Chapter Twenty (Julian)
School was hellish for so many reasons.
It used to be the bullies that waited to trip me and beat me up. The teachers that sneered at me for not doing my homework. The homework. The work in general.
And now it was even worse. Apparently, word had gotten out that our band was playing at the winter dance and now everyone was swarming to talk to us and make requests. It didn't help that because of my relationship with Adam, girls were swooning. Not just for us as individuals, but because we were together.
Katie kept coming up to us between classes to remind us to arrive at the school earlier for set up, make sure we're dressed appropriately, and all that jazz. A few girls would pass by giggling and squealing about how Adam and I made the perfect gay couple. The gay alliance club tried to convince us to join so they'd get more publicity. The football team glared at us for stealing the school's attention away from them.
"I want to go home." I moaned in distress, ducking my head into my locker in an attempt to hide away from the world. Adam leaned on the locker next to mine, arms folded over his chest, his back pack at his feet.
"Just a few more hours. You can hold out." He answered. He was looking like his usual self again, which was actually kind of nice. He stood tall and proud, head held high and eyes watching everyone in the school like they were his enemies, a threat to our relationship, and a threat to me.
"I don't know," I grumbled, stepping back from my locker after grabbing my thermos, "The fact that a couple girls asked me if I was uke is making me wish I stayed home. What does that even mean?" I turned to see Adam hiding his face behind his hand in an attempt to not laugh out loud. I scowled.
"What's it mean?" I asked.
"Nothing," Adam said, recovering quickly to take on that stoic expression of his, although, the corner of his lips were still slightly quirked up, "I dunno. I only speak English and two words in Spanish, one in French, and one in German. Let's not worry about that now. We're eating lunch in the student council room today because they want to discuss the dance."
"Joy." I deadpanned. Adam smirked, pushing off the lockers and leaning forward to kiss me on the cheek before we headed for the student council room. My cheeks flamed as I hurried after him, ignoring the girls that were giggling in the hallway. Even a few guys were grinning as if it were the greatest thing in the world.
It was really hard to tell if they were making fun of us or if they thought gay couples were seriously the cutest thing ever.
We walked into the council room, which was already filled with all the members, and Seth and Kipp. We got our own side of the long, round table in the center of the room. On the other side were the student council members, save for Katie who sat at one end of the table and the vice-president, Evan, who sat at the other end. Evan was a freakishly tall silent type with dark chic glasses to match his longish hair and eyes.
Jace, the student council treasurer, sat across from me and was picking his nails with a pair of scissors, ignoring his bag lunch of a tuna sandwich and boiled eggs. He wasn't a really attractive guy, though. His dark hair was kind of greasy and hung in long curls to his shoulders or sometimes in a ponytail. His face was severely destroyed by acne that made it unbelievably red, and his hazel eyes had dark circles under them like he hardly slept.
Trevor, the student council secretary, sat beside him. He was kind of cute, I guess. He was a bit on the small side, lean and skinny, with a bit of a baby face and big brown eyes, his auburn hair cut short and stylish. He had a band-aid on his cheek, which told me he was probably hiding a zit from the world.
Layla, the student council advisor, was next to him, wearing a very bright pink camisole under a white fluffy sweater. Her hair was a light brown and fell in waves over her shoulders, framing a heart shaped face and pretty green eyes.
Tracy, the student council event planner, was on her side, her black hair cut short and sort of punk style so most of it was brushed towards the center of her face. It was actually kind of a boyish hair cut, but it looked good with her sharp, cat-like features. Her brown eyes were cat like with the black eyeliner she caked on. She wore a black turtleneck and black jeans.
Bret, the student council historian, was the last student council member. A redheaded, freckle faced kid with pale blue eyes and an obsession with anime and manga and Star Wars who had the biggest bug collection known to man. He even wore the promotional t-shirts, and keychains on his ridiculously tight jeans.
All people who used to sneer at us and spit at us because we broke their rules and broke the general rules. Now most of them were smiling from ear-to-ear or pretending they didn't hate us.
"Now then," Katie said, her voice tinged with excitement as she took a bite of her turkey sandwich before continuing, "The dance starts at eight, but we need to be here a good couple hours early to set everything up. Trevor and Evan had the basketball team help them put up the ceiling decorations last night, so we don't need to worry about that."
"Now it's just the decorations for the wall, the stage, the band, and the snack area." Jace spoke up, sniffling a little and wiping something on his sleeve. I cringed inwardly. How did this guy even graduate from kindergarten? I almost expected him to just dig his finger into his nose. I felt Adam's hand rest on mine under the table, making me glance him, but he was quiet and listening to Katie as she went on with a nod.
"Exactly. Tracy, you need to gather up students to help out. There should be some members of the football team willing to help." She said, turning to Tracy, who blew at the hair in her face, but it stayed in place as she folded her arms over her chest.
"I think I rather gag myself with a fork because those pricks won't help us knowing these four are at the dance." She said, glancing at us four. Adam shrugged, letting go of my hand to pick up his thermos of cherry juice.
"We'll help as much as we can. It won't take long for us to set up." He replied. Tracy gave him a long stare as he took a drink. It took me a moment to realize her eyes were hungry and she was mentally undressing him. Surprisingly, it didn't really bother me. Rather, it made me blush to realize that she could stare all she wanted, but Adam wasn't the least bit interested in her. He barely spared her a glance.
"Says you," Kipp muttered, taking a sip from his juice box, "You don't play the drums."
"I love drummers." Layla blurted. I forgot to mention she was a little ditzy and tended to open her mouth and say stupid things, but it didn't matter. I think she was using her stupidity to her advantage now because she was smiling flirtatiously at Kipp, who blushed right to the tips of his ears. Seth tensed beside me, making me raise an eyebrow at him. He shot me a dirty look, then looked at Katie.
"Kipp and I are staying after school, so we'll help out early. Adam and Julian have to go home first; they have family coming into town for his birthday this weekend." He informed dryly in an attempt to change the subject. Katie's eyes got big.
"It's your birthday this weekend?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah." I mumbled.
"Happy Birthday," She beamed, clasping her hands together excitedly, "And, boy, do I have an exciting present for you!" She reached down to the floor at her feet. I frowned, sharing a curious stare with Adam before we watched as Katie place a huge box on the table.
It was decorated to look like a Christmas present wrapped in shiny blue paper and a silver glittery bow. On top was a slot for little papers to go in. Katie opened the top off the box and took out a sheet of paper, holding it up for us to see.
"These are this year's Ice King and Queen nominees! Three couples are usually chosen as the most popular and these are the couples," She cleared her throat, turning the sheet to herself, reading aloud, "Eric Rodrigez and Jaclyn Tulupa. Katie Michaels and Zach Ritman. Julian Grey and Adam Wayne."
Adam and I both choked on our food. I coughed, trying to catch my breath as Seth whacked at my back. Adam coughed a little longer, then cleared his throat. I finally managed to breath normally again.
"Us?" I squeaked unintentionally.
"This isn't a joke, is it?" Kipp asked uneasily. Seth cast Katie a dangerous glare.
"Yeah, you guys aren't going to pull some kind of stupid bullshit from Carrie, are you? Because trust me, you really do not want to pour any kind of blood on these two." He said in a voice that was low and threatening. It made Katie blink and look at Evan nervously. He just shook his head. Tracy snorted.
"No, you just have a lot of gay fans." She answered matter-of-factly.
"Yeah," Layla chirped with a giggle, "You guys are totally cute together and everyone's noticed! And the principal's brother is gay, so I doubt he'd tell you guys no. Even some of the teachers said you guys were cute and inspirational."
"Inspirational," I echoed, looking at Adam, who seemed to be hiding his face behind his arm in attempt to stop laughing, "Do you hear that? We're the next Bonnie and Clyde. The next Jack and Rose."
"If you let go of my hand in the middle of the Atlantic, I'm taking you down with me." Adam responded, making me laugh. Kipp laughed too and Seth just rolled his eyes. Layla just smiled, obviously confused by the reference. You'd think a girl would know a Titanic reference. Or maybe the concept of the movie was difficult for her to understand.
"Anyway," Katie went on politely, "Don't worry. Teachers will be chaperoning the dance, but to be honest, I don't think anyone's going to hurt you guys."
"If they know what's good for them." Seth tacked on, looking down at his nails to appear nonchalant, but the murder on his face was plain. Katie cleared her throat uncomfortably, looking down at the files spread out under her lunch tray.
"So, uhm, now that we have that announced, we'll do the voting for Ice King and Queen halfway through the dance. Once they're announced, they go up on stage to receive their crowns." With that, Katie took two items out of the voting box.
The Ice Queen crown was actually pretty, and looked extremely expensive. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say those were real diamonds in the silver. The diamonds ran in an intricate design that made it look almost like a snowflake. At the center was what had to be a sapphire gem twinkling in the lights.
The Ice King crown was made up of a silver band, several diamonds clustered in areas to make it peaked in several places. It looked newer than the Queen crown.
"Where did you get those?" I asked in awe, reaching out to take the queen crown, then hesitated to look at Katie for permission and she nodded. I picked up the crown, running my fingers over the diamonds. I'd seen a lot of diamonds given the fact that my clan was the richest, only second to the Gothica clan, and I knew a real diamond when I saw it.
"My parents," Katie answered with a warm smile, "They got divorced last year and it was a pretty bad falling out. They were gonna sell them, but I begged them to let us use them for the dance. And since they had such a bad relationship, they kinda wanna spite each other by tossing them to us teenagers. So say hello to our crowns."
"Why don't you use them for prom?" I asked, handing her the crown back. Katie grinned.
"Evan's gonna buy us brand new crowns for prom." She answered. Of course, I thought casting Evan a stare that made him look down at the table, like he was afraid of meeting my eyes.
The rest of the meeting consisted of planning decoration, song lists, a request line, and so on and so forth. Most of it I tuned out because I didn't really care. I was just excited to play in the band in front of a ton of people. My stomach was doing nervous flip flops, but it still didn't change the fact that I was pumped for this.
"Do you think you guys are gonna win Ice King and Queen?" Kipp asked Adam and I as we walked through the hallways after the meeting. Adam remained silent, but he lifted a brow slowly as if the thought intrigued him. Seth scoffed, walking on my other side as he shrugged his jacket on, trying to look tough, even though he was small.
"Oh please, can you see these two wearing crowns?" He asked dryly. Adam hummed thoughtfully, cocking his head as he reached his hand down, taking mine in his.
"I dunno, Seth. I specifically remember you calling me King yesterday." He pointed out, giving my hand a squeeze. I grinned, passing Seth a look. He blushed hard, glaring at us.
"I so did not mean it like that. I was just trying to make you feel better." He snapped. That only seemed to further amuse Adam.
"How sweet of you to care about my feelings."
"I don't care about your feelings!"
"That's not what you said last night." Adam replied. Seth sputtered, but instead, we only caught a few swear words and a promise to pour pigs blood on us at the dance before he left us to go recover what was left of his ego. Kipp gave us a salute as he walked backwards away from us before rushing after Seth.
"This is why people think they're together," I said as we came to my locker, "Kipp follows him like a puppy. And did you see the way Seth jumped at Layla for her flirting?" Adam shrugged, letting go of my hand so I could get into my locker. He leaned against the one beside me, watching me put in my combination.
"I'm not so sure. Seth seems to be lacking in the affection department." He admitted, making me glance at him curiously.
"What'd you mean? You said he was trying to comfort you yesterday."
"Out of friendship. Sometimes I wonder if Seth is just an aromantic asexual."
"A what?"
"Someone who isn't really into romance or sex."
"I dunno," I said with a shrug, closing my locker and stepping back to look up at him, "I think there's someone out there for him. It's kind of hard to judge considering he's only ever been in Silver Stone, and Silver Stone is pretty small. Not too many people to choose from."
"Oh yeah?" Adam asked. I blinked, then felt heat fill my cheeks.
"N-No, I didn't mean it like that." I stuttered, feeling incredibly stupid. Why do I always say stupid things? Why can't I find the right words? I was starting to understand why people wanted to punch me in the face. Adam backed me up against my locker, looking down at me with a blank expression. I waited for him to get mad or hurt, but instead, he leaned in to my ear.
"Then I must be the luckiest guy in town, huh?" He asked. I blinked, tilting my head to look at him as he pulled back, only to place his lips over mine. I held my breath, staring at him, stunned before I started to kiss back. Only to have someone clear their throat loudly.
Adam backed off, narrowing his eyes to turn and see Walter staring at us. I blushed, coughing awkwardly and shifting a bit uncomfortably.
"Uhm. I thought I said our therapy session is Monday." I muttered dryly. I instantly felt bad for saying it because of the hurt look that passed through Walter's eyes, but he recovered quickly and shrugged, averting his eyes. It took me a moment to see the huge bruise that was welling on his cheek, just under his eye. My eyes widened in surprise.
"Where the hell did you get the shiner?" I asked in disbelief, taking a step toward him. Walter took one away from me, reaching up to rub his hand over it as if that would make it go away.
"Nowhere. Doesn't matter." He mumbled. I scowled, folding my arms over my chest.
"You want to talk to me, you gotta trust me. Don't be vague. Tell me what's up." I told him. Walter shifted uncomfortably, glancing behind me at Adam, who refused to budge and just gave him a long, hard stare. Walter gave up trying to mentally tell Adam to leave and turned his eyes to me.
"My dad." He said at last. I lowered my arms to my sides.
"Your dad did that?" I asked. My stomach sank as Walter nodded. He was trying to hide the pain, but I could see right through him and I could hear the way his heart skipped a beat when he spoke. I wanted to know why Walter would trust me enough with this, but I guess I was the only person left who didn't think he was insane. Guilt made my heart heavy as I watched Walter shift from foot to foot, sniffing for a moment as he swept his thumb across his lower lip, fingertips brushing his cheek before lowering his hand to his side.
"Ah, yeah," He said at last, his voice breaking for a second before he cleared his throat and continued, "I went to the library to get a couple of books on... uhm, well, your people. Or at least try to anyway. Aaand he... got... mad at me." I grimaced.
"Walter--"
"It really doesn't matter," Walter interrupted, his voice thick with pain that he refused to admit to, "It's done and over with. What about your whole vampire mess?" I frowned.
"Depends which part we're discussing, and there's a certain one I don't want to discuss in public. I promised Daimonas." I muttered. Walter gave me an odd look. I rolled my eyes.
"The demonic parasite in my head that I mentioned." I responded. Walter grimaced as if he really did not like thinking about that. Even though he knew the truth, he still seemed to have trouble wrapping his head around it without going stark raving mad... Although, part of me wondered sometimes.
"Look, we'll talk later," I told him when the warning bell rang, "Come to the dance set up around six. Help us set up and I'll talk to you then. Does that make you feel better?" Walter actually relaxed at that.
"Actually, yeah. That does."
"Cool, then I'll see you at six."
Walter nodded to me and walked past us to his next class. I turned, watching him leave before I caught Adam staring at me. I flinched, averting my eyes and running a hand through my hair.
"Don't look at me like that. I didn't mean to tell him. It just... kind of... spilled out." I muttered. Adam said nothing for a while, then came up beside me, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear before he leaned in, kissing my temple.
"Fine. I trust you. It's just him that I don't trust." He said under his breath, turning to look up at where Walter had disappeared. I shrugged.
We went to class after that and it felt like eternity for school to end. I was mostly excited to get to the dance so we could play, and maybe even setting up would be pretty fun. Sure, I'd have to talk to Walter about his depressing life, but I don't think that would be enough to make me feel like crap the entire night. Besides, I owed him some kind of therapy lesson after I pretty much screwed up his life.
When the final bell rang for the end of school, I couldn't be more relieved. Yeah, I kind of missed out on the lesson, but it didn't matter. Tonight wasn't about working. Tonight was about the band.
I left the classroom and went to my locker to grab my things. I stood up to close my locker when someone smacked into me. I hissed, then snapped my head around, glaring as a couple of the pricks Walter used to be friends with walked by.
"Faggot." One of them sneered. My blood boiled like lava and I wanted so badly to slam the jerk into the ground and break his head open like a piñata. But just as they went by, Adam came down the hallway and slammed his shoulder hard into the guy who'd muttered the obscenity. He pulled up short, opening his mouth to snap at Adam, until he caught the look on Adam's face. I'd seen the I will fucking destroy you look before and it was definitely scary.
"I'd like you to apologize." Adam stated. The guy stepped back, trying not to look intimidated.
"I'm not gonna apologize to a fucking faggot. What're you gonna do? Hit me with your purse?" He demanded mockingly. Adam narrowed his eyes and caught the guy by the front of his shoulder roughly, slamming him into a locker. The guy started to bounce off the lockers to run, but Adam caught him again and slammed him hard into the lockers so they rattled.
"Say that word again and I will make you very sorry that you were ever born." Adam warned dangerously. The guy gulped audibly, glancing at his buddies, who stood across the hallway at a safe distance to watch with their jaws dropped. The guy just turned his head to look at me.
"Sorry." He managed.
"You're not forgiven." I deadpanned, folding my arms over my chest. The guy looked back at Adam, terrified, but Adam seemed content with scaring the guy shitless. He stepped back, letting go of him and giving him the chance to stalk off in silence with his friends right at his heels. I walked up to Adam, who turned to face me, placing a hand on my cheek.
"You all right?" He asked. I nodded, reaching up to place my hand over his for a second before looking up at him.
"Totally fine. Nice job, by the way." I added. Adam shrugged, stepping back and taking my hand so we could head home.
"Fucking peasants." He said, making me smirk. We started down the hallway and walked out of the school. It was bitter cold outside, but the sun was shining, so at least there was some warmth. Although, my skin felt like it was about to burn considering my mom hadn't packed me as much blood as I had wanted. I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt up to hide my face from the sun, but kept my hand locked with Adam's as we walked across the street from the school.
"We're supposed to be meeting your dad's friends today, right?" Adam asked me as we walked, trudging through the snow and side stepping patches of ice. I nodded.
"Yeahhh. I think I know who it is too."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm. Things are about to get uncomfortable." It was all I said to Adam's curious stare before we arrived at my house. A new car was parked in the driveway. A big hulky truck with a tarp over the back to hide what was probably weapons or corpses to be honest. Knowing the owner, anyway. Adam and I walked into the house to find that it was kind of packed. Mostly in the living room.
Alexander and Mary-Kay were standing in the hallway just outside the living room, sharing uneasy stares before looking back into the living room. In the den, Vladimir was sitting on the recliner, one leg folded over the other. Behind him like dutiful bodyguards were Claude and Kristophe, identical twins with dark hair and blue eyes, pale skin, and a nice fashion sense of black suits. Mark and Storm had also arrived.
Mark looked the same as ever with his black hair styled modernly, bangs in his face over a pair of sharp blue eyes. He wore a gray and black AC/DC beanie, a tight black long sleeved shirt under a fishnet tank top, black skinny jeans with chains and skulls running down the sides to a pair of black snow boots. Storm stood beside him in a pair of black jeans, a white v-neck, and a black jacket over top.
My mom was also in the room, passing out glasses of blood before she stopped at Hunter, giving him some of Adam's left over coffee. My dad stood in front of the flat screen, nibbling on the end of his thumb before my mom came over and gave him a dainty kiss and a mug of blood. He nodded his thanks before looking up to see Adam and I. He gestured us in and we obeyed, coming to stand in the middle of the crowded living room. It was kind of uncomfortable with everyone staring at us.
"Everyone, this is my son, Julian, and his boyfriend, Adam. Adam, you haven't met these people yet, but..." My dad didn't really finish his sentence, so Vladimir picked up where he left off, gesturing to his bodyguards and his son and son-in-law.
"Claude, Kristophe, Mark, and Storm," He introduced, "My lackies and my... related lackies."
"Tsk," Mark snorted, folding his arms over his chest, "In your dreams. I serve no one." Vladimir smirked wickedly at him, making Mark shift uncomfortably and step closer to Storm, who put a possessive arm around Mark's shoulders. My father cleared his throat and gestured to the two strangers in the room-- well, strangers to Adam. I recognized both of them.
"Adam, this is my younger brother, Lysander, and a close family friend, Tyrin." My father told him.
Lysander, my uncle, was really young. He was probably just a couple years older than me. He was actually kind of womanly. Sleek and slender with white-blonde hair that he cut short and modern, sort of like a surfer from California. Except Lysander hated the sun, or light in general, which is why the lights in the room were dimmed. He wore a tight black turtleneck to match his low-rise leather pants. The dark purple back pack that he carried everywhere was sitting at his feet, decorated with safety pins and patches from his favorite bands.
Tyrin was a friend my father met on a trip to Bangkok. His black hair was done in cornrows down to the nape of his neck, his eyes mismatched. His left eye was dark brown and the right was a piercing shade of white-blue. His skin was like milk chocolate and decorated in black tribal tattoos, save for the white tattoo done to look like a collar made of skulls around his throat. He wore a black v-neck and blue jeans, a winter jacket resting on his shoulders.
"Now," My father continued, "When I called for your help, and when Vladimir did, we told you it was to protect Julian and Adam from Zephyra. This is true, but you must understand that Zephyra isn't just another group of kidnappers waiting for ransom money. Zephyra is a terrorist group. And they are bent on taking Julian away for the demonic parasite. We need people to be with these two at all times. Which includes tonight."
"Tonight?" Lysander asked, his voice a rumbling baritone. My father nodded.
"Julian and Adam are playing at their school dance. They're earning money and we want Julian to learn what getting a job is like. We need three of you to go with him tonight for the dance, which ends... what time?" He turned to me.
"Uh, like, midnight or something." I answered. He gave me a droll stare. One that said "or something" wasn't good enough. I shrugged innocently. My dad sighed in frustration and Lysander smirked, folding his arms over his chest.
"Nice job discipling your son, Koby."
"Koby?" Adam asked flatly. My father blushed.
"It's just a stupid nickname," He answered, then glared at Lysander, "I told you not to call me that anymore."
"Koby, Koby, Koby." Lysander mocked. My father looked like he wanted to throttle him, but my father was bred for physical attraction, not physical strength like Lysander, so it'd be no competition. My grandfather apparently did his best to try and pretty Lysander up, and while it worked and Lysander was always having suitors rush to him, he always turned them down after a one night stand. But at least he knew how to kick ass. He just preferred to call it dancing, not fighting.
He actually didn't have any kind of special training at all. He used what he learned from dance classes to punch people in the face. And he was a slippery bastard, so he usually got away when people tried to hunt him down. The fact that my father could find him was stunning.
"Boys," My mother warned, "Let's not lose sight of what this whole thing is about." Lysander shrugged.
"You can't tell me that purposely pissing him off isn't fun. You're married to him." He reminded. My mother didn't answer, but she passed a long stare at my father, who was still blushing in embarrassment.
"Anyway," Vladimir said, grabbing everyone's attention, "I was thinking we send Claude, Lysander, and Hunter with Adam and Julian tonight. We'll leave Tyrin and Kristophe to guard from a safe distance in case anything happens outside the building. Mark and Storm will stay here to hold down the fort with everyone else. Does that sound resonable?"
"Why do I have to go to a silly high school dance?" Lysander complained.
"Because you can pull off looking like a student better than Tyrin can." My father answered flatly. It made sense. Tyrin was freakishly tall and Lysander was still kind of on the short side. The corner of Tyrin's lips quirked up in a smirk of amusement at the comment. Lysander just scowled, but said nothing more.
"What time do we need to leave?" Hunter asked, getting up from the sofa, flipping the knife he'd been playing with into a sheath on his waist. My mother eyed the weapon wearily, but safely kept her mouth shut. I had a feeling my mom hated Hunter more than Adam did. At least now they had something in common.
"Six," I answered, "They want us there earlier to help set everything up." Vladimir nodded, getting to his feet.
"Then Claude, Lysander, and Hunter can pose as students to help out. Look at that, multitasking." He added. Claude wrinkled his nose in disgust, putting his hands on his hips.
"Why do I have to spend time with the Cajun?" He asked dryly. Hunter gave him a bored stare.
"You got somethin' to say, couillon?" He returned, his accent thick and nasally. Claude raked him with a disgusted sneer.
"I don't speak trash."
"I don't speak bloodsucking leech."
"Enough," Vladimir ordered, making Claude back down, but Hunter continued to watch the twin with an intimidating stare, "We are not here to argue. I really don't care where you're from, who your mother was, or who your sperm donor was. We're here to protect people. You can go at each other's throats after Zephyra backs down or is destroyed. Do I make myself clear?" Claude ground his teeth together, but gave a short, stiff nod. Hunter stared at Claude for a moment longer, then looked away.
"Awesome," I spoke up to avoid the awkward silence, "I get my own bodyguards. Can I have a limo too?" My mom pinched my cheek, making me groan and wave her away. She ruffled my hair as a response.
"You two should be getting ready," She told Adam and I, "Keep your tuxedos in their boxes until you get there so they're not ruined. And wear something nice there. Stop dressing like hoodlums. I didn't just waste two hundred sixty eight dollars on your tux, Adam, so wear some pants with no holes."
"All my pants have holes, ma'am."
"Then wear ones with less holes."
"Yes, ma'am."
My mother seemed to like the ma'am thing because she smiled and pinched Adam's cheek, but hard enough to make his cheek red before she ushered my father into the kitchen so she could calm him down after Lysander's teasing.
"I think she's starting to like you." I pointed out to Adam, who rubbed his cheek and gave me a droll stare.
"Are you kidding me? She tried to rip my cheek off."
"You get used to it."
"Next time I'm wearing a football helmet."
"You'll need it." A voice said. Adam and I looked up to see Hunter looking at us, his arms folded over his chest.
"How are you going to pose as a student?" I asked him suddenly. Getting a good look at him, Hunter didn't look like a kid, or a teenager at all. He was a man, through and through. Muscular and tall with stubble on his jaw, deep manly voice. Your stereotypical man.
"I have my ways," Hunter said briefly, then turned to Adam, who gave him a mildly suspicious stare, "And you. Don't forget what we talked about. Tonight's a little practice." Adam gave him a hard stare, but said nothing as Hunter walked past him and out of the living room.
"What was that about?" I asked, confused. Adam shook his head, then leaned in and gave me a deep kiss on the lips that made me completely forget what we were talking about.
"Let's go get ready. Tonight's our night." He told me, taking my hand. I shivered, a thrill rushing through me.
That's right, I told myself confidently.
Tonight was our night.