Page 52 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
Normally, I ate alone, but she happened to enter the cafeteria at the same time. So, there was no escaping her to go brood in miserable silence. I just got into line behind her and silently filled my tray.
After we sat down, she repeated her question.
I shrugged.
Emelia dug into her sloppy joe and then tried to give me life advice with her mouth full. “You know, whenever I get depressed about my mom or worried about my guys—”
“About that, how do you manage two guys?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I just told them up front.”
“Don’t they get jealous?”
She laughed and wiped away the Joker mouth she’d gotten from her last bite. “They got over that real quick—”
“How?”
She shrugged. “Dunno. But they’re cool now. Like BFF.”
Unease twisted through my stomach. And I realized that was what I was nervous about. I’d come here to recruit Grayson and Malcolm. But I still didn’t know if they’d agree. I didn’t know how they’d work together. I’d never seen them interact once on campus … other than my dirty dream. I blew out a breath. I needed to think about something else.
But then Emelia made a statement that made turning my black mood around impossible. She said, “If my brother ever finds out, he’ll kill them both.” She laughed. “Overprotective big brother syndrome, you know?” Her eyes met mine.
The snakes inside bit me. My stomach turned sour. I stood, shoving back my chair. “I gotta go.” I left the cafeteria without really looking where I was going. I just kind of wandered. I ended up at the administration building and wandered through the halls until I saw a room I hadn’t been to before. It was tall, with all kinds of brass safe deposit boxes lining the walls. But the door was unlocked. It was odd enough to distract me for a second. And I was desperate for any kind of distraction. I stepped inside and walked toward the nearest wall.
Each box had a little label on it. I bent to read one and realized it was a name. A last name. After scanning a few boxes, I realized they were in alphabetical order. I traced my fingers over the cold boxes with the little pull tabs. I yanked on one and it opened easily. I saw three envelopes inside. It was a mail room. I shut the drawer and continued on. And then I saw a box with my last name on it. Dunemark.
I pulled open the mailbox, wondering why the hell Professor Nazer hadn’t told me about this when I’d been in her office. Inside the box was a letter from Tia and a pink slip that told me to go to room 107 to pick up a package.
I ripped open the letter from Tia first, which was full of gossip from Medeis. It was sweet that she’d written. And while I didn’t care that Terra Lysour had broken up with football jerkoff—which was a long time coming—when Tia lamented the fact that her cousin Britney had gotten asked to the Unnatural Ball, the biggest celebration of the year back east for magicals, the one that all the Pinnacle big-wigs went to, I felt a bit nostalgic. I was sad I couldn’t be there to comfort her with hugs and hot chocolate filled with Laughter-infused marshmallows.
I texted Tia.-I can’t believe you sent me a letter and didn’t tell me already about the ball!!! Britney is a vapid idiot. Whoever she’s going with is gonna have the worst time.-
Her text back pinged right away.-I thought you might like the snail mail. But it’s totally been killing me.-
-The dumb admin never told me I had a mailbox. I got a package too. Is that from you?-
- :) They wouldn’t allow the kind of packages I’d send you.-
I smiled, the black cloud in my head momentarily lifting as I walked down the hall to room 107. I handed over the slip to a gruff looking guy with a chipped front tooth. He handed me back a box that had one corner crushed. I looked at the label. It was my blood draw kit. Medeis Academy had forwarded it here. The sight of the box sent my mood tumbling right back down. I walked slowly down the hallway as Matthew's laughing face flitted through my head. He and Evan had completely embarrassed me on my fourteenth birthday. They'd bribed the janitor at my middle school and arrived at like the butt crack of dawn. They'd hung a huge sign outside the building that said, 'Happy Birthday Hayley!' It had flashed rainbow colors and had a unicorn on it--like I was six.
When I'd gotten to school, I'd been mortified to see that sign. But the prank had only gotten worse. When I walked into the hall, I found balloons floating all through the hallway at different heights. They weren't tied, or filled with helium, they'd been enchanted to hover just so--and fucking Matthew had written an Unpoppable spell on them so I couldn't destroy them before all the other students got to see.
My locker had been the worse. It had been wrapped in gold foil paper that had a note attached. "Happy Birthday! From the Birthday Bandits." Those shitheads had become legendary for their prank. I'd just tried to sink my head into my sweater like a turtle all day long. What fourteen-year-old girl wants people staring at her? I definitely didn't. My eighteenth birthday was coming up. Just about a month away. There would be no pranks for it.
Staring down at the box, at the contrast between what my life had been and what it was now, I had to swallow against the lump in my throat. My feet started to move, and my eyes roamed the admin building, searching for an open door so I could get out of the public eye before I melted down.
I spotted a meeting room and basically dove inside, moving to the corner farthest from the door and just sinking to the floor so that I could let the tears overflow. It hurt. It hurt so bad. More than all the burns that Claude had given me combined. I could feel my face heat and my thoughts turn fuzzy as the tears turned to sobs and I replayed every prank I'd planned to hit Mathew with since his accident. Because sometimes, when times were rough, I'd pretend that nothing had ever happened. I'd pretend that things were normal, and I could do things to get revenge on my ass of a brother, like cover his car with pads in the school parking lot or make an announcement over the PA system. "Matthew Dunemark, please report to the office. Your mother is here with your clean underwear." I started to laugh despite my tears, which just made me choke. I stopped that game instead and just sat against the wall, waiting out the tears. I cried until my eyes were red and I was pretty sure that lunch was over. But I only had Study Hall. So, I didn't give a shit.
I hugged the box to my chest and stared at it a moment. Then I grabbed a pen out of my bag and stabbed the tape until it opened. I pulled out my blood donation kit and stuck the little half dome on my upper arm. I took out the collection bag and tube and attached them to the dome. Then I pressed down. Immediately, a pressure like a vacuum started on my arm and the donation device started working.
I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. At first, I only saw patterns through the red of my eyelids, but gradually memories surfaced again, and the tears started back up. They were slower, since I'd cried so hard before. But they were steady, like I was a leaking faucet, broken and waiting for a repairman to come wrap me up in tape and glue and chemical crap or whatever the hell they did.
"Hey," a soft male voice, almost a whisper, said.
I opened my eyes and looked to my left. Evan stood in the doorway.
I didn't have the energy to scoff or to run. I didn't have the energy to fight or even turn my head away. I was wrung out. I just stared dully at him and watched as he glanced back into the hall, then closed the door behind him and walked over to me. Evan slid down the wall next to me and bent his knees.
