by Rae Foxx
“As long as it can get me a red bra, I’ll be happy.”
“I’m not going to ask,” Scarlet shook her head as she dropped her towel to the floor, giving me a full frontal that I didn’t ask for.
“What the hell, striptease? I know I’m trailer trash but have some standards!” I was shrieking, mostly shocked, but I couldn’t look away.
She looked like a barbie doll mated with an angel and a supermodel with perfectly perky breasts.
God damn, were all shifters made so perfectly? There was no way I was going to fit in. One of my boobs was bigger than the other, add that to my lack of bush pruning expertise and I was out.
“Ha ha. You better get used to it, Ivy. Shifters aren’t shy. We have to take our clothes off to change into our animals, so there is no end to naked bodies. They’re everywhere.”
“And boobies.” Yes, I was still staring at hers.
“And cocks, and butts, and bush.” How in the world could she hold a straight face while saying that?
“Well, this will be interesting,” I mean, I guess it was only a little more skin than a swimsuit.
Or all the skin...
Scarlet laughed at me, changing into jeans and a tank top that had sequined pockets that set off the color of her hair. She was a slender tower of fire and freckles.
I needed that red bra. I needed it now.
“Let’s go,” I said, grabbing the envelope with the money and sticking it in my back pocket. The downside of cut-offs, no reasonable pockets. Let’s hope it didn’t fall out and get scattered to the wind.
I took off down the halls a little more confidently than last night. I only made a few wrong turns, although I did take a full detour to stare at the courtyard again. Now the huge trees were smothered in yellow roses. It was beautiful, sunny. I smiled, looking through the blossoms for that same mess of blond hair. Nothing. I was beginning to think I had imagined him.
Another thing about this school that was making me lose my mind.
Perky juice, as Scarlet called it, was coffee that had some kind of enchantment on it. I didn’t dare ask what that meant, or why a shimmer of silver floated on top. I chugged it down anyway, it tasted like regular coffee.
Twenty minutes later, when I was ready to run a marathon, I knew that perky juice had lived up to its name. By the time lunchtime rolled around, Scarlet had made me try on more clothes than I bet Nicky owned.
Armed with six huge bags of jeans, shirts, and every piece of red and black underwear I had come across; I called it a day and begged her to get something to eat.
“Well, I guess that’s a start. We didn’t do so bad for the money we spent. I told you, I’m an excellent shopper.”
I looked down at the handles that lined my forearms like bracelets and had to agree. She’d gotten everything on discount or had some magic coupon in her purse that took the total down by half at each store.
Not that I needed it, the envelope in my back pocket had gone down by less than half.
“Okay. You’ve earned lunch, but let’s go back to school. The food here is gross.” That last bit wasn’t directed at the food. It was directed at the cackling girls that sat around one of the large tables in the middle of the food court.
Fucking Selene, her posse of blondes, two beefy guys, and Mr. Mongolian himself sat staring at us.
What in the holy hell were the chances?
“Well, well, don’t you clean up nice.” Selene seethed, nails tapping the edge of the table, they were a different color today, the shade still perfectly matching her lips. She leaned back in her chair, revealing a light pink sweater that perfectly set off her dark hair and skin. If a person could be made of something, this girl was made of olive oil and sex—it oozed from her pores.
“Oh, hi Selene, I didn’t see you there,” Scarlet said. Her voice raising an octave as she turned to the hoard of bitches, all of them staring at us with the same dumb smile plastered on their lips.
They were bitches all right.
“Don’t worry. I smelled you from two stores ago.” Selene smiled and whipped her long shiny black hair back before draping her arm around Mr. Mongolian’s shoulders.
No, not Mr. Mongolian. Howl, I reminded myself as his grey-green eyes fixed themselves on me and that same dumb stomach twisting warmth began its marathon.
Look away, Ivy. Don’t be sucked in.
I had to physically pull my focus away from him and back to the girl who was now hanging on him like the leeches in the reclamation ponds.
“I thought we already established that was the smell of your ego,” I said. That time, however, she didn’t flinch. She smiled, damn.
“Oh, little rabbit, you better hope your soul has anything more than two front teeth because I am going to swallow you whole.”
“I’m… uhhh…” I didn’t even understand enough of what she said to develop a full thought of a snide return.
“Let’s go, Ivy.” Scarlet tugged me by the arm until it started to chafe, pulling me behind her as she dragged me back toward the parking lot. By the time we got back to her car, I had over a thousand different things to say to that...oil-coated dung bomb.
Okay, maybe I was short a few comebacks.
I was, however, going to figure out what the hell she had said. Looks like me and the monster pile of books had a dinner date.
“Ivy, wake up!” I could have sworn I was back at the trailer, my mom burning down the couch or a wall with her cigarettes.
“What is it?” I jerked upright, the book I had fallen asleep reading tumbling to the floor, me right behind it. I stopped millimeters from slamming my head on the floor, my sheet tangled feet barely stopped me.
“If you don’t hurry up, you’re going to be late for class, and on the first day too.”
Class. Shit.
Day one of being a shifter, even though I had no idea what that meant, and I hadn’t made it through enough of the books to know more than ‘The history of the animal shifting populous began with…’
Maybe I should have taken Nicky’s studying command more seriously.
“Oh, is that all?” I mumbled and rolled over.
Scarlet, not my mom, slapped me on the ass and yelled, “This isn’t regular school, Ivy. If you’re late, you’ll get detention and trust me, you don’t want that. It’s not detention like in the movies. Move your ass.”
I didn’t want to think about what that meant. Cleaning cauldrons, draining blood tubes. Who knew? I still had no idea what I was getting myself in to. Guess I was about to find out.
“I’m up. I’m up.” I kicked my legs free and rushed to the bathroom. I had to have time to brush my teeth and pull a brush through my hair. Dashing back out of the bathroom and pulled on some new jeans when Scarlet began screaming again.
“Uniform, Ivy. Come on.”
I sat on my ass and tore the jeans off while wondering where she got that uniform.
“I don’t have that.”
“Yes, you do. Headmaster dropped them off last night while you were dead asleep. She was more than pleased to see you asleep with a book on your face, by the way. Look in your closet. Skirt, shirt, and tie are mandatory. The rest is because they keep the school hall frozen over cold because vamps.”
I slid all the hangers to the left and saw what Scarlet was pointing to. “This is some grade-A anime shit.”
I grabbed a skirt and pulled it on, along with the shirt which Scarlet tucked in for me as I buttoned the cutesy looking tie. You better believe I was rocking a bright red bra, the thing clear through the white shirt.
“Here, put this one on.” She jerked a V-neck sweater from the closet, but I wrapped it around my waist. I had no intention of covering my bra. It was killer.
Dressed like a wannabe schoolgirl stripper, I grabbed my backpack, my class schedule and followed Scarlet out, my shoes flipping and flopping all the way.
Guess we had forgotten one very big part of this school uniform thing. Whatever.
“We have ho
meroom and history, then we split off and don’t have any more classes together until after lunch. Don’t worry, I have a feeling you’ll be fine.” She gave me a grin that didn’t hit her eyes and looked me up and down, eyes lingering on my bra.
Yeah, I knew I had this. Even if I was a rabbit, or whatever it was Selene had said.
We ran-walked the rest of the way, racing through the courtyard. Disappointingly, the trees were still the same from the weekend. Still devoid of blond gods. The halls were mostly empty as we rushed up three flights of stairs, a distant bell ringing as we burst into a classroom two dozen heads turning right to us.
None of which looked more frightening than the teacher, who narrowed his eyes at us like a hungry animal.
“They have arrived. If you expected to make a grand entrance every morning, be glad to know that next time it will also be accompanied by detention. You missed the morning announcements...”
“I’m sorry Professor Saenger, Ivy had some trouble getting ready.” Scarlet gestured to me and I sent a scowl her way. Of course, she would blame it all on me.
I mean, it was my fault, but still.
“Your pathetic excuses will have to wait for a less competent teacher. You and Miss Ivy…”
“Potter,” I offered, straightening hair and skirt and looking the ancient man right in the eye. He looked like a hawk and had the eyebrows to match, his beady little eyes disappearing beneath them. He was still better to look at then the dozens of eyes that were focused all on me.
“Yes, Ivy Potter. Our new student.” The snickers that followed that oily statement were not making me feel great about any conversation that preceded this. “Take a seat so that we may begin.”
I looked around and while the bow-tied man seemed nice enough, his idea of me choosing a seat meant we had to take the only ones left, which of course were located at the back of the classroom.
I had never had a walk of shame before, but with the way every eye was turned toward us, this sure felt like it. Heads turned, whispers abounded. I was suddenly very aware of how tiny this uniform was. Oh well, if you got it you might as well shake your ass a little more. The seat was hard and cold and since I had an itty-bitty skirt on, my upper thighs felt every inch of the ice.
Owen or Evan, I couldn’t tell which, turned around and looked at me. “Never seen that uniform look so nice.”
“Oh, baby, you haven’t seen anything yet.” I had never seen a guy blush so fast.
Mr. Saenger scrawled his name on the board and cleared his throat. “Is there something you’d like to share with us, Owen?”
Okay. The blonde one was Owen. I’d have to make a sign for those two.
“No, Sir. I was simply complimenting Ms. Potter on how smokin’ hot she looks in the uniform. I was going to offer a little bit more but then you cock-blocked me. Thanks for that.”
Everyone laughed. I sat up a little straighter. Like hell if I was going to hide, this was the whole point after all.
Mr. Saenger adjusted his tie from side to side. “Let’s keep those comments for social time, Mr. Hawk.”
When the teacher turned back to his worn blackboard, Scarlet smacked Owen in the back of the head with a notebook.
“As I was saying before our new student arrived,” he glanced at me, beady eyes narrowing. So that’s how it's going to be. “This is your History of Shifters class. Here we will cover the origins of your kind, your power, and the histories that have built our communities. Where have all the branches of animals come from? What is the origin of packs? How is our Alpha decided? We will dive into your lineage and see how your personal history impacts your shifter and your role within our community.”
He was looking right at me again. I had a feeling he had heard all the rumors. I was calling it now; this class was going to be the ultimate shit show.
Mr. Saenger took roll and dove right into his long drawling list of rules, which I had been used to in my many years in the Nevada public school system, but here it was different.
There wasn’t any lecture on truancy or preparing for your future in the mines. There was, however, reminders not to use magic in the halls, that shifting is prohibited except for in clearly marked areas, and even some bit about blood slaves that made my stomach attempt to wrap around my spine in protection.
There were some other standard things, like getting work in on time and no talking, but that was where the similarities ended.
From Hawk-faced owl man’s monotonous class, I was handed off to Owen, who dragged me down one flight and through a heavy wooden door that creaked with the sound of a scream when I opened it.
“In this class, you pick your seat. You can sit by me.” He grinned like he was giving me an option, but he still dragged me after him and into the first pair of double chairs at the many long tables that filled the room.
I had a feeling that he would have put me on his lap if there hadn’t been an extra seat handy.
The teacher, a grey-haired woman that talked as if she were half-dead already swept into the room. She introduced herself as Madame Bandrie before diving into the same lecture. Although hers was less about drinking blood and more about the appropriateness of using it.
I was going to have problems if this was going to be a common theme.
“What class is this?” I hissed, trying to steal my schedule back. Owen just grinned.
“Applied Sciences.”
“Applied Sciences. With Blood?” He was still smiling. I had a feeling that I didn’t want to know exactly what I was getting myself in to.
When my stomach was threatening concave, the bell rang. Owen handed me off to Evan who would take me to the ill-fated Caruthers. After their warnings in the cafeteria, I had been worried, but after two hours of blood lectures, much of that had faded away.
Turns out, I shouldn’t have let that slide so easily. Professor Caruthers dressed like a gentleman from the 1800s. He swept around the classroom in a black suit, slamming a yardstick on the desk of every student who either wasn’t furiously writing down every word he said or staring at him with rapt attention.
By the end of class, I didn’t have a fucking clue what he was talking about and a full page of scribbles that mostly revolved around how terrified I was of that damn yardstick. He swept out, cape billowing behind him, the second the bell and I was left staring at the blackboard trying to process what had happened.
“Looks like you survived.” I could only nod a response. “Come on, space case, let’s grab some lunch.
I sighed and followed Evan or Owen out. I’d lost track of which twin was which again.
Lunch was supposed to be the only familiar thing, except after this morning I was starting to question if there was anything, I was going to be able to eat. Or if the soda fountains were going to produce carbonated blood instead of root beer.
I shivered.
“Hey Ivy!” Non-Twin number two shouted as he and one of the other girls met up with us in the line to the cafeteria. “How did your first day go? Everything alright?”
I nodded like a rabid gerbil.
“She survived Caruthers, so I would say that’s a step in the right direction.” Owen gave me a smile and grabbed two trays, filling mine with two burgers, fries, and some kind of cobbler along with bottled water and one bottled coke. It was more food than I saw in a week at home.
“I can’t eat that,” I said, trying to put one of the burgers back.
“Yes, you can. Gym next anyway. You’ll need your strength. Trust me,” he put it back on the tray giving me a wink like I was supposed to understand some secret code.
Instead, I rolled my eyes.
“We sit over here,” He said leading me back to the same corner from before. It didn’t take long for me to lose him in the chaos. Shit.
The sea of blazer jackets was not helping, I thought I found him, but the guy turned to a different table.
A table full of pale-faced men who all looked like they had fallen from heaven. Beautiful Alluring. Unt
il they smiled, revealing pointed teeth.
Double shit.
Vampires. I couldn’t back up fast enough.
I turned toward the voice, expecting someone to have come to my rescue. No one was behind me.
‘We protect our own.’ The voice came again, buzzing through my head, like that voice from the other night in the forest. The deep tone was gruffer like he had sandpapered his throat since seeing me before.
“Are you magnetized to Vampires or something? We sit over here,” Scarlet grabbed my tray from me, burgers in one hand as she led me across the room to the same bleached table we had sat at for Mongolian BBQ.
I guess this was the official table.
“Did you hear that?” I hissed to Scarlet as she dragged me down.
“Hear what? My stomach growling. Yes, I do. Sit.”
I sat, sandwiched in between Evan and Owen and dug into my burger before anyone like Tommy or my mom could show up and take it from me.
I guess he was right that I needed two burgers, I dug into the other one, fully aware I had ketchup, mustard, and bacon grease on my chin.
“To think for a split second I wanted a burger, then I remembered… that’s what the rabbits eat.” Laughter followed the exaggerated comment, everyone at my table-turning toward the scowling bitch parade that was making their way passed us, Selene and Howl at the head.
“Save your bullshit for someone else,” Scarlet snapped, glaring daggers at them.
“Are you sure about that? Seems you’ve already got your own shit stain,” Selene said over her shoulder, flipping her long dark hair as she continued her stomp away, hopefully as far away as she could get.
“Man, she doesn’t get any better, does she?” I asked through a mouth full of bread, meat, and cheese.
“Not really.”
“I don’t know what that alpha kid sees in her.” Yes, I remembered Howl’s name. Hard to forget when a wolf shifter was named Howl Wulfson, but I didn’t want any of them to know that.
“Sees in her?” Scarlet said, the food on her fork suddenly forgotten. “He probably doesn’t see anything in her. Howl used to be a decent kid. Then he was betrothed to that bitch and the rest was history.”
