𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬

09 | Still a Mystery

Connie exhaled as he braced himself on a nearby locker, resting his forehead against the old metal.

I recalled the more amusing parts of the past week, which was Lyric harassing Connie whenever they crossed paths or saw each other inbetwen classes. The prey in question would constantly escape these gestures by flinging himself the opposite way with a grimace.

I gave him an encouraging pat on the back, secretly pleased that I wasn't in his place.

"Lyric is into men?" Cleo asked from behind her two friends, looking somewhat deflated by the news.

"It's not my business to tell, but he's pretty open about not having a gendered preference." Zelda looked amused. "He has a lot of phases, although I like to call them targets."

Connie made a disgruntled noise, either from Lyric's actions or my hand giving another harsh slap.

"Oh, thank the Spirits!" Cleo sighed in relief. "I still have a chance."

I chuckled lightly at her boy-crazy personality, even if she chose to hang out with the Wicked Witches of the West.

"Hold up, why do Ender and Benedict want to see her?" Vivian interrupted our somewhat sociable atmosphere with her snarky remark.

"Beats me." Zelda fiddled with sharp nails, all while giving a testing look.

The other girl looked nervous as her upperclassman continued to stare intensely, a darker hue lingering behind somewhat feral eyes.

Zelda told people that her spirit was a wolf—but she was somewhat lying.

A strong sense of paranormal vibes came from her.

I was about to blurt out if she had the spirit of a lycan, but her arm linked into mine and guided us away. There was guilt for leaving Connie alone with the girls, especially as I caught him sending me a look that screamed 'how dare you'.

My own cry for help sprung up when I approached Ender, Fable, Benedict, and Leon all congregated together.

They were speaking lightly amongst themselves, their conversation slowly dropping as we approached. Leon and I made prominent eye contact, and it took everything inside of me not to stick my middle finger at him.

Fable smiled sweetly while holding his hand, squeezing it lightly as he tensed from our earlier exchange.

Why was she holding Leon's hand?

Benedict observed our awkward exchange. "Bishop said she knew you in passing."

"I guess you could say that," Leon mumbled.

Eyes squinted at him, suspicion lacing my voice. "I've never ever seen him."

We've only known each other for six years and grew up in an orphanage together thick as thieves. Other than that, we totally didn't really know each other.

"Must have mistook him for another random dude." I let out an overly exaggerated expression that made Leon shoot me an exasperated glare.

It hurt when your best friend rejects you after all we've been through.

Everyone around us could probably feel the tension rising, somehow knowing that we were both lying through our teeth.

"Novalie."

I looked towards Ender as he caught my attention, fixating on his pinched expression.

"Yeah?" I leaned against a nearby locker and gave an even stare, secretly pleased from hearing my name, the vowels fluidly rolling off his tongue.