Page 26 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
He waited for his companions to finish their descent and glanced up to see me staring down at him.
His grin was absolutely wolfish.
I had to hide my grin back. Because Grayson was so cute. He thought he was the predator.
He wasn’t.
He was the prey.
I couldn’t wait to catch him.
Chapter 12
The next morning,I woke up early. I'd had to cut away the nasty soup-stained section of my carpet and toss it in the dumpster. A jagged circle of old wooden floor peeked up through that hole now.
I'd saved a pair or two of shoes and tossed the rest. But the only panties I had left were the ones I’d been wearing and the ones in my go-back, a pack I kept underneath my bed in case anyone ever found my flash drive and I had to bolt. Those panties were not flattering. Granny panties meant for comfort in case I had a long bus ride ahead of me, they were patterned with daisies. They kind of looked like an elementary schoolgirl's panties. Not something I wanted to be seen in. And I expected them to be seen. Laura and Grayson wouldn't go to all that work for nothing. It didn't matter that I'd let them leave on top. Entitled bullies liked to feed their egos a consistent diet. I harbored no illusion that I'd be off the hook.
That's why I was up before dawn, ordering replacements and then sitting at my desk, tapping my wand against my lip, trying to come up with some kind of retaliation that was significant enough to tell Grayson I wasn't a pushover, but not significant enough to make him my enemy forever. I watched dawn crawl across the sky, as tired and groggy as I was. The sun rose slowly. But finally, I had an idea. I dipped my wand into my inkwell and started to write.
As I'd expected, Grayson's crew didn't make me wait long. They hadn't developed the same sort of patience that I had. Their goals were short term, they had no long game.
I had hardly stepped outside the girls' dorm room to head to breakfast before a blast of wind hit me and sent my skirt flying up, displaying my panties for everyone.
I made eye contact with Grayson; his dark face unreadable in the grey cloud cover of morning. His hand was extended, keeping my plaid skirt aloft, dancing in the wind almost like a Marilyn Monroe snapshot.
A smile stretched across my face when Laura's hyena-shrill laughs stuttered. Because nobody saw my granny panties. I'd spelled them to glow neon—flashing from green to red.
"I figured if you were gonna make me show the goods, I might as well make the goods a light show," I winked, letting them eye my color-changing panties. "Anyone want to play red light green light?"
Grayson's lip quirked up. He didn't speak, but his expression said, "touché."
I gave them all a little finger wave before strutting toward the cafeteria, not bothering to push down my skirt or hide my panties.
I ignored a couple catcalls and the cell phones that came out to photograph my ass. I did take note of those students, because I'd hack their phones later to delete the footage. But there was no reason for me to start shit with them. I already had Mr. Mars to contend with. And I was pretty happy with the way things were going. But derailing their prank this morning wasn't enough.
Grayson still had to know he couldn't get away with shit like last night. The billionaire's son wasn't untouchable. He was about to learn that.
I entered the cafeteria. The doors closed behind me and my skirt finally fell normally over my thighs. I walked inside, wondering what Grayson and company were thinking, hoping they hadn't eaten yet.
The cafeteria was a big beige room full of round wooden tables and chairs. Skylights were scattered around the ceiling as were potted plants across the floor. Other than that, there was no decoration to speak of—other than their grand entryway—MAD liked things spartan for the students.
I headed toward the metallic serving area and grabbed a tray, thankful that a lot of students seemed to have eaten and the place was only about a quarter full. I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the choices. No need to piss off the staff who cooked, though I kind of wondered what the qualifications for the job were. Hatred of teenagers? Appearance on that norm show,Worst Cooks of All Time? I prayed that my mom would soon relent on my credit card restrictions—she’d been pissed about the stripper for Tia and only made an exception for shoes and undies when I took a picture of my damaged goods and told her that a box of my stuff had gotten dropped in the mud—and I could order some premade meals and a microwave and avoid this nonsense all together. I regretted my generosity when I smelled the tuna surprise that was tonight’s main dish. I shook my head at the middle-aged dude serving it and put together a wilted salad with a lot of shaved almonds, tomatoes, and some ranch. I grabbed an apple and a banana, and some toast with apple butter, then found a seat away from everyone. I set myself up in a dark corner, partially hidden behind a plant.
Grayson and his entourage entered.Score.Laura and her wild mane of black hair clung to him like a fuzzball on a sweater. If I'd had someone to bet against, I would have put up all my millions to wager she'd never once contradicted him. Ever. I rolled my eyes. But that part didn't matter—yet. I still owed Grayson for last night.
As they got their food, I unrolled a piece of parchment. Then I wrote the spell that I'd brainstormed this morning. It was a long spell, one of the longest I'd written, but I wanted to be sure it wouldn't be easy to unravel.
I watched the paper burn, leaving a little snake trail of ash on the table as the golden cloud of magic arose. It glittered in front of me for a minute before it disappeared. I put my things away carefully. There was a time delay on the spell, and I wanted to be out of the way before it activated. But I did plant a small camera—I zip tied it to the leaves of the plant in front of me. I checked the video feed to my phone and tilted the camera so that it was square on Grayson's table. I hoped the sound was good enough. Then I rose, very careful not to skip or smile or betray my glee. I was careful not to react when Grayson and his friends saw me.
Of course, he blew my skirt up again, letting the entire cafeteria get a good laugh. But I gritted my teeth, kept my eyes on the door, and didn't acknowledge any of the bullshit. I knew that sycophantic laugh track would soon go wild with unbridled mirth at his expense.
As I stepped outside the cafeteria, I was right.
I ran to the girls' gym and hid in the broom closet before I allowed myself to open my phone. But once I did, I collapsed in laughter. I was fucking brilliant. After I'd walked out of the cafeteria, my spell had activated. And not thirty seconds later, Grayson had reached for his water bottle. As soon as the plastic touched his lips, it turned into a giant sparkling pink dildo. To the rest of the people in the cafeteria, it looked like Grayson was sucking a giant dick.
Stupid Laura did what any class-whore clinger does. Her eyes widened in horror and she pulled the bottle away from Grayson. Of course, as soon as it wasn’t touching his lips, it turned normal again. Presto change-o.
"Hey!" he growled. "You've got your own. I wasn't finished—"
