As I enter my class, I hear a familiar voice behind me.
"Oh look, the rat bought some new clothes," Becca says, nudging Madison and Ashley, or as Em christened them, the witch twins.
I put on my saleswoman-dealing-with-irritating-customers face. "Do you need something, Becca?"
"Actually yes, we would like to know why you destroyed a perfectly nice Latin-Quaters by wearing it." Ashley sneers.
Can I kill them? Loki deadpans beside me.
No, I say. Let me deal with them. You can work your magic during class.
"Yeah, sure," I smile back politely. "Actually, I had seen Becca checking it out, so I figured that it would rather tolerate me than her sorry ass."
"You," Becca goes red in the face. "You need to know your place. And learn to behave. "
"I know my place perfectly well, thank you," I say, staring her down. "I also know how to behave, and am VERY willing to give you lessons. The first one will be 'How not to talk to people in the morning because they remember freaking insults'."
Madison steps up and tries to hit me. I dodge her, thanks to ages of experience.
Rina...Loki seethes.
I ignore him. "If that's the best you can do, Madison, then you seriously need to step up your game."
"You just wait," Madison glares, and it takes me a minute to realise what she was doing.
Oh shit.
"Baby? What are you doing with the rat?"
Of course, I groan internally. Of course it will be James, and of course Madison will say a bunch of things, and of course he will say or do something. Damn this!
I can still do something, Loki says. I can see him clenching his fists hard, as if he's finding it difficult to control himself.
Not here. Anything happening here will be blamed on me. Not a good idea.
He backs down, but he looks so angry that I'm literally afraid for the lives of these idiots.
"Dear, this girl called me names," Madison whines.
"Yeah, right," I roll my eyes. "And no one called me a rat."
"Now that you've insulted my girlfriend, you'll have to pay," James says with an evil smile (he knows the situation very well. He was just waiting for an excuse). He steps in closer, but...
"What's happening here?" A cold voice interrupts them.
James steps aside to reveal Chris, who's glaring at Madison, and Allen, who's looking like he would very much like to wear a hat made of James's skin.
"I...uh..." Madison stutters.
"THIS GIRL INSULTED ME!" Beacca yells.
"And knowing Rina, it must have started from your side," he says calmly.
"I...you...you're supposed to defend me!"
"Not when you're on the wrong," Allen says, before turning to me with a smile. "Hey, you okay?"
"Perfectly alright, thank you," I say confidently. "I'm heading to class now. See you later. You too, Chris," I smile at him, and he grins back.
"Umm...yeah," Allen mutters. "See you in class."
I step out of the mini crowd. Nobody says a word.
Um...Loki, you good?
Why won't I? He asks cooly.
You looked angry.
I am angry, he says bitterly. I kept an eye on you, and I thought I was doing a good job. Apparently I wasn't, because I didn't know it got this bad.
Well, this is nowhere near the worst, I think, and immediately realise my mistake.
He takes a deep breath. How bad?
I'll tell you later. But for now...
Relax, sweetheart. I won't kill them. He grins, and I heave a sigh of relief. But a little trip to the hospital won't hurt, will it?
....dedicated to kerim3064