From V.C. Andrews, bestselling author of My Sweet Audrina (now a Lifetime movie!), comes the tale of a young girl kept under the watchful eye of her adoptive parents, as if they fear who — or what — she’ll become. Sixteen-year-old Sage is a lonely child. She possesses knowledge that other teenagers don’t, that her parents and teachers — no adult — could possibly have. So when Sage finally makes a friend who understands her alarming gift, he becomes her confidant, a precarious link to the truth about who she really is. For Sage and the alluring new boy at school share many things in common. Perhaps, they’ll learn, far too many things.
Read the full excerpt from Sage’s Eyes:
We sauntered in and took our seats. For a moment, I didn’t realize it until I saw where all my friends were looking. Summer Dante was in Cassie’s seat. I had the chilling feeling that he was somehow destined to be there, destined to replace her. He sat with perfect posture and didn’t look at anyone.
His hands were clasped before him on his desk. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, first because his sitting there brought home the reality that Cassie was gone, off into some therapeutic fog, working to bring herself back into the sunshine, and second because there was an aura about him that was both pleasing and dangerous.
Suddenly, he broke his perfect form by turning sharply in my direction and stabbing me with his eyes. I think I gasped audibly. He had turned just the way I might if I had felt someone was looking at me intently. There was that tiny sting at the base of my neck whenever I felt that, and I was always right. Someone was staring at me. Now I was caught doing the same thing. I felt my face flush with embarrassment.
The girls hadn’t exaggerated about his striking good looks. His beautifully formed full lips softened instantly into smoothly tanned firm cheeks. I couldn’t turn away. He nodded at me, and I rolled my eyes away like a fighter pilot might roll his plane to escape an attack. I was grateful for the relief the day’s announcements brought. I could catch my breath.
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When the bell rang, we all rose with the same hopeful expectation: Summer Dante would gravitate toward one of us to walk through the halls to our first class. It would be like putting on a valuable jewel, eye candy, evoking green envy from the eyes of every other girl in the school.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Darlene shake Todd off. It didn’t take a genius to see why she was being cool to him so suddenly, and I knew he was hurt and angry. He glared at Summer Dante and fell back as Darlene, wearing her inviting smile as obvious as a car’s front bumper, slowed when she reached Summer first. He barely acknowledged her, made a sharp turn to his left, and fell back to speak to our homeroom teacher. Disappointment fell like a window shade across Darlene’s face as she caught up with the rest of us.
“I’m curious,” I said. “You were so enamored of Todd Wells that you’re still wearing red this morning.” I nodded at the red ribbon in her hair.
“So?”
“What happened to your being so desperate for Todd’s affections?”
“Summer Dante happened,” she replied without the slightest bit of shame.
Everyone but me smiled with approval.
“So you’re no longer interested in Todd?”
“Why? Are you going to chase after him now?”
“No. I was just curious about how this works,” I said.
“How what works?” Darlene asked.
“Being in love with someone one day and not the next or when someone better-looking comes along.”
“Hello! We’re not love slaves, Sage. If Todd saw he had a chance with Scarlett Johansson, he would drop me so fast my head would spin. He’s always talking about her. We’re not committing ourselves for the rest of our lives when we go out with someone, even when we go steady,” she said. She looked at the others for support. “Give me a break, right?”
“Right,” Ginny said. She looked at me. “Sometimes you do seem like you’re out of another time, Sage. Relax. We’re all just drooling and enjoying it.”
“So are you,” Mia said under her breath. “So don’t act like Miss Goody-Goody.”
“Pardon?”
“I saw the way he looked at you and the way you reacted,” Mia said as we continued down the hallway. “The others weren’t in position to see, but I did.”
“And?”
“I’m not blaming you for anything. I wished he looked at me that way,” she said, and walked faster.
Really? I wondered. Was there something special about the way he had looked at me as opposed to how he had looked at each of them after all they had told me? I looked back. Summer was just coming up behind us, talking to Ward and Nick. What had drawn them to him so quickly? Whatever he said to them made them laugh. They looked like they had been friends forever, patting each other on the back and nudging each other playfully for superior position the way boys who were good friends often did.
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He obviously made friends more easily than I did. A ton of questions about him cascaded through my mind. Where he came from and what brought him and his father here were at the top of the list, along with what had happened to his mother. Obviously, whatever tragedy had befallen him and his father had eventually made him stronger and never detracted from his personal strength. He looked so centered, self-confident and determined. How did he get that way? What was his secret, and could I steal it for myself?
He caught me looking at him, his eyes shifting quickly to capture mine as if he was highly receptive to my gaze. He smiled, and I turned away and kept walking. Unlike the reaction to him that my girlfriends had, I was feeling some uneasiness about drawing his attention. A strange black veil suddenly seemed to fall between us. Of course, no one else could see it. I felt blinded.
It wasn’t difficult for me to read and handle any of the boys I had met in this school. To me, they were all open books, talking to me with heads made of glass, their thoughts and real intentions written across their foreheads. But Summer Dante looked invincible, like someone beyond me. I didn’t tremble, but I told myself to be careful. From where the warnings came, I couldn’t say, but they came from someplace deep inside me, a place that existed in my old visions, maybe even one I had yet to realize.
About the author: One of the most popular authors of all time, V.C. Andrews has been a bestselling phenomenon since the publication of Flowers in the Attic, first in the renowned Dollanganger family series, which includes Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday and Garden of Shadows. The family saga continues with Christopher’s Diary: Secrets of Foxworth, Christopher’s Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger and Secret Brother. V.C. Andrews has written more than 70 novels, which have sold over 106 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 25 foreign languages. Join the conversation about the world of V.C. Andrews at Facebook.com/OfficialVCAndrews.
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