𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐦 | 𝐜.𝐝 𝐟𝐟

𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚.

I slept better that night, too tired to dream again. When I woke to the pearl gray morning, my mood was blissful. The tense evening with Billy and Jacob seemed harmless enough now; I decided to forget it completely. I caught myself whistling while I was pulling the front part of my hair back into a barrette, and later again as I skipped down the stairs. Nott noticed.

"You're cheerful this morning," he commented over breakfast.

I shrugged. "It's Friday."

I rushed everyone else so they wouldn't be here to see Cedric picking me up. I had my bag ready, shoes on, teeth brushed, but even though I rushed to the door as soon as I was sure the Audi would be out of sight, Cedric was faster. He was waiting in his shiny car, windows down, engine off.

I didn't hesitate this time, climbing in the passenger side quickly, the sooner to see his face. He grinned his crooked smile at me, stopping my breath and my heart. I couldn't imagine how an angel could be any more glorious. There was nothing about him that could be improved upon.

"How did you sleep?" he asked. I wondered if he had any idea how appealing his voice was.

"Fine. How was your night?"

"Pleasant." His smile was amused; I felt like I was missing an inside joke.

"Can I ask what you did?" I asked.

"No." He grinned. "Today is still mine."

He wanted to know about people today: more about my mother, her hobbies, what we'd done in our free time together. And then the one grandmother I'd known, my previous school friends — embarrassing me when he asked about boys I'd dated. I was relieved that I'd only dated him, so that particular conversation couldn't last long. He seemed as surprised as Jessica and Angela by my lack of romantic history.

"So you never met anyone you wanted?" he asked in a serious tone that made me wonder what he was thinking about.

I twisted the truth. "No."

His lips pressed together into a hard line.

We were in the cafeteria at this point. The day had sped by in the blur that was rapidly becoming routine. I took advantage of his brief pause to take a bite of my bagel.

"I should have let you drive your friends to school today," he announced, apropos of nothing, while I chewed.

"Why?" I demanded.

"I'm leaving with Alice after lunch."

"Oh." I blinked, and a vision of her skipping towards us and greeting me flashed. "That's okay, i'll wait for my friends."

He frowned at me impatiently. "I'm not going to make you wait in the open. We'll get the keys for you."

"I really don't mind waiting." What I minded was losing my time with you.

He shook his head. "I mind. Your key will be in the ignition —unless you're afraid someone might steal it." He laughed at the thought.

"All right," I agreed, pursing my lips. I was pretty sure they key was in Parkinson's pocket. He seemed to feel the challenge in my consent. He smirked, overconfident.

"So where are you going?" I asked as casually as I could manage.

"Hunting," he answered grimly. "If I'm going to be alone with you tomorrow, I'm going to take whatever precautions I can." His face grew morose... and pleading. "You can always cancel, you know."

I looked down, afraid of the persuasive power of his eyes. I refused to be convinced to fear him, no matter how real the danger might be. It doesn't matter, I repeated in my head.