Freya Snow: Book One - Hunt

Chapter Fifteen

"You have paper in your hair," Damon told Freya as she dropped down next to him.

She sighed. "I know."

"Why do you have paper in your hair?"

She rolled her eyes as she picked it out. "Michelle was sitting behind me last lesson."

Damon frowned. "Michelle is the ginger girl who picked on you on the first day?"

"Yeah, how do you not know that?"

"I have no classes with her. I only saw her the once."

Freya sighed. "Well, I do have classes with her. And she is constantly trying to irritate me into getting angry so she can mock me for lashing out. She's lucky I don't..." Freya cut herself off before she said, "draw all the water out of her body and leave her as a pile of dust."

Damon frowned. "That seems incredibly petty."

"Tell me about it."

They fell silent as their English teacher started talking.

"I assume you all read A Midsummer Night's Dream last year," the teacher said.

Freya glanced to Damon, whose wide eyes mirrored her own.

"I read the Tempest," Freya hissed at him, her mind quickly running through all the ways she could deal with the situation without telling the teacher as much.

"I did not do any Shakespeare," he hissed back.

She raised an eyebrow. "Where did you go to school? Mars?"

He smiled. Accusing him of being from Mars was Freya's usual go to when Damon lacked common knowledge, and it always made him smile, so Freya had kept it up. She found she liked to see him smile, the sight causing warmth to bloom in her chest. She had mentioned as much to Alice, who had only proceeded to tease her about having a crush. Or, at least, she thought her sister had been teasing. It was difficult to tell with her...

Freya and Damon's attention, however, was drawn away from each other by the teacher speaking once more.

"Your first assignment for this module is performance. You'll split into groups and you will be given a scene from a Shakespeare play to perform. You will also write an essay each on your scene. The essays will be due in next week, before half term, and the performances will be after. We will be doing work on A Midsummer Night's Dream after that.

"If you divide yourselves into groups, I will hand out scenes with the appropriate number of actors."

"Partners?" Damon asked, turning to Freya.

Freya shrugged. "Sure, but we'll probably need more people."

Damon's hand immediately shot up. "Miss?"

"Yes, Damon?"

"Can Freya and I work as a pair?"

The teacher hummed as she flicked through the pile of scripts in her hands. "Well, the only scene I have for only two people is the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet."

Freya tensed up, her face immediately flushed with warmth.

"Okay," Damon said, as if that wasn't even slightly a problem.

Freya groaned as she realised why. "You have no idea what that scene is, do you?" she asked once the teacher had handed them the scripts and headed off.

"No," he replied cheerily. "Care to fill me in?"

Freya sighed. "Romeo and Juliet is... Well, it's not a romance, it's a tragedy, but it's got a lot a romance in it. And this scene is pretty much the romance scene between the two main characters."

"So?"

Freya could feel the bright red shade she was sure her face had turned. "So, that's... It's... It's weird."

"Why?"

"Because we're just friends."

"Exactly. It is acting. Or am I missing something here?"

Impossibly, Freya's face flushed further. "No, you're not, it's just... Are you sure you want to do this with just me? What about your friends from music? Wouldn't you rather be with them?"

"No. I see them enough in music. I would rather work with you."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Why not? You are my friend, Freya. Plus, it does not hurt that you are so smart."

Freya rolled her eyes at his joke, doing her best to let her embarrassment and frustration go. "I'm still convinced you're as smart as me. You just refuse to put in any effort for some reason."

"Alright, Miss Critical," he joked.

She shrugged with a smile. "Hey, that's Ms Critical. And, what can I say? I'm a bitch. Which begs the question of why you hang out with me."

He responded with a slight frown, his eyes looking her over in a deliberate manner that had her blush returning in full force.

Eventually, he looked away with a shrug, leaning back in his chair. "I guess there is just something about you..."

"That's not a real answer."

"What do you want? A spreadsheet?"

She shrugged. "Ideally."

He smiled, shaking his head. "Well, tough. Not everyone is as meticulous as you. Anyway, we will probably have to rehearse this after school," he said, indicating to the script in his hand. "Do you want to come around to mine tonight to go over it?"

Freya froze a little. Damon had never suggested they hang out outside of school before. Even if it was for school...

She rolled her eyes as she remembered they couldn't. "It's parents' evening tonight, remember?"

He groaned. "How could I forget?"

"Will your uncle be there?"

"Yeah, but he is not happy about going alone. He was trying to convince Charlie to go with him, but he is out of town for work."

"Charlie?"

"His boyfriend," Damon explained. "I think Charlie was the main reason my uncle was not upset about having to stay in one place to look after me."

"Stay in one place? Did he usually move about a lot?"

"Yeah, for work."

"What does he do?"

"He does private security."

"For who?"

"My aunt's husband."

Freya frowned. "You mean your other uncle?"

Damon gave an awkward shrug. "Yeah, but I do not really think of him like that, you know?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"Well, it... He is quite powerful. And... intimidating. Plus, he and my aunt are married, but they are not married."

"Ohhh kay?"

Damon sighed, picking up on her not-so-subtle confusion. "It is a political marriage. Back home, my aunt's husband has a position of power that is inherited. He married my aunt so she could take over part of his responsibilities."

"Okay." She still didn't really understand, but Damon was shifting from side to side, looking uncomfortable, so she decided it would be best to drop it.