Everlance Academy

Chapter 36

"You're a traitor!"

"I'm sorry, really, but there's no other way."

"I thought we were friends!"

"That's enough!", Olivia bangs her hand on the table, and both Nora and Ivy shut up in an instant.
"Trial's closed. Everyone that wants Nora to die", she continues, "raise your hand."

Ivy's hand shoots up, along with Addies, Noah's, Nikolais, Olivia's, and Cal's. The majority.
"That means you're dead," the latter states matter-of-factly.

"Thanks Cal. What a keen observation.", Nora plumbs back into the couch, defeated. Ivy lunges forward over the table, snatching Nora's card and turning it around.

"Ha! Werewolf! I knew it!", She raises her arms in triumph and high-fives first Noah, the visionary, and then me, Cupid, who was eliminated in the first round. Tragic.

Thalia wraps an arm around Nora's shoulders and pulls her close, planting a kiss on her temple and whispering something into her ear.

Nora turns bright red, the annoyance of having lost the game gone in an instant.

"You know, you guys would be appalling if you weren't so adorable," Noah mumbles, collecting everyone's cards.

Neither Nora nor Thalia answer him, though, since their lips are currently occupied.
"Nevermind," Noah grimaces, "you're just appalling."

"You're only jealous because you didn't find the girl from the demonstration again and therefore will end up bitter and alone," Addie says, tracing the lines of Olivia's fingers.

Noah's hand flies to his chest as if someone had pierced a stake through his heart. "Don't put salt into the wound, Lopez, it's still fresh."

The whole table erupts in laughter, and Noah grins proudly to himself while shuffling the deck anew.
However, we agree not to play another round and instead go up to Nikolais room to play a match of Mario Card.

Since Nikolai and I came back from our trip two weeks ago, he and my friends have gotten a lot closer. Partly because they like him and partly because he has a room with a TV to himself.

"I need a head start so I can clean up first, though", Nikolai chimes in and holds Noah back by his shirt, who was already on his way to sprint to Nikolai's room to be controller number one. "How about we meet there in, like, ten minutes?"

The group collectively agrees, and we all spread out to get water or use the restroom while Nikolai strolls up to his room to do some cleaning.

Hello, nice to meet you. I am some cleaning.

I pretend to go to the nearest water fountain, but when no one is looking, I slip up the stairs and into the boys corridor. Knocking twice on Nikola's door, I wait for him to open it. When he does, he grabs me by the waist, yanks me into the room, and pushes me with my back to the now closed door before I can do so much as blink.

"Hello to you too.", I chuckle, but Nikolai only makes a dismissing hmph sound while kissing that one very sensitive spot on my neck that makes me shudder.

I don't know how he does it. This is by far not the first time he's kissed me, yet it still never loses its effect on my body. No matter how often his thumb caresses my cheek when his hand cups my face, it doesn't feel any less sensual.

"I'm supposed to be cleaning," he rasps against the skin of my jaw, on which he is planting soft but urgent kisses, "you're distracting me."

I snort. "Please. You take dusting more seriously than most people value their lives. Your room is spotless. One could eat from this floor."

"I could eat you off this floor."

"Get your head out of the gutter."

He grins. "You're the very reason it's there in the first place."

Instead of answering, I push myself off the wall, and Nikolai guides me through the room to his bed, on which he lands back first, me following swiftly.

He plays with my hair as he so often does while my hands travel under his white shirt, feeling his stomach under my hands. The lower my hands wander, the faster his breathing goes, and soon enough, his hands are gripping my hair so firmly that it almost hurts.

He pulls me up so we're eye to eye, and for a moment we just stay like that, foreheads leaning against one another, staring into each other's eyes. My hands rest on his stomach, unmoving, the fingers of one of his own tangled in my hair, the other arm draped around my waist.

When our lips find one another again, it's tentative and gentle. Loving. He feels soft against me, warm, like home. I could stay here forever. A lifetime of this would be more than I could ever ask for. Nothing could ruin this moment. It's intimate and perfect and vulnerable and-

"My eyes!"

I jump up so fast, my feet get caught in between the sheets, and I tumble to the floor.
The door is wide open, and all of our friends are lined up outside. For Christ's sake.

Noah is stumbling backwards, his hands pressed over his eyes as if he had just seen something traumatizing. Which, I suppose, he has.

"Calm down, Noah. They're basically adults. What did you expect?"
Olivia brushes past our friends and plumbs down on the bed next to Nikolai, taking the remote from the bedside table and turning on the TV to start the game, not seeming the slightest bit moved by this new revelation. If I'm being honest, none of them, besides Noah, look that surprised.

"I am aware that they kiss people, but not each other! That's just... ew."

"Oh, please," Ivy laughs while sitting down on the chair next to the desk, "it was so obvious they were doing it. This can't possibly be a surprise to you."

"Wait... you guys knew?", I ask, slowly gaining my composure back and getting comfortable on the floor with a pillow.

"I hate to break it to you, but you guys aren't half as sneaky as you think you are.", Ivy shrugs, "I've known since you two came back from that amusement park at the sports festival."

Nora sits down on the floor as well, Thalia's hand in hers. "I've known since that time we were in the gym together and you guys had that I don't know if I want to choke you because I hate you or because I'm into you thing going on. But yeah, after the sports festival, it was obvious. I told Olivia, she told Addie, and Addie told Thalia, who spoke about it to Ivy."

She grins. "It was actually so funny, apologizing to you after the seat arrangements, being all I know you hate him, and you going along with it."

"And none of you told me?", Noah closes the door behind him, still shaken. "I consider this treason!"

"We didn't know whether you'd take it well, and obviously, our concerns were justified", Addie shrugs.

"Well, obviously I'm concerned! I mean, I'm happy for you and all, but what if you guys break up? Then it will be horrible because I'll have to choose between the two of you, and I couldn't do that because you are my two best friends!", Noah sits down next to Ivy, who wraps an arm around his shoulder.

"Well, you don't have to be worried about that," Nikolai says, connecting his controller to the TV. "I don't plan on ever letting June go. She's stuck with me, whether she likes that or not. We're endgame."

A warm feeling spreads through my stomach, and I can feel my cheeks heating up. In an attempt to distract from my blushing, I turn to Cal, who is sitting on the floor next to me, and ask: "And what about you? Since when have you known?"

He smiles a tiny, mysterious smile at me. The way only Cal smiles, as if he had been on this earth for so long, there wasn't anything that could possibly surprise him anymore.

"I've always known."