Julie's first moments at her new school were about as uneventful as any school. It was only a few days after her rescue, but life continued on the island. Mandy and Darcy were back in Atlanta, only remembering the vacation being cut short because Jamie needed more rest. She shivered thinking about the facility, glad that she would be distracted with whatever her first day of school had in store.
The buildings looked eerily the same as the other school, stone and stately. Formal gardens with benches surrounded them all. If it wasn't the fact that it was bigger, with strangers surrounding her, it was almost as if she was at the other school again.
She ignored the stares as Jamie walked with her to their classroom. They had all the same classes, something her parents had worked out. The teacher nodded at them as they sat down.
Unlike the other school, this room was full of kids. A few of the girls whispered to each other and stared her up and down as she entered. Melissande laughed at something, her glossy, brown hair swinging around her as her beautiful dark eyes narrowed on Julie. She and Kara could almost have been twins except for the hair and eye color. Both were tall and willowy, model–like and perfect, but where Kara was kind, Melissande was not.
Julie rolled her eyes and pushed her chin up in the air, resisting the urge to fidget under the glare of Rory's ex–girlfriend before he broke it off to be with her. Except now they weren't even together.
She didn't care what people said about her, but she was out of her element here. How could she brush stuff off now?
"Julie, over here." Jamie pointed at a desk in the front of the room next to him.
Rory walked into class late, staring at her as he came in. Their eyes met, and she stiffened. Her body reacted like she knew it would. She yearned to get up and throw herself in his arms.
She drew a slow breath. Weeks of fighting it off had helped her control, but the feeling never lessened. She blinked back tears. It was always going to be this way—this need to be with him, even if her mind screamed no.
Jamie tensed up beside her. Was he going to throw himself between them? She pulled her gaze away. Her stomach churned, and her fingertips grew warm. How could she do this? How could she be in class with him every day like it was normal?
Rory took the first seat available, next to Melissande, who smiled at him and threw a smug look over her shoulder. Julie's heart clenched. She didn't want him, but this hurt.
He frowned and moved to another seat. Melissande glared after him, her gaze moved to Julie's, and her dark eyes sparkled with hatred.
Julie gulped. This girl hated her. Even the dancers in the past who were jealous never looked at her like that. Melissande wanted to kill her. And they barely knew each other. There was no other way to describe that look. The girls sitting around Melissande leaned in toward her, patting her on the back. A few others glared back at Julie too.
This was so unfair. It was like throwing salt on the open wound she already had from breaking it off with Rory. She didn't know he was with Melissande when he was with her too. Why wasn't he getting all this hate?
The class itself was relatively boring. It was history. Okay, so some people would find the history of the Fey and humans interesting, but it was still history. Dry, boring history, which was at odds with all the tension in the room.
She sat stiffly all through class, barely paying attention, when all she wanted to do was put her head down and cover it with her arms. She felt eyes boring into her back from Rory and the girls. If it was going to be like this every day, she might go crazy.
Julie hated this place, the whole island. She had to give up her dreams, or at least put them on hold, to be here?
Jamie sat next to her taking notes, she scribbled, trying to ignore everything. She put her pen down with a sigh and closed her eyes as they welled up. Who was she kidding? She couldn't sit here and take notes like everything was okay. She would get Jamie's notes after class.
English and math went the same way. They all walked from class to class together. Jamie stuck by her side. Rory walked behind her. She felt like his gaze was burning into her with every step she took. This was way too distracting. She was going to fail every class at this rate. Maybe if she started failing, she could go back to the other school. She snorted. Who knew she would long to go back to the other school?
She and Jamie walked silently down the hall and outside, trusting that he would take her to their next class.
"All right, I'll meet you here after your class."
"Wait, what?"
"It's your abilities class. We don't have the same." Jamie grinned. "In fact you're almost unique, so you will be in here on your own with your teacher."
Julie narrowed her eyes. He looked like he was almost jumping up and down with excitement.
"I'll be down the hall—there." He pointed to another room. "That's where all the minders are." He tapped his head and smirked at the nickname.
"Okay." She watched him walk off, bouncing.
Was Muriel in here? It would be nice to have a few minutes with her great–grandmother right now. She'd understand Julie needing a few minutes to cry on her first day.
Julie walked in and stopped a step into the doorway. Luke and Ike sat in two of the student chairs in the room.
Of course.
Was this one of the reasons Rory seemed so desperate? He knew she would be in class with Luke?
"No." She dropped her bag to the floor. "This isn't going to happen."
"Julie." Luke threw his hands up. His voice cut through her, and she shook. She blinked back tears. She couldn't take any more today. "I'm the only one that can do this. I'm sorry, but I'm going to be your teacher. I promise I won't bring up anything else. I—"
"No. No. No." She felt sick as a tear slid down her cheek, and she swiped it away angrily. She was going to lose it in front of this guy. This guy she barely knew, but who had caused her so much heartache this last year. This guy who it hurt to even look at.
The school had set him up as one of her teachers? Were they insane? How was she going to be able to hold it together around him?
"Can you go pat her on the back or something, Ike? I can't do it without it looking like I'm using it to touch her. And she needs something right now." Luke gripped the desk, and the wood splintered.
Ike got up and awkwardly patted her on the back. She stared at his shoes.
Laughter bubbled up inside her, and she sat down on the ground, laughing. Julie put her head down, tears and laughter coming out at the same time. She was really losing her mind this time. Why did she always start to laugh when others would cry or punch something?
"I've got to go." She mumbled and ran out the door.
"Wait," Luke cried after her, and a chair scraped against the floor. Was he going to chase her?
She ducked into a girls' bathroom. He wouldn't follow her in here. She leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths and staring at the doorway to another hall on the other side since she didn't want to cry in front of anyone right now.
"How is this okay? What the hell is everyone thinking?" Julie jumped when she heard a noise from the doorway on the other side. She heard the scuffing noise again and froze, wiping away her tears. "Hello?"
She didn't see anyone else in here with her, and no one came in the doorway from the other side. A pipe creaked above her, and she let out a sigh. No one else was here. Just old pipes.
In front of her there was a bang, and a sink popped off the wall, the pipe spewing water everywhere. Julie screamed. More pipes popped open, and she was drenched in seconds. She turned around and ran outside, hitting a warm, solid wall.
"Are you okay?" Luke caught them both from falling.
Julie shivered—from the water or from him, she wasn't sure. All words stuck in her throat as she looked up at him and tried to remember how to speak or nod or something. His head tilted down, and he lowered it, as if to kiss her. Her ears were filled with the sound of rushing water and her heartbeat.
"Julie!" Jamie yelled. She jumped back. Her brother caught her up in a hug, looking at Luke. "What happened?"
Luke pulled a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I don't know. I was standing out here waiting for her, heard her scream, and..."
He trailed off as water flooded out from the bathroom.
Julie pulled her eyes away from Luke, swallowing. She couldn't even speak around him. "A sink flew off the wall, and all the pipes burst."
"Did you, you know, look to see if anything was around?" Jamie whispered.
Julie felt like kicking herself. She had forgotten to pull up her other vision and look for anything. She thought about the men who'd kidnapped her—could they be here too? "No, I forgot. I mean, I was upset, and then the sink flew off the wall and..."
She looked around when she heard giggles. Melissande and some of the girls were standing to the side, watching her. She looked around and saw all the kids in the local classrooms watching her. Jamie frowned as he looked at them too.
"Okay, kids, back to class," her new math teacher said. "I'll call someone to get this cleaned up."
"Julie." The history teacher blinked at her. "You may want to change. Do you have anything to wear?"
Julie nodded. She always kept spare clothes because of dancing.
"Okay, good." The math teacher looked at Luke and frowned. "I know you may be the best tutor for Julie, but right now it doesn't look like it. Something like this shouldn't happen again."
Luke swallowed. "Yes, I—"
Julie interrupted Luke. He looked at her, surprised. "It's my fault. I...I don't know what happened in there."
She stiffened as she heard giggles again. Melissande and her friends stood in one of the doorways watching everything still. Her first day was now somehow worse, and she hadn't thought that was possible.
The teacher shook his head. "I thought Muriel said you had control." He waved his arm at the bathroom. "It doesn't look like it right now."
She nodded and made her way back to the classroom with Luke and Ike. She sat in one of the desks, put her head down, and cried the rest of the time. She didn't even look at the men when she left. They were both quiet.
♦