When school started up again on Monday, Aria and I had almost completely forgotten what had happened last weekend. Almost. We never talked about it, fearing that if we talked about it, it would make everything far more real.
I didn’t want to believe in another world, especially when it didn’t seem like I was involved in it.
When Aria and I walked into our school, I felt like I had lived in a dream for too long, captured by a mysterious world. It felt like a year had passed since we discovered the unveiled world of the supernatural. But now I was in the real world and I had to focus. I had to go back to school and study for college.
Everything was back to normal.
I followed Aria as we got to our lockers, which were side by side, and unlocked it to get my books.
“Killer party, Aria!” Some random guy yelled down the hallway.
“The Queen of partying reclaims her throne!” Another random person hollered. I looked at Aria but I couldn’t read her face.
“What class do you have?” She’s asked me that a hundred times and still forgot.
“Bio and you have history.” I reminded her and she pouted her lips, looking at her nails.
“Wanna skip for today?”
“No, there’s a huge project coming up and I don’t want to miss it.” I resisted her whines and pouts.
“Fine, I’m going to guidance.” She used to say she was going to the nurse but I think Nurse Thomson got tired of her.
The bell rang and I sprinted to my class, which was all the way on the other side of the building.
“Thank you for finally joining us, Ms. Brook,” Mr. Leonard said sarcastically and the class snickered as I ran in late.
I found my seat in the one of the lab tables in the very back. I didn’t have any friends in bio so I worked alone.
I took out my notebook to draw on and zoned out whatever Mr. Leonard’s was lecturing about.
“Today, we’ll start by-” Abruptly, he stopped talking and I heard the classroom door open. I didn’t look up from my notebook, sketching the crescent moon that had flashed before my eyes, “Oh, we have new students. . .”
My pencil traced faint silver lines, creating a crescent moon. The flashes had been getting more frequent and I didn’t understand what was so special about the moon’s outline.
I was barely listening when I heard a familiar voice. I picked my head up and dropped my pencil on the floor when I saw them.
“I’d usually tell you guys to introduce yourselves but we have a lot of material to cover today, so take your seats wherever, I don’t care,” Mr. Leonard waved his hand dismissively.
Even and Law made their way to the back of the classroom and avoided my stare.
The whole class stared as Even took the seat next to me and Law took the one across from me. More than half of the girls were eyeing them flirtatiously but interestingly enough, they were immune to their smiles.
They were drawing too much attention.
“Girls, up here,” The teacher snapped but none of the girls turned back around, their stares falling onto me enviously, “Girls!” He startled them with his loud voice and they finally stopped staring.
“Back to biology,” Mr. Leonard cleared his throat and continued like the two new boys hadn’t been a huge distraction, “As I was saying before, the project. . .”
“Don’t think I wanted to sit next to you, this was the only open seat,” Law snarled in my ear.
I stiffened but didn’t say anything.
“We’re here to protect your sister,” Even said calmly, not very subtly stepping on Law’s foot. It just made his temper flare up.
“But we got stuck in this class.” He muttered under his breath.
“Why? What’s wrong with my sister?” I asked anxiously. Was it because she covered for me, protected me instead?
But Law snorted and ignored me, talking to Even, “Don’t waste your breath, she won’t understand.”
I didn’t understand why he hated me so much, I didn’t do anything to him.
“I’ll explain when we have more time.” The conversation ended quickly and they didn’t say anything else after that. It left my mind worrying and wandering.
I worried about Aria and why we needed to be followed around. I just didn’t want to get ensnared in a world where there were dark secrets hidden from us.
After the bell rang, I walked to my next classes. The day was like any other, nothing out of the ordinary.
Until I got to my last class of the day, English. English was my favorite class because it was the only class I had with Aria.
I took my seat next to her like always and looked up at the board.
A new teacher was scribbling his name down, his back turned. I saw that he was bigger than any of the boys in the class, with very dark hair.
“What’s up with the new teacher?” Aria asked to no one in particular, “It’s the middle of the year,” It was strange that our old English teacher was being replaced in January, we still had half of the school year left.
The late bell rang and he turned around, “I’ll be filling in for your old English teacher.”
“Is that who I think it is?” Aria grabbed my arm, squeezing tightly as his eyes stopped on us, like he heard us. Another familiar face I never wanted to see again.
“It’s Harry.” I swallowed. He looked different, his hair was tame, smoothed back and he was dressed in nicer clothes.
He underlined his last name and tapped the board, “I’m Mr. Turner and I hope you’ll actually learn something,”
*****
Aria and I were officially freaked out. I told her about Even and Law and she told me that they were scattered in her classes, too.
This protection thing was getting out of hand.
“Why do we even need bodyguards? What do they want with us?” It was the million dollar question.
“Maybe we should talk to them.” I suggested. We had just driven home and were almost inside the house.
“So they can tell us more about their goddess? I don’t think so.” She made a disgusted face.
“What did they tell you? About their goddess?” I believe Even said something about a Moon Goddess but I was very lost.
Aria turned the key and unlocked the door, stepping inside. “They think I’m their goddess,” She snorted.
“Who thinks you’re their goddess?” Aria and I jumped at the voice, and I readied myself for unwelcome werewolf intruders.
But Aria’s words made me stop.
“Mom? Dad?”