Note: this story has been published through Self Publishing. Keep in mind that the Wattpad version is only the first draft! For the polished version without the many mistakes, buy a copy!
Where can you order a copy, you ask? Please use Create Space, because they give me more royalties!
Create Space: https://www.createspace.com/4799393
On Amazon (but they barely give me any royalties).
Don't hesitate to message me about where to buy it!
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When Simon and I were sitting on his bed that night, his books sprawled around us, I felt at peace. I still had many questions and concerns, I hadn’t really dealt with the whole story my mother had told me and I wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing by not shutting out my old friends. But I knew everything would be okay, eventually. It was hard to feel anything but peaceful while sitting next to Simon, who was channeling our energy very slowly and carefully. We’d decided to try to find out as much about mind control as possible before we would look into our special bond. It just seemed more important, with Eros compelling people all the time. We needed to help him. The fact that we were the only ones that knew enough about him to be able to help him, was enough reason for us to realize we had no other choice but to offer our help. Even if he’d decline, we needed to do our research.
I was tired from everything that had happened that day, and I was starting to doze off, my head falling sideways against Simon's shoulder. He put his arm around me while reading some heavy book called Hidden powers and how to control them. Within a few seconds, I was very close to sleep. My unconsciousness must have been busy trying to figure some things out, because it showed me something in my dreams, something that hadn’t been important at the time, but which kind of was in retrospect. I dreamed of what had happened with Eros the night of the dance.
“You really shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered right before the full power of his mind control hit me and my mind got all fuzzy. He pressed his cold lips onto mine and I didn’t have the strength to fight it. Before I knew what was happening, we were kissing fiercely, both of us not even thinking about pulling back. But when he pressed his entire body against mine and tried to push me down on the table, I came to some of my senses.
“Let go of me,” I begged weakly. “Eros…”
His hand moved to the place where the zipper of the dress was – he knew the place a little too well. “I’m glad I bought you this dress,” he murmured huskily. “Easy to take off.” His other hand was already making its way down to his pants, trying to open up his expensive leather belt.
“You promised me,” I said feebly, trying to hold off the mind control as best as I could. “You promised me you wouldn’t use it on me again.”
“I know.” I could feel Eros’ hands trembling against my skin. “But you are making it really hard for me to keep my promise.”
I woke with a yelp. Simon shook me, looking worried. I smiled feebly at him, rubbing my head. He pushed me down on the bed, forcing me to stay put.
“Don’t fuss, I just dozed off,” I assured him.
“Well, you were shaking all over, so I think I have every right to fuss,” Simon protested, still looking concerned. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah… I just had a bad dream…” I explained, sitting up. “About Eros after the dance…”
Simon grimaced. “Yeah, I’d call that a bad dream all right.”
“Wait!” I said suddenly, realizing what Eros had said when he’d wanted to take off my dress. “I know who my secret admirer is!”
“You’re kidding!” Simon said incredulously. I could tell he was quite curious.
“God, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner!” I mused, shaking my head. “He practically told me!”
“Who?” Simon pushed impatiently. “Not Eros?”
“When Eros was… well, when he was trying to take off my dress Friday night, he told me this: ‘I am glad I bought you this dress. Easy to take off.’ And if he bought me the dress, he surely bought me the other presents too!” I said, excited. “God, I am so stupid for not realizing it before.”
“It kind of makes what you told me when you got the dress ironic,” Simon said, smiling ruefully. “Remember? I know the exact words you spoke… ‘It feels like I am a kind of hooker, someone who can be bought. As if this guy has some claim on me now or something.’ I don’t know if that’s what Eros thought, but feeling like a hooker and almost getting raped… It’s almost ironic.”
I rolled my eyes. “Only you would call that ironic, Sime. Besides, Eros didn’t give me the gifts to be able to get a claim over me. He didn’t even mean to tell me it was him, it slipped out. If he wanted to claim me, he would have given the presents to me himself or put his name on the cards. I think he actually was trying to be… nice to me by giving me the presents. Maybe he really did give them to brighten my day and stuff like that.” It sounded a bit strange, but Eros wasn’t really a bad guy after all – no matter what he’d done or tried to do to me.
“Maybe,” Simon confessed. “Are you going to confront him?” I could tell he was praying I wouldn’t, fearing it would put me in some kind of danger.
“No,” I decided firmly – I had no idea where my level-headedness came from, but I was making a rational decision this time around. “It might make him decline our help. And he needs us, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.”
“Good choice,” Simon said, relieved. He hadn’t been expecting me to cave this easily, that much was obvious. “I think you are right.”
“You’re just worried I’ll get into trouble,” I pointed out, grinning. "Don’t worry – I’ll be careful with Eros from now on.”
“I know you will, but that doesn’t keep me from worrying over you,” Simon sighed. “No matter how many times I tell myself you can take perfectly good care of yourself, I keep worrying.”
I was startled for a moment – I hadn't known he worried so much about me… “That’s really sweet,” I said after a moment of silence. “And I do need you – there’s a test coming up for English and I really need you to help me study.”
“Study or focus?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.
“Just study – I am not going to weaken you by letting you fulfill any wishes I might be having. I can do this on my own.” Simon might be worried about me, but I had been worrying about him as well. Ever since I’d seen how weak he got after fulfilling a wish, I’d hoped he wouldn’t try again until he knew how to stay strong.
“Well, I improved my wishing skills a little lately,” Simon confessed with a little smile. “I fulfilled a few minors you had the past week. Things like wishing you’d fall asleep early, or wishing you’d find the courage to face your mother. I’m getting better.”
“You shouldn’t do that!” I said, frustrated. “Don’t weaken yourself over me! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you would tell me not to and I need to practice,” Simon said lightly. “Don’t fuss.”
“I think I’m the one with a right to fuss now,” I argued, shaking my head at him.
“It’s really sweet of you to be worried, but there’s no need,” he assured me. It was strange – we were having the same conversation we’d had just moments ago, only backwards. “I even felt a wish of a girl that was standing behind me in the cafeteria. She was wishing vigorously she’d have the courage to tell her friends about the boy she was dating. I was afraid of failing, so I didn’t do anything. But I think I am ready to fulfill other people’s wishes now…”
“That’s amazing!” I exclaimed, hugging him tightly for a moment. Then, I turned stern. “But you need to promise me you won’t use your powers unless I am with you, so that I can lend you some of my strength when you do it. I am not letting you get all pale and faint again.” I looked at him in a way that told him I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Fine,” he sighed. “I promise. Jeez – and you call me overprotective?”
When I went down for breakfast on Monday with Simon, Antwan and Will, I was tired and groggy. I hadn’t slept much and I only had myself to blame for it. Well… maybe Anne and Greg were a little guilty as well: the three of us had been Skyping until two o’clock, so I’d only had a few hours of decent sleep before I’d had to shower and get dressed. I’d never been a morning person and sleep deprivation was taking its toll on me.
While I was telling Simon off for loading his plate with bacon and trying to decide between Choco Pops and Honey Hoops, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned and frowned when I saw Georgia and Angie standing behind me. Usually, only Eros came up to me at breakfast, so I wondered what they wanted from me.
“We have a favor to ask,” Georgia informed me. “A big one.”
I grunted – morning was not a good time for favors. “Spit it out then…” I decided to not have any cereal after all and took some coffee and a bowl of fruit instead. The coffee here wasn’t nearly as strong as I liked it, but it would have to do.
“We need to do a project for Supernatural Basics,” Angie explained. “On vampires.”
I raised my eyebrows, walking after Simon and the others. “So?”
Carl joined us then, and he demanded we all sat with them instead of at our usual table. Eve and Drew were already sitting, and they looked just as worn as I felt.
“We have this project about learning more about other supernaturals, and we chose vampire bloodlust,” Carl told me. Apparently, all three of them were working together. “So we kinda need your help.”
I glowered at them. Bloodlust was about the worst thing they could be asking me about, after everything I’d heard about my mother and what I’d seen Eros do. “Sorry, guys, I’ve never experienced bloodlust, so I can’t help you.”
“That’s why we need you,” Georgia pleaded. “We’re going to ask you about what you think bloodlust will be like, and we’ll compare that to the stories from vampires further in the Trans.”
“Fine,” I sighed. I had a sinking feeling they’d never leave me alone until I agreed to this. “Do I fill in a questionnaire or something?”
“No – you just talk to one of us,” Carl assured me.
Angie coughed and looked kind of apologetic. “You talk to us… on camera.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “You expect me to talk about bloodlust on camera?”
Carl looked at the twins accusingly. “You didn’t tell her it’s a video project yet?”
“Sorry, but I am not gonna participate,” I refused. “I’m enough of a freak as it is, I don’t need to be in a video that everyone will see.”
“Not everyone, just our class and the teacher,” sputtered Carl. “We need you to do this!”
“She said no!” Eve spat angrily at her friend. “Leave her the hell alone!”
We all shut up then and looked at Eve and Drew. He was shrugging with a rueful smile on his face, but she was practically snarling. I’d never thought I’d ever see sweet little Eve with an expression like that on her face.
“What are you looking at?” She seemed to be set on me now. “I just had a bad night’s sleep. Apparently, you never even stopped to wonder how I’d feel about you Skyping all night.”
I felt guilty immediately and muttered an apology. I’d been in the living room with my laptop, but maybe I’d talked a little louder than I’d intended to…
“Oh Jeez Louise, it’s her time of the month,” Angie grunted. “Don’t mind her.”
“Poor you…” Georgia told Drew with sympathy. “Has she been like this all weekend?”
“Nah, just started this morning,” he replied, rubbing his girlfriend’s back. “She’s really not that bad.”
I wondered what they were talking about, but judging by Eve’s furious expression, asking was out of the question. I’d have to wait till I could ask someone – surely Angie and Georgie weren’t implying Eve was having her period? That seemed kind of a weird subject to be talking about over breakfast…
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Where can you order a copy of this book, you ask?
Create Space: https://www.createspace.com/4799393
On Amazon (but they barely give me any royalties).
Don't hesitate to message me about where to buy it!
Please like this story on Facebook and stay tuned about developments in the series: https://www.facebook.com/SupernaturalBoardingSchool