“Ah! That’s what it is!” Aly’s eyes brightened as if she’d discovered Gray’s secret. “You’re a witch, right?” she mocked. “You have these crystals and shit. So what? You gonna cast a spell on us later?” she taunted, and the others joined in on her laughter.
Aly flashed me a flirtatious smile and wink before stepping toward Gray. My shoulders stiffened as I fought against my instinct to physically stop her from getting an inch closer to the Kinetic princess.
Gray took a cautious step back, appraising Aly and her next move. “Give it back.”
“Just give her back the necklace. It’s no good to you,” I said, injecting boredom into my tone, despite being on the verge of exposing our kind to these dumbasses.
“Actually,” Aly mused as she turned the black crystal stone over in her palm, observing it. “It looks like it would be worth some good money at a pawn shop.”
Eric laughed. “Oh, yeah! I bet I could get another North Space jacket. In white—”
“Dude,” I cut off his mirth, rolling my eyes. “I’m pretty sure your mom and dad will buy you another one at the end of the week.”
“Why are you defending her? Gotta little crush on the witch, Helair?” the auburn-haired girl smirked.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, mind blown by the complete immaturity of human kids. It must be nice that they didn’t have more important shit to worry about rather that fucking with an innocent girl who kept to herself. My fucking princess at that.
“I really don’t see how you can get entertainment from messing with someone who isn’t a bother to you.” I shrugged, my impatience for their shit growing.
“I think you like her.”
Unable to hide my irritation any longer, my face twisted in a way that couldn’t mask my bafflement. “Grow the fuck up and give the girl her necklace back.”
“Or what?” Eric challenged, closing the distance between us.
I smirked down at him with amusement. “Honestly, I wouldn’t try it, bro.”
Eric puffed his chest out more. He was rather broad for a high schooler, but I was pretty sure he was on the football team, so that would explain it. “You think you’re a badass, Helair?”
I chuckled. “Do you realize how stupid you look? Mad that I won’t let you taunt my prin…Gray.”
“YourGray, yeah?” Eric’s smile widened as if he’d won, proving his point. I really didn’t care.
“Yeah. She is. And you won’t bother her anymore,” I stated, angling my head to the side as I scrutinized him. “You can start by giving back her necklace.”
“No.”
“Did it sound like you had a choice, Eric?” My voice dropped as my previous amusement fell away. “Give her back the fucking necklace.”
As Eric and I stood nearly chest to chest, staring each other down in a ridiculous battle of “who had the bigger balls” contest, I noted in my periphery that the two girls backed away slowly to leave.
“Give. Her. Back. The. Fucking. Necklace,” I ground out between my clenched teeth. “Try and steal it, and I promise you, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
“You may be well-liked, Helair, but no one is fucking scared of you, pretty boy,” Eric threatened. He stepped closer, shoving me back a step. I saw it coming. “You don’t even work out.”
I didn’t need to defend myself against childish bullshit. Instead, I bit my bottom lip, fighting back a smile. “Okay, then.” I nodded just before I threw an uppercut to his jaw, clocking him hard on the underside of his chin.
Eric’s head snapped back as he stumbled to catch himself, the whites of his eyes showing before he tumbled to the ground.
The two girls screamed and looked at me in shocked horror while Gray stared down at Eric, unimpressed, an eyebrow raised with her arms still crossing her body.
“Give her back the godsdamn necklace,” I gritted out to Aly, who still clutched the black crystal to her chest.
“Oh, my god! Fine! Take it! It’s ugly anyways. No one would want that rock.” Instead of handing the necklace to Gray, she threw it at me in haste. I snatched it out of the air, holding onto it until it was safe to return to the princess.
“Go. And take him with you,” I told her. “And next time anyone messes with her, I won’t stop with a single hit. I’ll keep going until my point is proven.”
The auburn-haired girl’s hands shook as she covered her mouth. Obviously, neither of them was used to seeing any sort of violence. To be fair, fights never broke out at Woodvine Academy. And if they did, they were usually of the hair-pulling variety.
