Page 72 of Finding Kyler
Breathe, Faye.Inand out.Inand out.
Depression shrouds me like a thundercloud, and I start to wonder if I’ll ever be able to deal with their loss. If the grief will ever become manageable. Trying to shut it up clearly isn’t a workable strategy.
Laughter rings out, and I latch onto the distraction with both hands. I scramble to my feet, wiping bits of debris off my hands. I walk in the direction of Lana’s bungalow, following the sound of voices. No one answers the door when I knock, so I follow the same path we took the last time and head around the back of the house.
Lana is sitting outside alongside a girl with cropped jet-black hair. A row of studs frames the side of one ear, and she has a stud in her nose and one below her lip. Thick black liner surrounds her brown, almond-shaped eyes—eyes which are currently inspecting me from head to toe.
“Faye!” Lana jumps up. “Come and join us.” She motions me over with a flick of her hand.
“Sorry to interrupt. I was out walking, and I heard voices…” I skip up the steps and take the vacant seat beside the unfamiliar girl. Her gaze flits to mine, and the look she gives me is feral. Pity I’m too numb to care.
“This is Zoe,” Lana pipes up. “She goes to my school.”
I perk up in my chair. “I’m starting there tomorrow.”
“So, it’s true?” Lana tucks her legs underneath her. “Youareslumming it.”
I send her a funny look. “Hardly. I went to public school back home.” Well, before we relocated to Dublin, that is, but I don’t want to get into the specifics.
“Kennedys don’t do public,” Zoe interjects. There is a distinct lack of warmth in her tone.
“I’m not a Kennedy. I’m a Donovan.”
Her cheeks pucker. “Same difference. You’re their cousin, right?”
She eyeballs me again, and the cold glare in her gaze pisses me off. “Did my cousins do something to you? Because you’re being a bitch, and that couldn’t have anything to do with me seeing as I’ve never met you before.”
She pokes her tongue out the side of her cheek, and a slight grin curves up the corners of her mouth.
“Zoe. Stop it,” Lana bluntly cautions her.
She slouches in her chair, holding my gaze, and I’m still wondering what her problem is. “Your cousin’s a dick.”
“Which one?”
“Zoe!” Lana hisses, clearly annoyed. I cast a quick glance in her direction, noting how her mouth is set in a hard line as she glowers at her friend.
“All of them,” Zoe replies, turning away from Lana to send me a challenging look.
“That’s a little harsh. And don’t believe everything you hear.”
“What if I’m hearing it from a reliable source?” She slants her head to the side.
Lana jerks her foot out, accidentally knocking a half-empty glass of lemonade all over the place. She jumps up and runs into the kitchen.
I lean forward in my seat, eyeballing Zoe. “Why do I get the sense there’s more to your statement than meets the eye?”
“Because there is.”
“Zoe. That’s enough,” Lana grits out, reappearing with a wad of paper towels. She begins mopping up the spillage. “You’re being very rude, and Faye has done nothing to deserve your sour attitude. If you can’t be polite, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
I hold up my hand. “It’s okay. She’s entitled to her opinion.”
Lana scowls, tossing a bundle of wet towels into the trash.
“How charitable of you.” Zoe’s tenor is grating.
Is there anyone my cousins haven’t had run-ins with?
