Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night #1)

Chapter Five

THE NEXT DAY, Luna trudged down the grass quickly with her backpack slung over her shoulder. Thoughts of last night stained her mind, and she couldn't wait to dump them on anyone who would listen. She looked up at the road ahead and saw Violet waiting for her. Luna had managed to go an entire evening without saying a bad thing about Chance—out loud, at least—and she felt ready to explode.

"I hope you're feeling better today than you did yesterday," Violet said as they began to walk.

"I feel the same," Luna replied. "Tired of Chance, as usual." She winced when she finished her sentence.

Violet sighed, anticipation for Luna's complaint obvious in her narrowed eyes. "Why, what did he do this time? Did he smile at you?"

"No. Well, yeah...he always does when I get mad, but that's not the point. It's a long story, but in a nutshell, he came over to my house and told my dad I smoked."

Violet laughed. "You smoked? That's hysterical."

"Move past it," Luna said through clenched teeth.

Violet wiped away a tear from beneath her eye and waved at her best friend. "All right, fine, but why would Chance do something like that?"

Luna shrugged. "That's what I want to know."

"I bet David wasn't happy, was he?"

Luna licked her lips before letting out a dry, humorless chuckle. "No, but he never is, is he?"

"If it makes you feel any better, my parents are never proud of me either."

"Why would that make me feel better?"

Violet shrugged. "Misery loves company?"

Luna screwed up her face. "Well, I don't."

"If you say so," Violet countered.

The silence then was welcome. Just as the loneliness at Violet's departure was. Luna watched her walk through the side door of the school, frowning after her before she traveled into the school herself. As Luna walked, she glanced around but didn't spot Chance or any of his annoying friends. Smiling to herself, she sat down at an empty table in study hall, set her backpack on the chair beside her, and pulled out a bright green notebook. A creak at the table announced another person, and she winced, hoping it wasn't Chance. Slowly, she looked up and met Amy's gaze.

Amy smiled at Luna, her eyes lighting up as she sat down. "Hi."

"Hello," Luna replied.

Amy turned her attention to her backpack; her waist-long brown hair slid down over her face, hiding her darker brown eyes. She never did keep eye contact for long, and Luna couldn't blame her. Luna had met Amy when she stopped a bully from teasing her a few years back. Like Violet and Luna, Amy was an outcast.

"So, is it true?" Amy whispered as she looked up from her searching.

"Is what true?"

"Are you really going on a date with Chance?" she questioned, and her eyes glittered surprise beneath her raised eyebrows.

"No. He asked me out, but I declined."

"Hmm," Amy said, looking down.

"What?" Luna asked.

Amy shrugged. "I'll have to take your word because the rumors going around say otherwise."

Luna frowned. Amy—a shy and soft-spoken girl—didn't keep tabs on things like who was dating who. Yet she had heard this one so soon.

"Yeah, Amy, I promise they're just that—rumors."

***

CHANCE YAWNED AND flexed his fingers around the steering wheel of his truck. In the context of the previous evening, the morning seemed slow and boring. He wanted the day to begin already, and it felt as if time didn't move during his time in his truck.

Sighing, he pressed down just the slightest bit harder on the gas pedal, relieved when the school finally came into view. Plenty of kids already milled about, some of them waiting for him. He recognized two figures as he passed them...Violet and Luna. Luna's face looked red—she was already angry, and so early in the morning too. The girls parted ways, and he hurried to park his truck in the school lot. He looked at his rearview mirror, watching Violet's approaching figure and growled. She reached the rear of his truck just as he climbed out of the driver's seat.

Perfect.

He trotted up to her, intent obvious. "Why'd you lie to me?"

She turned to him, startled at first, then her eyes filled with desire. He flinched; the look both disgusted and angered him. "I didn't lie to you," she stated.

"Really? Well, I asked out Luna," he began bitterly, grinding his teeth to keep most of his anger in place.

"I know, she was upset, she was just tea—"

"She laughed in my face," he spat angrily. "There is no way that girl feels anything for me. Why did you set me up?"

Violet swallowed loudly, shifting her weight away from him. He had her cornered. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again, dropping her gaze to the ground. "I'm telling you she's hard to get is all. You can't give up just like that."

He stopped dead, and she did too. "Don't think I'm stupid. You're lying to me, I can tell. I just don't know why you're doing it."

"I-I—" she stuttered.

Chance walked away without another word. She made him sick; he couldn't believe he thought someone like her would help. She was unpopular, sure, but it didn't change the fact she acted exactly the same as the rest of the girls in the school.

***

VIOLET STARED AFTER him—her expression frozen as her eyes glazed over. Of course he was upset, she had lied to him. Problem was, she hadn't thought she'd have gotten caught. And of course Luna would do what she did—Luna was lunar crazy. If a guy like Chance had asked her out, she would've felt her heart stop. Why couldn't Luna make anything easy? Violet had finally gotten Chance to talk to her...but now he was angry at her because of Luna.

I still have one move left, she thought and called out, "Wait!"

To her surprise, Chance obeyed. "You better make this good," he said through clenched teeth.

"Okay, so maybe she didn't respond to the date idea, but what if we...tricked her into going someplace with you?"

Chance turned around, golden eyebrow raised as he searched Violet's face. Violet bit her lip—what was she doing? Was she so desperate to have his attention that she was offering Luna on a silver platter?

"I'm listening," he said at last, and all of Violet's reserves fell away.

"Okay, I'll invite her to meet up somewhere with me, but when she gets there, you'll be there instead." Violet tipped her head to the side. "What do you think?"

"I'd say you're on."