.
.
.
They looked dead-serious.
Hayden had a nasty smirk on his face; Faux looked like he was already picturing me on his bed, while Damien's blue eyes held some confidence that I was going to agree.
Heart moved closer behind me, while Athie bit her finger seductively, staring at me, "Actually, that's not bad. Sweetheart, have you ever made love with a mythical?"
"Uh?" I asked, confused. We weren't considering this whole thing, were we?
"The best kind to make love with are the ones with magic. They can enchant you to make you think you're in a city of gold, or on some breathtaking island. Where in the human world is it really great?" Athie asked, her voice sultry, as she blinked continuously, trying to think.
"The Bahamas," I suggested, and for some reason, I blushed.
"They can illusion it up!" Her dark eyes seemed to explode with enthusiasm.
"Woah, she's feeling it," Natalie said, chewing on some kind of pink candy.
"Ah, no, no. I'm not feeling such," I was quick to defend myself, avoiding Hayden's gaze that was unreadable.
Heart began again, turning me to look into her golden eyes, "Look, no one comes into our squad that easily, okay? That room was booked for us. We've stayed there for years, even before officially entering this new level. If you come in so easily, being some cheap skate, our worth will reduce. These seniors would think we're just a bunch of people trying to put ourselves on a pedestal, and anyone can simply be affiliated with us. Anyone without powers, royal background, or an exceptional brain, or danger…"
"She has a royal background. Isn't that enough?" Damien interrupted, leaning against the wall, crossing his legs, while Hayden stared at each person passing by, his bag slumped on one shoulder. He didn't look like he was here.
"Her parents decided to have nothing to do with their families years ago, and it's because they wanted her," Heart gestured towards me, "to live a life that knew no danger. How ironic that she's here now. As far as I know, she's not royal anymore, except she's acknowledged. You know I care so much about status, guys. We have to keep building it this way, so we can actually become prefects."
Heart went on and on, her boxy shaped lips forming words that went into one ear, and out the other, and honestly guys, I didn't see the point in what she was saying. It all made no sense to me.
"...if anyone tries shit with her, she gets embarrassed, everyone discovers she's really nothing, and boom! I'd be ashamed to walk the school halls! So you guys have to make sure that doesn't happen." She finished, and folded her arms, her ponytail now slung over one shoulder.
"You want us to follow her everywhere? Class, cafeteria, restroom, bedroom?" Faux asked, grinning, as he watched three girls giggle loudly, and run past in the hallways He licked his lips.
"That's impossible," Damien added, hitting Faux in the tummy lightly. Tney laughed.
Hayden finally gave a deep sigh, "Whatever. You guys can count me out." He shook his hair coolly out of his face, and walked away.
"Oh yeah, because you already have a damned good reputation for being one hell of an unstoppable vampire!" Heart screamed at him, "that's selfish, Hayden!"
Hayden didn't bother looking back, making her grunt and turn away from us.
"Even if we're going to protect her, she should be the one doing the pleading, not you." Faux pointed out, with a shrug.
"I'm not pleading! I'm trying to keep all our images!" Heart turned back around sharply, her blonde hair flicking over her shoulder aggressively.
"Then she should do it properly. Herself," Damien replied, a brow raised at me.
I looked at my watch, "I have class," I said cautiously, "I'll catch up with you guys,"
I walked away, my shoes going tip tap on the marble floors, as I looked at the class numbers, trying to find my way in the halls that looked very much like plain psychiatric ward hallways in the human world.
Perhaps, I didn't understand what Heart was going on about, but it made sense to her probably. All I knew was I wasn't about to let Hayden drink me, Faux sleep with me, and definitely not Damien chase me. They were all uncomfortable options.
Wait, I didn't need their protection actually. I could just go to a teacher if any kid tried to kill me like the Selkie did.
"Oh yeah, here you are," I located my class, and eased my way in, finding it half-full. The class was like every normal class with white chairs, desk, and walls, except for the fact that there were potion racks everywhere on the wall in deep brown wood, with different glass vials of potions showcasing exotic liquid colors. There was also an open cedar cupboard with an assortment of what were definitely magical ingredients.
The two windows that showed the outer buildings had white curtains that the gentle breeze pushed back and forth. I could see the trees swaying in the distance.
There were seats at the back, but the people seated around there, talking and laughing, or writing, or staring blankly all gave notorious energy. They gave predator come-here-baby-let-me-gobble-you-up vibes.
I'm probably overreacting, but I'd rather sit in front, than go to the back like I loved to when my life was still the definition of normal.
So I took a seat next to a boy with white hair, who had his head on his desk sleeping.
Did he come straight from his last class to sleep in the next, or was he sleeping in both? Well, that's none of your business, Ceci.
More students filed in, with the teacher coming in behind, walking in majestically.
"Close the door!" She ordered, and a girl with red hair, rose, heading to the door. Three girls ran in, squealing and laughing, while some running from a distance were unfortunately locked out.
"Miss Janine! Please, Mr. Ollie held us up! Oh, please!" They cried banging on the door, but with a wave of the dark-haired teacher, their banging went silent.
"Introduce yourself, and let's go on," she said dryly, looking at me, and I stood up quickly, trying to move out, "Stay where you are, and don't bother making a fuss," she added, settling into a chair in the front of the class.
Her black eyes seemed to pierce through mine.
"My name is Cecilia Perez," I didn't know what else to add. I didn't feel like telling them I came from the human world.
Whispers ran through the class, with a few snickers and giggles. They probably sensed no magical ability in me.
"Sit. Take out your textbooks everyone. On the very first page, we'll be treating what's there. Katie, serve out ingredients. You all will be making a voice enhancing potion," The teacher said, flipping open the pages of her own textbook.
I adjusted my bag, hanging it on my chair, while light applause rang through the class.
"Me too?" I asked, a finger on my chest, and my seatmate raised his head slowly. He turned to look at me. Sweet Mary, this guy had sunset yellow eyes. I'm telling you, guys: They were almost golden, but in a way, they were distinct from Heart's eyes.
"Yes," he answered with a smile, a silver earring dangling from his ear, even though my question wasn't directed at him. He took out his textbooks, and I saw his nails were painted black with silver studs on them.
He was definitely gay.
He looked at me, and smiled again, "Why?" he flipped through his books.
"I come from the human world, so I'm new to this. I think I should get some kind of guidance…" I gestured to the ingredients and my textbook.
He chuckled, "Janine doesn't care."
The red haired girl came to our table, and began dropping weird-smelling ingredients of different shapes. There was even a dried rat which she dropped on the table.
We weren't going to drink our potions, were we?
My seatmate began arranging his ingredients of weird shapes and sizes, while the girl gave us aprons to put on. He arranged all the circular ingredients, then the ones in semicircles. He placed irregular shapes together, hairy ingredients together, then began to sort them by color in their individual groups. That was crazy.
"When you're done, you're gonna switch your potions, and have it fed to you by your partner. Yeah, all tricks last semester… switching out the potion you made, not drinking, or filling with water will not be condoned. The moment your partner tries to hide their potion from you, alert me because if I find out something fishy, you both will be given detention," Janine warned, her palm slapping the textbook, as we all put on our brown aprons. I eyed my ingredients uncomfortably.
Dried rat, an acorn, a shell of some kind, some weird liquid, two hairy or should I say bushy things, nut-like ingredients, a half-eaten mushroom, a grinder, and other ingredients that were definitely enemies of my helplessly wrinkled nose. And in my textbook were the steps and guidelines to make my potion. My brows knitted in confusion.
Step one: Rinse the Macburly seed.
Okayyy, so what the hell is that?
My eyes roamed back and forth in their sockets.
Everyone was working.
My seatmate was humming a song while he chewed gum, and grinded the tail of his dried, dead, smelly, disgusting rat.
Damn, damn… we're dying today, Ceci because you're definitely making poison, and these people are going to have you drink it.