?” Cate was aghast. “After everything you said about fighting the regime?”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a big group of friends. There’s nothing wrong with only having a few friends, or even just one friend. I’d rather have one or two legit friends that a bunch of people who secretly hate me.”

“But that’s not the case,” Sarah said. “You’re one of the most well-liked people in our school. She’s always buddying up to the lower classmen. She’s even more popular than I am.”

“That’s not true, and you know it, Sarah Harper. Trust me, you’ve got a bigger clique.”

“They all screwed me over a long time ago. They only recently apologized and asked for my forgiveness. The real problem was the Hart sisters.”

“They were not even really sisters; they were adopted sisters. And Jordan was the real problem.”

“Jordan Hart?” Iris spoke up. “She’s totally Scarlett Hart’s twin sister.”

“How do you know?” I asked her.

“I used to know Rouge, who knew the sisters. Jordan lied about being Michael Nales’ sister. I knew all this because I went to North Hampton Middle School before my parents pulled me out of school because it was too cliqueish.”

I looked at Sarah, who looked at Iris.

“Are you being honest right now, or are you pulling my leg?” Sarah asked.

“No, I’m serious. I used to go to school with you guys. You probably don’t remember me, because I was a wallflower. Sarah, you used to hang out with Mia Rayport. Reese, you were a loner, like me. You were also the tallest in our class. It looks like you still are.”

“She’s telling the truth,” I said. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

She shrugged. “How could I? You acted like there was no one else here.”

“Jordan told us that she was Michael Nales’ twin instead of Scarlett’s,” Sarah said. “Why would she lie about that?”

“Both she and Scarlett had a thing for Nales,” Ariella said. “I think that’s a question we need to ask Scarlett.”

“Jordan’s dead,” I said.

“No, she’s not,” Iris continued. “I saw her just the other day. She was buying a pack of cigarettes.”

I looked at Sarah, who turned pale. Jordan had tried to kill Sarah in the past by trying to force her off a bridge. She still had nightmares about it. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her next to me. She wrapped her arms around me and shivered.

“Will you walk me to my car?” she asked.

“I’ll drive you home,” I told her. “I’d better talk to Mother anyway.”

When we left Rainbow Alley, I called Toby to pick up my car and left the keys in the front seat. I took over the driver’s seat of Sarah’s Honda, and drove her home.

Mother greeted me with a hug and a kiss and promised to bring me a package of blood.

“I have to tell you something,” I told her.

“Yes, son, what is it?”

I repeated what Iris had said. She gasped and looked at Sarah, who was still pale. She immediately embraced her in a maternal hug.

“My poor baby,” she cooed. “Don’t worry, Mommy will take care of it.”

Sarah looked slightly annoyed at the babying, but said nothing and hugged her back. Alexander appeared, holding Cirino.

“He heard Sarah’s voice,” he said. The baby himself reached out to Sarah, and she took him from Alexander.

He’s growing, I thought. His blond hair was thicker, his green eyes brighter.

“Mama,” he said. Sarah looked surprised, and so did Mother and Alexander. “Mama.” Then he pointed to me. “Ree.” Then he pointed to Alexander. “Fadder.”

Mother looked furious. She took the baby from Sarah. He grinned at her, revealing his two front teeth. “Mama.”

“Two mothers?” Alexander crooned.

“Technically, I am his mother,” Sarah said. “Biologically, he’s mine. And my waistline suffered from you,” she cooed to Cirino. He just smiled at her and babbled in baby language. “That’s right, I have stretch marks because of you.”

“You still look good,” I told her, ignoring Spunk, who was frantically licking my arm. She smiled and hugged me. I hugged back. When she tried to release me, I growled and held on tighter.

“Reese,” she gasped. “My back...ribs...can’t breathe….”

“Sorry, sorry!” I immediately let her go. She grimaced and rubbed her back. “Where does it hurt most?” I asked her.

“Mostly around my shoulder blades. That’s where it hurts the most.”

“I’m so sorry, my beautiful flower,” I said. She looked up at me

“Beautiful flower?”

“Well, you smell like flowers. Mostly gardenias. Plus there is your natural female scent. God, you smell good.”

“Reese?”

“Sarah, you smell so good…” I could feel my eyes changing. The pupils were probably slits now. I wanted to bite her. Make her bleed. Take her for my own.

“Son?” A male voice. Another male? I turned and hissed at him. My insides twisted and churned, ready to defend my female at all costs. The other, taller female handed the human baby to the vampire male and hissed at me. I hissed back. She wrapped her arms around my female and squeezed her. Her perfume mingled with my female’s scent and I hissed again in frustration. I wanted to smell only her.

“Reese, look at me,” said the older female. “Control yourself. Control your emotions.”

“Mine,” I declared.

“Yes, she is yours. But she is also mine. My daughter.”

“She’s not your daughter,” Alexander said.

“She might as well be! I love her like my own. She’s the baby I never got to have as a human.”

“What about me?” squeaked another voice. Selena.

“You are my daughter, too. I have five wonderful children. I used to have four, which just included Taran, Viktor, Reese, and Selena. I’m sorry I was never there for you, Reese, but I was forced to stay away. I’m a bad mother.”

“No, you’re not,” said both Sarah and Selena at the same time. Mother buried her nose in Sarah’s hair and sniffed.

“You’re the best mother, better than my original one,” Sarah said. Mother hugged her more tightly until she stated that she couldn’t breathe again. “None of you will leave me, will you?”

“Of course not,” Alexander said. “We are responsible for you and your sister and the baby now. We brought you into our world. Cirino is legally mine and Marina’s. He’s a Nicolai now. And so are you. I...I know you’re legally an adult, but I would like to adopt your sister. And you, if you’ll consent.”

Sarah burst into tears. “Of course! I would love to be your daughter. But is that what you really want?”

“Yes. I know I am hard-hearted and have a temper, but I do care about you three as if you were my own. I must ask Sabine myself if she will consent to be my daughter. This also must be discussed with your other relatives, even the ones in France. Call your mother’s parents, ask them to come here, or I will go with you to France myself.”

“I can’t take off school,” she said. “There’s only a few months left. I really can’t justify taking time off, especially with the squad. I’m co-captain.”

“I’m going with her, wherever she goes,” I stated. She turned and smiled at me.

“I must stay with the other children,” Mother said.

“Then I will go to France myself, but I must have an advocate along. Reese?”

“I’ll go if I must. But I don’t know how endearing I’ll be.”

CHAPTER EIGHT - FRANCE

We landed in the airport in France. We had taken my family’s private jet. Sarah was sniffling on my arm; this would be the first time she’d seen her father’s side of the family in years.

When she had finally found their number and called them, it was as if a meteor that was about to hit the Earth had just been blown off course. They were relieved that she was alive, but feigned sadness over Alicia’s death. They were shocked to learn that she’d had a baby, and so we brought him along to meet his other