EVEN THOUGH GEORGE was an idiot, the guy was in the same league as Lucian when it came to his good looks. Hot as hell with dimples like Sammy's.
"George?" Sammy asked.
Becky fell on her bed and cried.
"Okay, that sucks," I said. They were the first words that popped into my head. It was the truth, because I knew she didn't like George one bit.
She looked rather upset at the realization that he was the only Moon-Bolt available. Tears streamed down her face, and Becky wasn't a soft crier. She looked comical, and I couldn't hold my laughter back anymore.
"Elena," Sammy sang.
"I'm sorry." I snorted as the tears ran down my cheeks too. Sammy and Becky joined me after a while, and it felt good to laugh, especially in lieu of what had happened tonight.
Our laughter stopped abruptly. A minute or so of silence followed.
"Can we please just talk about something else?" Becky asked quietly.
"How was the kiss, Elena?" Sammy interjected. It worked.
Becky got all excited as I explained to them how perfect his lips felt against mine. It was nice to relive it and all of us felt better when I finished my detailed review.
"I told you he was crazy about you," Becky chirped.
"Excuse me, I told her he liked her," Sammy snapped, and we fell back into laughter.
As I let the events of the night wash over me, I tried to process everything that had happened. I went to bed wondering how Sammy felt now knowing her best friend wasn't a fire wielder
* * *
WE WOKE Monday morning and found Becky combing out her hair furiously. Sparks flew onto her brush as she tried to get her hair to lie flat. She didn't really succeed.
I started to laugh as her hair just kept jumping up again. Frustrated, she threw her brush at me, but missed. At least she was a good sport.
When we entered the cafeteria, everyone stopped eating, turned, and stared at Becky.
"Hell, news travels fast," Sammy said as loud as she could, and some faces ducked behind their friends and others quickly turned away.
We soon discovered that there were other Moon-Bolts at the school, because each one of them threatened her to stay away. She was instantly relieved and glad she had more options.
I was happy to see Lucian smiling at me from his table. He looked better than he had Friday night. He had left on Saturday morning for the weekend and phoned me twice on Becky's Cammy. When we reached him, he stood up, cupped my face in his hands, and kissed me. It was scary how nothing else mattered, and that all my worries and concerns just seemed to disappear whenever his lips touched mine. A lot of guys mocked Lucian for being so openly affectionate. I only wished I could brush it off as easily as he did. Becky came back from the buffet line and seeing some of her hair standing up forced me to suppress my laughter once again.
"You gave us a heart attack the other night," Lucian said, as Becky sat next to us.
I burst out laughing again.
"Elena, stop it." Sammy bumped me hard in my ribs while trying desperately to suppress her laughter too. Becky rolled her eyes and looked irritated.
Lucian just stared at me. "Am I missing something here?"
I snorted again and shook my head, indicating that I would explain everything to him later.
"Oh c'mon, Lucian. Don't tell me my hair standing in every direction is not one bit funny."
He smiled, knowing she was right.
"I've had to listen to their jokes since Friday night."
"That's so mean." He was trying to make us feel bad.
I took a deep breath. "Sorry, Becky, I'll try harder to control it."
"Whatever, Elena. If it was you I would have broken myself in two."
"Umm, you did already," I reminded her of my first Art of War lesson, and she giggled.
"Becky," A third-year boy had just walked up to our table sounding serious. He saw her hair and his lips drew in a thin line.
"It's fine, you can laugh," she said.
He smiled. "Master Longwei wants to see you in his office, pronto."
"Why?"
Our jokes became less funny.
"I don't know. He just asked me to fetch you," he said and walked away.
"You want us to come with you?" Sammy asked.
"No, you guys already took a beating on Friday. I guess it's my turn," she said and got up.
"I hope that it's nothing bad," I said.
"I guess we just have to wait and see," Lucian said, stroking my back softly. When the bell rang, we left the cafeteria hand in hand.
He said goodbye with another soft kiss as we reached my class then ran off to his down the hall. I let out a satisfied sigh, feeling like some sort of fairytale character who had just found her prince. I had, literally.
During Enchantments I became worried when Becky still hadn't returned from her meeting with Master Longwei. It was right before lunchtime, and I struggled hard to concentrate, not that I understood one word of it anyway. As I made my way to the cafeteria, I found Lucian and Sammy speaking to her at a table outside.
"What happened, what did he say?" I was upset as I plunged down next to Lucian. She tried to tell me, but she stuttered too much and then began bawling again as if somebody had died.
"The Viden told Master Longwei about a foretelling. It's about George. She told him that his Dragonian would be struck by lightning," Lucian said solemnly.
"She thinks it's you?" I asked, stunned.
They both nodded on Becky's behalf, while she blew her nose into a hanky.
"They're going to force me to claim George, Elena," she bawled again.
"You are part of a foretelling?" I finally understood what she was saying, and her lower lip quivered.
"One that means absolutely nothing. I don't know why I can't refuse," she yelled.
"Because of what it is," Lucian said.
"Wait, you guys know what this means?" I asked, and they just looked at me as if they didn't see the big picture at all. "George is your dent, Becky. It's rare, isn't it?"
"Oh my word, Elena is right. It hasn't happened for a long time." Sammy sounded excited.
"Me and George?" Becky yelped and fell onto her arms. A short buzzing sound emanating from her made us all stare.
"Wicked", Lucian mouthed, and I glared at him. Okay, so maybe she had seen that one coming and it was the reason why she was so upset.
"Calm down, girl," Sammy said, almost stroking her back, but yanking her hand away just in time. "You should embrace this, Becky. Besides, he isn't that bad looking."
Becky yelled. "That's the absolute worst thing you've ever said to me. I'm not shallow!"
"I didn't mean it like that," Sammy said. "Maybe George will change."
"He's a freaking Moon-Bolt. He almost gave Elena a heart attack on her first day!" She looked at the sky. "Kill me now, please."
"Calm down, Becky. I know it's hard to see the silver lining on this one, but maybe Sammy's right. He could change," Lucian said.
"Not you too!"
"What are you so worried about anyway? The fact that it's George, or the fact that he is a Moon-Bolt?" he asked.
"The fact that he's a dickhead. And to make matters worse, he's going to want to hang with us from now on."
"It's going to be fine, Becky, if George wants to hang with us. He just better treat Elena better," Sammy said, and we all burst out laughing again.
"It's going to be okay," I said, trying to boost her ego. "It's not the end of the world, and you rock. That dragon can count his lucky stars to have you as his Dragonian."
"Aw. I wish I could hug you both. You are the best BFs a girl could ask for." Becky snorted then wiped her eyes.
"Do you really electrify people if they come too close?" Lucian asked, pretending to poke her.
Becky giggled.
"That's so wicked," he said.
I stood, seeing it as the perfect moment to grab some lunch.
When I got back, Lucian was talking about tricks to claim George and offered to train her if she wanted.
The bell rang again, ending all our fun. I sulked all the way to Arithmetic.
"So Elena is now with Lucian, what about Brian?" a soft voice said next to me.
"Elena said she will think about Brian's offer. She did, but Lucian stole her heart, and his intentions are not like Brian's."
"Elena is making a huge mistake," he said. "Brian could have offered her so much more."
"Yeah, yeah, okay, Brian, we get it. Take a hike." Lucian spoke from behind us, and he squeezed in between Brian and me.
"Your Highness's wishes are Brian's command," he teased, and walked away.
Lucian grinding his teeth hard made a horrible sound that I couldn't stand.
"Stop doing that. Besides you are the prince of Tith and—"
"Stop that," he said, poking me playfully in the ribs. This escalated into a lot of laughter, and somehow I ended up in his arms. He kissed me softly just before our paths separated.
"Your wish is everybody's command. You need to deal with it," I joked, while he walked away.
"Yours too?" he said hopefully.
"You'll have to wait and see, Your Highness."
He roared with laughter, while the other students in the hallway were shaking their heads and twittering.
I had learned how to ignore them. The left side of my lip curled up as I saw room 125. It became an involuntary reaction right before I opened the big door to Arithmetic.
By the end of day, George had finally received the bad news and was really pissed.
He cornered Becky in the hallway and threatened, "You just stay away from me."
Becky pushed him away, hard. We could hear some electricity pass between them but George didn't flinch one bit.
"You think I wanted this. I would rather spend my life with a colony of wyverns before claiming you."
He huffed with a sideways smile, accepting her challenge. "At least you know where you stand."
"As if. Let me rephrase. I would rather die than have you around me!" she yelled, standing inches away from his face.
George grunted, bared his teeth, and raced off cussing.
"He's such an asshole. Why did I have to be struck by lightning? I would even claim a Night Villain over George Mills!" she shouted at his retreating figure.
"It's going to be okay, Becky. In a couple of days he won't be such an arrogant bastard," Sammy said softly, but it didn't seem right without the hug.
I had to admit, a part of me did pray that I'd never ascend. I wouldn't be able to handle all of this fighting.
Racing off with Becky to her favorite class, I hoped she would cheer up. Art of War was still not my thing and I felt as if I was going backward instead of forward. I struggled to concentrate as I worried about Becky and I couldn't focus on Professor Mia's instructions. So, in short, I got my ass kicked.
* * *
FOR THE REST of the week, the glares between Becky and George grew worse. The girls who liked George kept bumping into Becky as a warning. Some even threatened her about what they'd do if she claimed George. As if she had a choice.
Classes were the same and weren't getting any better. The only thing I did look forward to was spending more time with Lucian yet I felt our time together growing less as he started to train Becky for the day she was going to have to face George. By the third day of training, I was already annoyed. They only talked about fighting, and I found it foreign as they talked about highs, lows, and aims.
During Enchantments, an announcement came over the school's speaker system. Master Longwei's voice filled the entire school. "Next Thursday at four in the afternoon, there will be a claim. Rebecca Johnston for the claiming of George Mills."
There was a lot of applause from our class, as well as a lot of good luck punches on her shoulder. She couldn't stop smiling.
As everyone began to fall into the rigor of the Academy, I found myself alone most afternoons. Sammy had started with her extra activity—who knew a dragon could be into drama classes. Lucian wanted me to come and watch how Becky and he trained, but I couldn't stand the sound of weapons slamming against each other, so I ended up spending my afternoons in the library.
I saw it as time to learn about Paegeia. Most days it was an exercise in failure, because I couldn't concentrate and was instead worrying about Becky.
I crawled into bed late, scared that I was going to dream again about the woman on the hill. She had been harassing my dreams for the past week, and I still didn't know who she was, what she wanted, or why I was dreaming of her. At least I didn't wake screaming anymore. I just wished she would tell me what the hell she wanted.
I couldn't wait for Thursday, the day Becky was going to claim George. After that, things should go back to normal, I hoped as I settled into bed. I turned off the light and fell asleep faster than I thought I would. As usual, I felt my dream shift as the mysterious woman made her appearance once again.