Page 7 of Zero Happily Ever Afters

“You all right?” I asked, recognizing the agony of linking onto psychic energy unintended. It was sort of like when drinking water down the wrong pipe or breathing in a scratchy cough or banging your head against a fucking brick wall full force. Basically, it sucked.

“I’m fine, Nurse Frost.” Jennifer glared, giving off the most menacing expression she could muster, before cutting her gaze down to the opposite side of the hallway. “And that goofy fuck better reel in his lust. I do not have the energy to combat pining today.”

Jennifer buried her thoughts quickly after that, realizing she stood too close to me, and nearly revealed where her pining emotions fell. I already knew about her crush on Carter, Carter’s crush on her, how the pair couldn’t say it out loud because they both loved their friendship—even if they spent most of their time together teasing the other one for being a preppy prince or an emo queen.

I turned my head to where the irritating flutter of a crush had come. The feelings had latched onto Jennifer, who now sat in the classroom doing all she could to turn off her empathy.

At the end of the hall, Jamius turned out to be the culprit. I stared at him and three of his copies as they clustered around Layla, who was none too happy for his doting.

I scrunched my brow, genuinely perplexed Jamius had feelings for Layla. One, they’d never be reciprocated since she only liked girls. Two, Jamius was so nice and calm, whereas Layla was generally mean. Not like a distance herself from others kind of mean, but more of a mean girl who enjoyed picking and teasing and tearing down someone for sport.

Jamius brushed his hand across the twists that hung over his face like bangs and grinned. “I’m just curious what kind of guys she likes. I think we have a lot in common and…”

His thoughts trailed off almost as much as his rambling mouth when thinking of Layla’s best friend, Amani Williams, one of Chanelle’s homeroom students. I didn’t know what Jamius thought he had in common with Amani, but her image rippled in his surface thoughts, surrounding the well of his inner core, along with flashes of the pair somewhere snowy over winter break. I was surprised I hadn’t seen it sooner, in the days since he returned to school, but for some reason, Jamius’ desire practically overflowed, and with the help of a few duplicates, he decided to act on his crush.

“So, does she like funny guys?” A copy pointed to himself, grinning at Layla.

“Or how about charming?” A second copy adjusted his sleeves, rolling them down so as not to appear as uncouth as his fellows. Ugh—those were the copies’ actual thoughts. Jamius had imprinted personality traits onto them specifically to gauge which would be the most helpful when trying to win over Amani.

“I bet she likes tough guys.” The third and final copy blocked Layla’s path, flexing his arms and scrunching his face in this bizarre, almost constipated expression.

“Oh, Jamius.” Layla walked her fingers up the tough guy copy, a smile on her face and complete and utter contempt in her thoughts.

This wouldn’t end well for Jamius.

“Your piqued interest is cute,” Layla said. “Almost in an adorably pathetic kind of way. But now I’m bored.”

Layla snarled, transforming into her full-size humanoid cougar form, which had immediately intimidated Jamius. So much so that even my legs quivered for a moment. When she roared, nearly everyone in the hall scampered in the opposite direction. Jamius’ heart raced, and his magic waned; soon, his three copies exploded into puddles of muck on the floor.

“She likes confidence,” Layla said with a deep, beast-like voice before shifting back into her petite human form and running her fingers through her low-hanging ponytails. “You shouldn’t waste your time, Hun.”

Layla strutted to the classroom and then adjusted her oversized blazer before stepping inside.

It didn’t take long for everyone else to make it into the classroom afterward. Once the bell rang, I went directly to the front of the room and started my morning lesson. With a wave of my hand, I withdrew my laptop from my satchel and set it on my desk, rearranging the cords and getting the projector ready while I pulled up my PowerPoint.

“As most of you know by now, the Spring Showcase is just around the corner.”

“Wait a second.” Yaritza did a timeout gesture with her hands and quirked a brow. “It’s barely February.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Jamius pointed to Yaritza as if to note she’d observed the most hidden secret of the world. “Didn’t it start in like May last year?”

“April, actually.” Caleb cleared his throat, prepared to elaborate on the exact date. The exact date of all three events.

“Yes, the first-year Spring Showcase lasts about a week, generally speaking,” I explained. “But the second-year Student Showcase is meant to be a festive event that draws in enchanters.”

“When you say festive, do you mean like a celebration?” Yaritza asked with wide eyes, curiosity piqued, and attention locked onto me. “Or is it just a bunch of combat rounds that’ll be dragged out for months?”

I started to answer, “Well…”

“Because I’m fine with either,” Yaritza said, summoning her magic from sheer excitement.

The glow of flaming rocks around her thick curls made me hesitate. I didn’t know which was worse, the idea of Yaritza absentmindedly setting herself on fire or my classroom.

“Focus.” I snapped my fingers and pointed to the fiery pebbles hovering around Yaritza.

“Oh, total attention span on it, Mr. Frost.” Yaritza stood up and twirled, letting the flaming rocks circle her uniformed skirt as she spun. “It’s a new gravitational effect I’ve been working on.”

She whirled faster and faster, moving the rocks and herself with an added edge of telekinesis, and part of me thought she might very well drill her way through the floor like in the cartoons. But she didn’t. Yaritza’s mind called out, eyes locked on a central spot of the wall that kept her steady until she finished her demonstration and took a dramatic bow that got polite applause from half the class.

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