Page 36 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
Then I got a triple score. I leaned in and slid my hand over his as I gave him the pencil. “Want to concede?”
Malcolm scooted back, eyeing me. “Why do you care if I’m your tutor?”
“You’re the smartest guy here.”
“You aren’t behind.”
“I have to have a tutor. It’s required.”
“It’s a stupid requirement. Why follow stupid requirements?” Malcolm tilted his head and focused on me, his gaze as bright and sharp as a laser.
I tried to gauge what he wanted. Tried to think of what he wanted to hear. But my stupid eyes glanced right. Even I caught it. Malcolm’s eyes hardened and he anticipated a lie.
“Get out.”
Fuck.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. And instead of trying to outwit him, I told him the truth. Part of it, anyway. “If I get kicked out of here my mother will cut me off and I’ll lose the one thing I’ve always wanted.”
“Which is?”
But I kept my eyes closed and shook my head. “I just met you.”
“Fair enough.”
I let out a sigh of relief, opened my eyes, and grabbed onto the seat of my chair. I squeezed it, trying to expel some of the relief flooding me. He wasn’t going to kick me out. The truth had been the right choice.
Malcolm gave me a sidelong glance of amusement and tapped his pencil against the table. “You still don’t need a tutor. Everyone has different degrees of control over their natural magic.” He studied the sheet intensively, like a doctor about to perform an operation.
“I agree it’s stupid. But I don’t want to be stuck three nights a week with some dude who only knows how to make ice shanks.” I rolled my eyes.
“Ice shanks can be useful.”
“I’m hoping I can stay out of prison.” I crossed my fingers and held them up for him. “Besides, your subtlety is so much better,” I told him. “The way you make me get goosebumps …” I swallowed hard as another tingle of heat flashed between my thighs. “Andthat. I’ve never known an Icefire who can do that.”
Malcolm’s face remained impassive. He acted like he hadn’t heard me. He stared at the sheet for another minute before he leaned back in his chair. He studied me. I felt like a piece of art. Like a sculpture set out in a museum. His eyes traced over me from head to toe. But not the way a horny teenager did. Not the way the other guys at school did. His eyes traced me like he was a sketch artist and he was searching out all my shadows.
It made me nervous on a level I’d never been before.
I clasped the seat to avoid shaking. My normal facade of confident bitch faded as I watched Malcolm. An awkward laugh burst out of me for absolutely no reason and my hands flew up to cover my reddening cheeks.
That’s when he leaned forward with a smile, this time invading my space, forcing me to lean backward. He made a line on the page. And then another line. And another. He filled in boxes one by one, and though my eyes flitted to the page occasionally, I couldn’t help but stare at him. His profile, his features, they were beyond handsome. But when I stared at him, I didn’t see those things. I saw control. And concentration. I saw the rigid, upright need for honesty.
All of it made me feel vulnerable. Another flash of heat hit me, and I gasped.
I’d proposed to play a game with Malcolm.
But whatever game he was playing wasn’t just on the paper.
It was something else. It was a game I was sure I’d lose.
Chapter 16
Malcolm annihilatedme during the dot game. And then I sat next to him in Ho’s class, like a fucking starstruck nerd.
He didn’t say anything, but he bit down on the tiniest grin when I stood at the seat next to his, waiting to see if he’d tell me to get lost. I didn’t want to overstep and piss him off again, like I’d obviously done last class. I also wanted him to reject me and get it over with if he was gonna go that route, because we were the first into the classroom, even Professor Ho hadn’t gotten here yet.
Malcolm nodded once and I slid into the seat beside him with relief, glad he wasn’t sick of me yet. As I reached down to the floor to dig into my bag, I wanted to kick myself over being relieved.What the hell is wrong with you Hales?I asked myself.
