“But—”
“No, don’t tell her, please,” he pleaded, grabbing her shoulder, and giving it a tight squeeze. “I just have to overcome vanishing when I’m around her. I want to talk to her, I do. I just need to stop getting so nervous around her.”
Eva nodded. “I understand. I won’t tell anyone.”
He gave her a grateful smile, and then quickly walked to the east wing. Eva wondered if he just needed some time to himself, since everyone was heading to the cafeteria.
Corrine, Meg, and Liam came out of class.
“What were you and Finn talking about?” Meg asked.
“I told him I was sorry. That I was being stupid…thinking he liked you,” she half-lied.
“Does he?”
Eva thought that she sensed hope, but she couldn’t say anything.
Liam spoke up. “He never said a word about it. Well, I’d love to chat about who likes who, but right now”—he patted his stomach—“I’m off to lunch. See ya around pretty ladies.” He gave Eva a wink and walked away to the cafeteria.
Meg raised her eyebrows. “Well, does he?” she prodded Eva.
“Um, I didn’t ask,” she lied to Meg. “Actually, we didn’t talk about much. He needed to go.”
“Oh.”
“Well, do you like him?” Corrine asked, but seemed more curious than jealous.
Meg shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.”
“He’s cute,” Eva said.
“Who’s cute?” Lucas asked, coming up behind Eva, wrapping his strong arms around her waist.
Instead of welcoming his touch, she looked around for Devin. He was far away, avoiding any contact with Eva, heading to the cafeteria with Bree at his heels.
Eva’s mind zeroed in on a possibility that she had earlier dismissed: If Finn likes Meg, and disappears in a panic, then does that mean Devin likes her?
“We’re talking about Finn,” Meg said, disrupting Eva’s worried thoughts.
“Oh,” Lucas said, turning Eva in his arms. “So you think my boy Finn is cute?” His eyebrow was raised, but he had a slight smile to show he wasn’t that worried.
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “In fact, I think all the boys here are cute.”
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
“Well, we’ll be off,” Corrine said, dragging Meg away to the cafeteria.
Eva kept her focus on Lucas, expecting a blow-up, but instead he pressed his lips forcibly against hers, hungry, and kissed her in an almost violent manner.
When he pulled away, he said in a husky voice, “But I’m the best kisser.”
She smirked. “I’ll have to test that theory with the other boys.”
Then she panicked, worrying what the repercussions would be for her innocent joke.
He leaned in, trailing the tip of his nose under her jaw, and then to her neck, where he planted a kiss here and there, until his lips reached her ear. “Don’t make me jealous, Eva. I’m always itching for a good fight.” His tone was deadly serious, but when he pulled his face back to her view, he grinned. “Let’s eat.” He nodded to the cafeteria. “I think they’re serving hamburgers today.”
She didn’t know what to make of him. He seemed easy-going, but at the thought of another guy interested in her, or she interested in another, he got very…territorial. She didn’t know much about guys, and wished Kate was here to give her advice, but since the nurse had her own lackluster love life, she would be just as confused as Eva.
And more so by the whole Leprechaun thing.
11
A Kiss is Just a Kiss…is Just a Kiss
It was Thursday night, and Eva lay awake in bed, thinking back over her tumultuous week so far. The two ghosts hadn’t reappeared, but she had enough to deal with. Meals with Lucas were turning out to be make-out sessions, and she wasn’t quite coming around to his tobacco-flavored tongue. He seemed to be smoking more, which broke his vow to be on the “straight and narrow.” He even got into a few arguments with other Leprechauns, and Eva thought that he was going to hit Liam if the Texan redhead blew her another kiss.
“He doesn’t mean anything by it,” she’d told him soothingly on Thursday afternoon, while they’d sat in a secluded corner of the library.
It was very modern with black desktop computers, printers, and thousands upon thousands of books that would’ve taken her three years plus infinity to go all through. She’d gone there after class for some quiet time to focus and catch up on her studies.
Tuesday and Thursdays she had English Composition and Literature with Professor Rosanna Darcy, a petite blond, who only wore very short green or black dresses, and black stiletto heels. Eva assumed that she was in her early twenties by the way she flirted with some of the fourth year guys, but Eva liked her because she was funny and told dirty jokes. The one about Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, and a red curtain had Meg in such a fit of giggles that she almost peed in her pants.
“I just don’t like it when he and the others ogle you,” Lucas had complained, twirling a book on the table about medieval Europe.
After Professor Darcy’s class in the morning, she had World History with Professor Martin Scully, a Leprechaun in his early seventies, with a slight hump in his back. He wore shamrock-decorated suspenders to hold up his black pants, his bifocals made his eyes appear bug-like, and he had a wheezing cough from too many years of smoking. But like the rest of her professors, he was very nice. Eva knew that everything was going to be all right for her at Green Clover Academy.
As long as Lucas stopped being so possessive.
“They’re not ogling,” she’d said, frustrated.
She had quickly stood up, desiring space from Lucas, and went to place her library books in a return cart for the librarian, a Mr. Oliver Murphy, who also subbed when one of the professors was out. He was tall, mid-fifties, with a thick black mustache that covered most of his mouth, and wore all black, with only his square-rimmed glass in the color of green. Eva was frightened of him at first, but when he sneezed like a little girl, her fear quickly subsided.
As she’d placed the last book on the cart, Lucas had taken the opportunity to wrap his strong arms around her.
He’d kissed her neck, and then trailed his lips up to her ear. “I don’t blame them. You’re the most beautiful, sexy girl here.”
She should’ve been excited to hear those words from someone as handsome as Lucas, but her run-in with Devin had consumed her thoughts. She’d almost collided with him after her Thursday therapy session dismissed.
The required therapy sessions were a hundred times better than Dr. Lang’s. The girls openly discussed their visions and how it was affecting their lives. No one was told they were crazy. No one took copious notes, enough to fill a large file cabinet. No one offered pills to “cure” their affliction. Everyone there was going through the same thing, and it was a comfort for Eva to be among her own kind.
In one session, Bree amazed them all. She had a vision, didn’t even flinch, and only shed one tear, to which Professor O’Keefe proclaimed, “How extraordinary!”
So after that, Bree thought of herself as pretty high and mighty, but that didn’t stop her whining to her roommates every night about how Devin wasn’t paying her a bit of attention—a welcome fact that Eva smiled inwardly at.
After the therapy session had dismissed, Eva desired to be alone. She knew Lucas was somewhere close by—hungering for her attention and touch. So she took off and went to the library to study. But when she approached the entrance with her nose buried in her World History book, not paying attention, she bumped into someone exiting the library.
“Excuse me,” she’d said automatically, looking up.
It was Devin, smelling of cologne and tobacco, with his long glossy black hair sticking out from under his cap. She was so happy, she smiled, but he was far from happy. His eyes grew wide, staring at her, but soon the two sparkling emeralds disappeared, as he transformed into a black fog, and vanished.
<
br /> Her shoulders fell and not from the large book in her hands. She was devastated. He couldn’t even be in her presence. He couldn’t even speak to her.
Did he like her? The way Finn liked Meg? Or was he just…weird?
She had to know. So she’d turned around to find him, hoping he had only transported a small distance and reappeared nearby, but she collided with Lucas. He gave her a welcome smile, and then he smashed his lips against hers, hungrily sliding his tongue inside her mouth, dancing. Normally, she would’ve been shocked by his behavior, since they were in such an academically sacred place as the library, but it seemed that Mr. Murphy didn’t care, restocking the shelves.
After an hour, with Eva unable to get anything accomplished, they finally left the library, and Lucas said his goodbyes.
“I have to practice with the guys,” he said.
She wondered if Devin wrote all the songs, and if he did, where did his inspiration come from? What went on in that Leprechaun head of his?
“Okay,” she said, nodding.
She had been glad to be away from him. It had been some time since her, Meg, and Corrine had just hung out, chatting about how obnoxious Bree could be, or if Meg thought anymore about Finn and the possibility that he liked her. Eva had kept her promise to him. She didn’t say a word, but she wanted to. Finn had managed to stay visible through most of their classes. He and Meg even managed to have a conversation during meals.
Eva felt that the curly redhead was still unsure about him, because Corrine had dated him, and Meg didn’t want to be the lousy friend, pouncing on a guy not too long after a break-up. But the roommates didn’t talk about it much, preferring to hear about Lucas, and his experienced lips.
“Kiss,” he’d ordered softly, smirking at her.
She gave him a quick kiss, and then went to pull away, but he forced her back to him, pushing her lips open with his tongue, sliding in, hungry for her, pressing his body against hers. Despite tasting of cigarettes, she continued to keep her lips open for him. He was a great kisser.
From his actions, Eva sensed he wanted more than just a kiss, but that was a big step, and she wasn’t ready for that. Especially with Lucas, who she supposed, had been with every girl, and then back again for seconds. She didn’t want to be another notch. She wanted to feel special. She wanted Devin, and it killed her to continue this charade with Lucas, but she knew his power. If she had a vision, he was there, ready to hold her, and to prevent her sorrow.
It had been a Wednesday morning when she had her second one since she left the hospital. They had been on their way to breakfast, just the two of them, and she fell on the Commons Area floor. He’d held her, entered her mind, soothed her with his words, with his embrace, and instantly the death and blood vanished. She hadn’t even shed a tear.
She was using him, and she knew it.
When their passionate kiss near the library ended, he said, “You are so perfect Eva. So perfect.” He gently cupped her cheek in one hand, and with his other hand, held the side of her neck, studying her, as if she were a priceless work of art he had to be very gentle with.
In that moment, she felt a deep affection to him, even a tremendous love, but it was a love of convenience, not passion. Not the ridiculous passion she felt to Devin, who wouldn’t even look at her for more than a millisecond.
She kissed him again, soft and gentle. “I’ll see you soon.”
He smiled and kissed her forehead. “See you soon, baby.”
She watched him walk away to the east wing, where he and the other band members practiced in an empty bedroom on the top floor. She wanted to go with him. He had invited her before, but she knew if she did, Devin would leave. She wanted to ask Lucas if he questioned Devin about his behavior the first day they met, when he vanished, but she didn’t dare ask, fearing what the answer might be.
“There you are!”
Eva turned to see Meg, coming down the west wing staircase, with her red curls bouncing around her face, holding her academy satchel securely at her side. Corrine was right behind her.
When Meg landed on the hardwood floor, she placed her hand on her hip. “Where have you been?” She tapped an imaginary watch on her wrist. “It’s girl time!”
Eva looked at Corrine, who just shrugged, as if she had no idea what her friend was up to.
“I got caught up…with Lucas,” Eva answered with an embarrassed smile.
Meg waved her hand in the air. “Say no more. I’d leave you two bitches behind too if Lucas wanted a little somethin’-somethin’.”
Corrine lightly slapped Meg on the back of her head. “That was rude.”
“Ow!” Meg rubbed the back of her head, but Eva knew Corrine didn’t hit her that hard. “I was just joking!”
Eva laughed. “It’s okay. So what kind of girly plans do y’all have?”
“I don’t have anything planned,” Corrine answered. She thumbed over at Meg. “This is the redhead’s idea.”
“Well? What’s your plan?” Eva wondered what sort of trouble that little redhead would get them into.
Meg gently swung her academy satchel in front of her chest. Something inside made a clinking noise, like glass bottles colliding against each other.
Meg slowly lifted the flap, smiling. “Take a peek.”
At first, Eva and Corrine hesitated, but when Meg shoved the bag in their faces, they looked.
Eva gasped. “You got beer?!”
“Hush!” Meg shouted back at Eva.
“That’s your plan?” Corrine asked. “For us to get drunk?”
Meg sighed. “It’s only three beers. One for each of us, and you can’t get drunk off of one beer.”
Eva raised her eyebrow. “How would you know?”
Maybe Meg was as wild as her hair. She and Liam would be perfect together.
“I just know.” She pouted her lips. “C’mon! Everyone’s up on the roof!”
“The roof?” Eva repeated.
Meg sighed again. “Yes. All the girls are up there. Girl time,” she explained, holding up her academy satchel of beer.
“Where’d you get that?” Eva asked.
“Kitchen,” Meg answered casually.
Eva looked at Corrine. “Is she serious?”
Corrine nodded. “Yeah, there’s beer there, you know, for the adults. They let us have it sometimes—well, mainly the guys have it—but not enough to get drunk or anything. I’ve never had any.”
Eva remembered that Lucas had told her that when she first arrived. Green Clover Academy would be a dream for most of the juvenile delinquents at her old school.
“So we’re going up on the roof? Of the school? All us fifty girls? To drink beer?” Eva wasn’t sure they could pull this off.
Meg grunted. “Yes! Well, no, just the third and fourth years, with a few first and second years…mainly us. But it’s girl’s day out! Whoo-hoo!”
Eva looked up at the large clock on the wall, shaped like a shamrock. It was only four o’clock, and two hours before dinner time.
Corrine lightly jabbed Eva against her chest, smiling. “C’mon, let’s just do it!”
If sweet Corrine wanted to go, then it couldn’t be such a bad thing to do.
“All right, sister. Lead the way,” Eva told Meg.
“That’s the Banshee spirit!”
They went outside, and to the back of the mansion, where a black metal fire escape ladder led all the way up to the roof. Eva wasn’t afraid of heights, but the staircase was wobbly. She assumed it was from students running up and down it for fun, and not for multiple fires that the school had. Or at least she hoped.
When they finally made it to top, she saw that most of the third and fourth years, with a few second years, were drinking beers, standing near the rooftop emergency exit door. She couldn’t believe that the kitchen stocked so many beers, and that no one would notice all of it gone, but the girls just drank, as if the possibility of punishment was remote. All were lively chatting, carefree. Eva could see beyond t
he tree line, at the rundown schoolhouse, the gate, and the brick wall that sealed off the property.
Meg handed Eva and Corrine each a beer. “It’s nasty, but it’s alcohol.”
Eva timidly opened hers, just a twist off, and took just a sip. She scrunched her nose. “It’s awful.”
Corrine seemed to be enjoying hers, guzzling it down.
Bree walked over, looking radiant as usual. “Whoa, there,” she said to Corrine. “Slowly, sister.”
Corrine nodded and took a little sip.
“Don’t get drunk and fall off the roof,” Bree ordered the girls. “I already see dead people in my head. I got enough going on in here already,” she continued, tapping a pink-painted nail against her temple.
“How did you do it the other day in therapy? How did you almost completely overcome the sorrow of your vision?” Eva asked.
She had been dying to know, but Bree never divulged. Now Eva hoped after half a beer, Bree would spill the beans. She wanted to know how, so she wouldn’t have to rely on Lucas.
Bree shrugged. “I guess I’m getting better at it. I’ve had two years of therapy sessions and being with my own kind. Also I try to think positive.” She grinned. “And it helps that Devin has finally come around.”
What?!
“Oh? He’s finally succumbed to your charms?” Meg asked. She took a swig of beer. “And by that, I mean have you slipped him some sort of drug to dull his senses?”
“Yeah, like some kind of witch’s brew?” Corrine slurred.
Everyone was shocked at Corrine’s behavior, since she couldn’t have been that drunk, and was merely caught in the moment, along with the height of the school, and the fun of being around her friends.
“Okay, no more for you,” Bree said, gently pulling the beer away, but then she had to jerk it out of Corrine’s clutched hand.
Corrine stamped her shoe against the roof. Bree sighed, handing it back to her.
Prophecy Girl Page 11