Chapter 6 LEFT BEHIND

KAYLA

Rhea was the kind of person who could walk into a mall and immediately know exactly where she was going. I was not that kind of person. I was the kind of person who showed up because she'd decided that tolerating Zayn's girlfriend was part of the plan, and the plan was the only thing keeping me functional right now.

"Okay so I was thinking we start at Zara because they just got new stock and then maybe Urban Outfitters after," Rhea said, already three steps ahead of me with her sunglasses pushed up into her hair like she was walking a runway. "And there's this really cute accessories place on the second floor that just opened, we have to check it out."

"Sure," I said.

She glanced back at me. "You okay back there?"

"Yep."

She gave me a look that said she didn't entirely believe me but let it go, turning back around and leading us into Zara with the kind of confidence I genuinely envied. I followed, hands in the pockets of my jacket, telling myself that I was doing this for Zayn. Everything was for Zayn. That was the whole point.

Rhea pulled a top off a rack and held it up against herself. "What do you think?"

"It's nice."

She put it back. Pulled out another one. "This one?"

"Also nice."

She turned around fully this time, one hand on her hip, studying me with an expression that was more curious than annoyed. "Okay, so I'm going to say something and I need you not to take it the wrong way."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay."

"You clearly don't want to be here."

I opened my mouth.

"And that's fine," she continued, "because honestly I get it. You don't know me. I'm just the girl who showed up and started dating your best friend, which from where you're standing probably feels a little weird. So instead of us walking around pretending we're having fun, how about we grab a drink somewhere and actually talk? Like real people."

I looked at her for a moment. She looked back, completely unbothered, waiting.

"Sure," I said.

We ended up at the smoothie place on the ground floor, sitting across from each other at a small table near the window. Rhea stirred her drink and I stirred mine and for a few seconds neither of us said anything, which was somehow less awkward than I expected.

"So how long have you and Zayn been friends?" she asked.

"Since we were five. We grew up on the same street."

"That's really cute." She meant it, which was annoying. "He talks about you a lot, you know. Like a lot a lot. I was honestly expecting someone different."

"Different how?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. He made you sound kind of intimidating."

That surprised me enough that I almost smiled. "Zayn said I was intimidating?"

"He said you were the smartest person he knew and that you had zero patience for nonsense." She tilted her head. "Which honestly tracks."

I looked down at my drink. "We've just known each other a long time."

"Obviously." She paused, and when she spoke again her voice had shifted slightly, still friendly but with something more careful underneath it. "Can I ask you something?"

"You're going to anyway."

She laughed, short and genuine. "Fair. I just want to know where you two actually stand. And before you say just friends I want you to know that I'm not asking to be mean, I'm asking because I actually like Zayn and I don't want to spend the whole relationship being paranoid about his best friend."

I met her eyes. She wasn't being cruel about it. She was just being direct, which I could at least respect even if the conversation made me want to be anywhere else on earth.

"We're friends," I said. "That's it. That's all it's ever been."

Something in her shoulders relaxed slightly. "Okay. Good. Because I really like him and I'm not great at sharing." She smiled, but there was an edge to it that told me she meant every word. "I just want us all to get along, you know? I'd hate for things to be weird."

"They won't be," I said.

She nodded, satisfied, and went back to her smoothie. I went back to mine and tried to look like I wasn't quietly counting ceiling tiles to keep myself together.

We were back on the main floor twenty minutes later when Rhea suddenly grabbed my arm.

"Oh, there he is." She was already waving before I'd even spotted him.

Zayn was coming out of the sports store across the way, a bag in one hand, phone in the other. He saw Rhea and his face did the thing with the dimples and I looked at the floor for a second before forcing myself to look back up.

"Hey." He jogged over, pulling Rhea into a side hug before glancing at me. "You two survived each other."

"Obviously," Rhea said. "Are you done? I was thinking since my parents won't be back until tonight and my mom already said it's fine, you could come over. We could watch something."

"Yeah, definitely." He was already nodding. "Actually there's this movie Kayla and I watched last year, it's kind of old but it's really good, I think you'd like it. We could—"

"Kayla's probably busy though, right?" Rhea said, glancing at me.

The way she stared. The tight-lipped smile while she looked as innocent as possible. I was almost tempted to call her out on it.

I smiled. "Yeah, actually. I've got some stuff to take care of."

Zayn looked at me for a second like he was trying to figure something out, but then Rhea was already steering him toward the exit and telling him about the movie she wanted to watch instead and just like that he was gone, walking away with his hand finding the small of her back like it already knew the way there.

I stood in the middle of the mall and watched them leave. Then I turned around and went to find the library.

Shadow Ridge's public library was small and always slightly too cold and smelled like old paper in a way I'd always found weirdly comforting. I went straight to the back where the reference section was, pulled out my list of search terms from my jacket pocket and started scanning spines.

Most of it was useless. Folklore. Mythology. One very enthusiastic book about astral projection that I put back after two pages.

I was crouched down reading the back of something that looked vaguely promising when a voice came from somewhere above me.

"Huh. No Zayn."

I looked up. A boy I recognized from the year above me was leaning against the shelf at the end of the row, arms folded, looking at me with the kind of expression that meant he found something funny and wasn't planning on keeping it to himself.

Dylan Gibbs. Zayn's classmate. We'd never actually spoken beyond the occasional nod in the hallway.

"Sorry?" I said.

"I'm just saying." He pushed off the shelf and wandered a little closer, keeping his voice low because library. "Every time I've seen you somewhere it's been you and Zayn. At the field, at the corner store, at the end of your street. Now here you are, alone, in a library on the first day of summer break." He looked around with exaggerated concern. "Did you two have a fight or is it because he's got a girlfriend now and she's currently occupying his entire schedule?"

I stood up slowly and put the book back on the shelf.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I asked.

"Probably." He didn't move. "I'm just saying it's a little funny. You spend all year following that guy around and then he gets a girlfriend and suddenly you're haunting the reference section by yourself." He tilted his head. "That's rough."

"I'm not haunting anything. I'm looking for a book."

"About what?"

"None of your business."

He held his hands up, playing the picture of innocence. "Okay, okay. Just making conversation." He started backing away down the aisle, and for a second I thought he was actually leaving. Then he pointed at me. "For what it's worth, you should probably find something better to do with your summer than whatever this is."

He turned the corner and disappeared between the shelves.

I stood there for a moment staring at the spot where he'd been. The worst part wasn't that he'd said it. The worst part was that every single word was true, and somewhere between the smoothie place and watching Zayn leave with Rhea's hand in his, I'd already known it.

I pulled another book off the shelf, opened it to the index, and looked up time magic.