Chapter Five

Charlotte

Monday morning came far too quickly. I was sitting outside on my front porch waiting for Karla to come pick me up. Usually I would just ride my bicycle to school, but today my backpack was filled with textbooks, plus I had my saxophone. It was much easier to just get a ride; although, I was starting to regret calling her.

Now that I actually thought about it, I realized Christian would be driving Karla. He needed the truck on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, which was when he had his afternoon classes at The University of Bridgewalk. Tuesdays and Fridays were his morning classes, and Karla always dropped him off before she went to school. The truck was technically Christian's, but he had decided to share it with Karla until she could get her own.

A small part of me knew I shouldn't get too close to Christian. The image of him looking at me in that predatory way was still too fresh in my mind. It terrified me and excited me in the same breath, which only scared me more. The logical part of me said I had nothing to fear, and I wasn't that stupid, but my heart begged to differ. If given the opportunity, would I truly be able to say no to Christian? I didn't even know if he was interested in me in that way, but no matter, I still couldn't afford to test that theory.

But alas, I wasn't able to change my mind about the ride even if I wanted to.

I watched grievously as Christian's truck pulled up in front of my house.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my backpack and saxophone case before hustling over to the vehicle. I was probably over reacting anyways. I have no idea what had caused his sudden interest in me yesterday morning, but chances were he would be back to normal today.

"Good morning Charlie!" Karla yelled out the window. A large smile was spread across her face, and it made her dark blue eyes brighten. Although I doubt it was possible, it seemed to make her look even more stunning. The Steele family had great genes apparently because they were all exceptionally attractive people.

"Well, you seem to be feeling better this morning," I mused.

She opened the truck door and pulled her seat forward so I could climb into the back. "Yah, I decided life is too short to let such mundane things bother me." She leaned in closer and whispered only loud enough for me to hear, "Plus, I decided high school boys are too immature for my liking anyways."

I chuckled while getting comfy in the backseat.

Christian turned to look at Karla and raised his eyebrow. "What mundane things were bothering you?" He had that overprotective, brotherly look in his face as he pulled out onto the street.

His eyebrows were creased, his jaw clenched and his eyes were burning with fury, and my heart leaped. I don't care what anyone says—Christian looked positively scrumptious when he showed his dark side.

Karla tapped the dashboard with her fingers. "Nothing really-"

He cut her off. "And since when do high school kids say things like mundane?"

"Charlie uses much more sophisticated words than that—and I am not a kid!"

"Yah well, Charlie is different—and you are definitely not an adult."

My head snapped up when they mentioned my name. I was different? Okay, I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. Maybe it was both.

I looked back and forth between the bickering siblings before deciding to just ignore them. I swear, sometimes they just liked to argue for the sake of arguing. I didn't have any siblings so I didn't know what that was like, but I figured this was normal sibling behavior. I knew they loved each other, and would do anything to protect one another, and really, that was all that mattered.

After a good ten minutes, the vehicle finally fell silent. Shocked by the abrupt ending to their quarrelling, I looked up at Karla. She was dancing along to the song on the radio with her world famous smile plastered to her face.

I then turned my attention to Christian. He was looking rather oddly in the rear-view mirror. Curious to know what he found so interesting, I looked up at the mirror hoping to pinpoint where his eyes were directed.

I froze.

They were directed at me!

Quickly I averted my gaze. Why was he looking at me? I bit my bottom lip. Why was he suddenly intrigued by me? Obviously, Christian Steele noticing me was like a dream come true, but the way he was noticing me was more like a nightmare. It was kind of like the way people look at new Apple products, curious, excited and a little impatient, unable to wait to play around with it.

I was not going to let myself be anyone's play toy, especially Christian's. He had all the power in the world to destroy me. He might have captured my heart years ago, but that was against my will and better judgment. And although I can't get it back, I can at least try to protect it from being broken.

"So Charlie," Christian drawled out my name until I glanced up at him. "Kare was telling me yesterday that you are planning on majoring in Psychology?"

I caught my breath.

I couldn't help it. That part of me that will forever be in love with Christian was bubbling up with joy. He was talking to me, about me! It took a lot of willpower on my part to push those feelings far, far away. I needed to build a wall up between him and I, and I couldn't do that with my inner romanticist clawing at the surface.

I tried to sound distant and uninterested. "Yes."

He raised his eyebrows slightly but continued to look ahead as he swerved through traffic. "Do you have a specific career in mind?" He tried again.

"No."

"Any thoughts on which school?"

"No."

He turned around to look at me, and so did Karla. He looked confused by my curt answers, but Karla looked devastated. I couldn't blame her though. Saying I wasn't normally rude would be an understatement. It was in my nature to be polite, caring and courteous, and the first time she witnesses me act so churlish, it's to her brother!

So I wasn't all the surprised when Christian finally turned back to look at the road, Karla continued to stare at me questioningly. I could see in her eyes what she was thinking. What the hell is up with you?

I shrugged.

She gave me one last look that said this wasn't over before turning back to sit in her seat properly. I probably had ten minutes to think of a good excuse before we got to school-

"I just need to stop at the University quickly first."

Okay, scratch that. I had thirty seconds.

Christian pulled into the visitor's parking at the University of Bridgewalk. He parked the truck and shut off the engine. "I'll only be a few minutes. I just need to talk with one of my Professors."

Karla stretched out in her seat and yawned. "Take your time."

Christian was gone and I was in the truck alone with Karla—and I still hadn't come up with an excuse. I decided to turn things on her instead. "Take your time? I don't know about you Kare, but I refuse to be late for class-"

"Oh hush!" She turned around to face me, and she had that look in her eyes. I called it the "Karla Look". It was when she suddenly had an idea in her head—which was never a good one—and no matter what there would be no changing her mind. She grinned devilishly. "This is the perfect opportunity for me to start working on my new plan!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," I murmured, "and I am almost positive I don't want to know."

Karla ignored me. Her eyes were dancing with determination and her bright, excited smile grew. "Remember how I was just saying I was done with high school boys?" She clapped her hands together. "What better location to go fishing in that big ol' sea of potential love interests than at the University?" she turned around and jumped out of the truck with far too much enthusiasm.

I wasn't sure if I should feel relieved because she wasn't interrogating me over my bad manners, or distraught because this was probably going to be worse! But she started walking away from the truck before I could mentally answer that question.

Hurriedly, I climbed out of the vehicle and ran to catch up to her. "Kare," I breathed. "I know you are probably still upset about Ben, but I don't think this is such a good idea."

She glared at me. "First of all, I'm not upset about Ben!" Then her entire face lit up again and she exclaimed, "And of course it is a good idea!"

I had to jog to keep up to her. She had much longer legs than me, and had always been remarkably good at speed walking. "So what is your plan then? Just walk up to some random University student and say, 'Hey, want to date?'"

She laughed. "Of course not, silly!" She turned around to face me, but continued to keep up pace even walking backwards. "The trick is to make it look like an accident."

"What are you—Karla, watch out!"

Too late.

She backed right into a guy standing at the bottom of the entrance stairs. He stumbled back a few feet, and she fell on her butt.

"Are you okay?!" The guy ran to her side and automatically began helping her up.

"Yes, I'm so sorry!" Karla cooed, "I really am such a klutz sometimes."

The fairly cute guy smiled at her. "You honestly have nothing to apologize for." His eyes trailed up and down her body before he added, "I'm George and this is my friend Jarrod."

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Karla, and that's Charlie."

George was already completely taken by Karla, so he barely even glanced my way. Jarrod on the other hand, turned to greet me. He wasn't quite as cute as George, but he had a more sophisticated air about him. He was tall and lanky, had glasses, and his eyes shone with intellect.

It took me a moment, but eventually I realized what she had just done. She managed to introduce us to two University students "accidentally". She really was quite genius.