These Thorn Kisses (St. Mary’s Rebels 3)

I’m crossing my fingers for Callie and Reed as well.

“I think they’re more likely to give him an easy time rather than a hard one,” Poe says nonchalantly, going for the cupcake. “I mean, have you seen your brother? He’s a fucking god. He has BDE.”

Right.

Now Poe is excited because she has a teeny-tiny crush on Callie’s big brother. As evidenced by not only her words but also by how quickly she jumped out of bed this morning when I reminded her of what day it was.

“What’s BDE?” asks Salem.

Poe takes a bite of her cupcake. “Big dick energy.”

“Ew. Gross.” Salem shakes her head, swatting Poe’s shoulder. “You’re gross, Poe.”

She only shrugs. “It’s the truth, my friends.”

“Salem’s right. You’re gross,” Callie says, a grimace lining her features. “He’s my big brother.” Then wringing her hands in her lap, “I just want everything to go okay today. I don’t want anyone to make trouble for him. I mean, I know he can take care of himself. But still. He’s my brother and —”

“Hey, listen. Everything is going to be fine,” I tell Callie, trying to soothe her. “You’ll see. Your brother wouldn’t want you to worry about him like this. Especially now. So just relax. Besides, we’re all here. We’ll look out for him and make sure things go smoothly.”

“Exactly,” Salem says. “Poe even laid down the rules yesterday after dinner.”

“Yup, I made sure to let them know that he’s not to be messed with,” Poe says proudly.

After dinner last night, Poe did make an announcement in the TV room, warning everyone who would listen to stay away from Callie’s brother. Or else they would face her retribution. And as the resident troublemaker, Poe’s retribution has proved to be super inconvenient in the past — loose rats in teachers’ offices, frogs in beds and drawers, itching powder in school uniforms and whatnot.

“See? I’m sure girls know better to mess with him now,” I say.

“Of course they know better.” Smiling slowly, Poe winks. “I told them that I’m the only one who can hit on him so everyone better watch out.”

Finally Callie’s nervousness abates and, rolling her eyes, she laughs.

Good.

Because honestly today is a good day. And like Poe and Salem, I am excited too.

Not because I’m interested in soccer or because I have a crush on Callie’s brother — I know Poe jokes around about it but none of us would ever do that; Callie’s our best friend and there are certain lines you don’t cross — but because today’s the day I get to meet Conrad for the first time.

Salem and Poe have both met him because he’s usually the one to visit her on visiting weekends or the one to come pick her up before holidays.

But so far I’ve missed all the opportunities to meet him or her other brothers.

Because whenever he comes around, I’m already gone.

A car, sent by my father, comes around to pick me up first thing on such holidays or visitation mornings and take me back to where I came from. My town, Wuthering Garden.

So today’s the first time that I’ll get to meet him and I’ll finally be able to put a face to the name of the person I’ve heard so much about.

The day goes by in a flash. Classes, classes, lunch; Callie rushing out of biology to throw up; Poe is given extra homework because she didn’t turn in the original one on time; Salem nodding off in trigonometry and getting caught by the teacher; more classes and then finally, the moment we all have been waiting for arrives.

Soccer practice.

We all get changed into our school-issued soccer uniforms — white t-shirts with mustard-colored shorts; mustard is basically our school color, which means our uniform consists of a mustard-colored skirt along with a white blouse, white knee high socks and black Mary Janes — in the locker room before heading out to the soccer field.

Even though Callie is getting a pass on soccer because of her condition, she still accompanies us to the field to see her brother before she’ll leave for the day.

All our footsteps are fast and eager and there’s a sense of anticipation in the air.

So it’s unexpected, shocking even, that I slow my pace down as I grow closer to the soccer field.

The girls don’t notice it because they’re already a few steps ahead of me, their eyes glued to the crowd on the field.

And to this very tall figure in the midst of them.

My eyes are glued to that tall figure too, of course.

A figure who up until now was facing away from us.

But then he turned around and that’s when my pace slowed down. That’s when my limbs got heavy.

My heart got heavy too, slow and lethargic, beating way too slowly. Dangerously slowly. And my eyes, they got narrow and squinty.