Straightening the strap on my bag, I made up my mind. “Do you know those two guys?” I asked, jerking my chin in their direction. “Are they jerks?”
James nodded. “Yeah, they’re dicks.”
“So, they’re probably not eyeballing the boy because they like his shirt and want to know where he got it so they can buy one?”
“Nope.”
I drew in a deep breath. “I’m going to see if he needs someone to walk with him to class. I mean, I’m not going to say it like that, because that would sound weird and awkward, but you know, I’m just going to . . . be there.”
James pushed away from the locker beside me. “I’ll join you.”
Thankful I wasn’t going at this alone, I walked toward the young Luxen. His head jerked up and swung in my direction before I got within a foot of him. His shoulders were stiff as wariness crept into deep ocean-blue eyes.
“Hi,” I blurted out. “I don’t think we’ve ever met. My name is Evie, and this is James.”
The Luxen glanced at James, and then those startling blue eyes centered on me. “Daniel—I’m Daniel.”
Aha! I almost had his name correct. “You’re a sophomore?”
He nodded as James angled his body, blocking Daniel from the other guys. “Yeah. You guys are . . . seniors?”
“Yep,” I chirped a bit too happily. “Do you have class on the second floor? James and I do.”
“I do.” He closed his locker door. A moment passed. “Why are you guys talking to me?”
I blinked at the blunt question.
“You’ve never talked to me before, and I’ve seen you guys every day at your locker since the start of school.”
“Well, is there any better time than now to start talking?” James dropped a hand on the smaller boy’s shoulder. “Since we’re heading upstairs, we’ll keep you company.”
“Uh-huh.” Daniel’s gaze dropped to James’s hand, and then he arched a brow. I honestly thought he was going to tell us to take a hike, which would be a really bad thing, because the two hyena boys were looking like they were working up the nerve to say or do something. “I know why you guys are doing this.”
Prepared to deny the truth until I ran out of oxygen, I opened my mouth, but James said, “Then you know it’s probably a smart idea to let us walk you upstairs. Because that’s Andy and Leo standing over there. Let me give you a quick character breakdown for you. They’re both linebackers on the football team. They have a tendency to accidentally knock students down, and they have one-half of a fully working brain between the two of them.”
Daniel’s lips twitched. “And let me guess, they’re not fans of the Luxen?”
“I’m going to say that would be a reasonable assumption.” James patted his shoulder and then dropped his hand. “So, what class do you have?”
“English.”
“Then let’s go.” I stepped around so I was on his other side. “I can’t be late. I have this phobia of walking into class after the bell rings. Freaks me out when everyone stares at me as I take my seat and the teacher gives me that disappointed, annoyed stare.”
Daniel didn’t respond as he swung his backpack over his shoulder, but he started walking, and we followed him, caging him in from either side. As the three of us made our way to the second floor, gazes followed and silence fell, broken only by hushed whispers. Tension cloaked the stairwell, as suffocating as a heavy blanket. James appeared to be immune to it, because he talked about some investment TV show he’d been watching at night. Or maybe he was trying to distract Daniel or himself.
Maybe he was trying to distract me, because the tips of my ears were burning, and every time I looked around us, I saw gazes turn from wary to outright hostile.
“He shouldn’t be here,” someone said in a whisper that carried, and then another said, “You know one of them killed Colleen and Amanda.” Someone else responded, but I couldn’t make out what was said.
“They killed that family,” another said, louder.
Daniel’s cheeks began to turn pink.
My stomach sank as those words settled into me. If it all was hard for me to hear and to see, I couldn’t even imagine what it felt like for Daniel. There could be a hundred people like James willing to serve as a barrier for Daniel, for the other Luxen, but no one could be there every day, in every class.
Deep down I knew that whispered words were going to turn into actions, and things would escalate. Fear would turn to hatred, and that was a deadly combination. The school was a powder keg, and it wasn’t a matter of if it would blow.
It was only a matter of when.
* * *
Walking to my car after class, I kept expecting Luc to pop up out of nowhere, but as I glanced over my shoulder and scanned the parking lot, I didn’t see him.