Treasured Secrets (The Coveted Saga 1)

I chuckled lightly at the peculiar find - a mocker's fantasy gem. "What's up with that?"

Jay tilted his head as he responded with a quizzical tone. "What's up with what?"

I laughed again. "Did you two really get matching tattoos?"

Ash touched her wrist in an awkward fashion. Then Jay grabbed his exposed shoulder as if he was uncertain about what to say. Everyone was somewhat reluctant to speak, it seemed. An unexplainable shift occurred, bringing a thick tension to taint the air.

I noticed Aster was pulling her shirt together a little tighter, and Gear was tugging at the bottom of his shirt as well. It was all very baffling.

Finally, a smile spread across Jay's face as he spoke with an overly teasing tone. "What can I say? Ash was always following me around. She had to do whatever I did." Ash glared at him as his teasing persisted. "Personally, I think it

's kind of cute that she wants to be like her big brother. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery."

The stove that Jay was leaned against sparked and a flame erupted onto his pants. I gasped and shrieked in one breath, but I seemed to be the only one to react, other than Jay who violently slapped his leg to put out the blaze.

Ash even let out a comical remark. "Liar, liar, pants on… Well, you get the idea, big brother."

Jay scowled at her as the last bit of the fire seemed to extinguish itself. He started to walk toward her as his face turned an angry crimson. A few pops rang out, bringing the his stalk to a halt. I shrieked when glass shattered all around. Light bulbs? Light bulbs were bursting simultaneously in every room around us.

Yet again, it seemed like I was the only one who was concerned with the crazy occurrence. Iris merely rolled her eyes at the entire thing. George huffed in aggravation. No one at all even seemed the least bit surprised.

Jay's shoulders dropped slightly as he spoke with a scolded child sort of tone. "I'll get the broom."

Then Ash smirked as she replied with a more chipper and somewhat unjustifiably victorious tone. "I'll clean up the remnants of Jay's pants that are all over the floor now." I swear she seemed to enjoy the fact his pants caught on fire.

Jay walked on by, cursing as his charred pants kept dropping little pieces behind him. How did his leg not get burned?

I voiced my frustration for the complete indifference everyone was showing for the crazy things that had just occurred.

"Would someone please tell me why Jay's pants caught on fire and then every bulb down here bursts, and yet I'm the only one who even batted an eye?"

Everyone just stared around the room in the same awkward fashion as before. Everyone kept looking at each other, waiting on someone else to answer. Gear was the one who broke the uncomfortable silence by answering my question with a deceitful sort of tone, followed with a distraction, his usual fashion.

"Aria, these things happen all the time around here. You'll get used to it. The electricity in this house is old, and the stove has been needing to be replaced for a while. You should probably get going. School starts in less than thirty minutes."

My mind went blank very abruptly when I saw the high school just a few hundred yards away. My stomach grew tense with knots. I had no idea what to do or where to go. I only had one thought come to my mind - Oh, this is going to suck.

I pulled into the parking lot in my shiny, expensive BMW, and everyone gawked in the most conspicuous way. Not in a good way either.

"No, not awkward at all," I grumbled to myself.

George said he wanted me to feel like a princess. You need a lot of confidence to feel like a princess, and confidence was something I certainly lacked, especially at that moment.

I parked beside a group of girls who snarled at me with distaste. One girl acted disgusted with just the sight of me.

"Well, I guess I won't be their b.f.f.," I said sarcastically to myself while rolling my eyes.

Then my passenger door flew open and an unfamiliar voice rang out as a girl jumped in.

"It's going to be hard to be anybody's b.f.f. if you're sitting around talking to yourself."

She was perky to say the least. Now I worried about who else might have heard me. Apparently my car wasn't very soundproof if she was able to hear that remark from outside.

Her bright blue eyes were gleaming with pure excitement. She had blonde, super straight hair that stopped at her chin. She was dressed similar to the way I was, but she looked more comfortable and much cuter than I did.

"So… My name is Taryn, and you're Arisianna, right?"

She smiled at me, waiting eagerly for me to speak. I stuttered slightly, unsure of how she knew my name. "Ye...yeah." I shook my head, still confused, but then I continued. "Actually, I prefer Aria. How do you know my name?"