“What?” That had to be an exaggeration. Ever since that day in Chemistry when he’d acted like an ass, we’d barely talked. He grunted and groaned more than anything. “We’ve barely said more than a few words to each other. Chemistry class has been interesting. He points more to the book than speaks.”
“That may be true, but in English, he stares at you the entire time.” Beth grabbed some makeup brushes off her table and told me to turn around on the bed.
I looked at her color palette of dark grays and blues. I opened my mouth to say something, but she held up her hand.
“Nope, I’m doing this.” She grabbed my foundation powder. “If you hate it, you can take it off and do it yourself.”
I couldn’t argue. “Fine.” The win was we’d get out of here later if I had to redo my makeup. Tailgating wasn’t my idea of fun.
She went to town on my face, her hands moving fast and efficiently. “Jacob has noticed how much attention he pays to you.”
“Nah, he’s thrilled that Aidan and I are barely speaking.” He wasn’t anxious anymore when we headed to class, and even though I was still torn up about Aidan, I’d never felt happier. I knew I’d missed dance, but I hadn’t realized how much. That was a piece of me that was tied to no one else.
“Because he was afraid you were interested in him. Close your eyes.” She dabbed something on my eyelids. “Now that you guys aren’t talking, he isn’t freaking out, but he’s concerned.”
“It’ll be fine.” Her fingertips were like cool sponges on my skin. I hadn’t had someone do my makeup in such a long time that it was kind of weird. “Aidan and I aren’t a thing.” I hadn’t told her that he was my fated yet. I was afraid it would make it more real.
“Not yet, at least,” she mumbled, and I didn’t feel like correcting her, which was a problem in itself.
“Okay, I’m done.” She set her brush on her small table. “Here, look.” She handed me the mirror, and what I saw surprised me.
She’d made my eyes a smoky blue that wasn’t overbearing but darker than my usual makeup. My gray eyes seemed lighter and slightly blue.
My lips were painted a nude pink that was only a few shades darker than my natural color. This was probably the best makeup I’d ever had done.
I glanced at her and smiled. “You did amazing.”
“Yes, I did.” She took the mirror and held it back so I could see my hair. “I told you I work magic.” She snickered.
“That, you do.” My friendship with her had gotten to be so natural it was scary. I hadn’t felt this close to anyone outside of… We didn’t need to go there.
She examined her face in the mirror. Her makeup was her typical layered look, but she had blood-red lips this time. “Let’s go,” she said and headed to the door.
We were soon walking across the campus toward the football stadium. A large group of students was hanging around the parking lot, and people were sitting on tailgates.
“Hey, Beth.” A guy with short brown hair stumbled over to us. He scanned her from head to toe, and then his eyes narrowed on me. “And Beth’s super-hot friend,” he slurred and swayed.
“Someone’s had a little too much to drink.” Beth took the beer from his hands and poured it out.
“What the hell?” The guy started and looked from his beer being poured to Beth. “That’s not cool.”
“What’s not cool is you leering at us.” She handed the empty can back to him. “Our eyes are up here,” she said, pointing to her face.
I had to admit she had a point. I wasn’t even wearing anything low cut, and it was obvious where he had been looking.
Another guy came over and took his friend by the arm. “Come on, man. You need water so you don’t pass out during the game.”
“Nah, I’m fine.” The guy stumbled off back to his friends.
“Sorry about that,” the new guy said. He looked a few years older than us, and an earthy scent filled the air. He leaned toward us, his sage eyes sparkling. His hair was chestnut brown and down to his shoulders. His face was smooth, and his lips tilted upward. “You know how humans can be.”
He was a witch. Even though books claimed that only women were witches, it wasn’t true. A witch could be male, female, or anything in between.
“Indeed.” Beth turned her head toward me and crossed her arms. “Then, why are you here?”
He smiled. “To experience college—just like you.” He motioned for us to follow him, and we made our way to a group of three hanging around a truck spaced apart from the rest of the people. “First off, my name is Samuel,” he said and turned to the group. “And these are my friends.”
“Hi, my name is Amethyst.” The girl jumped off the bed of the truck and extended her hand to us. Her eyes were purple, which must have been where she’d gotten her name. Her long, dirty blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail, and I had at least two inches on her.
Unsure what else to do, I shook her hand. Wolves and witches didn’t hate one another. Some packs even took them in. The alliance was mutually beneficial. We protected them from the outside world, and they healed and tended to the sick. At one point, our pack had had a witch living among us, but she’d vanished several years before I was born.
“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “I didn’t realize you held magic.”
Okay, that was strange. “I’m a wolf,” I said low enough so humans couldn’t hear but loud enough so they could.
Her brows furrowed. “You’re not a witch?”
“No.” She had to have lost her damn mind.
“Just ignore her.” The girl beside her leaned forward to see me. Her red hair fell to the side, and her crystal blue eyes shone. “She’s learning how to read energy. Her grandmother could, and it’s a lost art to our kind.”
“Yeah.” Amethyst frowned. “But I’m determined to get there. She left her diary on how she learned to control her power.”
“I’m Coral, by the way.” The redhead saluted us.
“And I’m Finn.” The guy was around my height, and his eyes were amber. It was unsettling how wolf-like he seemed. His auburn hair made him look even more off-kilter. He was slender, but there was something hard inside him. “So, now that we’ve told you all our secrets, it’s your turn.”
“Nothing special about us.” I shrugged. “I’m Emma.”
“Speak for yourself.” Beth lifted her chin. “And I’m Beth. We’re both freshmen.”
“That’s why we haven’t seen you before.” Samuel nodded. “I’m glad you aren’t part of a pack that has a problem with us.” He rolled his eyes. “Our first year here, we ran into one of your kind that wasn’t very accepting.”
“What happened?” I didn’t understand packs like that. Some of them were so antiquated in their ways. Our species needed to evolve to become better and stronger and survive.
“It was fine.” Finn sighed dramatically. “We had one little altercation, and when we showed him what we could do, the pup ran away. He avoided us the rest of his time here.”