“Regardless of where it came from, that money’s in your possession now, and all you can do is be good stewards with what you’ve been given. For starters, I recommend getting a fireproof safe. You’ll find a new cell phone in the side pouch. It’s got my number in it. Call me if you need me. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer, but if I don’t, and it’s an emergency, just text me A-nine-one-one. It means ‘Anna emergency.’ Don’t leave a voice message or any detailed texts.”

I stood up and hugged his solid body, resting my cheek on the soft leather of his jacket. He ran his hand down my hair like he had the night before.

“When will I see you again?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll be on the go. Do me another favor?”

I pulled away and looked up at him.

“Check out the other side pouch of your bag,” he said.

I dug my hand into the small spot and pulled out a key attached to a big black key chain with buttons for locking and unlocking doors. My head jerked up to see his serious expression. Patti covered her mouth, saying nothing.

“No more boys taking you on trips, you hear?” His voice was gravelly. “You can take your own self from now on. Last thing you need is some boy distracting you and making this whole situation even more complicated. Promise me you’ll stay away from that son of Pharzuph.”

I opened my mouth but the words stuck in my dry throat. Hot sweat beaded up on my forehead.

“I tried that once, John,” Patti warned him. “It didn’t work out so well for me.”

“Have you seen the way he looks at her?” He focused on Patti, but pointed at me.

“Yes, and I’ve seen the way she looks at him. Truthfully, I think they need each other.”

“Those two need each other like a bullet needs a target. Trust me. I’ve seen Nephilim kids killed for falling in love and letting it get in the way of their work.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry, because we’re not in love,” I chimed in. “He doesn’t like me like that.”

Dad puffed out a breath of air. “Well, he must feel something, ’cause he sure doesn’t want that other kid near you.”

“Is there someone else you’re interested in?” Patti asked.

I rolled my colors back up, tucked them inside, and yanked the barrier back into place. Then I entertained the image of Kopano’s sweet dimple for a brief second before pushing it away.

“I’m not ready to think about that,” I answered.

My father tilted his head up to the ceiling and pressed his giant hands to his face, muffling his speech. “I’m way too old for this.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

BACK TO SCHOOL

When school started a week later, I knew it was going to be bad. Jay warned me that there’d been a lot of speculation and gossip over the summer about what happened between Scott and me at the party. But I had expected everyone to whisper behind my back at school. Not so much.

I wasn’t comfortable with the attention. It didn’t help that I’d donated fourteen inches of hair to Locks of Love, gotten platinum blond highlights, and had my eyebrows waxed.

Bobby Donaldson, varsity baseball pitcher and player extraordinaire, who’d never said a word to me in my life, approached me at my locker with one heck of a lusty red aura before school started.

“Hey, girl. How you doin’?”

“Um, fine?”

“I’m Bobby. Where you from?”

Annoyed, I closed my locker, swung the purple-and-black bag over my shoulder, and attempted to stuff long bangs behind my ear.

“I’m not new. You know me. Anna Whitt?”

His eyes ran across the features of my face.

“Hot daaay-um, for real?”

I forced my eyes not to roll back, and walked past him. He ran to catch up.

“So you hooked up with Scott?” he hollered over the din of excited first-day voices.

“No, I didn’t.”

I sped up, dodging other hall walkers, but Bobby stayed on my heels.

“’Cause it’s cool if you did. Hey, you wanna go out sometime?”

I stopped so abruptly he ran into a girl passing us.

“It’s just me, Bobby. I’m the same weird, prudish girl that you’ve been in youth group and science class with for the past three years and never talked to. All I did was go to a party and get a haircut.”

“I heard you aren’t such a prude anymore.”

And before I could give a lame comeback about how he’d heard wrong, he tweaked my cheek with his knuckle and headed for his own class. I swallowed down the bile in my throat and blinked back moisture building in my eyes. I was not going to cry because of Bobby. It didn’t matter what he thought. I went to first period.

By lunch it was clear that I hadn’t taken Jay’s warnings seriously enough. The rumors were out of control. I could ignore the stares and whispers, but I couldn’t pretend people weren’t cornering me for information. What happened with you and Scott? He says you’re making it up about the drugs. Did you really hook up with some guy in a band? I’m having a party this weekend; wanna come?

I told each one of them I didn’t want to talk about it.

I had one class with Scott, Spanish again. He sat on the other side of the room and never looked my way. Even Veronica avoided me, maybe too embarrassed about the BFF stuff. They were the only two people in school not interested in talking to me.