CH 20 - Persefone

PERSEFONE POV Penny and I had spent almost two hours getting ready in her room after our little heart-to-heart. Which honestly should’ve been embarrassing considering neither of us had anywhere important to be. Still, she curled my hair while blasting dramatic breakup songs through her speakers and somehow convinced me to wear a dark green dress that, according to her, made my eyes “look illegally pretty.” I told her she sounded insane. She told me to shut up and put mascara on. And stupidly— stupidly— part of me hoped they would see it. Pathetic. Absolutely f*****g pathetic. But they weren’t even there. Mom told us they had to leave the pack suddenly because “something came up.” Which sounded like adult bullshit for: they needed distance from your sorry ass. I smiled anyway. Pretended I didn’t care. Pretended my stomach didn’t drop so hard it physically hurt hearing they were gone. Then I sat beside Richard because he was the first person kind enough to silently hand me a chair without asking questions. And that’s how I found myself spending the rest of the evening listening to embarrassing college stories about my older brothers while the four idiots themselves grumbled and argued and threatened violence every five minutes trying to cheer me up in their own terrifying way. It almost worked. Almost. But the weekend came and went without a single word from my mates. Not one text. Not one call. Nothing. And Eden was still gone. Still buried somewhere deep beneath my skin behind that horrible cold wall I couldn’t break through no matter how hard I tried. I felt— empty. Lonely. Alone. And honestly? The thought of walking back into school Monday morning knowing I’d probably have to see them again made nausea crawl violently up my throat. I wanted to throw up. Penny wasn’t doing much better. Kyan left Sunday morning and she’d been moping dramatically around the house ever since pretending she wasn’t checking her phone every six minutes. By the time we parked at school both of us looked emotionally exhausted. And absolutely pathetic. I grabbed Penny’s hand before either of us got out of the car. She turned toward me immediately, frowning slightly. “Promise me we’ll always have each other,” I blurted out suddenly, my voice cracking embarrassingly halfway through the sentence. Goddess. I was absolutely not crying in the school parking lot. Absolutely not. Penny’s entire face softened instantly. “Duh,” she scoffed gently before leaning over to press a loud kiss against my cheek. “You’ll never get rid of me, psycho.” A weak laugh escaped me. “I love you, sissy.” “I love you too.” Then she grabbed the two coffees Ermes had shoved into our hands before we left the house like they were weapons instead of caffeine and pushed the car door open dramatically. “And now,” she declared, “we go inside and kick everybody’s ass.” “Right,” I muttered weakly before following her out into the parking lot. And immediately heard the low grumble of a motorbike somewhere nearby. Oh. Fantastic. The second the sound got closer my entire body locked up. Absolutely f*****g not. Penny noticed instantly. “You good?” “No,” I answered honestly before grabbing her wrist and practically dragging her toward the school entrance. Fast. Too fast. Like maybe if I moved quickly enough I could somehow avoid the three emotionally devastating disasters currently invading my nervous system. Didn’t work worth s**t. Because I could still feel them. Somewhere behind me. Watching. My stomach twisted violently and my feet immediately stopped cooperating with the rest of my body. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. The tip of my boot caught against the edge of the sidewalk and for one horrifying second I pitched forward hard enough to already picture myself eating concrete in front of half the f*****g parking lot. Penny grabbed my elbow instantly before I could fully faceplant. “Whoa there,” she muttered quietly, steadying me against her side without missing a beat. “Can we maybe not publicly die before first period? It’s barely eight in the morning.” By the time I shoved my way into AP Chemistry I was breathing slightly too hard and emotionally about three seconds away from a breakdown. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And then I saw Keres walking through the classroom door behind me. Fuck. I forgot about this. I turned immediately toward one of the human girls sitting near the front row. “Melanie,” I blurted out quickly. “Do you wanna switch seats today?” She blinked once. Then her eyes snapped toward Keres behind me. Lighting up. The realization spread across her face so fast it physically hurt to witness. Excitement. Actual excitement. “You mean,” she whispered, horrified and thrilled at the same time, “I’d sit next to him?” Pain stabbed unexpectedly straight through my chest. Because other girls looked at them and saw gorgeous hotties on motorbikes, dangerous bad boys straight out of some fantasy movie, boys worth blushing over. Basically boys they wanted to climb like a tree. Meanwhile I looked at them and felt like my entire life was slowly collapsing in on itself. “Yep,” I said weakly, sounding exactly as thrilled about this arrangement as I felt. Melanie moved so fast she nearly knocked her own backpack onto the floor. And probably, last week, I wouldn’t have blamed her either. I grabbed the new seat quickly before Keres could say anything. Didn’t look at him. Didn’t want to. Behind me Melanie sounded one breath away from ascending into another dimension entirely. “Oh my god,” she whispered loudly. “Hi.” The low softness in Keres’ voice when he answered her did something ugly to my stomach. God. This was a mistake. “You skipped school Friday,” Melanie said quickly, nervous excitement spilling out of her words now that she apparently had the courage to speak. I had to bite the inside of my cheek from screaming at her that he did not skip school Friday. Moron. “People thought maybe you got arrested again.” she cooed, playing with a strand of hair. Keres huffed out what sounded suspiciously like amusement behind me. “Again?” “Well…” Melanie laughed awkwardly. “You kinda have that vibe.” I hated the fact I could practically hear the smirk in his voice when he answered. “Good to know.” My grip tightened violently around my now empty coffee cup. Stop listening. Seriously. Stop. “So…” Melanie continued softer now, clearly encouraged by the fact he hadn’t ignored her instantly, “if you ever need notes or something I could give you my number?” Pain twisted sharply beneath my ribs. Oh. Wonderful. Absolutely fantastic. “And maybe,” she rushed out nervously, “you could give me a ride home sometime?” I stared straight ahead at the whiteboard so hard my vision actually started blurring around the edges. I did not want to hear his answer. Did not. Because if Eden still wasn’t back maybe— maybe I wouldn’t feel it if they kissed somebody else. Maybe the bond wouldn’t hurt properly without her. Maybe rejection would be easier like this. The thought alone almost made me nauseous. Thane was right. I needed to reject them before this got worse. Before they destroyed me completely. “You won’t get rid of me that easily, Persefone.” The deep rough voice suddenly right behind me sent violent tingles erupting down the back of my neck where warm breath brushed against my skin. My entire body locked instantly. Slowly— very slowly— I turned my head. And saw Melanie staring at me from two rows away with absolute betrayal in her eyes. Because the person sitting behind her now wasn’t Keres. It was Simon. The nice warlock blinked at me awkwardly before offering a tiny wave. Fuck.