Page 32 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
“I cannot believe they’re talking like this,” Emelia’s face had gone white as a sheet and she put a hand to her mouth as the professor allowed all kinds of dirty innuendo throughout the rest of class, feigning innocence.
I’d just clutched Emelia’s shoulder and laughed until tears streamed down my eyes.
Zavier and Wolfe needed to go on the road. Start a comedy show.
Zavier had to run off to Cross Country after that, because every fucking student had to participate in that class once a day, seven days a week.
“Enjoy the misery!” I yelled after him.
“It’ll only be miserable because I won’t be able to stare at your ass the whole run!” he called back.
I rolled my eyes as Emelia stepped up next to me.
“I’ve got Amulet Creation with Barron next,” she said, holding up a schedule and looking confused. “Can you point me in the right direction?”
I was only three days into MAD myself, but luckily, the Academy layout was pretty simple. There were two massive gyms that sat between the girls’ dorm and the guys’ dorm on the north side of the campus. Above and around these buildings were trees. Lots of trees. In the middle of campus were two long, white stone buildings lined with windows and more goddamned blinds on all those windows than I’d ever seen in my life. Dr. Potts would love them. And the fact that they looked covered in dust.
Each of the classroom buildings sat on either side of a grassy quad, which was currently as dead and out of season as the damned blinds. The buildings were labeled—Building A and Building B—clearly the faculty believed in the Keep It Simple Stupid naming system. The cafeteria, library, and administration offices were all part of the same long building at the front of the school grounds. And all of it was nestled cozily in the woods where we students were made to run over pinecone strewn paths full of ankle-twisting potholes. Metamorphose was super charming like that. It was especially fun on yesterday’s run when one of those damned stone lions jumped out at us, startling us as we ran.Fucking Cross Country.
I shook off my thoughts and glanced over at Emelia—her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair as her eyes gazed around at the blatant Bubble sales going on in the hallway in front of us. MAD students didn’t give two fucks about drugs. Or detention. Most had seen the inside of the pen. Professors seemed to turn a blind eye to Bubble; it was better than Rapture, which made the jerks who took it temporarily invisible, or Elation, which made people laugh until they puked. Those sales went down in the dorms, amulets with little spells tucked inside exchanged for massive amounts of cash. Or blowies. The lack of girls at this school made BJs a hot commodity.
In addition to Zavier, whose antics were mostly harmless, I’d been propositioned about ten times a day. My threats to turn their dicks into literal popsicles made most guys back off. The fact that I couldn’t actually do that since I wasn’t an Icefire was completely irrelevant.
A fifth-year dude walked by, and seeing Emelia’s open mouth, he winked and said, “Need something to fill that hole?”
Fucking academy guys. Even though I’d just laughed through a class full of innuendo, there was something about the way Zavier delivered his bullshit that made it silly instead of slimy. This dude did not have that gift.
“Sorry, Slim Jim, she’s more of a Brat kind of girl,” I retorted.
“Fuck off, Chess Piece,” he glared at me.
Thanks, Professor Ho, thanks a fucking lot,I thought as I flipped him off and grabbed Emelia’s hand. The only upside to everyone here thinking I was a Pinnacle-darling was that they wouldn’t suspect me of stealing from it. “Come on. I happen to be in that class too.”
“So, is it always like this?” she whispered, as we walked outside onto the dead grass and headed for the other building.
“As far as I can tell,” I said, narrowing my eyes as Grayson strutted past, his arm around that curly haired bitch’s shoulders. Laura, of course, mad dogged me, because women are vengeful like that. But Grayson’s handsome, sculpted face had evaluated me coldly before turning away, like he was unaffected and had better things to do.
I knew better of course. He’d been hitting up spell casters online. I’d been paying them off not to create spells for him. My eyes followed the handsome boy as he disappeared around the corner. I wasn’t going to let him buy his way into beating me. He was going to have to do it himself.
When I looked back at Emelia, her green eyes studied me.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“Cause I’m a bitch,” I responded, linking arms and leading her to Barron’s class.
“Well, that’s obvious. You’ve been nothing but mean to me.”
We both giggled and for a second I felt like a normal teenage girl. But I wasn’t. I turned the question back on her. “What about you? Why’s your mom threatening to send you here?”
Emelia bit her lip and leaned over to whisper, “She caught me having sex.”
I unlinked our arms and stepped back, hands in the air. “No! What? A teenager having sex!” I put my hand to my chest. “What’s the world coming to?” I laughed.
She gave me a half-grin, but then she pressed her lips together. There was more to this story.
I tilted my head and studied her. “Okay, but still. This place is extreme.”
She gave a single-shoulder shrug. I doubted she’d tell me, but maybe I could guess what kind of sex had been so outrageous a mother would threaten her daughter with reform school.
