Mark My Words

65 | Intruder Alert

When Rosalie could at last move her feet, several other girls followed her lead. The shock manifested in a wave of adrenaline that pushed her forward, the sensation piercing her in the chest like a knife at the hands of the girl now towering over Joanna Spencer. Joanna Spencer—the person Rosalie had always seen as impervious, immovable, unafraid.

When Rosalie marched across the circle, Ray was on her heels. As soon as they put themselves at either side of Dylan, blocking Joanna, Rosalie startled at the sound of Joanna's sneakers squeaking on the turf. When she glanced over her shoulder, Joanna was scrambling to her feet.

Joanna skidded on the grass, pushing off with enough speed to take her to the back door of the arena. Rosalie nearly went after her if The Mountain wasn't moving in front of her. She steeled herself like she was on the frontline of a penalty shot. The girl grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her so hard, she tripped and slammed into Juliana.

Dylan grabbed the girl by her arm and used her momentum to spin her around. He grabbed her by the front of her sweatshirt, but she had him by the throat in an instant.

Rosalie never witnessed anything like it outside of the movies, and evidently, neither had Dylan. "Shit," he cursed, dropping the stranger in an instant. He gasped as soon as she let go in favor of chasing after Joanna. The back door slammed shut, echoing across the field until the girl yanked it open and disappeared after her.

The blonde girl tried to go after them, but Alyssa caught her by the wrist and flung her back into the center of the Knight circle. Lennie was off the bench, watching from afar as Rosalie debated staying to question the girl or going after the one who was on the hunt for Joanna.

"You stay," Dylan said, pointing to Rosalie. "Lennie and I can catch up with Joanna."

"We can?" Lennie droned, clearly not thrilled by the idea.

Dylan gave him an annoyed look before running off to the back door. Lennie sighed and jogged after him, leaving the Knights to question the culprit.

Before they could ask a single question, however, Coach Maguire blew the whistle. "Ladies! I don't see you warming up over there!" Coach shouted. "And where the hell is Spencer?"

Rosalie couldn't find her voice any more than the rest of them could. Thankfully, Juliana scraped together enough sense to shout back, "We're on it, Coach!"

Alyssa dropped the girl's arm and shoved her away. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

The girl brushed off the sleeves on her sweater before propping her hands on her cocked hips and saying, "I'm Joey's friend."

"No you aren't," Rosalie said, sharper than she intended. She caught the rest of her retort in her throat, her harsh gaze locking with the girl's dark brown eyes. "Why did she call you... darling? Did you guys—"

"What, date?" the girl said, and she barked out a loud, high-pitched laugh that had nearly every girl in the circle flinching. "Of course not. My name's Darlene. Everyone just calls me Darling."

Rosalie couldn't deny that she sighed in relief. She looked at all of the other girls, and then stuck on Ray, who raised an eyebrow at her as if to say, "Possessive much?" Rosalie scowled at her. She couldn't have been the only one thinking it, considering how common of a pet name 'darling' was.

Darling clasped her hands together over the front of her skirt, her doll-like curls swishing to the side as she tipped her head and said, "We're just deciding on what school to attend! My mother wants me at Adams, but Georgie's so fond of Joey. Maybe we'll get to shadow your team next, since you're going to Regionals and all. Wouldn't that be fun?"