Slicing My Flesh

11

After class ended, I was fetched by Bridey. She was having way too much with this. Hailey smirked and allowed me to venture off with Bridey. I was taken to the drama room, where students were practicing for the play. Bridey brought me to an impatient Acacia. The girl was tapping her foot in annoyance. I guess she's not used to waiting on others.

Bridey instructed us to help with the crew. Acacia rolled her eyes, but stopped when Bridey glared at her. Acacia sighed and nodded along to Bridey's instructions. I shoved Bridey when no one was looking. Bridey then left us to do our chores.

Acacia huffed and began walking around. The theater leader came up to us and asked if we could help switch the decorations. I nodded and smiled while Acacia glared. She then rolled her eyes and nodded. The guy sweetly smiled and showed us the boxes we needed to use. When he left, Acacia turned to me.

"Pick that up and follow me."

She walked to the fake house. I picked up the box and walked after her. She'd remove the fake China and switch it with glass decor. I followed behind her like a lost puppy. She appeared to be agitated, but I'm attributing it to this punishment. I was surprised when she suddenly turned to me.

"Are you going to stay mute this entire time?" She raised a brow.

"I-I thought you didn't want me to speak to you." I said in a quiet voice.

"Why?" She was confused.

"Because you always seem..." I trailed off because I didn't want to offend her. She crossed her arms and stared at me. "I was under the impression you didn't like me." I looked down.

"I don't not like you." She blushed and looked away. "You just- ugh! You're so infuriating!" She then marched off. Is this girl bipolar or something? "Are you just gonna stand there?!" Yep, she's definitely bipolar.

She commanded me to hold the box higher so it was closer to her. I simply stood still and allowed her to adjust the different decorations. She seemed to be a perfectionist from the way she kept repositioning the props.

"You're really quiet." She said without looking at me.

"It's really confusing when you wish for me to speak and when you want me to be quiet."

"I never told you to be quiet." She turned around. "I just said you're infuriating."

"Same difference." She rolled her eyes at me. "Why are you so mean to me?"

"I wouldn't say mean-"

"Well, I would." I muttered.

"I-"

"YO!" A boy ran to us. "Don't strain yourself! That box is hundreds of pounds!" His eyes were wide. "H-How'd you pick it up?" He was beyond confused. Acacia was looking at me intently.

"Uh... I did a spell to make the box lighter-"

"Really?" I nodded at Acacia. "What spell?" She crossed her arms.

"Umm... make the box lightero." I hesitantly said.

"So if I hold the box, it will be as light as a feather?" I slowly nodded. "Okay, then." She tried to take the box from me, so I quickly dumped the contents out.

"Whoops." I awkwardly chuckled. "I'm clumsy, so clumsy." Acacia looked angry. "I'm gonna just go." I sped walked out the room.

"You can't leave me to do everything by myself!"

I then closed the door and began running back to my dorm. I breathed a sigh of relief when I was in my dorm building. I used the elevator to get to my assigned floor. I received a text, so I was looking down. Because of that, I accidentally walked into someone. I immediately grabbed onto their forearms, so they wouldn't fall. I finally looked at her face when I heard chuckles.

"Is this your excuse to touch me?" Natalie smirked.

"Oh, sorry." I quickly released her, but she held my hands instead.

"I never said I was bothered." She positioned my hands to her waist. "I'm a little disappointed though." I arched a brow. "You never asked your friends what kind of supernatural I am?" She pouted. Oh, please don't say she's a succubi. I can't deal with anymore succubi!

"W-What kind?"

She smirked at my question. She pressed herself against my chest and brought her lips to my ear. My heart rate increased from the close proximity. I'm sure she could hear my uneven breathing.

"Devil." She nipped my ear.

"Uh-"

"Looking forward to seeing you around." She pushed herself off me and walked away.

What the hell just happened?! I speed walked to my room to see Hailey casually lounging around. She glanced up when I loudly shut the door. Before she could ask me a question, I grabbed a pillow and screamed into it. When I was done, I tossed the pillow back onto my bed and turned to a confused Hailey.

"First, Acacia is infuriating. And second... that devil is- ahhh!! I flopped onto my bed.

"Devil?" Hailey propped herself up.

"Natalie." She arched a brow. "Yeah, she's a devil." I laid back down. "But Acacia is just so rude." I huffed. "And makes NO sense at all. She's hot and cold. One second, she's nice and wants to talk. And the next second, she wants absolutely NOTHING to do with my existence. She is so confusing!" I complained.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around Natalie being a devil."

"Hails! Pay attention!" I whined.

"I'm joking." She chuckled while I rolled my eyes. "You must understand that this is new for her. She's been raised all her life believing she would be marrying her betrothed. Now, she's probably having doubts because of her feelings towards you. In a sense, she feels like she's betraying you by being betrothed to another. But at the same time, she doesn't really know you." Hailey walked over to me.

"I get that, but does she have to look gloomy around me all the time?"

"You enacted the bonding ritual with her." I furrowed my brows. "I talked to Lara and Francesca about it. We did some research and found out you started it when you first touched her. It begins with physical touch. Next, you must do three passionate kisses. And finally, your union is sealed via sex."

"Yeah, child bride." Hailey chuckled at me. "I didn't mean to-"

"Because she's an elf, she feels the ritual more strongly than you. For her, she's being deprived of happiness as long as the bonding doesn't happen. It's essentially weakening her until she may fade away."

"So if I don't do it, then she'll die?!" I sat up.

"Yes and no." Hailey sighed. "If you bond with Naomi, you'll release your bond with Acacia and she'll be fine. If you refuse to bite either of them, Acacia can potentially die."

"This is so complicated." I flopped back down. "She's engaged!"

"Yeah... well, engagements break off all the time." Hailey chuckled. "Although, her parents would most likely put up a fight. Elves rarely engage with anyone outside their species."

"So they're like racist?"

"More or less." Hailey laughed. "Bonding is a sacred vow to them, so they rarely give it to others, out of fear for the other species' lifespan. I think you two should speak since there's a massive elephant in the room."

"She doesn't like me-"

"You're right." I sighed at Hailey's words. "She's literally in love with you." I scrunched my brows together. "You're like all she can think about and it drives her crazy. It's incredibly humorous. Especially when you were training with the redhead, she couldn't stop glaring at the poor girl. I thought she'd do a spell to kill that girl." Hailey cackled. "You should pay attention and sense her emotions when you're around her."

"That feels like invading her privacy."

"Whatever, decent one. I'll continue sensing her emotions and filling you in." I yelped when Hailey sat on me.

"Get off!"

"Yield!"