The cucumber transforms from a sludgy mess to something actually recognisable. "It worked," I say, a little louder than I mean to.
Cade turns around and winks at me just as Bradley pulls me into a one-armed hug. I sink into him, enjoying the warmth he provides and trying not to overthink what it might mean. It's confusing. Especially as I understand how Heath makes me feel.
Something dark flits over Cade's face. What's his deal? Even if Mona is right and he has a crush on me, he has no right to be acting weird around me.
The last thing I expect is for Cade's fist to come flying towards Bradley.
"Cade! No!" My shout is too late, and there's a sickening crunch as Cade cracked Bradley's nose. I let out a short scream before drawing my wand. One of the real advantages of growing up with Ryan was that I learned how to fix broken bones really well.
"Miss Chambers!" the professor roars.
I ignore her and give Bradley a stern glance. "Sit," I command."
He does just that, so I point my wand at his nose and think about healing him. I'm always amazed by how simple it is to do magic, so long as there's a wand to direct the thoughts, and you know the rules of what's possible and what isn't, you can do it.
Well, and if you have magic at all. Some people don't. Those are the people I feel the sorriest for.
There's another click as Bradley's nose resets.
"Detention, the three of you." The lecturer's eyes say it all. I don't think even telling her that we've finished her assignment will help put her at ease.
"But miss, we don't have detention here," Ryan puts in.
"Mr Chambers, I would suggest you not argue with me unless you want to join the three of them."
Inside, I'm seething. I didn't even do anything other than apparently make Cade jealous. Which is ridiculous, he has no right to be. I've known Bradley for years, even if we lost touch in the middle of that, and it's not like he was even touching much of me.
I don't argue though. There's no point.
The professor glances at our plate. "Congratulations on completing your assignment," she says coldly.
I'm guessing there's no reward for us then. Just punishment for Cade's dickishness.
"Class is dismissed," the professor announces.
There are groans from all around us, probably from people who thought they might get the prize now that Bradley and I have been disqualified.
I shove my tablet into my bag, trying not to show too much frustration. Mona comes to stand beside me, her stuff already away. I appreciate her support.
We file out of the classroom in silence. I'm sure I'll get an email about the supposed detention I have. Ryan's right, they don't normally do it here. Just in special circumstances like this apparently.
"What the hell was that about?" I hiss at Cade once we're safely outside and the rest of our class, including Bradley, have disappeared to their next lesson. Or to the library. I don't care where they've gone, so long as they're not around to witness this conversation.
"Want to go grab a coffee, Mona?" Ryan asks her.
She jumps, probably not expecting my brother to address her directly. I'd find it cute if I didn't have more important things to deal with.
"Sure," she squeaks.
The two of them head in the way of the cafeteria, hopefully, to order me something too.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." He rubs a hand over his face.
"That makes two of us. Seriously, Cade." I grunt, the frustration becoming too much to put into words.
"I'm sorry," he repeats.
"You keep saying that. It's not much of an explanation." I tap my foot, waiting for him to give me some kind of answer. The more hesitant he is, the more I'm starting to think Mona's right after all. No one acts the way he is without there being something important like a heart on the line.
He grimaces. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to tell you."
"So it's a better idea to just act out around me instead?"
A nervous laugh escapes from him. I've never seen him this way before. It's certainly interesting.
"I like you," he blurts. "Like properly see-a-future-with-you, like you."
My eyelids flutter furiously, and I fiddle with my glasses, not quite knowing how I feel about that. It's one thing knowing it in theory, quite another to hear the words come out of his mouth.
"Thank you." Wow, that's a terrible response, even I'm cringing at it, and I'm the one saying it.
"Right. Yes. You're welcome." He glances at the floor, all his usual confidence gone in a second.
"I'm sorry, Cade. It's just..."
"You're dating the vampire, yes, I know."
"What were you hoping?" I ask. "For me to dump him?"
"No, of course not," he insists, rather too quickly for me to believe him.
"For me to date both of you at once?" The moment the words are out of my mouth, I start contemplating whether that would work or not. If they were both okay with it, then possibly. But do I want that? This is Cade after all.
His silence tells me everything I need to know.
"I need to think about this," I say, finally breaking the awkwardness between us.
"Daphne..."
"Please, Cade, just give me a little bit of time."
"I'm sorry," he tries again.
"It's okay. You can't help how you feel. But that doesn't mean I have to accept it and say I'll be yours. I have Heath to think about, and Ryan. Have you told him about how you feel?" That doesn't sound like a fun conversation, so I doubt he has.
"Not yet. I was going to deal with that if you felt the same way."
"Ah." I fidget with the hem of my cardigan, not knowing what he wants from me and that causing all kinds of confusion in my head. "Erm, I'm going to go find Mona now." I point in the direction of the cafeteria, even though he already knows that's where she is. This whole situation is far more awkward than I want it to be.
Not saying anything else, I head off to find my best friend. Now more than ever, I need her advice, especially when I still have to do detention with both Bradley and Cade, something I'm looking forward to even less than I had before.
6
"Nice of you to join us, Miss Chambers."
I try not to scowl in response. She was the one who gave us detention in the first place. It isn't my fault she scheduled it right after one of my other classes.
"Sorry, I came here from history of inter-species politics." I slip into the seat between Cade and Bradley. A seat I doubt they left for me on purpose. They just didn't want to sit next to one another.
"That's a vampire subject," the professor retorts.
My scowl deepens. "I'm taking it as extra credit." Just because I'm the only witch in that class, it doesn't mean I'm not doing it. The implication that I'm making it up because I want an excuse rankles.
"It's certainly an interesting choice." She doesn't look convinced, but I don't care. If she really wants to check out whether I take the course or not, all she has to do is look on the academy database.
"It's just so she can spend time with her vampire boyfriend," Cade mutters, not loud enough for the lecturer to hear, thankfully.
Bradley must do though, as he stiffens beside me. I wonder if it's vampire or boyfriend that he has the most problem with. I hope the vampire bit. Not because I want him to be prejudiced against an entire race, but because I don't want to deal with more weird jealousy. I'm not sure where it's all come from.
The professor doesn't seem to care about my internal dilemma and dumps big bags of what looks like frog spawn in front of us.
"What are we supposed to do with that?" Bradley asks, his upper lip curling up in distaste.
I'm glad he's the one who asked. I'm losing points with our professor every time I open my mouth. At this rate, I won't be surprised if she fails me for the module out of spite.
"Peel it," she answers cooly.
Bradley gets out his wand, but she shakes her head.
"Without mag
ic."
I restrain the groan that wants to escape. With magic, it would be a tedious job; without it, it's going to be messy, disgusting and even more tedious.
"How long do we have?" Cade asks.
"As long as it takes. Now get to it."
I grimace, put pull one of the bags towards me anyway. I know as well as the others do that there's no way for us to get out of this. I can't even voice how pissed off at them I am, especially seeing as Heath had asked me to hang out with him now.
The frogspawn is slippery in my fingers. I hope we're not using this in potions class. It'll just be another reason for me to not want to continue it. I'm only taking the class to keep my parents happy. They want me to have a well-rounded education, at least until I decide what I want to do with my life.
I slip my nail under the membrane, thankful I'm not the squeamish kind of girl.
"How's your boyfriend?" Cade asks bitterly after we've been silent for a while.
I wish we still were.
Bradley stiffens again.
"He's fine, thank you," I respond. What else am I supposed to say?
"How long have you been dating?" Bradley asks.
Oh great. This is going to be an entire detention of the two of them questioning me about my love life? Great. Just what I want.
"A week."
Cade scoffs. "Hardly enough time to call it a relationship."
"You were the one who called him my boyfriend." Though in my head, I guess I'm calling Heath that too. But that's my prerogative. So long as I don't make him uncomfortable, it doesn't matter what I say in my head.
"She has a point," Bradley says, though I can tell from his tone that he wants to agree with Cade over me.
I roll my eyes. Why can't I be stuck in detention with Mona? At least then we could have spent the time chatting about fun stuff rather than leaving me stuck between two jealous warlocks. What is even with that? I haven't done anything to deserve this kind of attention. I don't want the drama.
"Look, both of you, my love life is none of your concerns," I say, coming off a little harsher than I intend to, but at this point, I don't even care. I just want them to stop.
"Sorry," Cade murmurs and turns his attention back to the frogspawn in front of him.
"You should be," Bradley says smugly.
"That was aimed at you too," I say, fixing him with the sternest look I can muster.
He mumbles something that I assume is an apology.
Good. I didn't want to deal with him if he wasn't sorry. If the two of them carry on the way they are, then we'll end up with even more detentions, and I have too much studying to do for that to be entirely comfortable for me.
I pay more attention to the spawn than to them. After the initial disgust, I'm finding it quite therapeutic. It's almost mind numbing. I need to concentrate just enough that I don't have to listen to my conflicting thoughts about the men on either side of me, but not engaging enough that it's exhausting. Not that I'm going to let the professor know. She'd probably find me another punishment that I couldn't enjoy in response. I'm not used to teachers hating me so much. Usually, they like me because I work hard and pay attention. Knowledge is power, and I've always wanted to better myself in that way.
"I heard the Bulldogs are slated to bring home the cup this year," Bradley says, breaking the silence.
More's the pity. The silence is preferable to their bickering.
"They don't stand any chance against the Fireflies," Cade responds.
"Really? That's a team name?"
I groan, longing to tune the two of them out. I wonder if there's a spell for that. And if the professor will let me look one up. Probably not. No doubt this is part of my punishment as much as anything.
"Of course it is..."
They start tossing insults about what I can only assume are sports teams back and forth. I wish I could hide my face in my hands, but without getting frogspawn goop all over myself, and while I'm sure some people would swear by it as a skin product, I'm not in any rush to try it.
I do my best to focus on the task at hand, knowing the sooner we're done, the sooner I can get back to my normally scheduled study time. Or maybe a conversation with Mona about how cute Heath is.
"You seem to have dozed off, Miss Chambers," the professor sneers.
I swear, she must have something else against me other than what happened in class earlier, but I don't for the life of me know what.
"I'm just focusing on my task." To prove my point, I drop some newly peeled frogspawn into the huge container she gave us and picked up a fresh batch.
"Hmm."
I narrow my eyes. Something is going on here that I don't understand. For a teacher to take a dislike to me for no reason seemed unlikely, to say the least.
She goes back to doing whatever it is she's spending her time on. Clearly, nothing for class or she'd be here peeling spawn with us. But I have to say that my interest is piqued. She's new here. Turned up a couple of weeks ago and just took over the class. She's never even told us her name, which up until now, hasn't seemed odd.
But now, I'm becoming more and more certain that something isn't right about her.
"How come you weren't teaching at the start of term, miss?" I ask.
Both of the guys turn their attention to me. I hope they catch up with what I'm thinking soon. This path may turn out more dangerous than I'd anticipated.
"I was detained," she responds cooly.
"By what?" Cade drops the spawn he's working on and sits back in his chair. I'm sure he'd fold his arms if it wouldn't ruin his shirt.
"That is none of your business. Go back to your task," the teacher snips.
I raise an eyebrow. Something isn't right here. She's not acting like any of the other lecturers here would in her place. Far from it. It's almost like she doesn't want to be here. Then again, we're in detention. None of us wants to be here.
It's probably best not to ask anything out right now. But that doesn't mean I won't be paying close attention to the woman. My suspicions are raised, and there's nothing she can do to stop me digging. Of course, it might help if I knew her name. Hopefully, someone else will have picked up on it at some point and tell me when I ask around.
"Why are we doing this again?" Cade mutters, throwing his next lot of spawn into the big tub.
A shiver runs down my spine at the sound. It's enough to undo all the desensitising I'd managed. I almost want to throw it all back in the bag and walk out, but I don't know what will happen to me if I do. I'm not willing to risk my education just because of a suspicion. I need more than that.
"Because you decided to use Bradley's face as a punching bag," I respond tartly.
Next to me, Bradley snorts.
"I don't know what you're laughing at," I snap. "You nearly ended up with a broken nose. Which you still haven't thanked me for fixing, by the way."
Silence greets my words, maybe because the two of them are finally realising just how pissed off I am at them for what happened. The temptation to walk out only intensifies.
I glance at the professor. Could I do it? Or would she punish me more for it?
"Thank you."
I nod once. He isn't getting more of a response than that. He doesn't deserve one.
"Worth it," Cade says under his breath.
That's all I need to hear to know I'm done with this. No way am I putting up with it a moment longer. I scrape my chair back, making the worst noise I could. If they wanted to make me suffer, then they could reap the consequences of that.
I walk over to the sink, desperate to wash the gunk off my hands.
"Where do you think you're going?" the professor asks.
"I'm not putting up with this a moment longer. Cade is the one that punched Bradley, I did nothing except the task we were supposed to be working on, and I'm not going to be punished for that."
Shock flits across her face, like she knows I'm right, but didn't expect me to work it out. I also know there's likely
not much she can do to me if I do walk out. Detention isn't a thing here at Grimalkin, so it's not like she can get me into trouble for skipping it. At least, that's what I'm hoping.
I rub soap all over my hands, annoyed that I have to delay storming out of the room for something as mundane as washing my hands. But I also don't want frogspawn goop all over myself. It's a real catch twenty-two.
Finally convinced I've got it all, I shut off the tap, dry my hands and turn back to the seat I've been using. At least we're in one of the labs, so there's a sink right there in the bench.
I grab my bag and head towards the door, daring one of them to say something as I left.
They didn't. Not a surprise. Two of them are too busy trying to decide who has the bigger horse, and the other is doing things she shouldn't anyway. It's all a very weird situation, and I'm not sure I like it. One thing I am certain of is that I need to find Mona. She'll know what to do. Or maybe not. But at least I'll be able to air my frustrations about the guys to her. She's smart enough that she noticed how Cade felt already, which means something. Hopefully, she'll help me make sense of everything going on with Bradley too.
7
A weight lifts off me the moment I'm free of the room. I don't think I realised quite how much the atmosphere in there got to me until right now. Being stuck between men, especially ones I'm not even dating, isn't somewhere I want to be.
"I didn't realise I'd become invisible to you," Heath jokes from behind me.
I jump, before turning around to face him. "I'm sorry, I was thinking." Guilt wells up within me. How can I be thinking about other guys when I have this amazing one in front of me. We might not have been dating long, but I know there's something good between the two of us. Even if he is a vampire. At least I know my parents will be okay with it; they've always encouraged us to follow our hearts.
"Was detention particularly thought-provoking?" He chuckles, the sound travelling through me and filling me with a glowing feeling I never want to let go of.
"You have no idea," I respond dryly. Nor will he. I'm not willing to risk what we have going between us by talking about other men with him. That'd be weird. I think. Maybe in time, it won't be.
Paranormal Academy Page 57