As she walks away, I sink into my seat between George and Gabriel and plow into my food. Noah takes a seat across from us, shooting me a glare lacking in his usual fire. I flip him the finger and stick my tongue out, but inside my stomach’s doing backflips.
He called me Mac.
* * *
When the bellrings after Political Science, I fly out the door to beat Noah to the library. He must know some kind of apparating spell because he’s already there when I dash in, seated at the same table as last time, a stack of books beside him.
It’s weird to be around him at school after everything that’s happened. Stonehurst Prep feels like a different world to the desert or hanging at Gabriel’s condo. I fell asleep on Noah’s shoulder and it felt nice, and right. But staring across the table at this aristocrat with his perfectly starched collar and his eyes of burning embers, I wonder if I imagined the whole thing.
“Why did you change your mind about tutoring me?” I ask as I plop down across from him. “I thought I was hopeless.”
Noah ignores my question. Instead, he opens a page in our mathematics textbook. “Explain to me how to solve this equation.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s all gibberish. Didn’t Eli tell you? I have amnesia. I don’t remember this shit. You might as well ask me to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics.”
“You know all about ancient history,” he points out. “You were telling us all aboutposca.”
“That’s because…” I sigh. I can’t explain. I don’t have to explain. “Fine. It’s like… Just help me understand what I’m looking at.”
Noah tugs on his school tie. He’s always soorderly– Gabriel dresses as though he peels his uniform off the bottom of a pile of groupies every morning (at least partially true), but Noah’s always perfectly buttoned and pressed. It’s sexy as fuck, actually, how much control he exerts over himself and everything in his life.
He’s a good teacher, too. He writes out each stage of the problem and uses real-world examples so I can grasp what exactly it is I’m trying to work out. He’s strict – he doesn’t let me mouth off. Of course, that only makes me do it more. He gets so flustered around me. I don’t fit neatly into the box he assigned for me in his head, and he doesn’t know yet if he still hates me or… I remember the hardness of him pressing against me at the party. He was flustered then, that’s for sure.
I like having this effect on him.
At the end of our hour, Noah hands a page of problems back to me, with only two wrong answers. “I think you might actually have a shot of passing the next quiz.”
I dare a grin. “They’ll think I cheated.”
“Probably. A word of advice – if you’re going to cheat, don’t copy Gabriel’s work. He’s almost as behind as you are.” Noah stands up and shrugs his bag over his shoulder. He doesn’t look me in the eye as he turns away. “See you tomorrow, Mac.”
* * *
Antony gets backto me with the news that he ‘sent a few guys around’ to sort out the Brutus situation. He doesn’t elaborate on the details, but I don’t need to ask. “The weird thing is, when we got past the guards, he wasn’t inside,” Antony says. “His headquarters have been completely cleared out. We’ve put out the word, and he’s nowhere to be seen in Emerald Beach. He must’ve been tipped off I was coming for him, so he skipped town to save his pretty ass. He’s probably in Mexico by now. You’ve got nothing to worry about from him.”
Even so, Antony keeps the guard on my house. I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders – for now, Queen Boudica and I are safe. I’d be happier if I had Brutus’ head on a plate next to Alec’s, but that might come in good time.
After Antony’s good news, the rest of the week flies by – I eat lunch with the guys at the royals table while Alec stares dagger eyes into my back from a lonely corner of the dining hall. I walk the halls with Gabriel or Eli’s arm around my shoulders, basking in their warmth and popularity. Noah and I throw barbs at each other while he tutors me. We toss around ideas for getting our vengeance on Alec and Cleo. I send videos of Queen Boudica chasing a fuzzy mouse to Eli and receive strings of hilarious Roman History memes from George.
I dare to believe that maybe the rest of the year could go like this – a normal teenage existence, with normal friends and normal hormones and normal revenge plots and not the gaping hole of loneliness that’s been threatening to devour me.
I should have known better.
The next Thursday night, I don’t go to tutoring with Noah. Instead, I pull on the world’s tiniest red skirt and head to my first cheerleading practice.
That’s right, I, Mackenzie Malloy – the Ice Queen witch bitch ghost slut extraordinaire – am officially a base for the Stonehurst Prep cheer squad. When Mrs. Anderson heard from Ms. Drysdale about the ‘family bereavement’ that prevented me from completing my previous audition, she allowed me to do a make-up. Her verdict: my ‘pep’ could definitely use some work (it’s hard to look smiley with Cleo staring daggers at you from the bleachers) but my tumbling skills and strength would be an asset for the team.
After class on Thursday, I head outside for some fresh air before practice starts. Gabriel’s smoking weed under the bleachers. I jump down beside him and whip the joint from his hands, leaning my head against his shoulder as my head fills with lovely THC clouds.
Eli and Noah are on the field, running drills with the rest of the track team. Eli’s clearly the star of the team – he’s out in front during all the sprints. When they practice their starts, he explodes from the ground like he’s about to fly off to the moon. Something happens to him when he runs – in his face, it’s like he’s finally going fast enough that he can run away from his life.
But Noah… he’s a mess. He’s strong, and fit, and his ass looks damn fine in those tight shorts, but he’s no track star. He lags behind the others in the sprints, and during the drills you can tell he doesn’t know what to do with his body. I read the frustration on his face and the tension in his shoulders as he comes in last again.
Gabe notices me watching Noah. “He knows he’s bollocks. But he won’t quit. Noah thinks everything in life is like passing exams. You just have to learn the answers and you’re set.”
