Witch School Dropout
A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery
M.Z. Andrews
Witch School Dropout
A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery: Book #7
by
M.Z. Andrews
Copyright © M.Z. Andrews 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1974134106
ISBN-10: 1974134105
All characters herein are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Also by M.Z. Andrews
About the Author
1
The hem of my long skirt fluttered in the breeze as I shoved open the door to the quad. The sweet smell of spring spiraled in around me, filling my nose with the heady scent of lilacs and freshly cut grass. The faint rumble of a lawn mower still purred in the distance.
Inhaling the breath of fresh air put an inadvertent smile on my face, and I paused for a brief moment to take in everything around me. The snow was long gone, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, the sun was out, and the temperature was a balmy seventy-five degrees. Exhaling my deep breath, I readjusted my dark-rimmed glasses, took two steps forward, and let the door to the Winston Hall dormitory slam shut behind me.
I dodged the assortment of other girls milling around the Paranormal Institute for Witches’ outdoor lunchroom and headed for my usual table. My elf of a roommate, Jax, burst through the glass doors seconds later and quickly caught up to me. As usual, she talked my ear off as we each carried our breakfast trays towards our table. Through an opening in the crowd, I spotted our friends Alba and Holly already seated and waiting for us, but Sweets was nowhere in sight. With only a few yards separating us, I heard my name ride in on the breeze.
“Mercy Mae!”
The chatter around me seemed to freeze in time as I turned my head and saw him, standing on the cobblestone walkway between Warner Hall, the boys’ dormitory, and the quad. Girls buzzed around the man like fruit flies to a peach, but he paid them no mind. He only had eyes for me. When our eyes met, a slow smile covered his face, and his head dipped slightly, his cowboy hat covering the warmth of his hazel eyes. Hugh.
Even though my stomach still did little flip-flops at the sight of him, I sighed. I had been intentionally avoiding this meeting for days. When I stopped walking, Jax crashed into my back with her tray.
“Jaaaax!” I growled. I took my eyes off of Hugh to glance back at the tiny pixie of a thing staring down at her nearly spilled tray.
“Oh, sorry, Mercy.” Her squeaky voice did little to temper my nerves. It took her only a split second to follow my line of sight and see Hugh staring back at us. “Oh, it’s Houston!” she said. With one free hand, she waved at him excitedly. “Hi Hugh!” she called out to him.
With lowered eyes, I glanced up just in time to see him pull one hand from his jeans pocket to flip Jax a casual hello in that sexy way that only cowboys seem to manage.
I wanted to crawl into a hole.
“Go talk to him Mercy! I’ll take your tray for you.”
“Jax, no, I…” Despite my uncomfortable protest, she pulled the tray from my hands.
“Go talk to him Mercy. You can’t avoid him forever. He’s sorry. Go forgive him,” she chastised.
I looked down at my now empty hands and frowned. It wasn’t that. Yes, the whole incident between Hugh and Tori agitated me, but I’d gotten over that. She’d played him just like she’d played the whole school. I was more concerned with where Hugh’s and my relationship was going and whether or not I was ready for where it was going.
Hugh was older than me. I was only nineteen, and by the time that I turned twenty, Hugh would be twenty-four. Ultimately, he was looking for the kind of relationship that ended with a white dress and a thrown bouquet. I wasn’t sure that I could give that to him. I came from a long line of witches with relationship issues. Perhaps a seasoned psychologist might venture to suggest our problems stemmed from daddy issues. Ever since I was a young girl, my granny alluded to her inability to keep a man. My grandfather had died a mysterious death leaving my mother essentially fatherless. My mother had gone through man after man and never married any, and to this day she found it hard to pick one and commit, which in the end had left me fatherless as my mother had been.
Dating Hugh had been me dipping my toe into the dating pool for the very first time in my life. Was I supposed to marry the first guy I dated? I never pictured myself as the “college sweethearts” kind of girl. That was fine for someone like Holly who placed great emphasis on men and dating and love lives. I just happened to meet Hugh by chance, and he had toggled on a switch inside of me that until that point had been comfortably toggled off. Did that mean that I had to marry the guy now?
Several weeks ago, my girlfriends had alluded to the fact that I had been leading Hugh on. That was a hurtful thought. I’d never intended to lead him on. He was a really cool guy, and I cared for him a lot, but I just thought we’d been having fun together. It had never occurred to me that maybe Hugh had bigger plans and by simply dating him, I was putting him in a position to have his heart broken down the road.
So instead of being honest with him about my feelings, I’d suddenly become the busiest girl in school. Not that my schedule wasn’t already grueling, what with witch college, four close friends that took up much of my time, my mom and brother living in town, and oh yeah, helping the police solve all the murders in our small town of Aspen Falls, Pennsylvania. But I’d suddenly placed a much higher emphasis on homework and spending extra time in the potions lab, just to avoid having to face Hugh.
But now, here he was. Less than ten yards away. There was no hiding from him. No ducking behind a bush. No ‘accidentally’ missing his call. No more lame excuses. He was right there. I sighed heavily. I knew what I had to do. “Tell the girls I’ll be right there.”
“Take your time,” Jax said with a wink.
I knew Jax wanted nothing more than Hugh and me to get back together. You belong together, Mercy, her words echoed in my brain as I paced slowly towards Hugh. Did we though? Did we really? How would I know? I had no experience with boys, let alone, gulp, men!
“Hey,” I said casually, even though the pterodactyls in my stomach wouldn’t stop flapping their wings long enough to let me take a breath.
“Hey,” he said, grinning at me with that handsome smile that had attracted me to him in the first place. “Can we talk?”
I looked back at my friends. They were all staring at me. Awkward, I thought. “Umm, yeah. Just for a minute. I promised the girls I’d have breakfast with them.”
“Great.” Before I could protest, he took hold of my hand and dragged me back towards Warner Hall. Unprepared for a walk, I stumbled behind him awkwardly. Instead of going in through the door, he veered to the left and dragged me behind a bush.
I looked behind me as we walked. “Hugh, where are we go…”
He stopped short and turned to face me right as I turned to face him. Our bodies collided. He looked down at me and tucked a stray strand of red hair behind my ear. “I’ve missed you, darlin’,” he whispered. “You look beautiful. You’re positively adorable in that skirt.”
My lips pulled back tightly over my teeth, in a mangled smile. “Thanks,” I replied stiffly. I couldn’t help but feel awkward.
He let out a tense breath and his shoulders folded inward slightly. “Why are you avoiding me, Mercy Mae? Are you still mad?”
My voice caught in my throat as I tried to speak. “Hugh, I’m not mad,” I whispered. His eyes pierced mine, making me fidget where I stood. How could someone make me so uncomfortable just by looking at me? I broke his stare and looked down, wiggling my toes inside of my black Converse sneakers.
His hand went to my chin and lifted my face to force my eyes to meet his. “If you’re not mad, then what is it? Why don’t you return my calls or texts?”
“I return them,” I protested weakly.
He grinned and nodded his head. “Yeah, to say that you’re too busy to talk!”
I threw my hands up on either side of me and averted my eyes. “I’ve been busy.” Was it just me or did my voice just raise an octave there?
He chuckled. “I know you. You hear that little squeal in your voice? That means you’re full of it,” he said, calling me on my bluff. “Your avoidance is intentional. I was born at night darlin’, but I wasn’t born last night. All I want to know is what’s going on with you.”
I looked to my left and squinted into the low-hanging, morning sun. “I just have a lot of thinking to do.”
“Thinking about what?”
“About us.”
“What about us? What’s there to think about?” He squatted slightly, making himself look bow-legged, so that he could meet my eyes.
I shrugged. Why was this kind of stuff so hard to talk about? “I don’t know. Feelings and stuff, Hugh.”
“My feelings for you haven’t changed, darlin’. I miss you.”
I nodded. I missed him too. But that didn’t really change things. “I just need some time, Hugh.”
“We got time,” he promised with a smile.
“So, until then…” I began.
“You don’t want me buggin’ ya?” he asked knowingly. Now he was the one unable to make eye contact.
My heart flip-flopped in my chest. “Yeah,” I whispered. I felt horrible. I wasn’t trying to chase him off, but I didn’t know how to just date the man without having some kind of long-term strings attached. Were all relationships this hard?
“Okay,” he whispered back. “I’ll give ya a little breathin’ room then.” Without letting my hand go, Hugh leaned forward. His stubbly jaw brushed past my cheek, and he dropped a chaste kiss at the bottom of my cheekbone, right in front of my ear. His breath sent ripples of goose bumps down both arms as he whispered in my ear. “I’ll be right here waiting when you’re ready.”
2
Carefully, I swung one leg at a time over the bench seat. My ankle length stretchy skirt caught on top of the bench, and I had to negotiate the movement precisely. Holly looked at me with one blonde eyebrow peaked.
“You’re wearing a skirt? Since when does Mercy Habernackle wear a skirt? I didn’t even know you owned a skirt,” she said, casting a mocking glance my way.
Next to me, Jax giggled. “Aunt Linda took us shopping over the weekend. She said Mercy needed some new clothes. She said Hugh’s never going to want to get back together with her wearing skinny jeans and ratty old sneakers every day.”
I scowled at Jax. She was a constant over-sharer. It was no wonder her boyfriend broke up with her after the big party Darcie Larson had thrown at the beginning of the year. She probably talked his ear off just as much as she talked off mine. I closed my eyes and counted to ten before opening them again. “For your information, I didn’t let Mom take me shopping because of Hugh. I just needed to get out of my dorm room. Between homework and classes and all of our investigations, I was fried. I just wanted a little change of pace – a little excitement. Is that so wrong?”
Holly’s roommate, Alba, let out a chortle. “Be careful of what you wish for, Red. We don’t need any more excitement around here. We’ve had plenty to last us a lifetime.”
I shrugged and stabbed a piece of egg and shoved it in my mouth. Ugh, the eggs tasted horrible. Ever since our head lunch lady had been killed the month before, we’d gotten new lunch ladies, and none of them seemed to know how to cook a decent egg. I slugged down a drink of my double caramel macchiato. The warm, creamy taste immediately made my eyes close, and I relaxed my shoulders. Now that was good.
I glanced up at Alba. She was right. We’d solved one too many murders since school started last fall. Peace was a valuable commodity. I needed to be more appreciative for the days we had it. I shoveled in another disgusting bite of egg. “I guess,” I said through a mouthful of food.
Holly put down her fork, flipped her blonde hair over a bare shoulder and eyed me carefully. “So, if Linda took you shopping to look cute, why are you still wearing those filthy Converse sneakers and an Imagine Dragons t-shirt with your skirt?”
I looked down at my outfit. I stuck out my bottom lip as I looked up at Holly. “I thought this was a cute outfit.”
Holly smiled at me as if she were humoring a small child. “Huh. No.” She looked at Jax. “Now Jax. She looks cute. Linda finally got you to do away with the silly witch outfits, Jax? Remind me to give that woman a high-five.”
Jax smiled broadly and looked down at her new outfit. My mom had picked her out a few new things for school. The off the shoulder romper and taupe suede booties had been mom’s idea, and Jax looked super adorable in them. I couldn’t help but wonder what Jax wouldn’t look super adorable in to be quite honest. She was a tiny little thing. Holly had recently colored Jax’s hair a cool caramel color and given her extensions. She looked posh and sophisticated and not at all like the spunky little ball of energy we all knew her to be.
“I haven’t given up the witch outfits,” Jax promised with an assured smile. “I just thought I’d try something new.”
“Well, you look good. Mercy could take pointers,” said Holly.
I rolled my eyes as I looked down at my food. I was not about to make myself into Jax or anyone else for that matter. I was perfectly content being the unsophisticated person that I was. That was the nice thing about being nineteen, no matter who I was at the moment, I enjoyed it. I had the rest of my life to change into someone else. For now, I was going to enjoy just being me.
“Hugh said I looked cute,” I muttered more to myself than anyone else at breakfast.
Holly’s eyes widened, and she leaned over the table. “Ahh, yes! Let’s hear more about your convo with Mr. Houston Brooks.”
I groaned and let my head fall into my hand. I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth.
“I take it you and Hugh didn’t work things out?” asked Alba from across the table.
I pinched one eye shut as I looked up at her. “We’re gonna take a little time apart.”
“I bet he’s not very happy about that,” said Alba with a chuckle.
“I didn’t ask,” I shrugged.
Jax scowled at me. “I think you should give Hugh another chance, Mercy. He’s such a nice guy, and he’s so hot, too.”
“I look for more in a boyfriend than just being hot, Jax.”
“I said he’s nice too.”
“Yeah. He
’s also extremely gullible. He fell for Tori Decker’s stupid games far too easily.”
Alba nodded, but her short brown hair barely moved. “I agree with you there, Red. No one wants a sucker for a boyfriend.”
Holly nearly spit out her food as her blue eyes glinted in the sunlight. “Tori Decker nearly made us all into suckers.”
“But she didn’t,” Alba reminded her. “We were smarter than that. And in the end, it all worked out. She got what was coming to her. She got expelled, and now we never need to speak of that horrendous witch again.”
“Are we seriously talking about Tori again? Really? I’m so over that name,” I said, shoving my tray forward. Whether it was the food that had turned my stomach or the mere mention of Tori Decker, I felt like I was going to be sick.
Alba threw her hands up into the air. “Fine with me. If I never heard her name again, it would be too soon. Next subject!”
I looked around. The breakfast crowd had already begun to thin. I looked down at the Batman watch on my wrist. It was getting late. “Where’s Sweets?”
“Just late as usual,” said Holly with a shrug. She pulled off a piece of her cinnamon roll and stuffed it in her mouth. “Can you believe we are over half-way through second semester already?”
“Thank God,” I whispered.
“We all have to declare majors in a few months.”
“I already know I’m going to major in Mediumship,” I said. I’d already made up my mind. It was what I was best at, and as we’d begun to help the police solve the sudden rash of murders around town, I’d found myself actually interested in the field.
Witch School Dropout: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #7 Page 1