Paradise Lost (Private 9)

Noelle let out an incredulous noise. "Classic Paige. Always deciding what place we all deserve," she said.

"Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black, Noelle?" Paige countered.

Okay. She kind of did have a point there.

"Are you sure you were just rushing to Poppy's defense, Miss Paige? Because I've never seen you defend anyone in your life," Noelle replied, glowering. Paige blinked, and I could see that Noelle had her. "Are you sure you aren't jealous of Reed and Upton, too?"

Daniel walked up behind us at this point, sand kicking up in his

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wake. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You and Upton?" he said, glancing incredulously between his sister and Upton. She looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. Daniel swallowed hard, looking ill. "My God, dude. Is there anyone you won't defile?"

Noelle and Kiran laughed derisively, which gave me the idea that Daniel was kind of a defiler himself, but I didn't ask. Upton, however, didn't seem to think it was all that funny.

"Back off, Ryan," Upton said. "What I do is none of your concern."

"Actually, it is," Daniel said, his face growing red with anger. "When you screw around with my sister and my friends, you make it my concern."

His hands curled into fists. My heart hit my throat as I suddenly recalled all the things Noelle and the others had said about Daniel at that first lunch at Shutters. Things about freak-outs and destruction of personal property. Destruction of people's faces. And he'd just gone from chill to fighting mad in about two seconds. I wanted to say something to Upton--to make him back down--but before I could, he had stepped closer to Daniel and laughed.

"You're just upset because you were too dull to keep Poppy interested, "he said.

Before I could even blink, Daniel pulled back and punched Upton square across the jaw. A shout of surprise escaped my throat, which was echoed by half a dozen others. Upton whirled around, but he didn't fall. He simply stood up straight again, holding his hand to his cheek. He looked at Daniel and shook his head.

"Very mature response," he said.

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"I've got more where that came from," Daniel replied through his teeth.

"And here we go again," Noelle said in a bored way.

I wanted to scream at her to do something. We couldn't stand there and watch Daniel pummel Upton's gorgeous face.

"Hang on! Hang on!" Dash said, walking over and standing between the two of them. He held out his arms and put some more space between them. "There are a lot of heavy accusations be

ing thrown around, and I think everyone's blowing everything out of proportion."

I took Upton's hand and squeezed it. He looked down at me as if he'd just remembered I was there. Then he smiled over at Daniel. "Dash is right. Everyone's upset. We just let our emotions get the best of us, right, Ryan?"

Daniel snorted like a bull and paced behind his sister and Sienna, as if trying to expend some steam. But he kept throwing these fierce glares at Upton, as if he were planning how, exactly, to rip him to shreds.

The girls weren't kidding. Daniel needed some serious anger management.

"Okay. That's better," Dash said, lowering his arms now that there was some distance between the two combatants. "Let's all just take a second to calm down."

"I have no problem with that," Noelle said, gazing across at Paige. They had, after all, started this. "As soon as Paige and Sienna swear that they'll leave Reed alone, I, for one, will be perfectly calm."

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Kiran, Taylor, and Tiffany had walked up behind us as if they were our backup. I felt better having them there. Secure.

"I can't believe you're taking her side," Paige spat as her brother continued to pace like a caged lion. "We've all been coming down here together since we were in Baby Bjorns and everything's always been fine. Now we're all at one another's throats, taking sides. See what happens when you bring in outsiders?"

Sienna and Amberly exchanged a look. They were outsiders too, after all, but now didn't seem the appropriate time to point that out.

"Look, we either call a truce now and promise to let Upton and Reed do whatever it is they want to do, or that's it. I'm done," Noelle said. "We part ways for the rest of the trip. So which is it going to be?"