Ruby Rising Read Online Free Page B

She seemed nervous and I just wanted her to spit out whatever it was she wanted to say to me.
    “Well, you seem to fit in with them pretty well, for someone who just met them.” She eyed my clothes almost angrily before continuing. “Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to tell you. It’s Mikayla, she’s not…” She almost yelped when Mikayla walked up behind her.
    “Well, hello Krystal, fancy seeing you here , meeting the new girl I see”. I didn’t know what was going on, but anyone could tell that these two had history. The tension between them was almost a visible field.
    “Mikayla,” Krystal visibly took a small step backwards but didn’t drop her gaze from her. Mikayla in contrast appeared to be quite calm and almost amused with one eye brow arched and one corner of her mouth turned up. I couldn’t tell if it was fear or something else that Krystal felt towards Mikayla. “Nice to meet you Ruby, I’ll catch up with you another time, I hope.” Krystal backed up a few paces, not once taking her eyes off Mikayla, who was still smiling calmly, then turned and walked briskly away, not looking back.
    “You want to share what all that was about?” I asked turning to Mikayla. For a second it looked like she wanted to tell me something, then she simply said. “Nothing to worry about with Krystal, she likes to imagine things. We were friends, once upon a time, although it’s hard to imagine why now.”
    “Can I ask what happened? She seems almost afraid of you.” The personal question spilled out before I had time to think about it.
    “It was a while ago now and it’s a very long story. I have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mikayla walked in the same direction that Krystal had gone and I wondered if she was going to try and catch up with her.
    I dismissed the internal alarm that was clanging around in my head. I didn’t know if it was for Krystal or Mikayla as I hadn’t gotten to hear either side of the story.
    Phoenix was sleeping when I opened the back gate, but quickly became excited when he realised I was home. I let us both in to the kitchen unpacked my bag and took him up to my room to play.
    A little tug of war game wore him out again, and he fell asleep curled up on my pillow. If he wasn’t so cute I would have pushed him off, I didn’t really want to sleep with a mouthful of puppy fur, be he was just too cute to disturb. Neither of my parents were home so I started the small amount of homework I had and wrote up the due dates on my wall calendar. I was usually pretty organised when it came to school. My mother had made sure from a young age that I was responsible for my homework and keeping up to date with study. It was a practise I was grateful for now.
     
    During dinner with my mother we chatted about our days, I gave her a slightly edited version where the little drama with Mikayla and Krystal was left out. My mother had an over protective parent radar, it just didn’t run on the same high intensity as my father’s, and if she thought for a second that either of those girls were going to be trouble she wouldn’t let me go anywhere near them.
    A surprise phone call made me smile, it was Claire. We spoke for three hours, mostly about what was happening back in the city, how Claire’s first day was. She mentioned that Jake was seeing a couple of girls, which hurt but not as much as I thought it would. After all hadn’t I spent half the day ogling Scott? When we first broke up I couldn’t believe it, I was utterly devastated. Now I felt like this move might have saved me from some heartache further down the track. I hadn’t wanted to give him every part of me. I’d never felt ready to go all the way with him or anybody else; I was still a virgin. Not that I shared that information around, most of the girls I knew had already had sex more than once, and most of them with different boys. I just felt like it was something special and I wanted to keep it for someone I loved and loved