Academy of Blood and Magic

14🖤

The week flew by. I noticed that I got a lot more stares and whispers than before, but they were actually full of respect, rather than disgust and disdain that I usually got. Everyone saw that I wasn't going to back down so easily.

Fortunately, that Friday was homecoming. That gave me something to look forward to.

On Friday, I was sitting at the lunch table by myself as usual. Isaac usually sat with me, but today he was absent for some reason. I did tell Brandon that Isaac was the only one who would talk to and sit with me. I could tell Brandon didn't like that, but Isaac did help me and was the only one who was civil to me here, but he did warn Isaac not to try anything or else he was going to kill him. I was proud of how mature Brandon was about Isaac being the only person I could talk to in school, but I could tell he didn't like it.

On Tuesday, Isaac had asked if I'd like to exchange numbers, and I told him no. Even though he did stick by me and helped me with the greenhouse incident, I drew the line there. I knew that for sure would tick Brandon off and I didn't want Isaac to get the wrong idea. I could tell it stung, but he just smiled and said he respected my decision and changed the subject.

Someone sat down beside me. I glanced over and stiffened.

"How're you feeling?" Tristan asked, a smirk curving his mouth. "Still sore?"

I stood, towering over him, my hands clenched into fists, wanting to carve his face in for everything he'd done to me. "You have two seconds to get away from me -"

"Or what?" He surged to his feet, getting only three inches away from my face. "You're going to hit me? Go right on ahead, and get yourself suspended and ruin any chances you have of succeeding here, which are already pretty small."

"You blackmailed a girl to freaking kill me!"

"I did not. Besides, what proof do you have?"

"She told me -"

"About how I manipulated her? About how she had this big, bad secret that she couldn't tell anyone?" He laughed. "She really got you fooled, didn't she?"

All I saw was red at that moment. That bitch really did make a fool out of me, alright. And when I saw her standing at the end of the room. She smirked and waved at me as we made eye contact.

"Her parents got her out of the two-week suspension. She's already back. Unlike you, she's important to this place and can never be replaceable."

I started to shake with anger.

"I warned you to stop bringing that vampire around. I warned you to stay out of my way."

"Stay out of your way? I haven't even talked to you in weeks and don't want anything to do with you. How the hell have I been in your way?"

"By signing up for the competition, for still showing your ugly face around here."

I stared at him in disbelief. He was really this petty, this immature. There was something seriously wrong with him, something not right in his mind at all.

A calmness suddenly washed over me right then. A smile spread across my face as the reality of what was really happening hit me. I must've had a maniacal expression on my face because Tristan took a step back, the smug look he wore so well replaced by nervousness.

"Do whatever you want, Tristan," I said, my voice so low it barely reached my own ears. "I don't care what you bring, what you do, what you say because I am not leaving this school, do you understand me?"

We stood there, staring at each other for what felt like an eternity before he

slowly backed away and walked out of the cafeteria.