“After Zach broke my protection spell, I guess Drake decided to reset it for me while I was unconscious. Wasn’t that nice of him?”
She cursed colorfully, her dark eyes enormous as she stared at me. “Did he say what he wants?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t realize until later. He didn’t say anything other than that I owe him.”
Her lips twisted. “You owe him? Oh, he’s going to love that. What a waste! Three days in Drake’s bed and you don’t remember anything?”
I shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t ask him to spell me. Do you think that makes a difference?”
She scowled and shook her head vigorously. “It’s Drake. He’s diabolical. He’ll milk it for as much as he can get out of it. I’ll do research for you on the historic trade value of the spell. What spell was it?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
She scowled at me. “Then you have to ask him.”
I closed my eyes. “I was hoping I’d never have to see him again.”
She snorted. “Not likely. He’s got his fangs deep in your throat.” She sighed. “I have no idea what Drake would want from you, but whatever it is, you’re not going to like it.”
I stared at her then lifted my chin and gave her a bright smile. “Maybe I’ll love it. I’ve always been irrationally drawn to the idea of being mangled by a wolf.”
She laughed. “There is truth in that. Video games?”
I nodded. I felt almost okay after Viney trounced me for the fifteenth time and I headed to bed.
Chapter 7
Witch
What a beautiful day. The rain came down sideways, icy cold rain that made all the pretty autumn color nothing but a soggy gray mess. I sucked on a lollipop and flipped my super cute skirt on the way to English. I’d see Witley there. I was definitely looking forward to that. I waved at all my wonderful friends, handing out lollipops randomly.
“Hi, isn’t it a gorgeous day?”
The girl I said that to actually nodded and sort of smiled at me. “Yeah. It’s great. Are you okay?”
I stared at the blond girl, her hair almost as light as my mother’s. “I’m great! Why? Oh, the hospital thing. Yeah, that was pretty awful. That’s so sweet of you to ask. Have a lollipop.”
I beamed at her and headed to English, but the whole interaction was really unnerving. She’d seemed almost genuinely concerned.
Witley was normal, which was a relief. She came over to lean against the edge of my desk in her extremely short skirt, possibly even shorter than mine although I still had more leg. Gotta use what you have.
“Cute skirt, Wit. Is that new?”
She smiled widely, white teeth gleaming beneath her blood red lips. “It is. We should go shopping together some time. I really love your whole look.”
I held onto my smile while she gave me a once-over with her eyes that was anything but complimentary. “Oh, we should! Unfortunately, I make most of my own clothing. It’s hard to find anything in the store as quirky and special as I am.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Yes, there’s no one quite as special as you. Do you happen to know why Drake wasn’t at the Chemiss tourney on Saturday night? Everyone was so disappointed. Ian did a great show, as always, but no one performs like Drake.”
I froze. Saturday night he’d been doing what? I had no idea. I’d been unconscious in his bed. “Good question. I’m almost certain that he wasn’t performing with me, but I could be wrong.”
The girl behind me snorted, like she thought that was funny and Wit stared down the girl before she turned her fake smile back on me. “I hope you realize that whatever you have with Drake is as fake as…”
“You?”
She stared at me while her face went very pale and the girl behind me choked and then fell silent. Witley wasn’t breathing for a long time while she stared at me. Maybe not the best sign. Finally, she took a small breath and gave me a pitying smile. “Are you looking for plastic surgeon references? I’m afraid that everything I have is perfectly natural, even if I am unnaturally perfect.”
I smiled brightly with my jaw clenched shut. If I said anything else provoking, she would lose it. It wasn’t good weather for a bloodbath. Finally, she turned and went to her seat, her skirt swishing with her irritation.
After English was Chemistry. I’d no sooner taken my seat at the lab table when the blond girl from earlier edged next to me, a weird, almost-smile on her face.
I smiled back at her, but my smile probably matched hers in weirdness. “Hi!”
She swallowed and fiddled with her books. “Can I sit by you?”
No one ever sat by me. “I guess?”
Her smile got a little less weird as she slid into the bench beside me. She pulled open her books and leaned over, pointing to a highlighted section. “We covered up to here last week. Pewter will probably make you retake the labs, but the only interesting thing we really did was analyze various alloys and then measure reflective properties.”
“Wow. So, silver?”
She blinked at me. “Yeah. Do you want to see my notes?”
Wow. She wanted to share her notes with me. At least that way I could see what notes were supposed to look like. “Wow. Thanks.”
So much weird. So much wow. After that was ballet, and Madame Torture had no pity on me in spite of my illness. After class, I limped to Linguistics. Oh the joys of seeing Zachary Stoneburrow.
How do you say, ‘Bite me’ in six languages? That’s what I needed every time Zach looked at me. He didn’t even try to talk to me, but he looked. To be honest he hardly glanced in my direction. I was just still really mad, apparently.
“Spanish words” What did Zach do to make you so mad?
I glared at the polite girl who always poured tea in the Chinese section before I realized that it was the same glare I’d just been sending in Zach’s direction. I beamed brightly. “He ran over my cat and then ate all my cheesecake. He would have eaten my cat and then ran over my cheesecake, but then I’d have had to drown his horse.”
Her lovely dark eyes widened appreciative of my excellent pluperfect. “Seahorse?”
I giggled. “That would have been extra difficult. Do you know any nice guys to date in this school?”
She looked surprised for a moment but then she cocked her head and looked around the room, thoughtfully. “Travis has a reputation for opening the door for girls he dates. He’s that black-haired boy with the plaid pants.”
“Ooh, I like a boy in plaid.”
She laughed and I asked her what her name was. Turns out, it wasn’t, ‘polite girl who pours tea’, but Marilynn. Marilynn.
“Marilynn? As in the girl who dated Lars?”
Her eyes widened and then she gave me a polite smile and leaned away. So that probably wasn’t the socially acceptable thing for me to ask.
“Yes, we dated,” she said quietly in English. Hadn’t Zach specifically said that she was stupid and obnoxious just like me? Yes, yes he had. Jerk. I glared at him but he was speaking intently to some other idiotic genius. Losers.
I smiled at Marilynn. “Can I call you Mari? What happened with Lars?”
She shifted uncomfortably and glanced around before she shrugged her narrow shoulders. She looked like the classic smart girl, dark serious hair, neat blouse and perfectly pulled up knee-socks. “He was a little bit strange for me.”
“Strange? In what way?”
She cocked her head as she studied me. “He would talk in riddles sometimes and expect me to get it. They weren’t really clever riddles, but he thought they were. It wasn’t that I didn’t get them, but it’s so annoying to talk in riddles. It’s slow. Also, he’d stand on his head for hours.”
I stared at her. “Seriously? Lars? Blond, blue-eyed, really, really big?”
She nodded. Okay. So Zach had totally lied about her and Lars. She was nothing like me. Lars was more like me. Macaroons and lollipops, I wanted to see Lars stand on his head.
“Do you mind if I ask
him out? I’m going to ask a lot of guys. Now I have a list, Lester, Barry, the plaid pants guy, and Lars.”
She looked surprised, but her eyebrows couldn’t really go much higher, so it was more of a surprise twitch. “Go for it. You like weird? I thought you said nice.”
I hesitated. “Are you saying Lars isn’t nice?”
She shrugged. “He’s okay.”
“Right. But he doesn’t open doors? Does he light animals on fire?”
She cocked her head while she stared at me. “Not that I know of. And no on the doors too.”
I nodded. “Okay. Cool. I’m going to ask Lars out on a date. What does he like to do?”
“Um…” She edged away from me. “He likes to study stuff and stand on his head. At the same time. Have fun.” She waved and turned around so I couldn’t ask her any more questions without looking incredibly idiotic.
I waved at her back and whirled around, coming up against Zach. Apparently he’d been standing right behind me. Was that why she’d taken off so fast?
I stared at him and he stared back, neither of us backing off. Fine. We could stand there, three inches between our noses all day if he wanted. Which he did, apparently. Two minutes standing there.
“What do you want, Zach?”
His lips curved. “You’re going to ask out Lars? You wouldn’t want Drake to have to beat him up like he beat up Barry.”
My shoulder twitched. He was lying. He wasn’t even trying to hide the lie. “Drake didn’t beat up Barry. You did.”
His smile widened. He was super creepy, particularly three inches from my face. His eyes sparked bright blue and I had this weird feeling of familiarity or something that I struggled to shake off. He was not my friend, he was creepy. It shouldn’t be hard for me to remember that.
“You are so fun to play with.”
My fingers clenched into a fist. “You have no idea.” Macaroons and bubblegum I was going to smash his face in. Like a bubble. Pop!
“Oh, I think I do.” He edged around me, staring at me while I followed his movement with my eyes. “I can see why you have friends like Drake and…”
I swallowed and held very still. He didn’t say Pitch, but it was in his eyes, the dancing, glinting crazy she always put there.
“You.” I put my hand on his shoulder and slid up to tug on his ear, almost hard. “My good friend Zach wouldn’t hurt Lars just because I want to see him stand on his head.”
His eyes narrowed while my fingers moved up to his hair. What they were doing, I had no clue, but probably something about irritating him past the breaking point. It was one of my talents.
His lips twisted and he grabbed my fingers, squeezing them before he dropped my hand. “Not just because of that. I would really enjoy smashing Lars’s face.”
“Really? It’s a nice and large target. Maybe you need those.”
His smile got a little tight, but his eyes only sparked brighter. “So much frustration needs an outlet. Much better to hit a mage like him than a sweet little witch who knows exactly how to get under a mage’s skin.”
“I’ve always wanted a pair of gloves made out of mageskin. Hopefully I get my wish someday.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You want my skin?”
I hesitated. “Honestly, no. I want purple mage gloves, not from you or anyone here. More’s the pity.”
“You know a mage with purple skin? How extraordinary.”
I giggled. “Don’t be silly, Zach. I know perfectly well how to dye leather purple.”
He cocked his head at me. “Let me know if you need a hand. Mages can be quite slippery.”
I patted his cheek. “That’s why I don’t have my gloves yet. So glad we had this little chat. I’m going to date Lars, and if you touch him, I’m reporting you to the authorities.”
“And I’m reporting you and your phone.”
I glared at him. He smiled smugly. I had a particularly pleasant thought and grinned at him. “I’ll tell Viney.”
His smile changed to a snarl. “You think she wants you to date Lars?”
“Yep. And Lester. And that guy with plaid pants. I forget his name. So glad you belong to her.” I grabbed his wrist and squeezed while I smiled blindingly at him. “Check mate.”
He broke into a grin which made me feel a little less triumphant. “Check. Just check.” He turned and left me alone for two more minutes trying to figure out his next move before class was over.
Math was not memorable although I left the class with a stack of homework to do. Yay. After lunch I got to hang onto Henrietta, but happily Zach wasn’t in that class. I didn’t think I could have handled two conversations in one day with that particular monster.
Business was going to be fine. Drake wouldn’t talk to me, probably, and I wouldn’t talk to him, except that I owed him. I tucked his broken heart handkerchief into my pocket after I changed from my riding outfit so at least I could give that back. What would he want? It would be fine. It’s not like I had anything he wanted, but why would he help me unless I did?
I walked towards business class, sucking on my lollipop and trying to think of the best way to ask him what he wanted to make us even when I stopped walking and instead stared at Drake and the girl who was plastered against him, kissing his face off. My immediate instinct was to light the girl on fire, but I didn’t happen to have matches in my pocket, just a handkerchief. I had to move. I had to leave. I had to stop standing there staring at him and the girl who I was going to absolutely destroy as soon as I could move.
Finally, he reached up and gripped the base of her skull with his strong hand then pulled her against him while he devoured her. Okay. I was going to kill him first. Then her. Then him again. He pulled her away from him and nodded at two guys who came forward to take the limp girl who wore an expression of blissful vacancy on her face.
He half turned towards class then paused when he saw me. “Penny Lane, adorable as always. Lovely day for a walk, isn’t it?”
I swallowed. I wasn’t going to kill anyone. Maybe. Her lipstick was smeared around his mouth. I stepped close to him and pressed the handkerchief to his lips, hard before I stepped away and beamed at him. “I knew there was a reason I brought that today. That shade of lipstick does nothing for you. A walk, is that what you want from me?” My teeth were gritted in my smile. I had to get this over with and not kill him, not feel that horrible awful welling like the time I smelled burned hair and came in to find Poppy torching my little mouse family. Betrayal. Drake had kissed someone else instead of me.
He smiled mockingly. “You wound me. The idea that something doesn’t flatter me is some kind of heresy. As for what I want from you, I don’t think it’s called walking.” His eyes gleamed with what looked like desire, and his lips were soft and wet from kissing that other girl. I was going to rip those lips off him and…
I gritted my teeth and somehow managed to repress the urge I had to make certain that he never walked again or anything else unreasonable. I was grateful to him. Right. Super grateful. I lifted my chin. “We need to discuss what I owe you in exact terms.”
He raised an eyebrow and his leer shifted to something even more dangerous. “Do we? If you insist, I suppose that after class, you can stroll with me to polo field in this gloriously invigorating weather.”
I stared at him while he gave me a bow then turned and walked into class. It took me a minute of clenching and unclenching my fists before I could follow him. When I got inside, he stood beside a guy, talking about something. He glanced at me when I sat down towards the back of class and gave me the most smugly seductive smile in the entire world.
What was his problem? Why would he kiss a girl like that? I was going to kill her. And him. And her again. I’d already decided that. No, I had decided not to do that. I couldn’t remember. I kept seeing her arms wrapped around him, touching him. Mine. I didn’t realize I was scraping grooves in the desk until the teacher glared at me. He noticed. That was the first time all year he’d noticed
me. Bonbons I wanted to light him on fire. I really should bring matches. Lighters. Propane. No, definitely should not do that. I was going to date Lars, Lester and the plaid pants guy. What had his name been? And Barry. Definitely Barry. I couldn’t run around lighting people on fire. It would look bad. It would be bad. It would also look like I cared. I didn’t care. Drake could kiss whoever he wanted. I didn’t care about anything other than making things even between us.
I bolted out of Business the second class ended and got to History class feeling like I hadn’t breathed since I saw Drake and that girl. I gave Viney a pathetic smile and sank into the desk beside her.
She patted my shoulder. “I heard. Drake making out with Tammy right in front of your class so you had to watch the whole thing, just standing there, staring at him while you looked like a homicidal maniac. Standing. Staring. Standing. Staring, then the handkerchief thing. When did he give you his handkerchief, and you gave it back? Are you crazy?”
“Yep.” I unwrapped a lollipop, cellophane crinkling under my fingers. “I need you to use whatever you have on Zach to keep him from beating up all the guys I’m going to date. Can you do that?”
She nodded. “Who are you dating besides Lester? He’s available, for the record. I’m not sure if he’d be interested. Apparently he’s a little bit… shy.” She meant weird. Good.
I ticked the names off my fingers. “Lester, Lars, Barry, and the guy with plaid pants. That should do for starters.”
She chuckled, her wicked grin terrifying. “Oh, yes. Lars is perfect.”
“Why?” Other than the upside-down thing.
“He’s probably the top Sophis student at Rosewood. That means if Zach beats him up, Zach will end up with a nasty curse. Zach might not mind. He can be really stupid and careless. Still, Lars will hold his own.”
Dread Delight: Rosewood Academy for Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 2) Page 6