“What a jerk!” I growl as I watch them go.
“You weren’t exactly Miss Congeniality yourself,” Sunny reminds me.
“What was I supposed to do?” I ask her. “Get down on the ground and let them walk all over us? Kiss their skinny slayer asses? Not in this lifetime, sister.”
Sunny opens her mouth, probably to say something super annoying about turning the other cheek, but luckily is interrupted by an anxious Lilli, who’s standing a few feet away, wringing her hands together, her face white and anxious.
“Are you guys okay?!”
“Yeah, we’re fine. Just a little wounded pride.” I glare down the road at the retreating gang. The others students scurry to keep their distance as they pass by like they’re God’s gift to vampire slayers. “What’s up with those losers?”
Lilli rolls her eyes. “They’re Alphas,” she explains. “The best of the best, here at Slay School and they know it, too. Total bullies to anyone who doesn’t live up to their skill or coolness standards—which is just about everyone besides the five of them. Trust me, you’re best off avoiding them as much as possible.”
“Don’t worry,” I say, shaking my head and turning away from the group. “I have absolutely no interest in becoming friends.” With them or anyone else at this godforsaken school at this point.
“Anyway, I swear not everyone here at Slay School is like that. In fact, most people are really nice,” Lilli insists. “Why don’t you come down to the cafeteria with me and I’ll introduce you around? We could get you some food or a ... drink of some kind.” She looks at me like she can tell I’m starved.
Her offer makes my stomach growl, but sadly not for what the Slay School cafeteria will provide. This growing bloodlust is going to be a serious problem. I wonder how long I can go without drinking ...
I realize Lilli is waiting for an answer.
“Sun? You want to eat?” I ask my sister for the second time today.
But predictably, Lady Lovelorn shakes her head. “I just ... I just want to go back to our room,” she says sadly. “I’ll catch you later.” And with that, she turns and continues to trudge up the hill toward the dorm without even a good-bye.
“Sorry,” I say to Lilli. “I’d better go check on her. She’s really homesick.”
Lilli watches Sunny go. “I understand,” she says. “I can grab some extra food and drinks and bring them back for you.”
I guess I should be grateful there’s at least one decent person at this ridiculous school, even if she is a bit annoying. After thanking her, I say my good-byes and head back to the room to find my sister.
I find her, not surprisingly, I suppose, curled up in a ball, cradling her useless cell phone in her arms. The speakerphone is on and I can hear Magnus’s voice over the airwaves. One of the last messages he’d left her yesterday, before any of this happened. It’s all she has, I guess.
Hearing me, she sits up with a start, her face flushed with embarrassment as she clicks off the phone.
“You okay?” I ask, sitting down beside her on the bed, reaching over to stroke her hair. She’s growing it super long these days. Probably to further differentiate herself from me. The thought makes me a little sad.
“Not really,” she replies, staring at the blank wall in front of her. “This is pretty much the worst day of my life.”
“I know it sucks,” I soothe. “But we can get through this. It’s only temporary.”
“You don’t know that!” she cries angrily. “What if, after all this, Mom and Dad can’t convince the fairies to leave us alone? Then one of us will be stuck becoming a fairy queen!”
“Yeah, but ... well, that’s not the end of the world, is it?” I ask. “I mean, there’s probably a lot of great perks that come with being a fairy queen. Think about it: riches beyond belief, magical powers, all the nectar you can drink, limitless glitter.” I pause, then giggle. “Not to mention a hot prince named Dew Drip ...”
“Stop it!” Sunny cries, rolling over to face me. Her eyes are stormy and bloodshot from all the crying. “Don’t you get it? It’s not a joke! It’s my freaking life here!”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I just thought—”
She scrambles up and starts pacing the distance between beds. “Sure, it’s not big deal to you. You’re already supernatural six ways from Sunday anyway. And you like it that way, for some unfathomable reason.”
“Well, yeah.” I shrug. “Though I’d like it better if I had some kind of powers ...”
She turns to me, staring me down, fury clear on her face. “Well, I don’t. I don’t want to be a vampire. I don’t want to be a slayer. I certainly don’t want to be a fairy queen. I just want to be a human girl and I just want to be left alone.” She shakes her head. “I mean, what’s left, Rayne? Are we going to find out our long-lost cousin was a freaking leprechaun?”
“Ooh, that’d be cool. Maybe he’d share his pot of gold with us. Or at least his Lucky Charms.”
Sunny glares at me.
“Come on, Sun,” I cajole. “You gotta look on the bright side. Glass half full and all that. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? You become fairy queen?”
“I will never become a fairy queen,” Sunny mutters. “I’ll kill myself first.”