CHAPTER TWELVE
"Good morning Salvatore Stallions! This is the Stallion news live from the administration's office. I'm MG— Milton Greasley. Let's begin with our first announcement for the day"
"Campus news: Headmaster Saltzman won't be on campus today which means that the morning assembly has been canceled. Any questions meant for the headmaster can either wait or you'll be advised to speak to a teacher, mentor, maybe a friend or the guidance counselor... Two nights ago, while everyone was at the dance, someone snuck off into the administration's office for today's exams. No one was caught which means that all exams have been canceled until further notice. We have a day off for studying but thanks to you we'll all be punished and take the replacement exams tomorrow. Those who aren't present will have to take a makeup exam on Wednesday"
"Now, Dr. Saltzman has advised me to encourage everyone to sign up for extracurricular activities if you haven't already. Alright, now news from the clubs: The weather looks nice so if you're in the gardening club, you're going to be outside today. If I were you I'd get some gloves right away. The basketball club's weekly witches and vampires match is tonight, so sign up if you wanna ball. Tryouts for the drill and football teams are today so make sure you're there on time and in the right attire"
"Milton, you need to finish. The students are complaining and need to hurry to their classes"
"Okay, screw this. Which one of you complained? I thought this was fun but y'all just complaining all the time... Uh, anyway, look this is important. The annual flag football game against the local high school is only a few weeks away and we need as many players as possible. If you want to sign up—"
"Mr. Greasley, now"
"As I was saying if you want to participate, speak to Mr. Williams. And now I have to finish before Ms. Featherwood kicks me out. Uh, that's it for our announcements. This is Milton Greasley signing off. Have a dope— the dopest day. Thank you for listening. Go Stallions!"
Adrian searched his dorm, pulling out drawers, boxes, dragging his clothes down and tossing them out of the closet, desperately searching for his notebook after noticing that it was gone and not under the broken floorboard under his bed.
"Where is it?!"
The boy searched everywhere, under and between every book and in every drawer but found nothing. Everything he ever learned had been written down in that composition notebook, everything from his father's inspirational words to truth about his parents' death— the real truth.
The bedroom door opened and Owen entered with books in hand. He closed the door behind him before leaning on it, a puzzled expression spread across his face as he scanned the disaster Adrian had caused. He shook his head and crossed the room to get to his dresser, "I don't even want to know"
The blond pulled his shirt over his head and put on a fresh one, "Alright, you can give up now. Grab your things, we're heading into town"
"Like hell I am" The Aquilo boy growled, facing his friend, "I'm staying here"
Owen huffed, "What are you searching for anyway?"
Adrian reached under his bed to continue his search for the journal, "I can't find my journ— my math notes. Why are you heading into town?"
"The local high school are hosting their annual carnival tonight"
The brunet furrowed his brows and got up off the floor, "They've been hosting it all week" He grabbed his backpack and emptied it on the bed, "Who's going?"
"Oh, just Penelope. And uh, the Saltzmans, Rick, Alyssa, MG, Santana, and Kaleb" Owen answered, "And uh... Jed"
"Jed?" The blond wolf nodded and the Aquilo boy sat back down on his bed, "Cool... I'm definitely not going"
The bedroom door opened and in came Jed himself with a smirk playing on his lips, "Stop being a little wuss, Aquilo. I'm not going to hit you"
┏━━━━━━━━┓
BUT I WILL HIT YOU
┗━━━━━━━━┛
Adrian rose from his bed and pushed Jed out, slamming the door shut behind him before he faced Owen, "Really?"
The Whitaker boy shrugged, "He was waiting outside"
"Violating our personal space" The Aquilo boy pointed out, "But you know what? I'm gonna go because I've been wanting to get back at him for weeks"
"Adrian" A third voice spoke. The boys faced the doorway to see that Lizzie Saltzman and her twin, Josie, had joined them, "We're not going to the carnival so you two can fight"
Penelope appeared in the doorway, behind the twins, "A fight? Who's fighting?"
The blonde female rolled her eyes, "Oh look, it's Satan in a crop top and everything on the shelf"
The Park witch furrowed her brows, a sarcastic chuckle escaping her lips. At this, a confused expression spread across Lizzie's face. Josie face her Penelope, her ex, the only person Lizzie disliked more than Hope, "Penelope, still short I see"
"Josie. Still pretending not to be hopelessly in love with me I see" Penelope smirked, crossing the room only to take a seat on one of the beds, "You know, this place looks like Chernobyl"
Owen shrugged, "You could always stay here and clean up if you think it looks so bad"
The Park witch let out a chuckle, "You wish! I'm coming with you"
Lizzie shook her head, ready to step in and prevent the witch from leaving with them, "Uh-uh, if she's coming then count me out"
Penelope clapped her hands, "Great. One less psycho to take care of"
The blonde squinted her eyes and moved toward the witch, eager to hurl at her, "Why, I oughta—"
"Stop" The males interrupted before a catfight could break out, Adrian held onto Lizzie by her wrist to make sure she didn't attack the brunette witch in front of them and Owen was blocking Penelope's view.
The blond wolf sighed, "Let's just go and have fun. No brawls, catfights... or throwing anyone over the Wickery bridge" At this, the teens all turned and faced the blond Saltzman.
Lizzie gaped, "Why is everyone looking at me?"
"Cause we all remember what happened when you wanted Penelope to go for a swim " Owen answered, "And the times you've taken Hope to 'feed the ducks' and then shoved her into the pond"
┏━━━━━━━┓
IM STARTING TO
THINK SHE'S EVIL
┗━━━━━━━┛
"Ugh, get over it. You all hate me because you don't like me and I'm mean to you. Grow up"
✶
The group of Salvatore teens that left the school premises to hitch a ride into town had just made it to the local high school's carnival. They had assembled behind the gym to make sure everyone kept tabs on each other.
"Alright, peeps, let's meet up here in four to five hours," Owen told his friends, "Have fun, fam"
"Oh my God, Owen. You're like a forty-year-old father who tries to be hip" One of the girl's spoke, Adrian had never met her before but he knew that her name was Alyssa Chang and that she was one of Lizzie's many rivals.
"Yeah, face it, Whitaker" Penelope spoke, drawing the boy's attention to her, "You're just not a dilf"
The blond werewolf furrowed his brows, "What is— You know what? I don't even want to know"
The light-haired Saltzman girl rocked back and forth on her toes and heels in boredom until she finally let out a groan that drew everyone's attention back to her, "Are we done here? This isn't the lost city of Atlantis, we know our way around and we know that we'll be meeting each other here before we go back to school"
"Come on Adrian" Lizzie grabbed the boy by his hand before he could react, "We have things to cross off our list before we leave"
The male furrowed his brows, "We do?"
"Uh-huh. Now, hurry up"
✶
The Aquilo boy and the blonde Saltzman girl stood in line to get on the Ferris wheel, they had done everything from shooting games to rigged games such as knocking the milk bottle pyramid down just to win Lizzie a teddy bear— per her request.
"You know, up there would totally be a good place to make out. It overlooks the school and you can see the sun when it sets, not to mention that it's super romantic"
Adrian tore his eyes from the grass beneath him and faced the girl. He licked his lips, wondering how he'd break it to her, "Lizzie, I like you bu—"
Lizzie smiled, "And I like you"
The boy hesitated before he shook his head "Listen. I— Please, don't take this the wrong way or think that I've led you on or anything. I just want you to know th—"
Elizabeth nodded, she knew where this was going, "I know what you're gonna say"
"What?"
The girl sighed, "It's Hope, isn't it?"
┏━━━━━━━┓
WHAAAAAAT?
┗━━━━━━━┛
Adrian froze. He didn't like Hope, did he? In his mind, she was too much of a stubborn lonely wolf for him yet he found himself thinking of her nonstop after their argument but he had too much pride to go search for her and apologize. He shook his head, "N— no. Uh-uh not her"
"Then who is it?" Lizzie inquired.
"It's uhm... uh... " The boy looked behind the Saltzman girl and saw the Park witch and two other girls approaching them, "Penelope" He answered.
The blonde's eyes widened in anger, "What?"
"I mean... yay, Penelope's here" Adrian tried when the brunette reached them with a smile, "Hey... you" The female was about to give him a high five when he suddenly pulled her in for a hug.
Lizzie scrunched her nose in disgust, "You and Penelope? Are you dating her?"
Penelope grimaced but the boy covered her mouth with his hand before she could tell the blonde the truth.
"Wait, you're dating Penelope?"
The teens turned around and found their male friends behind them. Both MG and Owen had left whatever they were doing when they saw their friends starting to meet up, "Dude!" Owen exclaimed, "I told you... I— What?"
Jed and Josie approached the group, "What's going on here?"
"I would like to know that too" Lizzie said.
The Salvatore teenagers, the whole group now gathered, all faced the young Aquilo boy, "Adrian?"
The boy's eyes widened and he froze, he had two choices: either admit or somehow get Penelope to catch on without saying anything and hope that she lied. He nudged the witch before lazily wrapping an arm around her, "Yeah, uh, Penelope and I, we— We're dating"
The brunette bit the inside of her cheek, struggling to keep herself from laughing. A nod and an 'mhm' escaped her lips. The two glanced at each other before they faced their friends with large matching smiles.
┏━━━━━━━┓
WE'RE FUCKED NOW
┗━━━━━━━┛
The group of teens stood in silence, all unsure of what to say. Their expressions didn't give anything away for they only wore one: shock.
"Wait, Lizzie are you crying?"
"It's an allergic reaction"
"To what?"
"My life!"
✶
"You're a fucking moron!"
The Park witch let the door slam behind her as she shoved Adrian into her dorm once they got back from the carnival, "How could you tell Lizzie that we're dating?!"
"I mean, God, Adrian, how stupid can you be?" Penelope exclaimed.
The boy shrugged with a hand scratching the back of his neck, "I panicked!"
The girl furrowed her brows in confusion and how stupid the boy actually was, "You do realize that she's gonna tell everyone and it will, sooner or later, reach Hope. You'll never get a chance with her"
"So, what?"
Penelope crossed her arms, "I have never wanted to smash your head into a brick wall more than I do now"
"Penelope's right" Santana, one of the Park witch's friends and roommate, piped up from the bed she was sitting on, "You are a moron"
Adrian scoffed, looking back at Santana, "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Santana" The girl answered.
"She's Santana" Penelope repeated and the male sent the two an appreciative smile.
"Well, Santana..." The Aquilo boy dragged, his smile fell and an irritated expression spread across his face, "Why don't you mind your own fucking business?"
The brunet faced Penelope again, "Why does it matter what I told Lizzie? It's a lie And we both know that Owen is into you, I wouldn't do anything to wreck that—"
Penelope's eyes widened and she started to wave her arms around to stop the male from speaking, "Bibbity, bobbity, back the fuck up. Owen is into... me?"
Adrian nodded, "Your name's Penelope, right? And as far as I know, you're the only Penelope here"
The Park girl sat down in her desk chair, shocked at this revelation. She felt bad for the Whitaker boy for she had been so caught up with Josie and then now, with their breakup. She glanced up at the boy, "Have you ever told Hope how you feel?"
"How I feel?"
"You have feelings for her. We can all see it by the way you look at her, even if you were a dick to her at the dance" Penelope informed the male, "So, have you told her?"
┏━━━┓
NO
┗━━━┛
"Yes, obviously" The look on the boy's face and his tone made it seem like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Just not out loud"
The room fell silent and it remained that way until Penelope's phone rang and coincidentally, it was Owen calling, "Hello?"
"This is 911, whatchu doin?"
"I think I'm dying"
"Aw, shit. Without me?"
"I'm done!"