Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel Read Free Page B

while most troupe members simply walked
around them and rolled their eyes, a few walked through, seemingly oblivious to
the fire whizzing past their heads.
    A girl walking by bumped into
me. Her eyes met mine and narrowed in question but she continued walking. I saw
someone whisper to his friend while he looked at me. I could’ve sworn another
girl pointed discreetly in my direction. Some of the looks weren’t entirely
welcoming.
    My stomach clenched and my hands
went into a hot sweat. The scene slowed down as I looked at Delia—her
mouth moved, she talked to me about something, but I had no idea what. All I
could hear was white noise. Completely overwhelmed, my body felt like it was
seizing up. Flames would escape my palms and engulf me if I didn’t calm down.
    Oh, goody. I was on the verge of
a panic attack.
    “Get it together, Sullivan,” I
whispered.
    I motioned to Delia that I
needed a second. I stumbled into the first tent I found, blessed the heavy
fabric for its cool shade and noise solution. I opened my eyes for a brief
second. I’d found a small saving grace for the moment in an empty white tent. I
closed my eyes again and had a sudden flashback to freshman year of high
school.
    My friend Rachel and I had
attended a Friday night football game. I had paid for a soda while she got some
popcorn. We stood in front of the concessions stand, observing all the people.
The crowd gave a disappointed sigh at a play on the field.
    “Think we have a chance at
winning the game?” I asked her.
    “Not a chance,” she said. “We
haven’t won a game in like two years and we suck worse than last year.”
    “Oh, well. I’m only here because
my parents thought it’d be a good experience for me. Mom actually kind of
kicked me out of the house. I didn’t realize they disliked me so much,” I
replied.
    She had laughed and scooped
another handful of popcorn into her mouth.
    “How are those carbs treating
you, Rachel?” a voice had slithered in. Laughter had followed. I turned to the
voice—it belonged to Cassie Johnson, queen bee of the popular girls at
school. She was also a raging bitch.
    Rachel had frozen, her hand
halfway back into the bag. Not a week earlier, she’d told me how Cassie had
been her bully since first grade.
    “Keep it up and you’ll have the
freshmen fifteen before college. Or in your case, fifty,” Cassie continued. Her
group of like-minded blonde wannabes giggled behind her.
    Rachel looked down at her bag of
popcorn, her plump cheeks growing bright red. She let her mousy brown hair fall
in front of her face to hide the shamed blush. My temper flared and I took a
deep breath to stay in check. Heat rose to my cheeks and my free hand gripped
into a fist.
    “What’s the matter, stuffed too
much popcorn in your mouth to respond?” Cassie asked.
    “I didn’t do anything, Cassie.
Leave me alone,” Rachel muttered. She kept her head down but I saw tears
gathering in her eyes.
    “That much is obvious. Your
lazy, fat ass never does anything—if you did, you wouldn’t weigh as much
as a hippo,” Cassie sneered. Her gaggle tittered again.
    “Back off,” I snapped. “Go
impress your lemmings elsewhere, preferably near a large cliff.”
    “And the new girl speaks,” Cassie
replied. “I thought for sure you were a mute. How sweet to defend the fatties
and losers.”
    “Take your fake blonde hair dye
elsewhere. We can’t breathe with all the toxins you’re producing,” I seethed.
Her friends had grown quiet in astonishment.
    She took a step towards me.
“What did you say to me?”
    My feet didn’t budge. “You heard
me. I told you to leave her alone.”
    “I can make your life hell. I’m
going to let this one go since you’ve just now left your dungeons and dragons.
But I’m telling you right now—mess with me again and I’ll make you pay.”
    “Gee, that’s super nice of you.
Don’t insult Rachel again. Just because you’re insecure in your own skin
doesn’t give you the