Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One by Wendi Wilson Read Free Book Online Page A

grin on her face when Melanie sat down next to her.
    “Oh
my God! I totally saw that!” She squealed with delight. “Are guys together?”
    “No!”
Melanie’s denial was a bit too forceful. “He was just being nice. He’s worried
about me, as a friend.”
    “That’s
not what it looked like from here.”
    “Tara,
please. Stop.”
    “Okay.
But just because class is starting. We will be discussing and dissecting
this at lunch.”
    “Great.
Can’t wait,” Melanie mumbled under her breath as their teacher started droning
on about acute and obtuse angles. Melanie tuned her out and daydreamed about Jeremy’s
soft lips brushing against her forehead.

Chapter 6
    When
the bell signaled the end of second period, Melanie jumped up and ran out of
class before Tara could stop her. She heard about two words the entire class,
she was so wrapped up in everything that had transpired between her and Jeremy.
She practically ran to her locker, dumped her English and math books and
grabbed her flute.
    She
speed walked to the music room for her concert band class, and arrived with no
interference. The hour flew by as she lost herself in Sousa’s Washington
Post March and the other pieces the band was set to play in its next
concert.
    At
the end of class, she cleaned and put away her flute, packed up her music and
stood to leave. Before she made it to the door, it opened and Stephanie Woods
walked in with a malevolent snarl on her face.
    “I’ve
been looking for you,” she spit out. “I should have known I would find you in
the geekiest room in the entire building.” She flipped her blonde curls over
her shoulder.
    “What
do you want, Sissy? I’m kind of in a hurry.” Melanie tried to put on a brave
front, but she was quaking inside. This girl always managed to bring her to her
knees.
    “I
just wanted to give you a warning, Piglet. Stay away from Jeremy. He’s mine.”
    Melanie’s
back straightened. She knew Jeremy wasn’t hers, but she also knew he was
definitely not Sissy’s either.
    “Oh,
really?” she replied. “I hear it differently. In fact, I heard he warned you to stay the hell away from me.”
    Sissy’s
blue eyes narrowed. She pinched her face in a very unflattering way as she came
up with a retort. She would never let Melanie have the last word.
    “We’ll
see,” she said. “All I have to do is snap my fingers and he’ll be following me
around like a little puppy dog again. You’ll never know what that feels like, Piglet.” She stressed the nickname to make the sting sharper.
    Just
then, the door slammed against the wall behind Sissy and she jumped with a
squeak as she turned toward the noise. Melanie looked past her and her eyes met
a sight that took her breath away.
    Jeremy
stood there, chest heaving and hands fisted at his sides. His beautiful face
was a war of conflicting emotions ranging from concern to impatience to pure,
unadulterated rage. Melanie had to mentally corral her galloping heart and slow
her breathing. She pulled her eyes away to glance back at Sissy, who stood
there putting on a brave front.
    “I
was just leaving,” she said huffily.
    “You
do that,” replied Jeremy tightly.
    As
she tried to flounce by him, he grabbed her elbow and leaned in close to her
ear. Melanie had to strain to hear what he said.
    “I
thought I told you to stay away from her,” he bit out through gritted teeth.
    “You’re
not the boss of me,” she retorted while trying to tug her elbow from his iron
grasp.
    “You’d
be wise to listen to me on this, Sissy. Stay. Away. From. Melanie. I’m not
kidding. This is going to get ugly, fast.”
    Sissy
finally succeeded in rescuing her arm from his grasp, and hurried through the
door. Jeremy stood perfectly still, staring at the floor, trying to get his
anger under control. Melanie took a few tentative steps and stopped just out of
arms-length in front of him.
    “Hey,”
she whispered. “You okay?”
    His
shoulders slumped, he took a deep breath and looked