"Fine!" Kylie felt herself growing angry and losing hope. "Do I care about Lucas? Yes. But I don't care about him the way I care about you."

He shook his head. "You can't lie to me, Kylie. I can read your emotions and when you're around him you're ... attracted to him."

"Okay, I'll even admit I'm attracted to him. But that doesn't mean anything."

"The hell it doesn't!" He started to walk away.

Kylie grabbed his arm. "You're no different."

"What?" His eyes brightened with anger and hurt.

"I saw you looking at Miranda when we were swimming."

"I didn't-"

"Yes, you did!"

"This is stupid." He started walking away again.

Kylie almost let him go, but she remembered that she was going to have to pay a pint for this. Damn it. She wanted her blood's worth. She caught up with him. "Perry even noticed because he started giving you the evil eye."

He continued walking and so did she.

"Did I get bent out of shape about it? No, I didn't because I know that while you might have thought she was pretty in her bathing suit, it didn't mean you didn't like me."

He stopped and turned to face her. "That is different."

"How is it different? If I could read your emotions, like you can read mine, I would have read lust loud and clear."

"Yeah, but ... but I'm a guy."

Her mouth dropped open. "So only guys can be attracted to someone? Please! What century are you living in?"

His eyes tightened. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant..." He clenched his jaw. "Christ. I don't know, but it's still different."

"It's not, Derek! Don't you see? You're getting all bent out of shape because you're jealous and you have no reason to be."

"It's more than that," he said. "You just said you care about him. This isn't just-"

"Yeah, I care about him. We met a long time ago. And maybe that bonds us somehow. And yes, he's nice looking. But ... I want to be with you."

She thought she was getting through to him, but he looked away. "I can't do it, Kylie. Until you can prove to me that he doesn't mean anything to you, I can't do this." He walked away again.

"Derek?" she called.

He turned around. "What?"

Her chest grew heavy. "You lied to me."

"About what?" Frustration colored his voice.

"You said we'd be friends. This isn't how you treat a friend."

He looked up at the sky before he met her eyes. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I can't be your friend." He walked off.

This time she let him go.

It was hard to get through the day. Kylie wanted to ask Holiday to let her skip the scheduled events, but she'd begged off too much. So she went to art, took a hike, and lost herself in cake decorating.

Every time she started to think about Derek, she'd mentally snap a rubber band around her heart. She was so focused on decorating her cupcakes that half the class was over before she realized Miranda wasn't there.

As soon as it was over, she ditched music class and found Della walking to the lake for kayak lessons. Della had been pretty low-key lately, still recovering from the whole FRU visit and testing. And she dreaded having to go undercover to try to help catch her cousin for murder. Of course, worrying about that meant she wasn't worrying about parents weekend.

Hey, you had to find the silver linings where you could.

"Have you seen Miranda?" Kylie asked.

"No. Is something wrong?"

"She just wasn't in cake decorating. I was going to see if she was at the cabin."

"You want me to come with you?"

"No," Kylie said, remembering that Della had been looking forward to kayaking. "If I can't find her, I'll find you. I'm sure it's nothing."

Unfortunately, right before Kylie reached her cabin, she was certain she'd been wrong in her assessment. Her first clue? The high-pitched scream coming from inside.

Taking off at a dead run, Kylie reached the front door before she realized that the screams weren't Miranda's. Not that this realization slowed her down. Someone was in her cabin and screaming bloody murder.

And Miranda was missing.

Jerking the door open, Kylie ran inside. "Miranda?"

"In here," Miranda called from her bedroom, her words barely heard over the shrieking.

Pushing open the bedroom door, Kylie thought she was prepared to face anything. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Kylie gaped at the screaming redheaded girl locked in the big purple cage in the middle of Miranda's room. Then her gaze shot to Miranda, reclining in the middle of her bed, painting her toenails as if it were a lazy Sunday morning.

"Let me out of here, you bitch!" The girl shook the cage.

Miranda finished spreading fuchsia pink on her pinky toenail before she glanced up. "What's up?" She smiled extra wide at Kylie.

"Bitch!" the girl screamed at Miranda then glared at Kylie. "Make her let me go!"

"I think I should be asking you what's up," Kylie said to Miranda, and then she looked back at the girl. A quick sniff of the air said there hadn't been any blood lost.

Yet, anyway.