Page 91 of Love Bites

“Sure,” I said, eager to be done with the whole process and back to the relative safety of my shared room.

We headed over to collect our things.

“I didn’t know it was summertime,” a familiar voice whispered.

“Not funny, Kendall,” Cori said.

“What do you mean?” I asked at the same time.

“Anya’s got mosquito bites,” Kendall snickered and marched off.

“Jesus,” Cori said.

“It’s fine,” Anya shrugged. “No worse than what I heard in high school.”

“We’re notinhigh school,” Cori fumed.

“Kendall’s kind of an asshole,” I noted.

“She can be okay,” Anya said, shrugging.

“Move, ladies, move,” Headmistress Hart trumpeted on her way back through.

Up close, I could see that she looked younger than her voice and posture suggested. She might have been in her late thirties or early forties, a trim Black woman, with short hair and high cheekbones.

Cori led the way to the next room where we hurriedly threw our towels in a bin and pulled on the snowy white robes we’d been carrying.

They looked surprisingly fantastic on every figure and skin tone, though we did all look a bit dramatic.

“Wow, it looks like we’re all getting married,” I joked weakly.

Cori and Anya exchanged a look.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Anya said. “It’s just that you can’t joke once we get out there. It’s all super serious.”

“Juniper Krantz, are you putting on deodorant?” Headmistress Hart demanded of a startled looking girl who was holding a stick of the offending item.

“Get back in there, scrub down quickly, and you’re on detention for a week,” the Headmistress told her. “No scents, no exceptions. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Headmistress,” everyone chorused.

She nodded and followed the chastened Juniper back to the showers, ostensibly to be sure she scrubbed off her deodorant.

“Ready?” Cori asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“No,” Anya said, “But it doesn’t really matter, so let’s just get it over with.”

Together, we headed through the last doorway and out into the stone courtyard. It was freezing out - October in the mountains of Pennsylvania had more teeth than it did in the city. And the bright moonlight reflecting off the stones somehow made it seem even colder.

I expected the cold ground to be the worst part, but somehow, my bare feet were warmed by the stones.

“There’s a hot spring below the courtyard,” Anya whispered, as if sensing my confusion. “Lucky, right?”

Damned straight it was lucky. I wasn’t sure how long I would have lasted without it. My wet hair already felt like it was forming long, chestnut icicles in the breeze.

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