Chapter 4

AURORA

"Can we study?" Emily asked, for the third time. "We've got an exam on Monday, so if I wanted to sit around I'd have stayed at home."

I understood her irritation. Emily was undoubtedly the biggest CDF in the literature class and, to her horror, the last thing we wanted to do was study. While she was trying to convince us, Megan, Clay and I were wandering around the kitchen. Megan was kneeling in front of the oven patiently waiting for the cookies to finish baking, Clay was deciding which movie we were going to watch, and I was finishing preparing our hot chocolate, after all, the afternoon was a bit chilly.

"You guys are impossible!" Emily complained, sighing and running her hands through her short, wavy dark hair. "I don't know why I thought we'd actually study this time."

"Where's Evangeline, Rora?" Megan asked, taking the mold out of the oven and placing it carefully on the marble counter.

"She went out with a friend, I can't remember his name," I replied, placing four cups on the counter and pouring the chocolate.

"I think someone's losing ground!" said Emily, joining in and laughing amusedly.

Megan started laughing too, nudging Clay's shoulder, who was showing a disgusted expression.

"Shut up, Emily!" He complained, visibly embarrassed.

"I'm just saying what everyone thinks!" The brunette retorted, sticking her tongue out at my friend who, by now, was as red as a tomato.

"She's right." Megan butted in, looking at Clay with a chuckle. "Mate, you know she's not going to wait for your goodwill forever."

That was an old subject and if Eva knew that we talked about it with Clay every chance we got, she'd probably kill me and then kill herself. Of course, it was just an inside joke, but it also served to give him a little jolt of reality sometimes, after all, if Clay really had feelings for Evangeline, he'd have to act or he'd end up being left behind.

"Let's watch Little Liar Wife." He announced, waffling and getting complaints from all of us, after all, we'd already seen that movie about fifteen times.

***

MARCELA

"But girlfriend, you don't even know him properly." Lore kept warning me, pacing back and forth in my room while I combed my hair. "He could be a psychopath or something."

"Lore, he's just a guy from high school, like all the other guys." I lied, sighing slightly.

I stopped in front of the mirror and smiled, adjusting the thin straps of the blue dress I was wearing. My hair was loose, the blonde strands flowed down my back, long and shiny, it was beautiful. The dress I had chosen hugged my curves perfectly, it was sensual and contrasted with my fair skin and green eyes, I felt incredible.

Dante clearly wasn't like the other guys, he was much more handsome and, perhaps, more troubled.

But everyone has their problems, don't they?

He interested me as soon as I saw him, walking down the corridors and tidying his hair unpretentiously. It's not like I was in love or all that love"at"first"sight crap, but it wouldn't be a bad program to go out with him. Saturday nights shouldn't be wasted and... who was I kidding? I was into him.

I applied a pink gloss to my lips and ran my fingers through the waves of my blonde hair, taking one last look in the mirror before grabbing my bag and leaving the room, dragging my best friend with me.

"Don't be dramatic and remember what we agreed, you'll have my back!" I said, before we reached the living room.

I said goodbye to my parents, who didn't mind me leaving, after all, as far as they were concerned, I was going to spend the night with Lore. When we left the house, my friend drove me downtown and dropped me off where I'd arranged to meet Dante, reminding me to call her when I got back so that she could pick me up.

It wasn't long before he arrived and, even from a distance, I saw him as soon as he parked his bike. Dante got off and took off his helmet, straightening the waves of his hair and then adjusting his dark jacket, raising his eyes to meet mine seconds later. His smile flashed through my brain and, for a moment, I forgot what I was doing there, but I soon cracked a wide smile, watching him walk up to me and take my hand.

"Shall we?"

***

AURORA

Logically speaking, I should have gotten a terrible grade in my biology exam. However, thanks to the excellent teaching system at Saint Louis, I was quite happy with my B+. The weekend was pleasant, after a Saturday afternoon of romantic comedy movies and a lot of nonsense, all I did was sleep a lot and study a little for the exam on Sunday night.

Clay had spent Sunday at his grandmother's house and I was deprived of his wonderful company until Monday morning, when he picked me up from home to go to school. Everything was too quiet, especially if I took into account that the prom was too close and the organization was not organized at all.

Nothing had been officially decided and the only thing that was agreed upon was that the theme would be "Fancy Dress Party".

A bit childish?

Maybe, but it's going to be a lot of fun.

Everyone was still a bit distracted. The girls were still "excited" about the new guy's arrival and some of them were still chasing me, cornering me in the corridors in search of some help to win over the handsome new guy, even though I had already vehemently denied it over and over again.

"Come on, Aurora, you should know if he has a date or not. You always know who has a date or not!" Complained Megan, who, despite being a good friend, was already getting on my nerves.

"But I don't know! I've already told you that I haven't talked to him anymore."

"Then go and find out, how can anyone invest in a handsome guy like that?" She retorted, throwing her curly hair back and putting one hand on her waist. "Come on, girlfriend, you know you're the only one who can ask without being judged!"

"I'll try to find out, but I can't promise anything." I replied begrudgingly, receiving a tight hug that left me breathless and a few excited jumps.

"Thank you!" Having said that, Megan ran towards her own room.

"The burden of your status is an asset." I heard Clay's voice at my back and then he slung his right arm around my shoulders. "Now let's go because we're already late for our last class!"

***

DANTE

A week had passed.

A long, tiring and exhausting week.

Things settled down a bit more and I started to get used to the new routine. The first tests came and went and I didn't do too badly, at least this way Aunt Tabatha would get off my back a bit. The attention I was getting diminished a little, as expected. I still get looks, giggles and whispers, but with the spring dance approaching, all eyes are on the event.

I've managed to establish myself on the basketball team, but most of the boys are still distant, but that's just the effect of the fuss I've caused among the girls. Pure jealousy, really. The captain doesn't seem to like me very much either, but I know that all this nagging is because of her, Aurora. I avoid thinking about her too much, she sounds strangely attractive.

I was walking with Mark towards the cafeteria, he seemed to be the only one willing to bond with me, but he was also a nice guy. He made a point of explaining to me how things worked around here and, although it doesn't seem like it, the school hierarchy here is quite complicated.

"So she's like a love guru who's in charge here?" I asked, as we walked into the cafeteria.

"It's not like she's the boss." He replied, throwing his bag on an empty table and sitting down. "Aurora is very good at giving advice, she's saved my ass with Angel several times, she's usually more dedicated to the female student body, but she's always available for anything we need."

"Like a love counselor? Does she do couple's therapy around here?"

"You're very funny. She just gives advice, in the end she follows whoever wants to." He said, looking at me with a chuckle and throwing his shoulders back."I can tell you that all her advice is usually pretty sound.

"So that's it?"

"That's all we know." Said the brunette, getting up and going to get a tray to put his snack on. "Male communication with the counselor is nothing more than emergency, it's usually a bit embarrassing because she looks at us like we're dumb sometimes."

"And maybe they are…"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. But then, is she alone?"

Marck looked at me, raising his eyebrows as he picked up a piece of pizza.

"Alone for sure..." He said, seeming to think too much before answering me."I've only heard of her seeing someone once, but no one really knows, just Clay, they're always together."the boy looked from side to side, seeming to check if anyone was listening, then continued." A few things happened last year, since then no one has approached her with those intentions...

"What things?"

"It's just that…"

"Marck!" The female voice, which had a slightly irritated tone, interrupted my friend before he could continue. "You promised you'd help!"

"Good morning to you too, angel." The boy said, pulling the young woman into his arms and stroking her red hair, looking at her like a lovesick fool. "I'm sorry, I was just having a snack before I went to meet you."

Angel, Mark's girlfriend, rolled her eyes and returned the caress, looking a little less annoyed. After this completely flirtatious gesture and a kiss that was far too intense for a school cafeteria, she finally noticed my presence, then drew her thick red eyebrows together and stared at me.

"So you must be Dante."

"The very same," I replied, holding out my hand and smiling at her. "It's a pleasure."

"It's my pleasure, I'm Jade," she said, shaking my hand and smiling happily. She didn't even look like the angry girl from a moment ago. "Well, since you're here, you can go and help decorate the ball too, Aurora's called everyone from the team." She explained, shrugging and acting as if I didn't have the option of refusing, and I probably didn't. "There are some heavy boxes and some decorations to put on the ceiling, plus the girls are already very busy."

"Yeah, Dante, it looks like the team is going to have a busy week too."

***

AURORA

"We're here!" Clay's voice echoed throughout the gym and I knew he wasn't alone.

"At last! Girls, tell the boys to take care of the boxes with the statues and the furniture, show them where to put each thing." I said, climbing down the ladder and taking the pen out of my hair, which caused the brown strands to come loose from the bad bun."Ah! Turn on the tunnel lights? I need to check a few things and put these decorations up."

Having said that, I picked up the medium-sized box and headed for the dark tunnel, which was a cardboard and black mesh structure. Inside there were imitation spider webs, flashing lights everywhere and some colored paper scraps on the floor. When I arrived, the place was still dark. I put the box on the floor and picked up my cell phone, texting Tawny, remembering the lights.

I was holding a box with some bats, aged keys with wings, much like the ones that appear in Harry Potter, and a Welcome sign that would glow neon as soon as I plugged it in. Even with the peem umbra, I began to move forward, second from the middle and placing the bats nailed to the dark mesh, alternating between bats and keys, concentrating hard to maintain the pattern, or I'd end up going mad if everything looked thrown together. I've always paid a lot of attention to these details.

"You've done a really good job here." The thick, even raspy voice echoed through the tunnel, scaring me and, by reflex, I threw one of the bats at the intruder as soon as I turned around.

When I opened my eyes, which I hadn't even remembered to close, I found the newcomer holding the bat and staring at me with a mocking laugh, swinging the object.

"Where did you come from?" I asked, rolling my eyes and returning to my task, pointing at the bat in his hand. "Put this right here, there's a pin inside this pot."

He came closer, picked up a pin and completed the row of bats.

"I didn't know what to do, so I was told to come and talk to you and see if you needed any help." He said, staring at me for a few moments and picking up the last key. "And I came through the entrance, it's the only way to get here."

Dante spoke the last sentence as if it were the dumbest question he'd ever heard, looking at me with his annoyingly smug and handsome smile.

"Okay, grab that box over there and drop off those leftover ornaments with Clay. I'll be in the garden, when you've finished go there, we'll put up some statues and panels."I said, handing him the box and heading for the exit opposite."Let's see if you're any good apart from playing charm games.