Music from: Flames of Desire
Maeve looked to the two juniors at the urinals and jerked a thumb at the restroom door. "Beat it."
"You can't be in here," one snapped, zipping his fly.
The other turned his back to her. "Yeah, this is—"
"Beat it." She pulled a can of mace spray from her purse. "Now."
Both boys finished zipping up and headed for the doorway.
Maeve's violet eyes found the only stall with a shut door. She swiftly kicked it open.
"Hey!" Dred yelped.
The door slammed into the stall wall and then shut again. Maeve pushed through it, confronting Dred standing before the toilet, puffing on the cigarette shaking in his hand.
"You can't come in here!"
She pushed him to the side wall. He choked out a smoke ring as his back hit. She blew the ring away and slapped the butt out of his fingers. "Got something to show me, stud?"
He grinned, then took a nervous half-step to nearly wedge himself at the toilet paper holder. "Yeah, I got a big show, if you wanna—"
"I've seen it all, bud. This is my school. You're supposed to check in at the house before you show up for class." She sized up his attempt at freshman masculinity. "Geez, give the aftershave a breather. What'd you do? A second dose since this morning?"
"I did check in."
She grabbed his collar and pulled it out, then grabbed the pack of cigarettes he had rolled under one T-shirt sleeve at his shoulder. "What is this? Grease, the Revenge?" She broke the pack in half and dropped it in the toilet. "Flush it."
He pushed the lever down and watched the cigarettes and pack plunge into the toilet drain.
"Who'd you check in with?"
"Some fidgety guy named Evandis." He chuckled. "Damn, that guy's queer."
"In the exact sense, yes." She raised an eyebrow. "Your vernacular sucks. You need help on it." She beckoned with her hand. "Give me your phone."
Reluctantly, he reached into his back jeans pocket and gave her his cell phone.
"First, get up to speed on the regional slang. You're off a few decades." Her fingers flew over the buttons. "Queer means, in most circles, alternative lifestyle-slash-sexual choices. So does gay."
"So he is queer." He grinned until she gave him a shrewd look.
"Evandis is flamboyant, lively, and ridiculous. Talented and time pro, too, but a dandy. He's a Willow; what do you expect?" She handed his phone back. "That's a good urban dictionary to get your vocabulary adjusted. This is my school. I don't have five-year students in my school. I give you two years or you're out. No repeats. You want to take your time and screw up in all the most vital places, you go back to square one. Got it?"
He frowned at the phone screen. "What happened to my wallpaper?"
"Now," she said, leaning close enough to bite him as his eyes rose to hers, "are you going to show me, Dred, or do I have to examine you inch by inch?"
Ѻ
Ivy opened her locker door, ready to dodge a stray book threatening to tumble down on her from the top shelf. Instead, a small gray-white envelope drifted down. She caught it immediately, even as Lornie gasped and reached for it.
"So soon?" Lornie said.
Ivy tore open the envelope. It already had a singed design in black and brown decorating the top, with a spatter of red at one corner. "I love the stationery she chose," she said with a giggle. She pulled out the card inside. It was smoky gray, with frantic red printing. "Come to my Halloween party—If you dare . . ." she read. "November First, eight 'til midnight. Costumes a must."
"Ugh, opening night is messing up all the events." Lornie spun to look past the dozen of students between her and her locker. "I wonder if got mine—"
A girl's shriek echoed from the midst of the sports crowd down the hall, followed by a few more girls' screaming in delight and several boys laughing.
Lornie looked back to Ivy. "Looks like she invited a lot of the school."
"Go grab yours." Ivy felt more than saw Dred's eyes boring holes in her invitation.
"Right back." Lornie pushed her way through the students waving their invitations.
"Halloween party?" Dred's hair nearly eclipsed Ivy's view of her invitation. "Who's Camille?"
"Camille. Our friend. She's got a boyfriend now, so we don't see much of her." She stuffed the invite and envelope into her bag and zipped it shut as he reached for it. "Don't you have Halloween in Canada?"
"Huh? Oh. Yeah, eh. But on October Thirty-First."
"So do we; it's just Camille's party is a day late because our school play opens on the Thirty-First. Conflict of interests, you know. Besides, the whole town will be at the play."
"Got it." He grinned, crowding her until the locker door pinned to the one beside it. "What're you going to be for the party?"
She edged out from his nearness and pulled her book bag between them. "A Southern belle. In fact, I have to pick up some notions today after class."
"Yeah? Where?"
"In town."
"Show me where."
"You don't look like the sewing type, Dred."
Ѻ
But there he was, the third shadow with her and Lornie after school as they entered Pins & Bobbins.
The Vampire Zodiac … Introduction … More from Sakurapu … All Chapters
PG13. #YearOfTheVampire #vampire #dramady #highschool #YA #fiction #VampireZodiac
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