Tsukiko smiled. “Great!”
Frances chuckled. “You were planning to force us to join anyway, weren’t you?”
Tsukiko nodded. “I’ve wanted to join for a while. I want to be part of it since it’s something creatures remember the rest of their lives. My mom talks about it all the time.”
I sighed, resigned to my fate. “Alright, Kiko, I’ll join you.”
Her tail wagged behind her. “You’re the best friends a wolf could have.”
I patted her on the head between her ears. “Yes, yes we are.”
“Don’t you forget it!” Frances said and lightly punched her shoulder.
“Dismissed,” Mr. C called.
Seven
TSUKIKO
“Fine, I snuck off to talk to Rathik,” I admitted, my ears drooped and my tail in my hands.
“You...talked to him?” Loralie asked.
I pet my tail. “I talked to him a bit over the break, by letter, and I can, on occasion, talk to him in person. He has to have legs, though, and preferably his scales covered by clothing or something. Nighttime is best because then I can’t even see them.”
“You’ve been hiding this from us. Why?” Frances asked. “We’re happy for you!” She smiled wide and hugged me.
I growled softly. “It’s not anything great. We’re just friends. He doesn’t like me like that.”
“Are you sure?” Loralie asked. “Most guys won’t go out of their way to make a girl comfortable like that if they didn’t intend to spend a lot of time with her. And guys don’t seem to want to spend time with girls unless they like them.”
“That’s not true. Antoine spends time with me,” I argued.
“You’re his alpha. That’s different,” Loralie said and rolled her eyes.
Okay, she had a point there.
“Well, anyway, that was my secret. Now, it’s all out in the open. Okay? Are we good?” I asked.
Loralie and Frances hugged me from each side and I relaxed, dropping my hold on my tail.
“Of course we are good,” Frances whispered.
“Forever,” Loralie said.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I was embarrassed and I didn’t want you to try to force us together. If it’s going to happen, I want it to be natural,” I whispered.
They both nodded.
“Got it,” they said in unison.
For some reason, I didn’t believe them.
Classes breezed by until dinner, and I skipped towards the cafeteria with a smile, excited to see what we were going to get to eat.
Loralie stomped behind me, still frustrated because Bogden had been in our History class and had passed her three notes. She read them and then had to cover her mouth to suppress a laugh.
The teacher yelled at her and Loralie had had to sit outside for the second half of class.
“He didn’t mean to get you in trouble,” Frances said to her.
“Well, I did get in trouble, and he snickered when I had to leave,” she growled.
“Snickered?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s a word,” she snapped.
“You’ve been reading human romance books again, haven’t you? Those teen ones?” Frances accused.
Loralie’s cheeks reddened. “Maybe.”
“What was it this time?” I asked. “Vampire? Werewolf?”
“Reapers, actually,” she mumbled.
I stopped and turned to face her. “Someone is writing love stories about reapers?”
She put her hands on her hips, narrowed her eyes, and gave me her best death glare. “What is so surprising about that? Are reapers not allowed to be loved?”
My tail wagged behind me despite my attempt to stop it. “I just didn’t think the humans would romanticize your kind.”
“They romanticize yours, and even zombies, so why not mine?” She asked defensively.
I resumed skipping towards the cafeteria.
“Zombies?” Frances asked. “Seriously?”
“What’s wrong with loving zombies?” Doug, a zombie who had been a huge flirt towards Frances a year ago, asked.
“Again, humans, though? Are they romanticizing humans being with all these creatures?” Frances asked Loralie.
“Sometimes. Other times it’s two of the creatures getting together. Or, some halfbreed getting with a purebred,” Loralie explained.
“Maybe it isn’t humans writing it,” I said. “Maybe it’s a creature who has access to humans.”
Everyone gaped at me.
“That’s a really good possibility,” Loralie whispered.
“I didn’t realize that was an option,” Frances said. “Now, I kind of want to try my hand at it.”
“Writing romance stories?” Doug asked.
Frances blushed. “Yeah.”
“Can I read them if you do write them?” Doug asked.
We all stopped and looked at him.
“What?” He asked. “Boys aren’t allowed to like romances? Everyone likes a good romance.”
“Loralie has some she could recommend that have a lot of action and battles,” I said.
“Really? Awesome!” Doug cheered. “I’ll have to see if I can find someone to get me the books, too. Unless you have a dealer?” He leaned closer. “Just tell me the cost and where to meet.”
I threw a hand up to cover my mouth to stop the laugh because he was being completely serious.
“You think I could make some money selling them?” Loralie asked.
“I think you definitely could,” I said with a nod.
“You two going to help me smuggle in the goods?” she asked, smiling wickedly.
Smuggle in human books? It sounded ridiculous, but it could end up being really lucrative.
“You have to give us a cut, too,” I said seriously.
Loralie rolled her eyes. “Duh.”
We finally made it to the cafeteria, and I hurried to get into line. Antoine waved at me from near the front and gestured me forward. I didn’t want to cut everyone, but I was starving, so I ran up to him.
“You look like you’re ready to eat a herd of Minotaurs,” he said.
I rubbed my elongated fangs. “I’m so hungry. I forgot my snacks this morning.”
“Really! Cutting?” Malaria, a gorgon whose snakes were hissing at me asked.
“Sorry, I’m really hungry,” I apologized.
“Like we aren’t hungry?” she snapped.
“Malaria, just let her be,” Antoine said.
She put a hand on her hip. “Oh, you’ve got a thing for her.”
“No,” Antoine said. “We’re friends.”
“Friends… right…” she rolled her eyes.
I set my hand on Antoine’s arm, sensing his anger and movement before I even saw it. “Just ignore her,” I whispered.
He growled once and then turned around and moved forward in the line. I followed him, ignoring her taunting whispers behind us. Food came first.
I piled my tray high with everything that looked or smelled delicious and then found an empty table and started eating. Frances and Loralie sat with me five minutes later, having had to stand in line at the back.