I wasn’t ready for all these girls. Even Chandra was beautiful, though hers was more from her make-up and tanned skin.

All of them looked like sisters.

“Tiff, what are you doing here?” Chandra stumbled over her words.

The girl’s eyes narrowed before they rested on me.

I felt branded. She had scorched me with some meaning behind her gaze. I wasn’t sure what it was, but my skin crawled from it. She didn’t have a good opinion of me. That much I knew, but I had no idea why. She didn’t know a damn thing about me. My head lifted. My shoulders rolled back and I rose to my highest height. For some reason, I didn’t like this girl and she didn’t like me.

She murmured to her friend, but her eyes hadn’t thawed as she stared at me, “I came to check on Kara and see if she needed help with any of the girls. What are you doing here?”

Chandra moved around me to her friend’s side. She gestured to me. “This girl walked in on me and Cord. I was upset and came to cry on Kara’s shoulder.”

The girl, who I knew without a doubt was their leader, frowned. “She walked in on you guys?” She scanned the room. “And she lives here?”

“Yeah.” Chandra seemed miffed about that.

I had no idea why.

“That’s…odd.”

Her entire attitude towards me was odd. I glowered back at her. “Can you two please leave? I need to unpack.”

“No, you don’t.” Cord swept an arm around each of the girls. He squeezed them together and lifted them from the doorway. Chandra squealed, delighted by the attention. The other girl’s eyes widened, startled from the sudden movement. As he deposited them back down, away from my door, he motioned for me. He threw an arm around my shoulder. “Well, little Connors. It’s been riveting. I’ll be seeing you.”

My mouth dropped. That was it?

“Where are you going, Cord?” Chandra spoke up.

He shrugged. “I’ll call you later, Chandra. Family matters first.”

“Family?” The leader’s tone sent chills down my back. Her eyes narrowed as she pierced through me. “Whose family, Cord?”

He stiffened next to me, but forced a carefree chuckle out. “Not my secret to tell, Tiffany. See you later.” He tapped my shoulder. “And you’ll have a package arriving…tonight…” He scrunched up his nose, the nodded to himself. “Yeah, sounds right.”

Before he could leave, Tiffany folded her arms over her chest and stepped forward. “We’ll be seeing you tonight. Did you forget?”

“Oh yeah. Forgot about Jamie’s thing.”

“I’m coming over in an hour to start setting up.”

Her tone sounded casual, but I felt like it was more of a warning. I wasn’t sure if it was to me or Cord, but he lifted a hand before he shot down the back stairway. “Well, see you two in an hour then.”

Chandra’s smile relaxed and she nodded. “Bye Cord.”

One gone. I looked back at both of the girls. Two more to go.

“How do you know Cord? You’re not really his family and what was he talking about, that he had to go and do something for family? He left you here.” The leader spoke for the both of them. “Do you know the rest of the guys?”

I swallowed. This wasn’t a girl I’d want to meet in a back alley, but then I paused. Who the hell was this girl? She hadn’t been in my shoes. She didn’t know anything about me and she had no right to intimidate me.

My chin lifted. It hardened and I stepped close to her.

Her eyelids twitched.

Oh yes. Trying to intimidate me.

“What’s your name?”

She frowned, but grinned. “Tiffany Chatsworth. Look me up.”

“Who are you related to?”

The grin slipped a notch. “None of your business.”

“Who are you screwing?”

Her lips were flat now. “Like I said, none of your effing business.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “Then who are you to ask about my business?”

She leaned closer, barely an inch away, and gave me a chilly smile. “I’m your nightmare. That’s who I am.”

“Tiffany!” Kara had come around the corner and skidded to a halt. Her eyes were wide and her mouth fell open. “Stop it. This girl is one of mine. It’s my job to look out for her.”

“Then you better start looking out for her.” Tiffany stared her friend down. “Because she just pissed me off.”

As she left, the other stayed behind. She’d been biting her lip the whole time but now looked at the floor.

“Chandra? What the hell?”

She jerked a shoulder up. Her gaze never lifted. “The girl talked back to her. You know how Tiffany is.”

Kara groaned, tipping her head back. She was hugging her clipboard to her chest. “This is great. Just great!”

CHAPTER THREE

The floor meeting was held in Kara’s room. Since there were thirty girls, half of us were in the hallway as she went over the rules. Grant West was still privately funded so there were rules, lots of them. Handouts were made and after the sixth question, I slid down to the floor and rested my head against the wall.

We’d be there for a while. My only excitement was a text from Jesse, but then it wasn’t. He couldn’t get away from wherever he was. I asked him where he was, but the response was vague.

Family thing.

A girl sat beside me, except she tucked her head and rested her forehead to her knees. It wasn’t long before the snoring sounded. I wished I could’ve done that, hadn’t slept a full night in a long time. But right when my eyelids started to droop, Kara called for the last question, which she gave a short answer and then proclaimed, “All right, everyone. We’re a little behind schedule. I wanted to take you to the cafeteria and show you how to get your card registered, but since it’s after seven and the cafeteria is closed, I think a better alternative is pizza! Everyone up for that?”

A collective cheer went through the group.

Not me. Pizza was good, but I didn’t want to spend any more time with people.

“You think we can ditch?” The girl beside me had woken.

I was tempted to go with her, wherever she wanted.

As we stood and the girls emptied from Kara’s room, the resident advisor pulled her door shut and locked it. As she did, surprise came over her again. “Beth, I had no idea you were on my floor.”