“Sip slowly,” Meg instructed.
Corrine nodded, but took another big swig.
Eva stood close to her, to make sure she wouldn’t do anything stupid like cartwheel across the roof, sending her black skirt down to her face—a sight she was sure the guys would love to see.
Bree looked at Meg, and then Corrine, who was lightly swaying as if she were dancing. “For your information, I didn’t have to drug Devin for him to kiss me.”
“He kissed you?!” Eva blurted out.
“Yeah, it’s not like he hasn’t before, but—”
“But what?” Eva prodded.
Bree shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s like he’s just going through the motions. His kisses are great, but…there’s no passion.”
“Who needs passion when you’re being kissed?!” Corrine shouted. “I want to be kissed! Why did Finn break up with me?! He was such a good kisser!”
Eva turned to read Meg’s expression, but all she saw was concern for her friend.
“C’mon,” Meg said, holding Corrine’s free hand. “Let’s go talk to the girls. Bet they have all kinds of stories to tell, all liquored up. Could be a hoot.” She smiled.
Corrine nodded and smiled back. “A hoot,” she repeated, leaving her lips pursed.
When Eva didn’t follow, Meg turned around, and asked, “Aren’t you coming?”
She shook her head. “I think I want to go back to my room. I’m not feeling well.”
“Is it the beer?” Meg asked.
Corrine spun around. “I’ll take it.”
Eva clutched onto the warm bottle. “I want it. I just want to go inside, that’s all.”
She couldn’t stand to be among everyone, joking around. And she couldn’t stand being around Bree in particular right now. She imagined her and Devin kissing, their tongues sloshing against each other. It made her sick.
Corrine pouted and Meg led her away to the other girls, who were telling raunchy jokes. Just the thing Corrine needed to get over Finn and her lack of being kissed.
“Well, don’t fall on your way back down,” Bree said, and then sauntered back to the other girls.
“Thanks ever so much,” Eva muttered, and took another swig of beer, even though it was warm and nasty.
She couldn’t believe Devin had kissed Bree. Now it made her think that she had been wrong all along. But Bree said he wasn’t passionate. What did that mean? Well, if he didn’t want to kiss her, he wouldn’t have. It didn’t matter if it didn’t meet Bree’s expectations.
It was a fact: Devin didn’t like her. Eva had been wrong.
She slowly descended the wobbly staircase. At the bottom, with her beer in her hand, she panicked, thinking she was going to get caught by the headmaster, so she quickened her steps, deciding to head straight to her room and hide it. But her plan was thwarted when she almost collided with someone, holding a large cardboard box.
Eva quickly hid her beer behind her back. “Sorry,” she apologized, terrified.
But it was only Colin.
“Got a package for you,” he said, smiling at her attempt to disguise her contraband. “It’s heavy too.” He shook the box.
It sounded like books.
“Oh! My books from the hospital.”
She immediately slapped her hand over her mouth. She couldn’t believe she had just blurted out to Colin, of all people, where she had come from.
“Trade you that beer for this box,” he said, lifting it up, and she noticed, ignoring her last statement.
“Deal,” she agreed.
They switched items, but the box was heavy, so Colin took is back from her sunken arms, and placed it on the bench where she and Lucas had almost kissed, when Colin so rudely interrupted them. He sat down next to the box, and patted the available seat next to him, smirking. She hesitated, not desiring to have their knees touching, and hers was already exposed from how high her skirt went up when she sat down. It was an opportunity for Colin to “ogle” her, as Lucas would say.
He lit a cigarette and patted the seat again. “Sit,” he said softly. “And I don’t care that you came from a hospital. I already knew that.”
“You did?” Now she sat down, facing him, while he took a drag from his cigarette.
He exhaled. “There’s no secrets around here, baby.”
She didn’t like that he had called her “baby,” but she didn’t say anything about it. Instead she offered up a secret of her own.
“You stole Bree’s nail polish, didn’t you? Because you still like her?”
He took a swig of beer and smirked. “Mmm. Tastes like Eva.” He seductively ran his tongue around the opening of the bottle.
Her face scrunched in disgust, but she only said, “You didn’t answer the question.”
He sighed. “Now why would I steal nail polish?” He wriggled his fingers at her. “Do I look like I need a fresh coat of pink?”
“Ha! I didn’t say it was pink!” She pointed at him, as if she had just broken a suspect under pressure, and solved the case.
He shook his head. “That’s all she wears, honey. Anyone with eyes around here can see that.” He rolled his eyes to demonstrate.
“Don’t call me ‘honey.’”
He flicked tobacco ash on the grass. “Why? Is that reserved for your lover boy, Lucas?” He took another drag.
“Why do you hate him so much? Is it because he had Bree and you couldn’t?”
He exhaled, blowing smoke from his lips, very deliberately trying to create a narrow trail, but a breeze swept past, spreading it out, veering it to her face. She coughed and waved it away, frustrated. Next, he reached his arm out, so that it lay against the back of the bench, and gently cupped her shoulder with his hand. Shocked, she drew in her shoulders, and he immediately let go. Then he began tapping his fingers against the iron, creating a dull pinging sound. So annoying.
“Yeah, I admit it,” he finally said and halted his tapping. “I liked Bree. Hell, I was crazy about her, but she was such as tease.”
“A tease?”
He nodded, took another swig of beer, drunk it down, and then rested the empty bottle between his legs. His knee knocked against hers, but she couldn’t escape. They were scrunched together.
“Yeah, a tease. She giggled at me. Twirled her blond hair around her fingers at me. Shook her hips at me. Pouted those lips at me. But it was all a game.” He took another drag, exhaled, and continued, “I should’ve seen it, especially when she hung all over Lucas, giving him whatever he wanted, and giving me only false hope. When Lucas ended it with her, she pounced on Devin.”
“But he ended it with her too?”
Colin nodded and smiled. “I guess the excitement of Brianna Kelly wears off real quick.”
“But they’re sort of back together. Bree said they kissed, and she thinks he stole her nail polish because he likes her.”
Colin laughed. “That’s the stupidest piece of shit I ever heard. No fucking Leprechaun would steal nail polish because he likes a girl.”
Eva was taken aback by Colin’s language, even though she had heard it before. But it was still a shock.
“Then who did?”
“I did,” he answered, grinning. “Just to see her freak out.”
“You went into our room?” She felt violated, even though the nail polish was stolen before she’d arrived.
Colin pulled out a bunch of keys, on a shamrock-shaped key ring, from his jeans pocket. “Got every key to every room here,” he said, jiggling them around. “But I don’t need keys to get inside a girl’s room. Leprechaun, remember?” He smirked and placed the keys back in his pocket.
“Have you ever…appeared in our room at night while we slept?” she asked, but was afraid to hear the answer.
Colin smirked, but then he shook his head. “No, I’m not that desperate. Besides, I’m twenty. It would be kind of sick of me to hide in the shadows, leering at a bunch of young girls.”
She raised her eyebrow at him in disbelief.
“Eva, despite my rude manners, I’m not a pervert,” he said in a serious tone.
And for some reason, she believed him. He seemed so sincere.
Or a very good actor.
“Unlike some people,” he muttered under his breath.
He took a final drag from his cigarette, and dropped it in the beer bottle, where it was snuffed out by the last remaining drops of beer at the bottom. A thin wisp of smoke rose out of the bottle that he kept between his legs.
“Are you referring to Lucas?”
She really wanted to know, because deep down, Lucas Daly did seem like he could be a pervert. It was a feeling that she had about him, despite how much she liked him, how much he liked her, and how he was the only one who could prevent her from seeing people die.
“Now I’m not the one who said his name,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps you think he is.” He leaned in closer, eyeing her with his brown eyes, as if she had just exposed herself.
She had had enough of Colin, and his cigarette smell was making her feel queasy. “I’m leaving now.” She stood up. “Bye,” she said stiffly.
But when she went to pick up her box of books from the psychiatric hospital, Colin laid a gentle hand on hers. She froze, desiring to jerk her hand away, unsure of his intentions, but at the same time, she felt that he didn’t want to harm her.
“Not all guys are like him,” he said softly.
She raised her eyebrow. “Are you saying you’re different?”
“You didn’t see him for the last three years,” he continued. “He would’ve made Casanova look like a novice. The only one who came close to rivaling him was that singer, Devin Moran. And he had Bree too.”
She didn’t want to hear any of this, especially from Colin Black, the groundskeeper. She lifted the box of heavy books so she could feel physical pain to override her mental anguish.
“Lucas told me he’s changed. That he wants to follow the straight and narrow path, to settle down, with me,” she informed Colin, feeling compelled to defend her actions.
Colin shrugged. “Maybe he’s changed. I don’t know. Maybe he’s grown up, but we’re Leprechauns, and even the older ones, like the professors, can be a little naughty.” He smirked. “It’s in our blood.”
“What about Devin?” She instantly regretted her question, horrified, wondering what Colin’s reaction would be.
Colin furrowed his brow, and then he stood up, staring into her eyes, smiling. “Now why are you asking about Devin?”
She shrugged, trying to overcome her panic. “You’re the one who mentioned him before,” she said casually, hoping that would alleviate his suspicions.
“That I did,” he said with a nod.
Eva felt a rush of relief. “Well, I better get going. I have to call my parents.”
It was a quick lie, but actually, she did need to give them a call.
“Nice seeing you.” He shook the empty bottle with the snuffed out cigarette inside. “Come back anytime,” he added, smirking.
She just gave him a polite smile and quickly walked back inside the school. As she crossed the Commons Area to the west wing, she heard the sounds of the Four Leaf Clovers practicing in the abandoned room upstairs on the east side.
She knew Lucas had been a player. He’d admitted to it, but he didn’t give all her all the nasty details. With her, he wanted to turn over a new leaf—a new shamrock—given the theme of the school. And she needed him to ease the sorrow of her visions. Besides, he wasn’t that bad.
And Devin seemed to be out of the picture. He and Bree had kissed. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t passionate. They embraced. With their lips. It felt like a betrayal, despite the fact her and Devin weren’t even together. But her heart and mind told her that once upon a time they had been, and it hurt her to see him with someone else.
Now back in her room, she made a decision: she would stick with Lucas.
He wanted her. Devin apparently didn’t.
She opened the box and discovered several pieces of paper on top of her books. There was a long note from Kate about how much Eva was missed, and to email her as soon as she could. Another note was from Isaac. He kept repeating how sorry he was for his actions that day in the Recreation Room. Bull included a funny caricature of Dr. Lang, holding a mug of his whiskey/coffee concoction, with one eye shut from a frozen facial tick. She laughed and it felt good to be happy again. Next, she stacked all her sent books along the top shelf of her desk.
Glad to hear from Kate, Eva opened her email program, and thanked the young nurse for her letter, asked about Isaac, and pleaded for Bull send her more funny pictures. She wasn’t going to tell Kate who she was—a Banshee—who lived with Leprechauns. That would be a secret because it sounded too crazy to mention.
She couldn’t put it off anymore. She had to call her parents. Nervously, she picked up the phone, dialing her mom’s number in Miami. They were in the same time zone, so she knew her mom would still be up, probably preparing dinner. Eva assumed a dinner for one, but unexpectedly, her dad was there too.
During Thursday night and into Friday morning, Eva thought over the reasons why her dad had been there: fix a leaky faucet, kill a spider, mow the lawn, or just stopping by to pick up more of his old stuff that he had left in the attic.
She didn’t know why he had been there, but during their conversation, she was sure of one thing: her parents still thought she was crazy.
“Are you still…having visions?” her mom had asked.
“What do the other students think of all your crying spells?” her dad had asked immediately after.
Eva felt like crying and wanted to tell them that they just didn’t understand. That she was a Banshee, descended from a long line of Banshees, and it started when two girls lied about their friend’s death to the deceased girl’s mother, who happened to be a witch. She cursed the two girls to see visions of death and weep. Apparently, it could skip generations, so as far as Eva knew, she had been the first in her family with such visions, but if any of her ancestors were, she didn’t know about them, possibly because they had been locked up and lobotomized, as was practiced many years ago.
Before coming to Green Clover Academy, Eva thought about being lobotomized, desiring anything to ease her sorrow.
Now she was surrounded by others like her, who understood her, and surprisingly, a Leprechaun was the only one who could extinguish her pain. It was remarkable, since a Banshee’s mind is the last place a Leprechaun would want to go, and even if he wanted to, a barrier around her mind kept him out. And as Mr. Quinn stated, has never happened, according to his knowledge.
But Lucas could penetrate her mind, breaking through that cursed barrier. He could go inside other people’s minds as well, regular people, those not under a curse, and make them believe anything. He could also transform into a black fog, vanish, teleport, and reappear wherever he wished. Anyone on the outside looking in would say he was dangerous, but he didn’t seem malicious. He really liked her, unlike a certain lead rock singer that Eva was desperately trying to forget about.
“No. I’m not having visions, and I only cried once, when I read the letter you left me,” she half-lied. “Thank you for it. It’s good to know you care about me.”
There were more tears then, by all. They said their goodbyes and lots of “I love you” and “I love you too.” Eva could never tell her parents who she was. They wouldn’t believe her. She knew they truly did care for her, but they would rather believe Dr. Quincy Lang, with all his dozens of degrees than Headmaster Quinn, who could disappear and reappear right in front of their eyes.
She wished the headmaster would, but that still wouldn’t help her. No one, besides the other Banshees, knew what it was like to have such horrific visions. It was a nightmare kind of life.
12
A Secret, Exposed
It was Friday and Eva had all new classes: Spanish, Art, and then P.E. Therapy time wasn’t on the schedule unless a student needed it.
Actually, she felt glad to have a break from the sessions. To just hear about everyone else’s visions, their horrors, made Eva feel like that something was wrong with the world. Why were they going through all of this? All because of a curse? Could it be undone? Hasn’t anyone even tried? Eva thought it wasn’t fair that she and the rest of the girls were being punished for something their ancestors did.
On her way to class, she happened to cross paths with Devin, who surprise, surprise, vanished. Frustrated, she was glad when she got to Spanish with Professor John McManus, a handsome man, in his early thirties, with chestnut brown hair. All the students suspected that he and the flirtatious English professor, Rosanna Darcy, were seeing each other. Suspicions were confirmed when Liam said he saw the two professors kissing.
“It was just before breakfast,” he recounted, as they sat in a group, working on Spanish introductions. Eva had no trouble with this assignment given her time in Miami. But she was used to more slang. “They were pretty hot and heavy,” he continued. “Makin’ out near the public restrooms.”
Meg raised her eyebrow. “Right near the cafeteria? But anyone could’ve seen them.”
Liam shrugged, smiling. “I guess when you need a kiss, you need a kiss.”
“I need a kiss,” Corrine muttered.
“Well, darlin’, ya should’ve said somethin’ before.”
Liam reached over and planted a sweet and slow kiss on her lips. When they pulled apart, Corrine’s mouth hung open in shock, and Liam’s eyelids hung low, very pleased with the encounter. They went back to kissing until Professor McManus had to break them up.
“That’s not the kind of introduction I had in mind for this lesson,” said the professor, resting his hands on his green belt. But he smiled as if it wasn’t a terrible way that Liam had “introduced” himself to Corrine.
Liam threw his hands out, smiling. “What? This ain’t French class?”
Professor McManus shook his head, but smiled too, and said, “Kiss on your own time, Liam.” Then he walked back to the front of the classroom and wrote their homework assignment on the board.
Since it was only an hour class, the time flew quickly, and soon the bell rang for dismissal.
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