Cursed Hearts (A Crossroads Novel) (20 page)

“Hey there,” Scarlet smiled.

Aria glanced over at her, timidly returning the
gesture.

“So, about the other day… we didn’t really get
a chance to talk because you took off so fast.” Scarlet paused, fiddling with
her textbooks. “I realize now I may have come off a tiny bit rude in the
auditorium, and I wanted to offer my apologies. You’re right – it’s nobody’s
business who you see but you.
And
if he breaks your heart, I promise not
to gloat. So what do you say, forgive me?”

“Sure,” Ariahna replied. She was flabbergasted
that Scarlet was even talking to her again. Twice in one week – that had to be
a record of some kind. “I know you just said what you said out of concern. And
I’m sure when
it comes to boys and the ways
of dating that you’re much more
knowledgeable
than I am. Friends?” she asked, shrugging her shoulders uncertainly.

Scarlet offered her a clever smile.

“Friends,” she agreed, grabbing her hand and
setting it in her lap.

Christian tilted his head, raising his eyebrows
at the two girls. Now there was something he’d never considered. He hadn’t had
either of them before, and now he couldn’t stop thinking about having them at
the same time.
God, how do I make that happen?
he wondered. The thought
slipped from his mind when Jesse sat down beside him.

“Hey,” Christian whispered, “get her attention
for me.”

Jesse pointed to Scarlet and Christian frowned,
shaking his head.

“
Her
,” he said insistently, pointing at
Aria.

Really?
Jesse mouthed. Christian gave him an annoyed look and Jesse
raised his eyebrows, shrugging. “Okay…”

Ariahna turned when she felt a gentle tapping
on her shoulder.

“Do you need something?” she asked.

“Uh, no. He wanted to talk to you, I think?”
Jesse said.

Christian smiled, shooting her a little wave.

Aria looked disinterested.

“I came to see you this morning,” he said, “but
your bodyguard wouldn’t let me in. How are you feeling?”

She sighed, glancing back
at the teacher. She couldn’t help but wonder why everyone kept calling Rome
that; first Dallas, and now
Christian. “Now isn’t the time to be having
this conversation,” she replied.

“Well, when is the time? Are you even going to
talk to me again?”

Scarlet turned around in her seat, giving
Christian her most
condescending smile.
“Sweetie, even I can tell she doesn’t want to talk
to you. Take a hint
and shoo.”

“Yeah, shoo,” Jesse chimed in, turning a
playful smile to Scarlet.

Christian narrowed his eyes at Jesse’s unwanted
commentary, but otherwise ignored the two of them. “I’m sorry about the other
night. That’s not how I wanted things to go.”

Aria lowered her eyes, turning away.

“Let me make it up to you,” he pleaded. “I’ll
take you on a
real date, a
proper one.
How about Friday night?”

Mr. Caldwell squatted down beside Christian’s
desk, propping his head up in his hand and smiling sarcastically at him. “I’m
flattered,” he said, “but instead of dinner or a movie what I’d prefer is if
you’d pay attention in my class. Do you think you can do that, Mr. Reed?”

Christian leaned back against his chair, giving
the teacher a somber look. “You missed your calling as a comedian,” he mumbled.

“Why don’t you go up front
and complete the diagram on the
board?”

Christian sighed, striding up to the blackboard
as Mr. Caldwell stood
to watch. A large Venn
diagram was drawn on the board, with several
plant species listed off to
one side. The point of the exercise was to identify those that were poisonous,
those that were safe, and ones that were poisonous but could still be included
safely in tonics or potions to produce a beneficial effect. Christian smirked
at the assignment.

“Aria,” he said, turning around and crossing
his arms
confidently
over his chest.
Ariahna lifted her textbook slowly into the air to hide her face, and Christian
raised a finger, nudging the book magically back onto the
table
. “I’ll make you a deal,” he said,
smiling once he had her full attention. “If I get every one of these right, you
go out on that date with me. If not, I’ll leave you alone.” A few quiet
snickers circulated through the room as they waited for her reply. Even the
teacher seemed interested in what she had to say to that.

“How about I save you the trouble and solve it
for you, and you leave me alone right now?” she said softly.

“You look at me, and all you see is a shallow,
albeit sexy, air-head of a guy who just wants to get in your pants.”

The teacher cleared his throat, loudly.

“You said you wanted to see something real,”
Christian continued. “But you’re never going to if you don’t give me the
chance.”

“Give him a chance!” Jesse
exclaimed, thrusting a fist skyward.

Ariahna was beyond embarrassed, but she
couldn’t just ignore him when he was standing in front of the entire class
waiting for an answer. And the worst part was, even though she was upset at him
for calling her out, part of her kind of liked it. “Fine,” she said, standing
up to put an end to the round of mostly male voices chanting:
Give him a
chance!
“But if you’re going to turn this into a game, we’re playing by my
rules.”
She walked up to the
blackboard, plucking a piece of chalk from the tray
and adding an
additional
ten items to the list. Some of them were particularly tricky to
classify. “If you get every item off of
that
list correct, then I’ll go
out with you,” she declared, holding out the chalk for him to take.

“You get that list correct,” Mr. Caldwell said,
“
and there’s some extra
credit in it
for you.” It was a worthy challenge, to be sure. He didn’t even mind that his
class had been hijacked to play this little game. It was still a learning
exercise, after all.

“Agreed,” he said quickly,
snatching the chalk from her fingers. What Aria didn’t know was that Christian
actually maintained excellent grades, and
Alchemy was his favorite subject. She crossed
her arms,
watching
him carefully as he
started writing on the board. He completed the items the teacher had listed
without breaking a sweat, moving on to the ten she had added. The first eight
he classified with ease, but the last two were giving him pause.

“
Ergot
,” he muttered. Christian pressed
his fingers to his temple, trying to pull an answer out of thin air.
He wasn’t sure he even knew what that
was. He
remembered suddenly reading about how it could result in hallucinations or
death, but that recently it had been successfully used
to treat
migraines, among other ailments. Christian scribbled the
word in the center section, flicking his eyes over to the last item on the list.

Cone Snail Venom
.

“That’s not a plant,” he said.

“No,” Ariahna replied, “it’s not.”

Her expression gave nothing away.

“Cone Snail Venom,” he muttered. “It says it’s
a venom, so obviously, you would want me to think that it’s poisonous. So the
answer is that it’s safe!” he decided, pointing at her triumphantly. “…
Unless you knew I
would think that and were
trying to trick me into thinking it was safe, when in reality it’s really
poisonous.” He could tell she was trying not to smile. “The obvious answer is
that it’s poisonous, but you would expect me to pick the obvious answer,
wouldn’t you?” he finished. He grinned at her widely before categorizing it in
the center, under poisonous but safe.

“Are you quite done?” Mr. Caldwell asked.

“Unless you want me to do a little dance?”

“Take your seat.”

Mr. Caldwell began skimming over his work,
checking
the answers as
the class
waited in silence. Jesse started up a drumroll, slapping his hands against the
edge of his desk to help build suspense.
The
rest of the class
joined
in with him.

 Mr. Caldwell finished checking off the answers
on the diagram, hesitating at the final one. Honestly, he’d never heard of cone
snail venom. He rolled the chalk between his fingers before turning to Ariahna.
“Ms. VayRenn,” he said, gesturing to the sloppy handwriting. “Was he correct?”

“Possibly,” she replied.

“Excuse me?”

“Are you telling me you don’t even know?”
Christian added.

“The venom is deadly, but
certain species of cone snail, such as the Conus magus, show promise in being
used as a non-addictive, powerful pain reliever. Some sources suggest it could
be up to a thousand times as powerful as morphine. Imagine the possibilities of
brewing a substance like that into a healing tonic.”

“So I was right?” Christian asked uncertainly.

“You weren’t wrong,” she decided.

“Then I’ll see you Friday night.”

Chapter 20

The
cafeteria was alive with whispers. Hushed tones and the soft sounds of laughter
filled the empty spaces between each table to the next. Every student in the
dining hall was watching as Rome and Kaleb walked in together, and it hadn’t
gone unnoticed by either of them. They could feel the trouble swirling around
the room like a thick cloud of smoke.

“Am
I missing something?” Rome whispered, weaving carefully through the tables.
Eyes followed them as they passed.

Kaleb
shrugged. “All I know is that I’m starving.”

“Again?”

“For
real
food.”

“…Can
you give me a second?” Rome asked, spotting Eliza. “Just grab an empty table in
the back and I’ll find you when I’m done.”

“Whatever,”
Kaleb said, watching him walk away.

“Eliza,
can we talk for a minute? I wanted to apologize for the other day.” She turned
in her seat, smiling mischievously.

“Don’t
worry about it, blue eyes. I think he’s cute too,” she
winked
. “You have good taste.”

“W-What?
I think I heard you wrong.”

“I
know who you like,” Eliza clarified.

“You
do?”

“Everyone
does. Rome, it’s okay. I know that you’re gay.”

Rome’s
jaw hit the floor.

“I’m not gay,” he whispered furiously, letting his eyes
dart around the
room. “Why do you think I’m gay? Does everyone think I’m gay?” Eliza showed him
her phone, and his heart stopped in his chest.

“
Hey, I’m not judging. Get your freak on;
more power to you.”

“Not my best angle,” Kaleb commented from over
Rome’s shoulder, startling him, “but I’ll take it.”

“That is not what it looks like,” he said firmly.

“Mm… it’s sort of what it looks like,” Kaleb
remarked, combing his fingers through his long, healthy locks. Rome glared at
him for the comment. At least they knew why everyone was staring now.

Kaleb couldn’t help but smile.

Rome sighed heavily,
turning to address the room
. This was no time to be shy. “I’d ask
you all for your attention, but since all eyes are already on me, I’ll just get
right to the point. I, Rome Navarro, am many things – but I’m not gay.”

“Faggot!” someone shouted from across the room.

“Homo!” another boy yelled.

More foul, derogatory terms and slang continued
to circulate, each one followed by a chorus of laughter. Rome’s personal
favorite had to have been ‘ass vandal’. That was the one that had him climbing
up onto Eliza’s table in a rage. “Hey!” he shouted. “You listen to me you
stupid, close-minded, backwoods sons of bitches. I’m not gay, but even if I
was, it would be none of your god-damn business. I know for a fact there are
people in this room who
are
gay. Actually, I’d bet half of the people
shouting shit out at me are so fucking far in the closet they can’t even find
their way out.”

Rome paused for a moment, letting that sink in.

“It astonishes me how many of you walk around judging
everyone else for what or
who
they like. I know you’re all just scared
out of your god-damn minds. Scared that someone else is going to look at you
and say that shit to
your
face. All you’re doing is breeding hate.
You’re teaching people that they should be ashamed of themselves because of who
they choose to love, or the color of their skin, or the fucking car they drive.
If you couldn’t tell by now, I don’t fit into a nice, neat little presentable
box, and I never will. And do you want to know why? Because I’m never going to
sacrifice who I am just because someone else has a fucking problem with it.

“And don’t think for a second that you know me
because of some picture you got on your phone… I
am
poor, my dad is a
raging alcoholic, and I
have
seen the back of a police car more times
than I can count,” he said, glaring down at Scarlet. “But you know what? None
of those things define me. So remember the next time you want to try and tell
me who
I
am, that I don’t give a rat’s ass about your meaningless
opinions. Because I know that the only thing that really matters is what I
believe.”

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“So much for eating lunch,” Rome mumbled, jumping
off the table and slipping past Kaleb. He paused when he realized he wasn’t
following. “You comin’, or what?”

Kaleb was stunned. Not many people
could surprise him, and yet t
hat was the second time in only two days that
Rome had left him shell shocked. He lagged after him like they were tied to one
another by some invisible tether. They drifted out of the back of the cafeteria
as the room erupted in chatter. “I wasn’t expecting that,” he admitted.

“What did you expect, that I wouldn’t want to be
friends with you because of what people would say? If that were the case, we
wouldn’t even be talking right now. Also,” Rome said, glancing around before
dropping into a whisper, “I think that was more my wolf than me.”

“…Are you sure you’re not even a little
bi-curious?”

Rome sighed. “Aren’t gay guys normally a lot more
attractive?” he said, tugging at his loose tie. “I wouldn’t call myself
fashionable.”

“Confidence is always attractive,” Kaleb said.
“And now you’re stereotyping. Just when I was starting to think highly of you.”

Rome turned on his heel when he heard the glass
doors open. Aria was hurrying towards him. It hadn’t even occurred to him that
she could have been in there. Now he was wishing he hadn’t used so much
profanity.

“Rome,” she called softly, “are you alright?”

“I guess,” he replied. “But
feel free to ask me that question again
later when news of my ‘outburst’ reaches the
Dean. Because I’m sure someone videotaped that.” He smiled at her coyly,
thinking about what Kaleb had just said about confidence. “Have you thought
about that date yet?”

Ariahna groaned. “About that,” she said,
squinting at him guiltily.

Jesse pushed open the glass doors leading out to
the courtyard, sauntering up to Rome with a smile. He had to hand it to him,
that had been a pretty impressive speech. He blinked at the familiar head of
curly red hair, fighting back a smirk when he overheard their conversation.

“Rome… Christian kind of asked me out on a date.”

“And you said yes,” he guessed. “Are you kidding
me? The guy left you up on the roof. He took you to the bad side of town in the
middle of the night and nearly got you shot! I can’t imagine what he has in
store for date number three.”

Jesse frowned at that. He’d heard some of
Johnny’s guys got jumped on the other side of town. But Rome couldn’t be
talking about that, could he?

Aria sighed, pressing a hand over her forehead.
“I didn’t just… say yes,” she said. “He called me out in the middle of class.
And he got all of the answers right on this—you know what, I can’t even explain
it. It sounds stupid – you really had to be there. The point is, I can’t back
out. And honestly, I’m not entirely sure I want to… I kind of like Christian.”

So much for confidence
, he
thought.

“Look, you don’t have to feel guilty,” Rome said.
“I get it. I just want you to be careful. Usually your first instinct about
someone is the right one. Also, I’m kind of the safe bet here, don’t you think?”

“How is that?” she replied.

“You know, since I’m
destined
to fall in
love with you and all.”

“Cursed,” Ariahna corrected.

“Cursed is such a harsh word,” he said. “I’d
prefer to think of it as… fate.” He was trying to ignore the way Jesse and
Kaleb were staring. Apparently this was a fascinating conversation.

“I think we should just be friends,” Aria said
meekly.

Jesse thrust a fist against his chest as if it were
a knife and twisted it with a soft groan. “Sorry, man; that was the kiss of
death.”

Rome glared at him.

“…Are you saying you don’t even kind of like me?”

“Walk away,” Jesse coughed.

“Seriously, did I ask you to butt in?”

“No,” Jesse replied. “But I’m telling you, if you
want to keep even an ounce of your dignity, you should walk away. I get it;
I’ve got a huge thing for a girl here too, and she probably doesn’t even know
my name. But you don’t see me groveling at her feet.”

“Maybe if you were, she’d know your name,” Rome
said gruffly.

Jesse made a thoughtful noise before shaking his
head no.

Rome didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help but
wonder if Jesse was right. After all, he was just making a fool of himself at
this point. Besides, he had Eliza interested in him, and he’d found some
flowers in his room from some girl named Autumn
.
And yeah, Rome didn’t
exactly know who
Autumn
was, but she
wanted him to, ‘
Get well soon
’.

“Okay,” he said, flashing
her a not-so-
endearing
smile.
“Friends it is.”
He
couldn’t help but think that
Tequila Sunrise
currently felt like the
theme song to his life. Rome sat down at one of the stone tables, staring after
Ariahna as she left. “Maybe I’m a bad kisser?” he mumbled, rubbing his hands
roughly over his face.

“Do you want to go find out?” Kaleb smirked. Rome
turned an eye to him, glaring at him through the space between his fingers.

“Hey,” Jesse said, “Christian changes girls like
most people change
their underwear. He’ll be
through with her before you can blink, and then
all you have to do is
make sure you’re the guy who swoops in and holds her while she weeps gently in
your arms.”

“Somehow I doubt that. And why would I want her
to go through
that
in the first place?
That’s self-serving and more than a bit selfish.”

Jesse shrugged.

“So what’s this about a curse then?” he smiled.

“I don’t know,” Rome said. “It was something this
old guy at the museum told us the other day. He was creepy as fuck, I might
add. Anyways, he said that the Artisan guy who crafted those wands cursed all
of them. And
apparently, me and her are bound
together by a curse to fall in love. It’s supposed to be doomed from the start,
and filled with ‘tragedy’. Not only
that, but she’s supposed to have to
watch me die.”

“And you believed that?” Jesse asked. “The guy
sounds like he’s one marble away from the loony bin.”

“I’m not sure that’s the saying,” Rome said,
squinting at him. “And no, I didn’t. Not at first. Not until I almost took a
bullet in the face and then nearly got crushed by a stage light in some freak
accident.”

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence?”

“Honestly, I don’t care either way. Everyone
dies, right? And I’ve
been thinking—this
curse, if it is real, has been going on for God knows how long. Which can only
mean one thing; I can’t die unless both of us pass on our family line first. I
think this near-death shit has just been some stupid way of trying to scare us.”

“Are you actually in love with some girl you just
met?” Kaleb asked.

“No,” Rome said slowly. “…It’s complicated.”

He sighed, staring up at the sky. It was so clear
he could see the moon, even now, in the middle of the day. It felt like a blatant
reminder of what was to come. The full moon was the only time his wolf had
control, and the forced change hurt worse than anything imaginable. He didn’t
wish that on anyone. Not even Christian.

“We need to talk,” Rome said abruptly.

Kaleb frowned. He didn’t like the way he’d said
that.

“About what?”

“I just need help with a certain dilemma, and you
seem to be the person with all the answers. I have to go do something first,
but… maybe I could catch up with you later?”

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere,” Kaleb said.

Rome ran off and Kaleb stared after him
longingly.