Millennium Academy - The Fractured Shadow - Novel I

Chapter 4 - Vera Gonzalez

Vera was stumped. Homework problems. You get it. But that's not the reason she was stumped.

It was Razz. Razz, the Mystery. Razz the Magnificent. Razz the Mostly Annoying. Razz the one who told her to ask out Emila when she, Razz was the one who-

"Hey, sister." Vera spun around. Standing behind her was her brother, Veran. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two giggling girls stalking the heartthrob vampire from around a corner.

She gave an indiscreet cough and a glare in the girls' direction. Veran looked around and they disappeared, flushing like mad.

"Lunch? Per ushe?" she asked as he fell into step with her.

"Sure."

They entered the lunch hall. Their spot wasn't taken, so they didn't have to endure Charlene's cronies whining about how it was their fault, all their fault that Charlene was gone.

Razz came late. Vera was already half into her macaroni and cheese, chatting with Emila, when Razz showed up, flustered and flushing. Razz gave her a pointed look and Vera stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

Razz punched Vera in the arm playfully and sat down beside Emila. "Sooo... tl us what happened in the "Lions den." Vera gave Razz a hard shove.

"WHAT? oh.. umm..nothing! Nothing was 'supposed' to happen." Emila looked weary and edgy.

"Oh. Ok, then." Vera and Razz chewed their macaroni, bewildered by Emila's unexpected outburst.

"Huh. I thought y'all were thick as thieves." Veran remarked, looking up from a plate filled with macaroni and cheese. He kept going back for more of course.

The table fell silent. Vera stomped on his foot and Razz kicked his shin. "What do you mean by that?" Emila was aghast. They were as close as could be, weren't they?

Veran shrugged and crammed a biscuit in his mouth. He had other things on his mind. Like Razz, although he always had Razz on his mind. 100 percent of the time. Honestly, Vera found it wearying. She punched him.

"Ow!" he cried. Several glares came from around the room at Vera. She counted a teacher, several werewolves, twelve vampires (equally split by gender!), a warlock, a witch, a spriggan, and several others. Hammers and wrenches, her brother was popular.

The lunch bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Veran looked at Razz out of the side of his eye. She wasn't looking at him. She was picking lint balls off her sweater, and throwing them at Vera. Vera grabbed Emila by the arm. Ohh, she was going to (probably) regret doing this. Veran owed her.

"Hey, Emila. Over here. Now."

She dragged Emila over to a different table, giving Veran and Razz some space. Razz finally looked up at Veran. Vera eavesdropped.

"Your sister's weird."

"I know."

"You've never stopped her?"

"If I did, I would get a hammer to the head, so, no."

"Ah."

Veran hesitated for a moment, then blurted, "Razz, will you go to the Evergreen dance with me?!"

Razz stared, bug-eyed. Vera and Emila sneaked back to the table, quietly, so they wouldn't 'disrupt' the conversation.

"Uh... I..I..I hope you have a really, really, really good reason for doing this! Now or ever. I'd rather pick a fight with a troll. A forger troll." Razz yelled, embarrassed and combative from the day's events. The forger trolls were blacksmiths and the toughest trolls in the magical community. For her to rather pick a fight with one was a stretch.

The students who were exiting the lunch room all turned to look at Razz and Veran. Veran backed away, and, like a vampire into the night, disappeared into the thick of the crowd.

Vera sat at the precipice of indecision. Her brother or her best friend? It was an impossible choice to make. After but a moment's hesitation, she followed her brother into the masses, chancing an apologetic glance at Razz before picking up speed.

Veran saw Vera trailing after him and fled away. Vera, determined to not let him out of her sight, darted after him, and finally cornered him in a crack in the wall- a little haven for students.

"What do you want?" he grunted, refusing to look her in the eyes.

"I want you to quit being a wuss?" she offered. "Look, Veran, I might not be as good with people as you, but I know my friend. She'll apologise later, I know it."

"Apologies aren't enough. And I'm not a wuss!"

"Potato, potahto. If you run away from everything, and never DO anything, you'll never get anywhere in life."

Vera stopped suddenly. Wasn't that what she has been doing all this time with Emila? Who was she to talk to him about being brave, when she couldn't even ask her own crush out?

A tap on her shoulder. Vera spun around. It was Emila, smiling kindly and awkwardly at the inventress kneeling on the floor.

"Hey, Vera. Talk to me for a minute?"

"Sure, just a-" she turned around to look at Veran, but he wasn't there. Gone. "-second. Never mind. Alright, I'm coming."

Emila led her down to a little alcove underneath a stairway. She leaned back against one wall, and Vera leaned against the other, acutely aware of the extremely small space in between them.

"So..uh...what did you want to talk about?" Vera asked, breaking the silence.

"Whoo." she let out a puff of air. "Oh, serpents, this is hard. Ah..." Vera stared, waiting, anxious. What if it was something bad?

"Vera... I... oh, man. Vera, I like you, okay? I've had a crush on you since our first year here together. I've been meaning to ask... oh, just get it over with - wl, if you'd like to go to the Evergreen dance with me? There, I said it. Happy?"

She was now talking to the black mambas making up her hair, which looked like human dreadlocks if you didn't see the scales. Or the eyes. Or the tongues, but besides the point. Tied up in a ponytail by one, which was wound lazily around the others, they flicked their tongues, satisfied, at Emila.

Vera was dumbstruck. Baffled. Befuddled. Confused. Bewildered.

"Mila, oh... I'd love to." she replied, flustered. She felt like a blown circuit. Razz was right after all!

"Alright then." Emila took a deep breath and pulled Vera close.

"Thank you." she whispered, pressing her mouth fleetingly to hers.

She leaned in quickly, giving Emila a quick peck on the cheek before fleeing the little corner for her room.