Double Trouble Read Free

adorable, as always.
    I tried not to stare. I wasn’t sure exactly what I thought about Brayden just yet. Until I figured it out, nobody needed to know I had any thoughts about him at all.
    â€œSo what are you doing this weekend?” I asked Megan, carefully keeping my voice casual. I’d only been friends with her for a week or two and couldn’t take anything for granted yet. Popularity was fragilewhen you were the new kid. Not that Megan ever had to worry about that. She was practically Aura royalty—her mom was the mayor, her uncle the chief of police, and her whole family had lived in this town basically forever.
    It didn’t hurt that she was pretty and blond, with a sense of style rivaled only by my own. My gaze flicked down to her cute jeweled sandals, and I wondered if we were good enough friends yet for me to ask to borrow them.
    â€œI’m not sure yet,” Megan said. “Football game tomorrow afternoon, obviously.”
    â€œObviously,” I echoed. Football was king in Aura, like most everywhere in Texas, and our middle school team, the Aura Armadillos, was undefeated. Although things were looking dicey now that the star quarterback was out for the rest of the season with a broken leg.
    My gaze zipped forward. Brayden was high-fiving some of his friends from the football team, who’d been waiting for him at the far end of the hall. Brayden spent so much time with Biff, Brent,and Buzz that everyone called the four of them the B Boys. I tried to pretend I wasn’t watching as Brent smacked Brayden on the shoulder, then Brayden laughed and hit Buzz on the leg with one of his crutches. They were still goofing off as they disappeared around the corner.
    I closed my eyes for a second, remembering Brayden’s hand gripping mine as he writhed on the ground in pain after his leg had snapped in a bad tackle last weekend. It wasn’t something I could forget, especially since I’d seen it twice: Once when it had happened, and once a few days before it had happened.
    My eyes flew open as a nasty voice came from right behind me: “Wake up, Waters. You’re blocking traffic.”
    I glanced around just in time to see Gabe Campbell shoot me a poisonous glare as he stomped past, his battered cowboy boots clomping on the floor.
    â€œOops, looks like someone’s still mad at you,” Megan commented.
    I just nodded. Gabe’s uncle was the reason Momhad a job here in Aura. Sort of. Chuck Campbell had been on the force for years—and he’d been embezzling money from the town almost as long. After he was fired, he’d held a grudge against Mom for taking his job—and Gabe seemed to be holding a grudge against Cassie and me for the same reason.
    Megan and I continued down the hall to her locker, still trailed by the minions. Lavender Adams was already there, leaning against the wall, picking at her fingernails.
    She looked up when she heard us coming. “Hey,” she said to Megan.
    Okay, technically she said it to all of us. But her hazel eyes barely registered me before settling on Megan and the minions. I tried not to let it bother me. Lavender hadn’t accepted me into the group as quickly as Megan and the others had. Sometimes she almost felt like a friend, and other times? Well, not so much. But I wasn’t too worried. Most people liked me once they got to know me, and I was sure Lavender was no exception.
    â€œWe were just talking about weekend plans,” Itold her with a friendly smile.
    â€œWay to plan ahead, Cassie.” Lavender shrugged. “It’s only Thursday; we still have a whole ’nother day of school to survive first.”
    Megan laughed. “All the more reason to think about something fun, right?” She clicked open her locker and checked her reflection in the mirror she’d stuck on the door. “Unfortunately I don’t think I can do anything on Saturday. Mom’s having some kind of