"What if " Jordan's lips chew on my left ear. I swallow. His voice, this close, is sending shivers. I hug myself tighter while my legs wobbled slightly. "I take Minata Straus to the Festival even if I wont enjoy her tiresome adulations. I could buy her a couple of drinks and make it a sweet date " His tongue slides to my neck. I shudder. "And .."
"And that would be very nice of you" I complete for him, turning to face him with what I hope looked like gratefulness. My legs turn to make a hasty exit.
"And in return, we look for a way to save Peach " He finishes anyways.
"We?" I am incredulous.
"Yeah " He shrugs listlessly "We both know how pathetic you are. I shudder to think of you in danger. You need my help, Night Carter. "
"Jordan Files" I am livid and my voice is thick "It might interest you to know that I am not the one in danger. "
"Yes. Peach is." His voice is flat. "We could save her ".
"I am a Dark Magian.." I begin
"I guessed as much " He yawns tiredly.
I resist the urge to smack the obvious mockery right out of his face.
"And all my visions " I continue "have always ended in death. And ...
"And you have never saved anyone " He concludes with a dismissive wave " Yes, I know all that, so pathetic indeed. "
I yank him by the shirt collar , surprised by my own aggression. My voice sounds thick with pent up fury "If you make any more demeaning comments about me, I am going to give you a not so pathetic shove ".
He smiles. Actually smiles. God. He is supposed to look intimidated. My hands leave his shirt. At least I have made my point across, I soothe my self. Suddenly Jordan's hands grip me by my shirt and I glare, shocked into being tongue tied while he sniffs my neck. It does looks like sniffing to me. But I kid you not, his nose is muzzling my neck... uhm a little tenderly and he looks like he's soaking up my cologne. Which is DiorVache by the way.
Yes. It is weird. Very weird. But at the same time I am embarrassed to admit that I wish he wouldn't stop. I am tempted to put my hand to his brown haired head and urge him on. But I kill that treacherous thought right away.
"It's a deal then". His voice kisses my ear calmly. His hands leave my shirt. Mercifully.
"Excuse me" I begin to say, straightening my crumpled shirt "I never...
But I look up to realize that I am talking to myself. Jordan Files has....well poofed off. What was that stupid thing again. Lupine Teleportation.
I am still standing gathering my straying thoughts when Minata pops her head back in and seeing me alone, finally decides to walk shyly in.
"That took so long" Her eyes are large "Where's Jordan by the way."
"Didn't you see him walk off?" I ask stupidly.
"Well he's most likely disappeared." Minata sounds like someone who has come to terms with the normalcy of this weird ability. "Alpha treats. God. I wish I would be his Luna one day" She has a faraway dreamy look.
"You would" I assure her . I am definitely not interested in Wolf Lore but it does come as a surprise to know that the Raven haired doe eyed beauty in front of me is also a werewolf. God. Does it get any weirder than this ?
"So what did he say?" Her hands are itchy. Shes twisting and untwisting her fingers nervously. I admire the tenacity.
"Yeah. He would be very honored to be your date on Fo..." The words are barely out of my mouth before I am crushed into a bear hug that nearly sweeps me off my feet. Minata Straus is glowing with excitement. Her eyes are bulging bright and impatient.
"What would I wear?" Her voice is flowery but it seems she's addressing the speech to herself because she starts pacing and counting off her fingers "The blue gown? The plaid skirt? The red one?? Jeez. Its not too late to purchase something spectacular, is it. Oh my God. I can't believe I am going out with the Lead singer of Moon Sol " She does a thrilled dance and suddenly remembers my existence "Oh. Thanks a huge lot, Flamehead."
"Anytime" I wince. Anything for straight As in that goddamn Trig. "So it's settled for Saturdays, is it?"
"Sure" She smiles "It's settled for anyday " And then she waltz off in a dreamy dance. I am sure I have got an inkling of what her next Insta posts would look like.
When I sit down, it is not Minata's (and a thousand other girls) obsession with that dumbass (but smoking hot) Jordan that plagues my mind. I am thinking of Peach Thubman. Alive for now. About to die. Soon.
______________________________________
After a very choked up class schedule today, the very thing I want to do is to take a soothing shower and drift into an uninterrupted sleep. But when I open the door of my dorm room, flinging my bag tiredly onto the floor, I am surprised to find Beth sulking on her bed.
Okay. So surprised is quite the keyword here because Beth Camper never sulks. She's sassy. Bossy. Smart assy and very much opposed to gloom. Why. Just this morning she was gleefully sorting out dresses for Founders Fest (which is in four days and which is the major thing my ears have stuffed in all day asides the rigorous lectures). Every girl is sorting out dresses for Founders Fest. Every girl has got a date ready. Every girl . Except me.
"You look less cute when you cry" I say to Beth, concerned. I mean, we are roommates after all . And I do truly like her. She's sitting on her bed surrounded by tissues and her face has got wet lines along it. I know the trail marks of tears.
"I know, right ?" Her voice is sober. Tired. Angry. All rolled into one. I sit my tired ass on my bed but I am staring at Beth with undisguised worry.
"So, what's up with you?" I ask.
Beth must have been waiting for this question because the moment I ask it, she stands up gratefully and flings herself on my bed, her hands wiping her face a bit.
"Asher broke up with me." Her tone is flat. "Forty five minutes ago."
A number of names runs through my head but none of them is Asher. Three weeks rooming with Beth Camper and I have been introduced to two of her boyfriends. Lucky girl. There's Nate, a football freak whose game sessions Beth and I have been to, twice. There's Snow, a Game of Thrones fanatic who Beth sneaked into our room one night and I had to cover my ears with my pillow while they moaned and groaned for fifteen minutes with the lights out. So much for privacy.
"And Asher is?" I wonder loudly.
Beth smirks "Is now my ex. Duh. Damn. I love him. I can't believe he's ditching me for the newbie rabbit with the riotous dress sense."
I can't believe that anyone would ditch Beth Camper for any reason whatsoever. I mean, she's so friggin gorgeous.
"Same way you love Nate and Snow?" I ask feebly.
"Not in the same way" Beth exhales and then slides into full gist mode "Nate is adorable, famous and fucking rich. Did you see that Dutch bag he got me last week. " I nod drily. Yes. Beth had literally woken me from a tired afternoon sleep on the day it got delivered. "Snow is brilliant. He literally helps me in my thesis. "
Okay. So she got the rich guy. The smart guy. And...
"And Asher is?" I stare at her inquisitively.
"Good in bed." She licks her lips in some vague recollections of hot moments I presume that granted Asher this rank. "He's a damn sex god".
I screw up my nose. Most likely disgust at the pitiful frigidity of my life. Yes I am a virgin. I think the last virgin standing in The Academy. Only yesterday, Cassidy and Peach were grossly comparing how hot their night_before cute Vampyre shags went. Hari Spence had developed a very much obvious crush on a girl called Sparta. Well at least Sparta is human. Even nerdy Jack was unfurling. He's made a new friend. A chubby nice little girl who was begining to sit with him at the farthest end of the table in our daily Black Colony Colonels cafeteria scenes.
Only two weeks in The Academy and they were all unfurling. I thought we all agreed to hate this place.
Beth continues, oblivious of my thoughts "This is the most devastating news I have had in a year. I can't believe that two_faced snaky liar would do this to me. Talk of fidelity. No ounce of fidelity in the world anymore. And I loved him. I still do."
"Talk of fidelity is rich coming from you" I remind her subtly.
She rolls her eyes "Okay. So I cheat a few times and I still come back with the pussy. He cheats just once and leaves with the dick. Oh please " I yawn but Beth is not done "Anyways the beauty of siblings is that they know how to make you feel good. My twin bro has got us tickets to Solstice this night.".
Okay. So Solstice is not news. It's not just an event — it's the once-in-a-year madness when Moon Sol descends like gods and the whole town goes feral. I have heard that some really high profile six_figure personalities from diverse parts of the Colony actually crawls out from their mansions just to be there. Everyone at The Academy sneaks out. Everyone risks detention, expulsion, whatever. Because you haven't really lived at the Academy until you've gone to a Solstice. That's practically a proverb here.
Ginger had already drummed it to my ears for the past few days because she was a performing dancer. She wanted me to come watch her. She had gotten tickets for Scott and Minata. She could get me one if I wanted. I had declined. It was a night event and I definitely did not cherish the idea of sneaking back into the dorm by midnight. Besides, why would I trade a night of peaceful slumber to hear Moon Sol do the sing song wolverine thing with that horrendous , frost eyed Jordan Files whose presence alone grates my nerves . Oh please.
But the bit about Beth's twin. Well that's the news of the day.
"You have a twin brother?" I admit my curiosity is getting very much ahead of me.
"Yes. Who's fat and ugly ", She screws up her face and we both burst into a cheery laugh. "God. Don't be like the girls in my department who wanted to shag him the first time they met him."
"He must be cute" I say with a sigh.
"Unfortunately, he is." She sighs too. "But he's such a bore. He's majoring in Supernatural Sciences. And that means classes all day and tennis practices in the evenings. I haven't even seen him in months."
"Sounds..." I search for the suitable word.
"Sounds boring " Beth's voice is dense "I can't imagine how stuck up he must be. He doesn't even have a girlfriend. Which eighteen year old on the planet does not have a love life?".
A wave of pity rushes through me for the unknown twinny who seemed to be the one odd cute guy in the planet without a social life. And a love life. I am smiling like an idiot when I realize I am mentally sketching up faces to put to Beth's twin. ..
"Well at least Solstice would bring him up from whatever cave he's been holed in ." Beth continues and then her phone beeps. She looks at it and goes wild "Shit. I'm meeting Snow at the library. He's already there. "
I watch Beth rummage messily through her closet and then she settles for a cashmere sweater and a pair of jeans. She brushes her hair and powders her face...
"How do I look?" She turns to face me. "Not depressed, I hope. "
She's looking stunning as usual..
"Definitely not depressed" I say..
Her fangs flash .
"I will be back in time to get you prepped for Solstice so you don't go out looking like the frigid, gloomy wreck that you are" She says.
I make a face "Thanks for the compliment "
Her mouth , like the rest of her skin, is corpse cold on my cheeks . "I love you anyways" she whispers before bouncing out of the room.