A Whole New Crowd(59)

She darted off and I glanced to him. “What was that?”

He grinned. “You changed the status.”

“What?”

“You changed the status.” He gestured around. There were more groups lingering behind. Most of them were watching us. I expected jealousy or condescension, but there was none. There was a different look in their eyes, guys and girls. They weren’t in awe; they were something else. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“I don’t get this. What’s going on?”

“I know it’s dumb, but no girl’s climbed up there. You did it more than once and you got other girls to do it.” He shrugged, a look of pride in his eyes. “They’re surprised, Taryn.” Then he laughed softly. “And they’re wondering why the hell they hadn’t done it themselves.”

“Oh.” They were surprised. As I looked over, a few of the girls gave me smiles before they followed everyone else. A couple of the guys gave me quick nods. I’d seen that look before. It happened when guys learned that I knew Jace or I was able to steal something no one thought could be taken. It was respect, but seeing it from the girls now made me pause. Girls hated me. That had been the rule, but it was changing now. A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed around it. Jeezus, where did that come from?

“You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Just…surprised too.”

He grinned down at me, a fond look appearing in the depths of his eyes. “Something tells me you shouldn’t be. It’s you, Taryn. You’re badass.”

I snorted and elbowed him in the stomach. “Right. Is that you trying to get in my pants?”

He laughed softly as he caught my elbow and held it in his hand. He thumb started to rub over it in a soft caressing motion. “No, just me stating a fact. You’re not normal, Taryn Matthews. You’re different. You’re someone who sees the right path when no one else does and follows it.” The corner of his lip curved up in a slight smirk. “You show them the way. You’re not normal. Thank god.” He let the last sentence out in an exhaled breath.

I had no idea what to say. The shock at seeing their reactions doubled after hearing his words. Tray meant it. If I’d been in Pedlam and the school’s golden-prick said something like that, I would’ve laughed in his face, delivered a retort, and sauntered away without a backward glance. He wasn’t that guy. He was more.

Then he let go of my elbow. “I’ll wait for you at the car. I need to talk to the guys quick.”

I tried to say ‘okay’, but he was gone before I could get a word out. As he weaved through the crowd and left from the cave, I was left with a storm raging inside of me. I pressed a hand to my stomach, trying to calm myself. My god. It was him. He was wreaking havoc on me, filling me with emotions that were too scary for me to handle. Hope. Warmth. Other things, other emotions that I didn’t know how to process. He made me feel safe. That, right there, set me on edge. I couldn’t be safe. I couldn’t allow myself to pretend it was real. Every time, as soon as my guard dropped, something bad happened. Tray Evans was nothing special. The second I let myself feel more than I should, something bad would happen. It always did. I couldn’t let that happen. Drawing in strength, determined not to let him get too close, I began to follow the line of people out of the cave.

I was standing behind a group of guys. They were tall with bags over their shoulder so I was hidden. As we kept going, a pair of voices trailed back to me.

“Can she be any worse?”

“I know. Honestly. I was trying not to gag.”

The first one muttered, “You know she didn’t sleep last night. She was at Devon’s all night.”

The second one groaned. “Trust me. I know more than the rest. He’s a sex addict. He’s got to be.”

“My god. And she was so fucking hyper today.”

“You know she was creaming her pants when Tray kissed Taryn up there.” Another groan. “I don’t know what she expects. She’s treated her sister like crap—”

“Please,” the first one interrupted. “She is not her sister. They adopted her and from what I heard, they were forced to adopt her.”

A sick laugh trailed back to me. “You’re right. I forgot that rumor. Whatever. That’s a ridiculous rumor, but god, I’d love for that to be true.”

“Yeah. I know. Did you see Mandy hanging all over Tristan’s group today? If she wants to pretend to be Queen Bee in that group, she can try. Tristan’s going to kiss her ass to try and get close to Matthews. You know she’s been wet for Tray since seventh grade.”