by Rae Foxx
I would have to figure that out later when my roomie wasn’t around.
“You’ll be fine. He’s just a vampire.” I don’t know how anyone could put the word ‘fine’ and ‘vampire’ together, but she did. “Now get dressed. Saturdays before school starts back up is Mongolian Bar-B-que. You don’t want to be showing up in your underwear.”
The way her lip twisted made me certain it was more the underwear I was wearing than the underwear in general.
Guess I knew where part of that money was going.
I threw on my cleanest cut-offs and most non-ripped shirt, sliding on my flip-flops with panicked speed. The mention of food had me racing. I didn’t know how long it had been since I had had a real meal.
“Okay, let’s go,” I announced, facing Scarlet who was standing in her designer pants, fluffy sweater, and perfectly clean chucks like she had been pulled out of a fashion magazine.
I cackled hard and loud. She was still staring at me like I had lost it.
“Do you have anything… ummm… nicer?” She asked gently. I could tell she was tiptoeing around the obvious.
I wasn’t gonna play that. Especially since it was becoming abundantly clear why there was so much money in that envelope.
So, Nicky wanted me to fit in, did she? Not going to happen.
“This is nice,” I beamed at her before turning and flip-flopping out of the room, confident she would catch up to me.
“You have some balls on you, don’t you?” Scarlet said as she caught up to me, I only smiled at her and confidently turned left at the end of the hall.
“You have no idea.”
“I’m getting a feel for it considering you are leading us straight to the vampire wing.” She was beaming now. Damn it.
I stuck my nose in the air and high-tailed it the other way before she had even begun to giggle. “This way.” Scarlet pulled us down one hall and then another, my mind desperately trying to put a map together and already knowing it would be worthless. This was my third adventure through this place and it wasn’t any clearer. Even when I thought I found something familiar, the courtyard, I stopped in my tracks.
“Hey, these were all cherry blossoms before,” I said, pointing up to the trees that lined the flagstone walkway. The soft pink blossoms were gone, the bare branches having mutated and grown bird-like flowers in every color.
I couldn’t help myself, I looked, but there was no sign of the guy. Maybe I had hallucinated him.
“Oh, yeah, the Fae change them all the time. Last week they were peach trees. We had peach cobbler in the cafeteria for three days straight. Sometimes when you walk out here, each tree is different. Sometimes they aren’t trees at all, which is much more irritating than you think.”
Still searching for the blond dude, I asked her, “What’s a Fae?”
She tried to hide a giggle and failed. “You really need to catch up on that reading Nicky gave you. Mages are witches. Warlocks are casters. Fae are Fae You’ve heard of those terms, right?” I rolled my eyes at her smug grin while she took my arm in hers. “Right, so they manipulate earth forces.”
“They are here? At the academy?”
“Of course. Every type of magic or paranormal is here. Some you’ll meet. Some you won’t. Our kind doesn’t intermingle, really. It’s like this unwritten rule.”
“Like the don’t fuck around rule?” I asked, expecting her to giggle. She seemed the type, but instead, she had blanched so white she might have been a ghost. Which I was also sure they had here.
“No, that one's not unwritten. That one is dead fucking serious.”
“Fucking, eh?” I wagged my eyebrows at her, but she was officially ignoring me, dragging me out of the beautiful courtyard that was sprouting baby green leaves everywhere now. No sign of the beautiful yellow rose.
A few more quick turns and we entered the cafeteria, the massive vaulted room full of people and noises and a weird fiery smell I was sure was familiar. Before I could investigate it was smothered by the scent of soy sauce, ginger, onions, and beef. My stomach rumbled in response.
“Let’s get in line. I’ll show you how it’s done.”
We each got an empty bowl and chose our ingredients, not cooked, then handed it off to a person who with flames under his wok cooked it all up in front of our eyes. I looked around the room to see if anyone else was as impressed as I was--they were not.
At least not by the cooking, they were staring in this direction, hundreds of eyes digging right into me and my cut off shorts. It was only at that moment I realized I was wearing an old shirt I had picked up from the thrift shop last month.
Twilight.
Well, I said I wanted to make an impression.
“This is everyone?” I asked, waving brightly to a gaggle of blondes whose jaws looked about ready to hit the table.
“Oh, no. Most of the more affluent students and well, others, don’t arrive until tomorrow morning. We had last week off for Spring Equinox.”
I took my heaping bowl of steaming food from the line cook who seemed to be staring as much as the students and placed it on my tray. Scarlet piled on some spring rolls with sauce and then bottled water along with chopsticks and a fork. Thank God for that fork. Me and chopsticks were not happening.
“Let’s go this way, my friends saved us seats.”
Every step welcomed a new set of eyeballs to turn and stare. More fingers pointed and even a few prissy little magic princesses to audibly gasp and cover their mouths like southern bells.
Gross.
Just for them, I wiggled my ass with each step, letting my shoes smack loudly against the expensive stone. God, what I wouldn’t give to have worn my other cutoffs, the ones with the worn ass that let bits of my undies peer through.
If I was going to make an impression, I might as well go all out.
Scarlet sidled into a table that I swear was on the furthest end of the cafeteria possible. We had to walk by everyone and people had even begun to shift tables for a better look.
It didn’t get better with Scarlet’s friends, either. They were staring just as bad.
“This is Evan and Owen, they are twins.” Scarlet began, pointing out the lone males at the table. They looked nothing like twins, everything was different, right down to their hair color. Should have made it easier to tell them apart, except I already didn’t know who was who.
One of them spoke up. “Headmaster came to get you? All the way in Nevada? How did they find you? How did you know you belonged here? What’s the desert like? You live in a mine or something?”
All the fucking questions at once.
“You people never seen someone from the Nevada Desert before?” I plopped myself down, tray landing on the table with a bang that caused everyone to jump. Weirdos. I took a bite of the broccoli and noodles, letting the savory spices melt in my mouth.
This wasn’t an academy. It was heaven.
“Nevada, yes. The outside, no.” Scarlet said, her eyes getting closer to popping out of her head.
I nearly choked on my food.
“The outside?” I gasped, sauce drizzling over my chin. “What is this, a cult?”
They all stared at me like I was crazy.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Scarlet added, giving all her friends what was a warning look if I’d ever seen one. “Like I said, we don’t intermingle. That includes the morts.”
“Morts?”
“Mortals,” One of the non-twins clarified. I was lucky I didn’t have food in my mouth.
“That’s the dumbest nickname I’ve ever heard.” Damn it all, I think I offended them, they were looking at each other like they had all been forced to eat rotten fruit.
Evan, or maybe it was Owen, suddenly piped up, breaking the silence. Clearly, he was the peacekeeping type. “What’s your animal?” The other non-twin was wagging his eyebrows at me now. “How old are you?”
Scarlet reached out and slapped the hand of Owen, or maybe it was Evan as he reached closer t
o me. I was going to have to figure that out. It was either that or give them some crazy joint name. Evwen. Or Owen. Or maybe just En. En-One and En-Two.
“Rude. She’s been here like three seconds.”
“So, it’s an important question. Inquiring minds want to know.” I was ninety percent sure En-One, the brunette, was trying to be seductive.
I scooted away.
“Inquiring minds can wait with the rest of them because I don’t know. Since they told me wolf, I’m assuming that’s it.”
I might as well have thrown a bomb into the middle of the table. Then one and two gasped and even Scarlet looked concerned, even though I’d informed Scarlet of that fact earlier.
“Sorry to disappoint. I am less than ten hours into this world, I know jack shit. Headmaster what’s-her-skirt showed up at my house this morning told me I was a shifter and asked me to pack a bag. I’m still trying to decide if I’m dead, in a coma, or if all of this is actually real.”
They blinked. They all fucking blinked at me. In unison too, like we were in a cheesy cartoon. I had no response to that, so instead, I laughed and went back to shoveling food in my mouth, leaving them to talk about teachers and classes and try to compare schedules with me.
Thank god that Scarlet had memorized my schedule because I seriously couldn’t remember anything besides ‘pack’, ‘shifter’ and ‘Magical history’.
It was all white noise.
“Oh, and I’m seventeen. Why?”
The twins fist-bumped and the blond one said, “Told you she was the age of consent.”
“‘Consent for what?” I asked, shoving my last bite into my mouth.
Scarlet scoffed. “They’re asking if you’re old enough to mate. Seventeen is the age of sexual consent around here. I forgot they have zero manners.”
I ignored the twins’ whispering. “Is it all right to get seconds?” I asked, cutting through their conversation and eyeing the chef that now seemed to be a million miles away.
“Of course! You want me to come with you?” The same non-twin said in a bid to be seductive. The look he was giving was crawling up my spine like meningitis.
“No, I think I got it.” I was up and busting through the still crowded tables like a baseball player, eyes forward, chin up, hips swaying.
Luckily only whispers and a few pointed fingers followed me that time. With no line, I was food clad and weaving my way back through the tables and gawking hoards in two minutes flat.
“Yeah, I saw her arrive. She smelled like ass. Lucky she knows how to use a shower.” I nearly spun back around. I had met her once and I had already committed her voice to memory. Cue Bitch Number One.
Selene sat at the table to my left, smiling with those pouty red lips, a barely touched salad in front of her. Every other overly gorgeous girl who surrounded her had a barely touched salad in front of them.
Behold! The table of bitches! I gave her a simpering smile.
“I know how to use soap too, might want to try it sometimes and clean the shit out of your mouth.” From the twitch in her eye, it was clear she hadn’t expected that. Her smile flinched, the bitches on either side of her gasped and shrank back. She even held her perfectly manicured fingers to her chest.
Guess people didn’t normally stand up to her. Fine, I could do that. I could even do one better.
“Your personality stinks like ass, it could do with a scrub.” I gave her a smile and turned, feet moving into overdrive in my attempt to leave her gasping, nursing that massive bruise I had left on her ego.
I didn’t get more than a few steps before I slammed into something hard, broad, and too chiseled to a be a wall.
Mongolian bar-b-que went flying up into the air. It soared over the perfectly pressed white shirt that covered that broad chest, the wavy chestnut hair, grey-green eyes, and disgusted smirk of a guy who obviously didn’t plan on wearing Mongolian bar-b-que today.
“Oh shit!” I screeched, dropping the tray to the floor in my shock and searching everywhere for a napkin. There was none. Trailer park me stepped into overdrive, ripping my shirt right off and preparing to sop up all of the oozing juices with werewolf boys face. Justin, or Jacob, I couldn’t remember, but it didn’t matter, shirt or hand never made contact. His hand wrapped around my wrist, pushing me back from my attempt to clean him and sending a shock right through his hand and into my spine. I stumbled back, every eye now turned to me. I stood in a pair of cut-offs and a gross yellowed bra.
“Ouch!” I shrieked as I shuffled back, slipping in my shoes thanks to the extra sauce.
“Don’t you dare touch me.” His voice was deep, rumbly, and pulled at that same something I had felt in the canyon when I had looked that lead wolf in the eye for the first time.
When he had looked at me, as this guy was doing. Looking at me with his ridiculous perfect hair, and eyes that almost seemed to be two different colors bore down into my soul.
Twirling sparkles moved through me at the color in his eyes, at the memory of that wolf and how everything had felt so powerful…
Wait. No... I was so not going to turn into a love-sick girl for Mr. Knows-he’s-pretty on the first day.
Fuck that shit.
“Don’t be a baby,” I said, stepping back to him, ready to sop up the liquid with the other side of the shirt. Who knows, maybe he was an Edward fan. “It was an accident. Let me fix it.”
It hadn’t missed my notice that the entire cafeteria had gone quiet.
‘Watch yourself, little wolf.’
“He said don’t touch him, bitch,” Selene snarled as she stepped beside Mr. Pretty boy, weaving her arm through his. “He doesn’t need your pond scum all over him.”
Selene and her cronies laughed. The guy who was wearing my dinner as an apron tightened his jaw, looking down at me with eyes that I could have sworn were yellow.
Eyes that didn’t seem quite so angry.
God damn it. I was not going to let my life turn into some cliché teen flick.
“Eh, don’t worry, he can keep it. It stinks like his ego anyway.” Why did it hurt to say that? Why did his jaw loosen instead of tightening? Why was it Scarlet’s arm through mine and not Selene’s fist against my jaw that was pulling me back?
“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Scarlet hissed as she dragged me out of the cafeteria, seductive non-twin taking the other arm as they sprinted me out of the place.
“What in the world?” I asked as they continued to drag me, leaving a trail of laughter and finger-pointing behind.
I didn’t get an answer until the door to the cafeteria had closed. The laughter had turned to muffled noise behind the heavy wood.
“That’s Howl Wulfson, the son of our Alpha, Pater.” Scarlet provided, like I was supposed to follow any of that, or not giggle at the sheer predictability of his name. It was only when I looked down at my balled-up shirt and the smiling face of werewolf boy that it hit me smack in the face. “He’s second in command to our pack.”
“And you stood up to him.” I didn't know enough about this world to know exactly what non-twin one was talking about, but I could tell that it was bad.
When I said I had wanted to make an impression, that was not what I had meant.
Chapter 7
The biggest outcome of last night’s Mongolian sauce tango with the Alpha’s son was that even though I wanted to ‘stick it to the man’ with my wicked wardrobe, I was going to have to find a different way to do so.
First, it turns out a uniform was required at this place. Second, holey yellow underwear was not going to cut it.
The underwear was the first thing that had to change, probably in red. If I was going to be a true rebel, I was going to do it in raging bitch red. You would still be able to see the red bra through the dumb button-up white shirt that was required.
Red Bra. White Shirt. Some God-awful blazer and a plaid skirt if the list that was slid under our door sometime last night was correct.
All of that could only mean one thin
g.
“This is total bullshit,” I groaned the next morning, staring down at my hastily packed bag and the barrage of stained bras, torn shirts, and cut-offs that had less fabric than the pillowcase.
There wasn’t a red bra among them unless you counted the one that was stained red from when I had vomited wine all over myself.
“What’s bullshit?” Scarlet asked as she emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in multiple fluffy towels after what appeared to be her morning routine.
“I have to go shopping,” I groaned pulling out an old band t-shirt with only one stain, slipping it over my head before I tossed my bag in the corner. “I hate shopping.”
“Eeep!” I jumped, thinking Scarlet had seen a mouse or a roach. She began jumping and clapping like a rabid seal. “Really? Oh my god! Shopping! I love shopping. We can go today. I know the perfect place too! If there’s one thing I’m a pro at, it’s clothes shopping. With your figure and my taste, we are gonna make you look hot!”
I blinked.
She was bouncing on her toes, the towel twisted on top of her head wobbling precariously. The girl liked to shop.
“Let me get dressed and we can go!”
“Wait. Right now?” I sunk onto the bed. Normally, I had to prepare myself for entering the third circle of hell.
Or the mall.
I guess they called it the mall.
“Yes, right now. It’s only eight a.m. The mall opens at nine, so we have time to stop by the cafeteria and get coffee and get to town.”
Everything sounded easy enough, perhaps even painless. That was until I realized we had one big problem.
“You forget something, Scarlet? I drove by those terrifying ass-impaling gates on the way in here, they don't exactly look like they open for anyone.”
“Meaning?” She asked, her voice muffled as she dried her hair.
“Meaning, how exactly are we planning on getting there?”
“In a car. Driving. I mean, they have cars where you come from right?” I scowled. She didn’t deserve an answer with that shit-eating grin. “Good. ‘Cause I have one of those, I mean, it’s not like the other cars that students in this place have, but it does the job.”
