A Demon's Drink {Book Three-Kat}

Chapter 35

The minute Tim smiled at them and took a step away from me, they went back to their conversations over stupidly frivolous things. I stood near the banister and just leaned against it, knowing they’d rather talk about me than to me. My phone lit up inside its pocket in my messenger bad. I pulled it out and was slightly confused by the texter.

Stop being antisocial.

I looked up to see Tim glance at me from the corner of his eye before laughing at whatever his friends were saying. Unlocking my phone, I replied.

Rich kids are not my forte. I think I’ll just stay over here.

It felt somewhat childish to text each other when we were a mere, what, five feet from one another. I ran a hand through my hair before my eyes caught the light of my cell phone brighten in my hand.

Rich kids are my forte, you just have to stand there and be pr

“Hey.” A voice tore my concentration off the text and redirected it to a fairly handsome boy with stylishly-messy blonde hair. He wore khaki pants, a white button down, and a navy blue sports coat; which is really just a tux jacket minus the tux.

“Hi,” I smiled. He held out his hand and I cautiously shook it.

“I’m Anthony.” He smiled just enough for his green eyes to crinkle in the corners. He really didn’t look half bad.

“Katrina.” I continued smiling, expecting his eyes to grow wide before running in the opposite direction.

“That’s a very pretty name, I don’t think I’ve heard it very often,” he remarked. The light on my phone grew brighter again but I just slid it back in my bag.

“You’re not from around here are you?” I chuckled at his now bashful face and ran my hand through my hair again.

“No, I’m not. Is it really that easy to tell?” He scratched the back of his neck nervously and I grinned.

“Yeah, anyone from around here would have run off screaming when they heard my name. I’m Katrina Wayne, adopted daughter of Bruce Wayne and walking medical hazard.” I fake bowed and now it was his turn to laugh at me.

“That doesn’t explain why they run away screaming.”

“I have also been the center of a few major kidnappings in my time, but I try not to publicize that too much, it was fairly…” I searched for a word. “Traumatic.”

“I’d assume so.” Anthony gave a small smile before nodding over his shoulder toward the rest of the teens and young adults. “You friends with anyone else around here?”

“Um, not really.” I looked behind him at all the snobby rich girls holding their noses up in the air and admiring the shortness of each other’s dresses. They boys all had a hand in their pockets and a smug grin plastered on their faces; other than Tim. “I was a public school kid and I’ve been out for a while. Tim’s the only one I know.” Anthony turned around and his smile seemed a little more forced.

“Well, the dinner’s about to start,” he sighed after looking at his watch. “Would you care to accompany me downstairs?”

“Um.” I looked over to see Tim laughing with the same guys and a couple more girls that he met when we got here. He didn’t need me trailing around behind him right now. “Sure,” I smiled. “That is, if you don’t mind being seen with the ‘under-dressed girl.’” He laughed as he put out his elbow for me to take.

“I think you’re the only one who’s actually covering everything; I’d take that over anything.”

We walked down the stairwell and I couldn’t find Bruce in the mass of tuxes. I would have let go of Anthony’s arm once we reached the ground floor but I would have gotten so lost I decided it wasn’t worth it. He led us into a big ball room and the sight was a little overwhelming. They had placed huge wooden tables throughout the entire room, but there weren’t nearly enough chairs for everyone to sit down. Waiters with trays of champagne and assorted small shellfish walked around the room, waiting for guests to exchange old glasses and snack. There were beautiful glass chandeliers across the middle of the room that reflected light into every obscure corner. Anthony led us to a table in one of the further parts of the room. We sat down at the table and saw the rest of our generation spill through the doors laughing and smiling.