Filed to story: Kissed by Claw and Fang
“Well, to be fair, the school hosts a kind of high tea one afternoon a month to promote student unity. We just decided to make today’s tea a little more festive in your honor.”
“Oh, yes. Because the students have all been so welcoming so far.” I bury my face in my pillow and groan.
“I swear we’re not all bad. Look at Sebastian. He’s great, right?”
“He really was.” I can’t help smiling as I think of the way he teased me, called me New Girl.
“Most of the people you meet here are going to be like him, not like Marc and Quinn. I promise.” She sighs. “But I can cancel if you want. Tell everybody that your altitude sickness is too bad. Which, at the rate you’re going, might not even be a lie.”
She’s trying so hard not to sound disappointed, but I can hear it, even with a pillow over my face.
“No, don’t cancel,” I tell her. “As long as I’m not puking, I’ll go.”
I’ve got to face these prep school kids en masse sooner or later. Might as well get it over with today when they’re all under adult supervision and presumably on their best behavior. So much less chance of me being tossed into the snow or out a window that way… I shiver. Too soon for that joke.
“Awesome!” She plops down on the bed beside me, holds out the water bottle she’d given me earlier. “Don’t forget, water is your friend right now,” she says with a wink.
“I don’t want to,” I whine playfully.
“Yeah, well, I’d do it anyway. Altitude sickness requires lots and lots of hydration. I mean, if you don’t want to get pulmonary or cerebral edema, which, you know, could kill you almost as fast as hypothermia.”
“Seriously?” I roll my eyes at her, but I take the bottle of water and drink half of it in one go. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a lot tougher than you look?”
“My boyfriend. But I think he secretly likes it.”
“Good for him.” I take another long swallow of water. “Do you have Netflix?”
“Are you kidding?” She gives me a look. “I live on a mountain in the middle of Alaska. I’d die without Netflix.”
“Point taken. How about
Legacies? My BFF Heather and I just started watching it last week.”
Macy’s eyes go huge. “Legacies?”
“Yeah. It’s this really cool show about a bunch of teenage vampires, witches, and werewolves all living together at a boarding school. I know it sounds a little silly, but it’s fun to imagine.”
“It doesn’t sound silly at all,” Macy says with a cough. “And count me in. I mean, who can resist a hot vampire?”
“My sentiments exactly.”
We start the show back at the first episode so Macy can catch up. And as we watch the main character’s foster brother become a werewolf, I can’t help thinking about what Marc and Quinn said about the moon. I mean, I know it’s just that they needed the brightness of the moon to illuminate the dark wilderness around here.
Of course I know that.
Still, after going two rounds with Zane-both of which ended with him warning me off-it’s hard not to wonder exactly what I’ve gotten myself into here.
Even Hell
Has its Factions
“Stop fidgeting!” Macy tells me several hours later, smacking at my hands as we get ready to head to the party. “You look amazing.”
“Are you sure?” I open my closet door, look in the full-length mirror for at least the tenth time since I got dressed.
“I’m positive. That dress is amazing on you. The color is perfect.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s not the color I’m worried about.”
“So what are you worried about?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I tug on the neckline a little, try to pull it up an inch or three. “My boobs falling out, maybe?
So not the first impression I’m going for here.”
She laughs. “Oh my God. The dress is gorgeous. And you look gorgeous in it.”
“The dress is gorgeous,” I agree. Because it is. And it probably looks perfectly respectable on Macy’s tall, willowy figure. My big boobs make things a little trickier, though. “Maybe if I don’t take a deep breath for the whole night, things will be okay.”
“Look, maybe you should wear the jeans you originally planned.” Macy crosses to my bed and holds them up. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
It’s tempting, so tempting. But… “Are any of the other girls going to be in jeans?”
“Who cares what the other girls are wearing.”
“I take it that’s a no.” I tug on the neckline one more time, then give up and shut the closet door. “Come on, let’s get going before I decide to stay in and binge-watch Netflix for the rest of the evening.”
Macy gives me a hug. “You look really beautiful. So let’s go have fun.”
I roll my eyes at her a second time, because “beautiful” is a bit more than a stretch-with my curly auburn hair, plain brown eyes, and the random groupings of freckles on my nose and cheeks, I’m pretty much the opposite of beautiful.
On a good day, I’m cute. Standing next to Macy, who is freaking gorgeous, I’m wallpaper. The bland, boring kind.