Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) by Heather Hayden (best reads .TXT) 📗

recently manicured nails. Annabeth and Mel stood right behind her, sporting new haircuts and tans as dark as Neela’s.

My mouth fell open. What’s she doing here? “Neela?”

“Hi.” Neela beamed at Dan, not even glancing in my direction. “Do you mind if we sit here?” Without waiting for a response, she plopped onto the bench next to him and swept her hair over her shoulder, a perfect mahogany waterfall that cascaded over her pink tank top. Annabeth sat on her other side and pulled out her phone. Mel dropped down on my bench, as close to the other end as possible. I resisted the urge to scoot closer, still somewhat in shock.

“I’m Neela,” she said, holding out her hand. “You’re Dan, right?”

“Um, yes,” he said, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Her smile widened. “Welcome to Snowvale High. I’m the junior class representative. Please let me know if I can do anything to help you settle in more easily.”

The slight emphasis on “anything” made me blink. Was Neela hitting on him? I thought she had a boyfriend, but maybe they broke up over summer break. She wasn’t usually too serious about the guys she was with. I’d seen her in action before, but this really rankled—I had just made a new friend and now she was sliding her way in, all but batting her big brown eyes at him while completely ignoring me.

I wasn’t going to let that happen. “Hi, Neela. How’s it going? I missed you this summer.”

“It’s going great,” she said, the most—the only—words she’d spoken to me since the day she’d screamed at me and told me to never see her again. Her eyes slid over to me briefly as she added, “How was your vacation? We were traveling this summer; I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to hang out.”

Traveling? I frowned. I’d caught glimpses of her around town and at the beach the few times I ventured there. My fingers tightened on my spoon until the plastic creaked, and I shoved a spoonful of pudding into my mouth before I could say something I would regret. Maybe I just happened to see her on the few days she was around.

Dan shot me a confused glance, then turned to Annabeth and Mel. “I’m Dan. Nice to meet you. You’re friends of Viki’s?”

“I’m Annabeth.” She looked up from her phone. “Nice to meet you.”

Mel gave her name as well, a faint blush on her cheeks. I wasn’t sure if it was makeup or not, but I could definitely read her expression. She was interested in Dan, too. I shot him a quick glance while he was focused on opening his carton of juice. Short blond hair, green eyes, a slim but muscular build. I guess he’s cute. I’d never been a great judge of that kind of thing. Crushes, much less romance, held no appeal for me. Still, this was Neela and Mel, both of whom had been chasing boys for as long as I had known them, and he was new to town. It wasn’t surprising, though it was a bit annoying, that they’d chosen him as their latest target.

As if sensing my thoughts, Dan looked up, meeting my eyes before I could look away. He smiled. “Would you rather hang out with your friends today, Viki? We can always train for track some other day.”

“You’re on the track team?” Annabeth’s expression switched from semi-bored to enthusiastic in a split second.

Dan nodded. “I ran track for a semester at my old school but didn’t do very well. Hopefully Viki can give me some tips for improving my time before track meets begin.”

Neela’s lips parted, but before she could speak, Annabeth did.

“She’s a good runner.” Annabeth grinned at me. “Almost as good as me.”

“I beat your old record this summer,” I retorted. She’d broken it as well during last spring’s track meets, the ones I hadn’t been a part of. Still faster than me, but not by much.

Her grin widened. “Awesome! Then you’re still in shape. You’re joining the team again this year, right?”

“Didn’t the coach throw her off the team?” Neela offered me a sympathetic look.

Thanks for bringing that up. I stabbed my pudding.

Mel glanced at me, eyes widening a fraction. Dan frowned.

Annabeth waved her hand dismissively. “We have a new coach, didn’t you hear? Coach Jones, but she insists everyone call her Betty Jean. She’s great. I talked to her already and she says she’s excited to meet you, Viki. We have practice tomorrow after school. You should come. If Coach—er, Betty Jean vouches for you, you could get transferred into the track P.E. class.”

I stared at her for a moment, too stunned to speak. “Thanks,” I finally managed. “I really appreciate that.”

She shrugged. “I’ve gotten accused of cheating before because of my augments, and it’s not like you augmented on purpose. Besides, they’re deactivated now, right? Otherwise your implants would have failed?”

Not if they were illegal implants, but thankfully my family hadn’t had to go that far. I nodded. “Yeah, they’re gone.”

“That’s awesome,” Mel murmured, her gaze shifting to Neela. “Isn’t it?”

Neela’s lips pressed together and she gave a tight nod.

“Then you’re back to just having the leg implants.” Annabeth spread her hands. “Why shouldn’t you be on the track team, then, if the best runner on the team has augments herself?”

“Thanks, Annabeth. That means a lot to me.” I wondered why Mr. Halway had left; he’d been coaching here for years. It doesn’t matter. If I can get back on track …

“No problem. I know how much track means to you.”

My mind was already sorting out my new schedule—switch classes for Technical Writing or find a different class for my P.E. period, then I’d have track P.E. after lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays. I nodded. “I can still run outside of track,