Chapter 33

The boy facing Elise spotted Jade and her friends coming across the plaza. His grin vanished.

Of all the people to run into.

Jade stopped between them, putting herself squarely in front of Elise. With her view blocked, Elise could only listen. She caught her lower lip between her teeth. This was supposed to be their first meeting in this life, yet the way Jade shielded her felt exactly the same.

“Tyler Mason.” Jade tipped up her chin. “Haven't seen you for a while. You've really made something of yourself. All these guys, picking on one girl?”

Tyler frowned. “She's with you?”

He would have preferred to avoid Jade. Every time their groups clashed, both sides wasted ages and nobody won. But his friends were waiting for him to negotiate. He couldn't back down in front of them.

“No,” Jade said after a pause.

They'd only just met. She didn't even know the girl's name. The girl looked thoroughly well behaved, too. If Jade claimed her as one of their group, these boys might go looking for her afterward.

Tyler's smile returned at once.

“Well, that makes it easier.” He adopted a courteous tone. “We always make such a big thing out of this, and then nobody gets to do anything. Talk to your pretty friend. We need to practice our dance. She can skate anywhere. Why does it have to be right here? She can have the place when we're done.”

Jade gave a contemptuous laugh. They could practice anywhere, too. They wanted this spot because there were enough of them to push one girl out of it.

When she made no attempt to oblige, Tyler's smile tightened.

“Besides, I asked her nicely. I didn't throw her out. I'm only being gentle because she's a girl. Otherwise, do you think I'd waste my breath?”

He managed to make his opinion of girls clear in practically every word.

Jade smiled back at him.

“How about we settle what happened last time, while we're here?”

His expression hardened. “You have to get involved?”

“Let's fight. You and me. Whoever loses never sets foot in this plaza again. How's that?”

Tyler gave an angry laugh. A girl had never challenged him to a fight before.

“You want to fight me? Fine. Just don't start crying that I beat up a girl when you lose.”

He kept his uneasiness off his face. He'd heard the stories about Jade, including the one about her leaving two boys unable to get off the ground. Apparently, once she started fighting, she went completely wild. She didn't care what happened to her.

So much for sorting this out peacefully. He glanced toward his friends. One of them understood and took out his phone.

Elise grew more anxious as she listened. Was this really going to turn into a fight because she'd refused to move her skateboard? It was such a small thing. If she'd known it would come to this, she could have let him have the space.

One of Jade's friends noticed her expression.

“Don't worry about it. We used to skate here all the time. We've been arguing with them over it for ages. This was going to get settled sooner or later.”

“Can she win?” Elise asked.

She was worried about Jade. She'd never actually seen her fight in their previous life. Could she really beat a boy?

“Relax. She's a born fighter. As long as it's someone other than Miles Whitmore, she's fine. A guy built like him? She'll put him down in no time.”

Elise still couldn't quite relax.

Farther away, Nora was getting increasingly frantic. She'd stayed because she was afraid someone would pick on Elise. Now two groups looked ready to start throwing punches, and Elise was right in the middle of it.

Nora took out her phone and messaged Julian.

At the airport exit, several suitcases stood in a disordered cluster. A few boys had collapsed onto the ground beside them.

“I never knew I loved my country this much. I'm back on American soil and I could actually cry.”

They'd spent the beginning of summer vacation doing everything they could think of. Once they'd exhausted the usual entertainment, they'd started looking for something more exciting.

Someone had complained about the heat. Why not go somewhere cool?

Everyone had loved that idea. None of them had ever been to Antarctica.

They'd booked tickets and hurried away, only to find the weather turning as soon as they arrived. The wind howled all day, and the cold was beyond anything they'd imagined. By the end of the first day, every one of them wanted to go home.

Then the flights were grounded. They'd spent half a month stuck in a hotel near the airport, waiting for the weather to improve. The moment it did, they'd booked the earliest flight they could get.

“I'll take heat over cold for the rest of my life. Look at this sweat. I've missed it.”

“Whose fucking idea was it to escape the heat in Antarctica? I nearly froze to death.”

“Unbelievable trip. Really.”

Miles Whitmore came out last, pulling his suitcase behind him.

Half a month of freezing air had left him with a persistent headache. He'd spent most of the trip looking so foul-tempered that nobody dared provoke him, in case he decided to take it out on them with his fists.

He gave a short, irritated laugh.

“My idea. Got a problem?”

Dylan Price looked up. Miles's brows were drawn together, and his face made his impatience unmistakable.

Here it came again.

“My mistake, Miles. I meant it was an incredible idea. A major event in my life. I'll remember that trip until the day I die.”

Miles raised an eyebrow at the others.

“Exactly. What he said.”

“Never forget it. Never.”

Satisfied, Miles looked away.

“I turned my phone on and nearly had a heart attack,” one of the boys said. “Caldwell's sent me a message every day, asking when I'm coming to school.”

“Oh, shit. School started, didn't it? I'd forgotten.”

The weather had damaged the local cell tower, and repairs were still underway. None of their phones had had a signal. They'd finally switched them back on after landing.

Miles took his out and held down the power button. Nothing happened. The battery was dead.

The heat had felt wonderfully familiar when they first came outside. After a while, however, sweat began gathering on their foreheads.

A plain passenger van eventually pulled up in front of them.

The boys stared at the friend who'd arranged their ride.

“This is what you booked?”

“Be glad we've got a car. Who else is going to fit all of us and the luggage?”

They all came from comfortable families. Miles, in particular, was accustomed to going everywhere in a supercar.

The heat was making him irritable again.

“There's a car. Get in. Why are we still talking?”

He threw his suitcase into the back and climbed in first. The others followed, looking considerably less pleased.

Once inside, Miles plugged his phone in to charge. He took off his jacket, draped it over his face, and tried to catch up on sleep.

“Speaking of cars, the modifications on Miles's are insane.”

“That's money. One part costs tens of thousands of dollars. You couldn't afford to do that to yours.”

Thrilled to be home, the others kept talking. Miles had always had a short fuse, and the Antarctic wind had given him a headache every day. It had only just begun to ease after landing. Their voices brought it back.

He fumbled for his earplugs and shoved them in.

Dylan scrolled through his phone, then looked up.

“Tyler's messaged me. He's up against Jade again. Wants us to come help. What do you think?”

He glanced at Miles, who was already asleep, then lowered his voice to address the others.

“Of course we're going. We've been away a couple of weeks and she's getting full of herself again. Time someone reminded her whose plaza it is.”

“Shouldn't we ask Miles first?”

“He'd say yes. He went last time, didn't he?”

“All right.” Dylan turned to the driver. “Change of plan. Take us to the plaza by the schools.”

The van jolted along the road. With the earplugs in, Miles heard nothing.

He seemed to have fallen into a very long dream.

After their parents died, he and his brothers had each received an inheritance, including shares in the company. When the financial crisis hit, their affairs were too closely entangled with the family business for any of them to escape. All four brothers had been left carrying enormous debts.

Everything his parents had left him had gone toward paying them off. It hadn't come close to being enough.

The sister he'd loved for seventeen years, the one closest to him in age, had disappeared as soon as the Whitmores went bankrupt.

Elise had brought them home instead. Elise, whom he'd barely seen and hardly knew.

He'd sunk into despair. At school, he had been the rich boy nobody dared cross. After the bankruptcy, people whispered behind his back about the broke, useless wreck he'd become.

He'd dropped out and taken whatever work he could find to repay the debts. Without telling anyone, he'd started racing, risking his life for money.

Then an accident during a race had permanently damaged the ligaments in his left leg. He could no longer walk properly. He'd been left with a limp.

His whole temperament had changed. He'd shut himself in his room, day after day, refusing to see anyone.

Elise had kept coming. She'd encouraged him, persisted when he wouldn't listen, and gradually helped him come out of that dark room.

So what if he limped? He was alive. He could still get back on his feet and make something of his life.

By then, she had become the most important person in it. They'd grown closer as he finally began living again. And then she'd died in an accident.

He'd never regretted anything as much as the years he'd wasted ignoring her. Why had he left her alone? They could have had so much more time together. He was her older brother, and he'd given her so little love.

The van lurched.

Miles woke abruptly, clammy with sweat. His clothes stuck unpleasantly to his skin.

“Miles? What's wrong?”

He stared at Dylan. Dylan's alarm grew as the silence stretched, until Miles finally spoke.

“What date is it?”

“Huh?” Dylan checked his phone. “September seventh.”

Miles carefully put a hand on his left leg and ran it downward. The scar from the crash was gone.

His leg was sound. He could walk normally.

That had been his life. He'd come back to this point in it.

His heart began hammering.

Where was Elise now?

He pulled his phone off the charging cable and switched it on. He searched his contacts, then the contact list in his messaging app. Her name was in neither.

Of course. She'd only recently been brought back to the Whitmores. This was still the time when he'd ignored her completely. He hadn't even added her.

How could he not have his own sister's contact information?

There were several messages from Vivian. The latest had arrived yesterday.

Viv: Miles, if you don't reply soon, I'm going to die.

Viv: Contact me as soon as you're back. [Crying emoji]

A cold smile slowly spread across his face.

He'd done a great deal of thinking while he hid in his room after the accident. He'd hated everyone. He'd hated Vivian most of all.

She'd vanished while he suffered. Once he'd managed to start living again, she'd turned up as casually as though she'd never left, without the slightest uneasiness or shame.

He opened the keyboard.

Miles: You can do me a favor.

Miles: Get the hell away from me. As far as you can.

He sent the messages, opened her profile, blocked her, and deleted her contact. If she tried to add him again after she worked out what he'd done, the request wouldn't even reach him.

The van slowed to a stop. Only then did he notice where they were: the little plaza near the schools.

Within a few years, this place would be torn up and replaced by a modern plaza with fountains.

For now, two groups faced each other across a clear gap. In the middle, Jade was pounding Tyler into the ground. He hardly seemed to be fighting back. There was enough blood to make the scene ugly.

Miles looked away impatiently. Thinking about Vivian had left him in a furious mood again.

“Why are we here?”

Dylan glanced guiltily at the others.

“Well... Tyler asked for help. We weren't doing anything, so I thought we'd come.”

“Let him deal with it himself.” Miles frowned.

He wanted to go home. Elise had to be there. He was already planning how to approach her, how to be good to her, how to get her used to being close to him now, before they lost any more time.

Nobody in the van wanted to argue with him when he looked that close to exploding.

“Then... let's go,” Dylan told the driver.

The van began moving again. The road circled the plaza; they would have to turn out on its west side. Miles sat with his phone in his hand, his thoughts in turmoil.

Then he happened to look out the window.

Elise stood a short distance from Jade. Jade's friends had arranged themselves around her in a loose, protective group. She was watching the fight anxiously.

Her hair lay neatly down her back. Her face was quiet, her eyes full of concern. Those same eyes had once looked at him with such certainty, helping him find his way out of the misery he'd shut himself into.

At the sight of her, his agitation began to subside.

“Stop the car.”

“Huh?” The driver braked almost automatically. They were only students, but there was something about the boy in charge that discouraged questions.

Miles got out first. Dylan and the others hurried after him, delighted that he'd apparently changed his mind.

Home from the airport and straight into a fight. Perfect.

At some point, Ethan had arrived and quietly taken up a position behind Elise.

One of Jade's friends glanced at him.

“You know him?” she asked Elise.

Elise looked around, puzzled. Hadn't she asked Ethan to pick her up later? Why was he here already? How had he even known where to find her?

Ethan gave her a respectful nod. Julian's sudden phone call had startled him. Elise might be in trouble, he'd said. Ethan was to get there at once, protect her, and keep him informed.

He'd come as quickly as he could.

“Yes... I know him,” Elise said.

The girls were still curious, but they let it go.

Tyler was getting thoroughly beaten. Jade fought viciously, apparently prepared to get hurt herself if that was what it took to finish him.

He had no intention of risking his life over this. At last he covered his face with his arms.

“Stop! Stop!”

Jade straightened, licking the sweat from the corner of her mouth. She was still breathing hard when she smiled.

“Useless.”

Two boys helped Tyler up. His face flushed scarlet. A girl had held him down and beaten him in front of everyone.

“Just wait until Miles gets here. See how tough you are then!”

“Fine. I'll wait.”

Jade had disliked Miles for a long time. As far as she was concerned, he was a worthless troublemaker who thought being good with his fists entitled him to rule every school in the area.

Her defiance infuriated the boys. They glared at her and her friends.

“Miles is here!” someone shouted.

That changed their faces at once.

“Ha! They're done for now.”

Miles and Jade had never got along. Last time, the groups hadn't actually fought. Now Jade had beaten one of their boys in public. How could Miles possibly let that go?

Elise looked over in surprise. Her fourth brother was back?

She met his eyes as she turned. There was so much in his gaze that she couldn't understand it. They'd barely seen each other in this life. Why was he looking at her like that?

She looked away, still conscious of his eyes on her.

As he approached, everyone fell silent and watched him.

Tyler forced himself upright despite his injuries and hurried forward.

“Miles. They're getting completely out of hand. This is a public place. Why should they be allowed to use it and we can't? Look what they've done to me.”

He displayed the wounds on his face and arms.

Dylan clicked his tongue. Jade had really gone at him. Good thing she kept her nails short, or Tyler would have been covered in bloody scratches. The girl fought like a leopard.

Jade laughed.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Dylan shook his head almost pityingly at her. She was finished. After the mood Miles had been in back in the van, she'd picked the worst possible moment. Just because he hadn't hit her last time didn't mean he'd hold back now.

Tyler waited for Miles to take his side. They went to Northbridge and were in the same class. They weren't particularly close, but everyone treated Miles as the leader. When something happened, they went to him to settle it.

Miles said nothing. He was looking past Tyler toward Jade's group.

Tyler followed his gaze.

Wait. Why was he staring at that girl?

When Elise avoided his eyes again, Miles felt his spirits sink. Then he understood. They were brother and sister, but at this point in her life, she hardly knew him.

He glanced over Jade and her friends, his brows drawing together.

“What are you doing here?” he asked Elise.

Why was his sweet, obedient sister hanging around with these girls? Had she known them in the previous life, too, while he'd paid no attention? Spend enough time with girls like Jade and she was bound to learn bad habits.

Was this another consequence of his neglect?

Dylan stared. What had happened to Miles's voice? When had he ever spoken that gently? He'd even lowered it, as though he was afraid of frightening her.

They'd been friends with him for years. None of them had ever been treated like that.

Jade raised an eyebrow and looked at Elise questioningly.

Elise was surprised, too. Miles was speaking to her in front of all these people. At this point in her previous life, he had barely said a word even when they met. His own friends hadn't known she was his sister.

She pointed to the skateboard at her feet.

“I came to... skate.”