Supernaturally (13 page)

Alternative Lifestyles

J
ack
was mid-jump when I burst into my room. I snatched his ankle, flipping him horizontal. He crashed down hard to my bed and rolled off onto the floor.

And laughed.

“Let’s do that again! But this time I’ll jump even higher.”

“No! No, you won’t! What are you doing here?”

He sat up on the floor and shrugged. “I was bored.”

“I don’t care! I’m not your babysitter!”

His blue eyes twinkled. Honestly, whose eyes actually twinkle? Then his face crumpled, his lower lip jutting out. He blinked his ridiculously long eyelashes at me. “I thought we were friends.”

“Oh, knock it off.”

“Come on.” He jumped up and grabbed my hand. “Let’s do something fun.”

“I can’t! I have to work, and then I have a date.”

“Frying-pan boy again? I thought you guys broke up.”

“No! Why would we break up?”

Jack shrugged. “Dunno. He didn’t seem thrilled last time I saw him. Whatever, though. I wanted to check and make sure you were okay. Looks like you are, although I still say he’s boring. Can he take you to see krakens?”

“No way! Really? Those are real? I’ve always wanted to—” I stopped, taking a deep breath. “Seriously. I’m busy. With my
boyfriend
.” This time I thought I saw a flash of something genuine in his disappointed expression. Great. Another person I was letting down. I knew where he was coming from, though. If all he had to choose from were the Center and the Faerie Realms, well, he deserved a friend. “Can I take a rain check? Weekends are busy for me.”

He shrugged, his perma smile back in all its dimpled glory. “You’d probably figure out a way to nearly get killed, anyway.”

Arianna cleared her throat loudly from the doorway. I’d charged in right past her without explaining, and no doubt I’d have to do so now. Problem was figuring out
what
to explain.

“Oh, umm, Arianna, this is Jack. He, uh, well, what did he tell you?”

She rolled her eyes, the kohl-rimmed, chocolate brown glamour ones mimicking the actions of her milky white corpse eyes. “He said he was here to inspect the beds. I figured he was one of your old
friends
.”

“No, he’s not—well, kind of. He’s not a faerie, he’s human, but, uh—” I hadn’t told Arianna about my new arrangement with IPCA. Lend was already mad enough about it; I didn’t want my roommate being annoyed with me, too.

“Jack.” He flashed her his most melt-worthy grin and stuck out a hand. “Definitely human, but—” he took her hand and pressed his lips to it “—I might be willing to try out an alternate lifestyle if it meant getting to know you better.”

“Umm, eew?” Arianna pulled back her hand, her face disgusted but a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. “Eternal life is bad enough without giving it to pests like you.”

He sighed heavily. “Girls are mean. At least faeries simply kill you if they don’t want you around.” He put a hand on the wall, leaning against it and tapping his foot impatiently.

“Where are you going?” I asked, feeling guilty for not being able to hang out with him.

“To find a faerie to kill me, of course.” He winked at us, then pretended to fall straight through when the faerie door opened. Even Arianna laughed as the door closed behind him.

“Where did you find that one?”

“I have no idea. I’m a magnet for crazies, I guess.”

“They must be able to sense a kindred spirit.”

“You’re one to talk. Don’t you have more hordes of the undead to lead in a glorious revolution?”

“Zombies, not undead. There’s a fine distinction. And no. Right now I’m scouting new talent. The glorious revolution comes tomorrow.”

“Good luck with that. Hey, you want to hang out? Lend’s here the whole weekend.”

She shrugged. She’d been more and more withdrawn lately. But, short of a faerie apocalypse, I
definitely
wouldn’t bail on her this time. “Sure. Yeah.
Easton Heights
marathon?” Bonus to that was, since Arianna didn’t sleep, we could watch DVDs the entire night, which meant I didn’t have to be apart from Lend at all. Excellent plan in my book.

I nodded and smiled enthusiastically. “Party!”

“Lend’ll whine.”

“He’s cute when he whines.”

“There’s something wrong with you,” she said.

There were a
lot
of things wrong with me, but loving Lend was definitely not one of them.

“Oh, hey,” she said, pointing to some thick folders on the desk. “I ordered materials from a few other DC schools.”

“Why?”

“Backup plan. You know, just in case.”

I scowled. You’d think
she
was the one sneaking around with Raquel. “I don’t need a backup plan.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Don’t be an idiot. Sometimes things don’t work out. You should always give yourself options. You’re lucky you have them.”

“I don’t need options. I’ll see you later.” I shut the door behind myself rather louder than was necessary.

When I got downstairs I ducked into the kitchen to find Nona and Grnlllll standing next to each other and leaning over something on Nona’s arm. I squinted my eyes, sure I was seeing it wrong. It looked like they were talking to some sort of glowing orange gecko or salamander, which couldn’t be right.

Then again, Nona was a tree. So pretty much nothing she did was weird. Or everything was. There really wasn’t a standard for normal here.

“Hey, Nona?”

She straightened, pulling her arm protectively behind her back with a stern look. I frowned, wondering if I wasn’t supposed to see that, or if she was just pissed at me for not working much anymore. “You need me on tables or register today?”

“Neither, Evie. Thank you. You may go.”

“
O
-kay . . .” There was definitely a strange vibe there. Between her hushed conversations with Grnlllll and meeting up with Reth, Nona was seriously creeping me out. And there was this certain way she watched me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention—like she was just, I don’t know,
waiting
. For something.

I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know what.

As I walked through the diner to go out, I swear every pair of eyes in there, not a single one of which were human, watched me. Fighting off a shudder, I pulled out my phone to call Lend for a ride. No way I was walking outside under the open sky today.

My head drifted dangerously close to my desk. The even, smooth slab of plastic faux wood was inviting, and the even, smooth drone of my English teacher’s voice in the background seemed to have hit on a previously undiscovered cure for insomnia.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this bored. If only I were officially accepted to Georgetown. Then I could relax. Right now I couldn’t afford any more slipups, just in case they checked on my grades.

Which was why I was doing yet another extra-credit fun run during lunch today for Miss Lynn. “Fun run” indeed, what a misnomer. That’d be like saying “calm gremlin” or “pleasant hag.” Or “entertaining history textbook.” It was my third fun run this week, and I was positive I was sacrificing years off my already shortened life for a bleeping grade. Still, at least running was so exhausting I couldn’t be bored. Unlike right now.

I stifled a yawn. I wanted something—anything—to happen. Maybe Lend would come and rescue me again, and we could go on another magical date and get over the tension that still seemed to linger between us in the quiet moments. Resting my head on my fist, I stared at the door.

What if a zombie came in, reeking of death and decay? He’d totally go for the Vicious Redhead Soccer Girl sitting right by the door. I could take a zombie. That ruler on the teacher’s desk looked like a sharp edge, and how cool would my classmates think I was? Especially if I had Tasey.

I sighed, leaning my head back and staring up at the ceiling. It would never work. No ruler would be sharp enough. Besides which, I never bring Tasey to school. And even if I saved everyone in the class, I’d probably still be expelled due to the school’s zero tolerance policy on violence.

I’d just have to live without the everlasting appreciation and admiration of my classmates. Truth was, most of them barely noticed me. They had their established cliques, and while they were friendly enough, I didn’t socialize with anyone outside school. Part of that wasn’t my fault, what with all the time I spent working at the diner and devoting my weekends to Lend.

But if I were being honest, mostly it was because, as much as I wanted to, I didn’t fit in here. Their dramas revolved around who was going out with who and who said what to who and who got in where and so on and so forth. My dramas mostly involved whats—as in, What on earth is that horrible creature about to rip out my throat?

Or at least they used to. I’d been on edge all week. Raquel hadn’t needed me for anything, which left way too much time to stress about everything. There was nowhere I could go where I felt safe or calm. The diner was all paranormals, and even though Nona acted the same as always, I got the creeps every time she looked at me now. Arianna was like my own personal poltergeist, always home, always infecting the apartment with her moods. Outside made me too nervous—the breeze that followed me everywhere, constantly having to watch the sky for sylphs and the crowds for faeries. I had nowhere to go that was mine.

It was like Jack said: I was homeless.

But right now I was just bored. So, maybe a stray vampire came to the school and . . .

A paper slapped down on my desk and it took me several seconds to realize what I was looking at. My test. My last test! My test with a—

No, that couldn’t be right.

I stared in disbelief at the letter gracing the front page. C+?
C+?
Didn’t he know how much time I spent studying for this stupid, pointless test? Didn’t he know I’d spent half the night before taking it battling the forces of evil?
Didn’t he know I needed to get into George
freaking
town?

The C+ sat there, mocking me. It was probably a good thing I didn’t have Tasey in my bag, or I would have burned that heinous letter right off the page. Class was over before I could register any parting instructions the teacher gave us, and Carlee was standing next to my desk.

“A C+? Nice!”

“Nice doesn’t get me into Georgetown,” I moaned, perilously close to tears. Please, please let them check my transcripts
before
my new grades were posted.

“You’ll get in for sure! You’re so smart. Don’t worry.” She put her arm around my shoulders as we walked together to lunch. “Let’s talk about happy things. What should I be for Halloween? I can’t decide between a sexy vampire or a sexy fairy. I’ve got a whole tub of glitter body gel for either costume, if you want to be the one I’m not!”

Faeries and vampires were glittery now?

Honestly.

Caramel-Coated Complications

I
groaned
, holding my stomach. “
Easton Heights
never covered this. Cue dramatic voice-over: ‘On the next all-new episode: Halloween gone dangerously wrong. Carys consumes lethal amounts of sugar. Will she live to see Homecoming? And, more terrifying,
Will anyone ask her now that she’s gained three pounds?
’”

Arianna frowned as she pinned my wig into place. “No one
made
you eat an entire bag of Tootsie Rolls. Hold still.”

Getting ready would be easier if we could use a mirror, but Arianna hated them, so I was sitting in a chair in the middle of the tiny family room. I couldn’t complain too much, since there was no way on earth I could have come up with a costume this good on my own. Sometimes it paid to have an undead-former-fashion-school-student for a roommate.

“Okay.” She stepped back, admiring her work with a firm nod. “You’re good to go.”

I jumped up and checked myself out in the bathroom mirror. “Oh, Arianna, this is awesome!”

My red wig and wide purple headband complemented my purple dress, pink tights, and green silk scarf. I always loved the
Scooby-Doo
gang. They were like my exact opposites. They hunted monsters that were revealed to be humans; I got to see humans that were actually monsters. I think they had a better deal. And they got a groovy van out of it, too.

“Fits then?” Arianna called from the other room.

“You are an absolute genius! I’m the best Daphne ever!”

“And so humble, too.”

I walked back out to her. She was already at the computer with her game.

“Do you want to come with us?” I asked.

“I don’t do Halloween.”

“Oh, come on, Halloween is your night!”

She looked up and gave me a dead stare. “Thanks, I’ll pass.”

I hesitated, feeling guilty. I’d spent hardly any time at all with her lately. I even fell asleep thirty minutes into our all-night marathon the other week. I didn’t want to admit it, but that stupid uber-vamp in Sweden had brought all my vampire loathing back to the surface, and I was having a hard time looking directly at Arianna. Plus, the past few weeks she seemed to be really withdrawn and antisocial.

Well,
more
withdrawn and antisocial, at least.

But she’d taken the time to do this awesome costume for me. The least I could do was make her get out. “Come on. It’ll be fun! Besides, vampires are hot this year, so you’re automatically cool! You don’t really want to spend Halloween holed up in this stupid apartment, do you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s exactly what I want to do, thank you ever so much. Besides, I’d hate to force my company on you when you clearly don’t enjoy it. I don’t want your pity, Evie.”

“That’s not it at all!”

She sighed, turning back to her game. “It’s fine, whatever. I get it. I wouldn’t want to hang out with me either.”

I was about to contradict her when a horn honked outside. I put my hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off, not even looking at me. When Arianna got in one of her dark moods, there was no talking her out of it. I tried to shake off the guilt as I raced down the stairs and through the diner. Lend got out of the car as I walked out, a special trip home this Thursday just for me. I frowned. “You didn’t dress up!”

He grinned, opening my door for me. “Sure I did. I dressed up as the non-invisible man!”

I smacked him in the chest. “Lazy.”

“Hey, I wear a costume every waking hour. You only dress up once a year, which I believe makes
you
the lazy one. However, you look really hot in pink tights, so I’ll let it pass.”

“How noble of you.” He kissed me, lingering on my lips, and I was filled with warm happiness. We were going to be fine.

I watched out the windows as we drove to his dad’s, thrilled to see the first groups of tiny trick-or-treaters. I vaguely remembered trick-or-treating when I was little. One of my foster families made a big deal out of it; we got to carve pumpkins and everything. The woman who ran my last foster home didn’t think it was safe, so we had to stay inside and watch some Charlie Brown cartoon three times. I’ve never liked beagles to this day.

Raquel, of course, thought the holiday was a load of nonsense, with people running around pretending to be the things we protected them from. Plus, she always worried about offending our “coworkers” by making light of their existence. Judging by Arianna’s mood, maybe Raquel had been right about that one.

I turned to Lend. “What’s on the agenda for tonight?”

“First, pumpkin carving. I’ve drawn up some designs. We’re gonna cream my dad.”

I smiled, excited to see what he had drawn. Most of his sketches lately were for his human anatomy class. I much preferred it when he did it for fun. “Awesome. Then what?”

“We make caramel apples and man the door. The only people who trek out to the house are the local werewolves with kids, so it’s always fun to see them.”

“Oh. Great!” I said it like I meant it but was disappointed. This was my first normal, teenage Halloween. I had my heart set on something a little more exciting than passing out candy to werewolf pups. Carlee was having a party tonight—her annual Halloween bash—and even though I didn’t hang out with anyone who would be there, I was kind of curious. The only real parties I’d ever seen were on TV. Or at the Center, but those were lame. It was always awkward mingling with paranormals that I had personally bagged and tagged. Plus, no one ever spiked the punch.

However, being with Lend trumped everything else, and he hated parties. He was a bit of a homebody, since he’d had to be secluded when he was little before he could control his shape-shifting. And even though when he got older he had the potential to be quite popular (read: hello, hottie), he felt like no one could ever know the real him.

Until me, that is. Which made me all sorts of happy.

Lend looked over at me and smiled. “You are so bad at faking excitement. That’s not all we’re doing.”

I perked up immediately. “Yeah?”

“Well, you’re already dressed for it, so I thought we could go . . . disco bowling.”

“Disco bowling? Seriously? Is there such a thing?”

He laughed. “I’ve never been, but you mentioned bowling a few weeks ago, and I figured tonight of all nights I could go ahead and impress you with my mad lack of bowling skills. Besides which, you look way too hot to waste on trick-or-treaters. They have a costume competition—you’re a shoo-in.”

I laughed, giddy, and grabbed his hand to kiss his knuckles. I knew he’d rather stay at home, but he planned tonight around making me happy. And he wanted to show me off, which appealed to my vanity more than I cared to admit. Best. Boyfriend. Ever.

“Pictures, please? And if we’re going disco bowling, you have to dress up.”

He pretended to sigh, but his glamour hair grew out into a massive ’fro and I squealed with delight. Then it shifted into shorter hair with a yellow-blond side part. “I figure with an ascot and blue pants I can do a mean Fred to your Daphne, right?”

Tonight was perfect.

“Aren’t those for, like, preschoolers?” I couldn’t stop laughing as Lend pulled out bumpers for our gutter. The entire place was lit in neon lights, with a giant disco ball throwing spangled reflections everywhere. Music pulsed so loud we had to shout to be heard, but everyone was having a good time. We even saw Kari and Donna a couple of lanes down, their barking laughter reminiscent of the seals they usually were. They waved happily to me, ignoring the large queue of guys trying to flirt with them.

“Yeah, bumpers are for preschoolers or two teenagers who couldn’t stop throwing gutter balls if their lives depended on it. Which, fortunately, they don’t. Because we’d be screwed.”

I grabbed my glittery hot pink ball (which I was seriously considering buying) and imitated the perfect form a Mohawked guy next to us was using. Instead of shooting straight down the lane and knocking over all the pins, my ball inexplicably went flying backward toward Lend.

“Okay, now we’re getting dangerous.” Lend brought my ball back and, wrapping himself around me, we threw it together. After pinballing off the bumpers on both sides, it knocked down a whole three pins.

I jumped up and down, screaming. “That’s like, practically a strike, right?”

“Good enough for me!”

For Lend’s next round he squatted, throwing the ball with both hands from between his legs—and into Mohawk guy’s lane. He wasn’t nearly as amused as we were, but Lend grinned and apologized, charming his way out of it.

“It’s a good thing we’re pretty to look at,” I said as Lend sat down on the orange plastic seats next to me. “Because we don’t have much else going for us as bowlers.”

“So you think the blond looks good?”

I ran my fingers through his ridiculous hair. “Really, really not. I like you tall, dark, and handsome. Well, my favorite is tall, invisible, and handsome, but still.”

An announcer stopped the blaring disco music to declare the beginning of the costume contest. Lend pulled me up and we started over, when I felt my purse buzzing. My phone! I pulled it out and was surprised to see Carlee’s name on the caller ID. Oh, crap, did I forget to tell her I wasn’t coming to her party?

“Carlee? What’s up? Sorry I couldn’t make it!” I shouted over the noise, pulling Lend over to the double doors by the entrance where it was a little quieter. I didn’t want Carlee to think I’d ditched her. Even though I had.

“Evie! Evvvvvvie!” She drew my name out, and behind her I could hear the chatter of way too many hyper teenage voices. “Girl, you came through for me! I owe you one!”

“What?”

“Your friend! You told him about the party, you sly little brat.”

“What friend?”

“Jack, of course!”