Page 82 of Frayed Owner

Even my own prank.Septemberthirteenthwas Positive Thinking Day and I’d done it on October thirteenth.

I really was a blonde bimbo like so many accused me of. I was mortified. Sergey was the one who pointed it out when he saw the banners, having seen something on social media the month before.

I’d run to Gloria to tell her my mistake, completely embarrassed and apologetic.

“I honestly thought you did that on purpose so no one saw it coming,” Robin admitted with a shrug. “It’s not a big deal, Bevin. It’s not like we’ll lose points for doing a fake, fun holiday a month late for the Wicked Challenges.”

The others were in agreement, but I was still mortified.

And people around me kept laughing. I was shocked when Link was one of them, his laugh mocking even. I was going to ream him for being mean, but then I saw the indicators of stress and figured it was more that he needed any laugh than he was mocking me.

Still, I wasn’t just going to stand there and take that, so I left.

Luckily, no one seemed to really notice or they thought it was part of throwing people off. This prank went much,muchbetter than mine. That bummed me out a bit since I’d tried so hard and this had been my idea too.

But at least it went well, right?

People embraced it, and the older witches even had a circle at the guard station where people could “wash” off the magic in case they needed to make calls or leave campus. They got extra points for that as well, basically that people admitted they couldn’t get the magic off themselves and needed their help.

That was a good suggestion from Mrs. Reid.

I was a bit confused when most of the faculty wasn’t affected. I made a point to be early to class to ask Wyatt.

“They don’t have the power you and Winter do,” he explained. “You both blew through most everyone’s protections—even tenured professors. That was a flex on the master’s students’ part and it was intentional. It’s also what pissed so many people off, so Gloria and the others played it smart and fun.”

“Yeah, I rarely play things smart,” I grumbled, thanking him and going to leave. But I stopped and pet Quinn for a minute. We were doing better, and he’d made a real point to be a good friend to me, not a bratty familiar. He soaked up the love and even the strawberries I’d brought from breakfast for him.

“Bevin?” Quinn called after me when I turned to leave, waiting until I looked back at him. “Could we work on a blanket when you have some time? You’re the first witch or warlock I really trust besides Derek, and I—there were a lot of problems when he was growing up. I’d really like to do a blanket with you.”

He was so hesitant and vulnerable that I could almost see the real scars him having to survive being a familiar in the Wyatt family gave him.

I smiled. “I’d love that, Quinn. We’re getting more in for everyone else, but we can scroll through other options and order what you like.”

“I’d want you to pick for me. I can pick with Derek what I like. I want one from you that we work on. If that’s okay?”

“I could use the break and fun time,” I told him, glad when he made happy noises. Getting me to take a break and relax more had been the goal.

Wyatt was glancing between us, trying to figure out what was going on and he missed. I gave a half shrug and mentally promised to fill him in later.

In between classes, I went to the guard station and pretended that I needed to be cleaned of the magic so Gloria got more points. I’d sidestepped it all with my protections and magic… But others didn’t need to know that.

Severalaskedbecause people were too nosy, but I just told them I went to the guard station and kept walking. Seriously, people needed lives besides fixating on me.

I mean, not the ones I knew. That I understood, but random people I’d never met before just walked into my path and asked me questions like my answers were owed to them.

So bizarre.

I did get a playful earful about not warning anyone I was involved with. Kelton and Nigel were kind of adorable talking like pirates. Winter kept giving me looks while staying silent mostly. I was pretty sure he wasn’t affected and didn’t want to blow his cover.

And Sergey was fucking sexy. Something with his accent and stern vibe… It just fucking worked for him.

There were a few deans and members of the board in training class. Emma told us to ignore it and basically they were checking out the other aides to see if any of them could take over for Coach.

Which meant he was officially out? That would be welcome news for sure.

I focused on what I was doing, and Emma reminded us that it was the first day of the new witches running club. Apparently, it had gotten around how even if my parents treated me as a useless woman, I focused on always being able to run away from any enemy.

And people admitted it was a damn good idea.

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