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not offering! I wouldn’t kiss you if you were the last man on earth!”
    He hissed through his teeth, smoke billowing from his nostrils. “Good thing I have no intention of ever kissing you, eh?”
    Sophie tried to think of something to say, but the lashing winds kept nipping at the wet fabric of her dress, licking her damp skin. She swore to herself that if she got sick, she would kill him in his sleep.
    “Well, I don’t want you to kiss me!” Her traitorous gaze dropped to his lips. It was a damn shame such beautiful pieces of art belonged to such an ass.
    “ Glad we straightened that out. Now don’t let me stop you from going away,” he said evenly, never taking his eyes off the heavens.
    Sophie bristled. “ I’m supposed to bring you back!” she snapped.
    Deftly, he flicked the remainder of the cigarette into a puddle where it frizzled out with a hiss. He shoved away from the wall and turned his entire body to ward her. His head tipped back a fraction as he peered down the length of his angular nose at her, the silver in his eyes hard pieces of ice, like she was the cause of all of his problems and he’d like nothing better than to … what? Throttle her? Kiss her? It was impossible to tell when the light in them kept shifting and changing. A muscle bunched in his jaw and his lips pursed into a thin white line.
    With an annoyed growl, he yanked off his jacket and swung it around her shoulders, almost choking her as he folded it beneath her chin tightly. It was warm from his body heat and smelled temptingly of spices, clean soap and damp earth and rain.
    “You’re going to get sick!” he snapped accusingly at her.
    Then, just like that, he stalked past her, muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, can never get away .

Chapter Three
     
    “ I am not going to be his friend!” Sophie stuffed her binders into her backpack, ignoring the glower her mother was giving her from across the kitchen island. “The guy is a world class jerk.” Even if he had given her his jacket, which still baffled her.
    She’d given the hoodie back after the church service and thanked him, earning her a glower before he stormed off without a word. She was almost convinced he had multiple personality disorder, the way he kept jumping from good guy to jerk. The whole jacket thing was probably some kind of fluke moment where his medication must have kicked in.
    “He’s going through a rough time right now, Sophia!” her mother insisted. “It would be nice for him to have a friendly face on his first day of school.”
    “Then he should have thought of that before he opened his mouth.” Homework safely tucked away, she swung her bag onto her back, adjusted the straps and turned to finally meet her mother’s gaze. “I’m going to Bill’s with Lauren and the group after school.”
    “Invite—”
    “No!” She shifted her hair out from beneath the strap of her bag. “I’m not going to do that.” She started for the door. “I have my phone! I’ll be home for supper. Bye!”

    Westwood High loomed ominously against the gray backdrop. The slabs of gray concrete looked especially miserable in the dreary light. It was such a drastic contrast to the brightly colored umbrellas and raincoats.
    Sophi e was in no real hurry like everyone else seemed to be, racing to get inside and out of the rain. She studied the slow progression of her feet eating the pavement beneath her, drawing her that much closer to what would surely be another day of mental torment in the name of education.
    It wasn’t as though she was bad at school. She just hated waking up in the morning. She hated sitting through an hour of Algebra wondering what sadist had decided adding the alphabet to an already complicated course was the best idea and if they were alive so she could kill them. The only timeslot she actually looked forward to was lunch.
    Missing her weekend, she narrowly missed the scuffle of feet originating from behind