Page 141 of Drama Queen

“I told you, no one sits here, it’s not safe.” I grasp her upper arm firmly, careful not to hurt her as I tug her along beside me. I steer her to the seat next to mine just as Jamie joins us. He stares first at me, then at her, trying to figure the new dynamic out but I just give a slight shake of my head to let him know not to ask now. He nods and slips into the seat on her left. Drew leans over her, holding his hand out for her to shake, “Drew Emeralds. My brother Jamie and our best friend, Parker Walker.”

I hold my breath as she opens her mouth and laughs. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Yeah, no, I’m out.” The three of us reach for her at the same time but she vanishes, reappearing at the front of the classroom just as Brightwood walks through the door. The fucker takes one look at her standing next to the first desk near the door and his entire face lights up like he’s just been told he’s getting all of his dirty dreams coming true at once.

I brace myself for the fallout but the girl just sits down, lifts her left leg over her right and folds her arms, glaring at Brightwood, daring him to try something. To my utter shock, Brightwood’s smile drops, his entire body going ridged beforehe scurries away to the opposite side of the room. Not once throughout the class, does he even glance in her direction. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

Assholes

GABRIELLA

I gavethe class my best effort, trying not to look like a complete idiot as the teacher, Mr Brightwood - the sleaze, droned on about the history of Elemental powers and the reasons it’s supposed to remain a secret from humans. I almost laughed out loud as he said that part. After all, I’m human and I’m in their school. Although the fact that I somehow ended up blinking and crossing an entire room in the blink of an eye, has me second guessing the human part. Then again, one of those guys could have teleported me, I guess.

I’ll just keep my eyes open, see what else I can find out, worst case scenario, I end up being expelled for not being good enough to pass any classes. Best case scenario, I can gather evidence against these freaks and make enough money selling the story to finally get away from this state and the pricks who run it.

The class stampedes out the door once more, everyone eager to get away from the creepy teacher. I can’t understand why no one has dealt with him before now, it’s not like we’re all littlekids who can’t tell a teacher no. My head was about exploded with rage when he entered the room and looked like he was going to cream his pants over someone sitting in the front row. I gave him my best fuck off glare and he practically shrunk into himself.If he’s that piss weak, why the hell are people afraid of him?

Curious, I linger until the trio of hotties, Jamie, Drew and Parker, file down the aisle to the door, “Not sure why you all are scared of the creep. He seems like a pussy compared to you three.” My tongue glues to the roof of my mouth as the three of them perk up acting as though I’ve just complimented them. “Then again, I suppose immature wannabes like you would be scared of a pansy ass teacher who thinks he’s entitled to whatever he wants.” I smirk and turn my back on them, “Like usually recognises like.” I say just loud enough for them to hear.

“Hey now, we’re nothing like that creep.” Drew snaps as he steps into my line of sight.

“Really, you ran into me on purpose, hit on me with the most pathetic line and then knelt in the grass like a kicked puppy after being rejected.” I glance back at the door to the classroom. “Sounds a lot like the creep back there.”

“That wasn’t me, that was my brother.”

“Now see, you’re just proving my point. You think just because we just met, I can’t tell the difference between the two of you. He’s got a freckle right there…” I poke him in the face, pointing out the empty spot near his lip. “You don’t have one.” He shocks the hell out of me by grabbing my hand and pressing a kiss to my palm. I’m melting at the tender press of his lips. Anyone else and I’d be falling for his charms, but I was warned and I’m not stupid enough to ignore a warning like the one I got this morning. Wrenching my hand away, I turn to Jamie, “You going to show me where to go for lunch or are you as big of a douche as the lesser twin?”

His booming laugh startles me enough that I have to do a double take. The pair of them are absolutely gorgeous; both have the same chameleon hazel eyes, the mop of hair on their heads is blonde with brown tips and just long enough to cover their eyes and ears, I can see the buzz cut at the back of their heads that makes them look like they have thinner hair than they do but it’s their dimpled smirks that leave me a jittery mess. Not that I’ll ever let them know that. Especially since Samantha warned me what they’re really like: Assholes with a capital A.

There’s no way I’ll fall for their bullshit. Nope, not a chance.

Of course, I never was good at lying to myself.

Deals

JAMIE

“We needto know your name. Someone as beautiful as you would have an equally beautiful name, I’m sure.”

“Seriously? I talk you up and you go ahead and act just like this douche?” She nods her head to Drew and rolls her pretty eyes. “Tell you what, if you can guess my name, I’ll give you a break and let you get away with one lame pickup line a day for the next week.”

“Deal.” I snap out before the others can ruin this. My mind goes completely blank as I stare into her dazzling cobalt eyes. I’m so lost, I stumble out the first name on my tongue without thought, “Gabriella.” I want to slap myself stupid.

Her eyes go wide and she take several steps backwards. “How…” She trails off, shaking her dark coffee coloured hair. “You cheated, you must have known who the new people were and took a guess from the names on the list. Doesn’t count.”

“Nah ah, you made a deal. We get to say whatever lines we want for the rest of the week.” I laugh, shocked that I got it rightoff the bat but not wanting to let her know I pulled the name out of my ass.

“Nah the deal was foryouto say whatever line once a day.”

I’m tempted to steal the glory for myself but then another idea pops into my head. This is a competition after all, might as well make it interesting. “What one of us does, the others do, we’re a package deal, take it or owe us a favour of our choosing.”

Her perfect nose scrunches up as she thinks over what I just said. I’m fascinated by this girl, she’s feisty yet also strangely sweet. I’m so busy staring that her words catch me off guard. “What kind of favour, cause I’m not down for anything if it’s a sexual favour.”

“No, we’re not like that.” I could have sworn I heard her mumble, “That’s not what I heard.” But I ignore it and continue, “It’ll just be something we need at a time of our choosing.” I wink at her and keep moving, hoping she’ll follow but when I glance back, I realise no one’s following. They’re all staring across the hall at a group of students surrounding something. I walk back so I’m standing next to them and go up on my toes to see over the other kids heads. On the floor with her face contorted in agony is Melody. Drama queen of Dane Academy.

Faking it

GABRIELLA

The playful banterbetween the guys and I stops the moment I see the girl drop to the ground. She’s pretty in the cheerleader stereotypical sense; she’s skinny and blonde but the evil glint in her eyes as she starts scrunching up her face and moaning like she’s the world’s worst porn star. It makes me believe this is all for show. Students crowd around her, giving her the attention she wants and then to my shock, Parker rushes over to her and kneels down.

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