Page 85 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
“Things changed.”
“For real?” I could hear the excitement in Tia’s voice. She wanted this—bad. All the kids at Medeis did.
“For real. He and I made friends. And I’ve got a date—”
Her squeal was louder than a pig’s. I had to hold the ear away from my phone. “It’s Grayson isn’t it?!” Her voice was loud enough to carry through the room.
Grayson looked up from where he leaned against his windowsill, a quizzical smile on his face.
I licked my lips and winked at him. “You know it.”
“Giiiiirl!” I could hear the springs on Tia’s bed as she jumped up and down on it. “This is gonna be the best. You’re the best—”
Her dad yelled from somewhere. “Tia, what’s going on?”
And just like that, Tia’s salty attitude was back. “Nothing! Okay. Just celebrating the return of shark week!”
“What?”
“You know, because there’s blood in the water?” she screeched.
I tried to hold my hand over my phone, but it was too late. All the guys in my room wore disgusted faces.
"Um, Tia?" I said.
There was a long, potent pause. "Evan's right next to you, isn't he?"
"Yup."
"Fuck my life."
I laughed. "Well, good news. The ball isn't until next week, so shark week should be over."
"If I haven't killed myself by then."
"Don't you dare! I need you to help me go dress shopping. Plus, I need to see if you know anyone."
"Yeah, for what?"
"I need a couple amulets. And um … some fire-resistant outfits."
“Say what?”
I cleared my throat. “There’s a stupid hazing thing out here …” I trailed off, crossing my fingers in the air as I stared around at the guys.
Tia blew out a breath. “I told you that you didn’t belong at that place. That’s fucking dangerous.”
“I know. So …”
Tia sighed. “Yeah, I got a cousin.”
* * *
Not everything went aseasy as calling Tia. But she helped me check a couple things off my list, so then I focused on others. Like where I could get an authorized wand. Doing the spell to get into the vault with any wand that didn’t have a Pinnacle-approved core, would set off a Sloppy Spell. Some guy in the eighties had found that out the hard way when the Break Spell he’d been writing to try and crack the vault door apart literally cracked every bone in his body.
I was not interested in having the same experience. So, we had to lift a wand. Zavier had been demonstrating his competence all week, bringing me Professor’s ties and people’s phones he’d stolen. He’d even brought me a bra, which I’d nearly slapped him for until I realized it was mine. He’d stolen it off me and I hadn’t even noticed.
That had earned him a kiss in the middle of the quad and me a detention.
