Resistance (The Variant Series #2) Read Free

match for either of my older brothers, Alex. None of you know how to drive. All three of you seem to have your right foot superglued to the gas pedal.”
    “Sorry, Kenzie,” said Alex, letting up on the accelerator.
    The jeep slowed and Kenzie let out a long breath. “No worries.” Her voice carried the auditory equivalent of a shrug. “It’s going to take a lot more than that to throw me this morning. You guys have no idea how insanely excited I am right now. Just don’t kill us on the way to class, and I’m good.”
    Alex stole another quick glance at the clock on the dash—and then slammed on the brakes to keep from running a red light. Everyone in the Wrangler lurched forward.
    Late.
    They were going to be late.
    Which was fine by Alex, of course. She’d be quite happy to miss the entire day at this point—up to and including her training session with Nathaniel that afternoon.
    Her passengers, however, were having none of that. Kenzie was unnaturally excited for her first day at Bay View, and Cassie…
    Well, she had more than made her position clear the minute she’d launched herself into the passenger side of the jeep, grumbling about alarm clocks and tardies and her perfect attendance record.
    If they missed homeroom, Cassie would make Alex regret it.
    Anyone who didn’t know Cassie well might find it hard to take such threats seriously. The feisty blonde was all soft curves and kind eyes and perpetually quick with a smile. Alex, however, knew better than to mistake that softness for weakness.
    Cassie was the biggest sweetheart in the world—provided you weren’t being an idiot.
    A sweetheart, who currently seemed bemused. “What is wrong with you?”
    “What?” Alex shot her a sidelong glance as she maneuvered the jeep around a big boat Lincoln that was slowing them down by doing twenty under the speed limit. “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine. Everything’s fine .”
    Cassie raised an eyebrow. “We’ll get to you in a minute, speedy,” she said. “I had been talking to Kenzie. I was going to ask her why she’s suddenly acting like a pod person.”
    “What? Me?” said Kenzie. “What’d I do?”
    “Did aliens suck your brains out in your sleep last night?” asked Cassie.
    “Not that I recall,” Kenzie replied. “Although I did have time for an extra cup of coffee this morning, since you two were running late.”
    Alex cut her eyes up at the rear view mirror, glancing warily into the backseat. The last thing Kenzie O’Connell needed first thing in the morning was an extra dose of caffeine in her system.
    Bay View High wasn’t going to know what hit it.
    “ Who ,” asked Cassie, twisting around to peer into the seat behind her, “in their right mind gets excited about their first day starting at a new school?”
    “Are you kidding?” Kenzie’s grin lit up the rearview mirror. “It’s a public school! A public. School.As in, a school that is open to the public! No uniforms. No psycho headmaster whose only joy in life is reprimanding innocent redheads with a weakness for caffeinated beverages. I’ve been waiting for this day my entire life! I heard there’s almost three-hundred kids in our junior class alone. Is that right? I can’t even… I mean, do you know how tired you get of seeing the same sixty faces day after day, year after year?”
    “You went to a private school?” asked Alex.
    “ Sixty kids ?” Cassie grimaced. “That’s it? That was your entire junior class?”
    “Hey!” said Kenzie, as though something important had suddenly occurred to her. “Do we have lockers? I’ve always wanted a locker.”
    Cassie and Alex exchanged a look.
    The light changed.
    A few hundred feet later they stopped again. Oh, the many joys of rush hour traffic and the start of tourist season.
    Alex chewed distractedly on her thumbnail. Four minutes and counting until they pulled in at the school. Three, if they caught the next two lights on green.
    Then the fun would really