Pangaia: Agendas (Year One: Fall)

Chapter Seven - Jewl

A furious knock on Jewl's door caused her to jump. She set the book she was reading aside, and rushed over to answer the door.

Please be Anj.

Nope, Denver.

"What do you want?" she asked, not opening the door more than a few inches. She'd rather not invite him in.

"Yeah, I'm not happy to see you either," he snarled. "I don't suppose you could help me with an alibi?"

She rolled her eyes. "Hard pass."

"Come on, how many times have I helped you?" His green eyes narrowed as he peered into her soul.

Jewl shivered. "We're square, last I checked."

"Consider this me owing you one, and you're going to want to cash in soon enough. Trust me. I got all kinds of good dirt." There was a mischievous glint in his eyes, and she knew that look all too well.

With a groan, Jewl opened the door wider so he could enter. "You've got an hour to explain, and then I'll decide if I'm going to help you."

"An hour? Wow, I thought I'd only get ten or fifteen minutes!"

"I'm feeling generous today," she grumbled.

"And bored? Your boy toy still not talking to you?"

"I can change it to two minutes," she said, glaring.

He held up his hands. "Okay, that topic is off the table for the time being. Got it."

"It's always off the table when it comes to you," she snapped.

Anj and Denver hated each other. She hated listening to them complain about the other just as much.

"Okay, what's the dirt," she said.

Gossip wasn't her idea of a good time. Unfortunately, with a boyfriend...

...ex-boyfriend, we're broken up.

...who lived for the drama of stirring the rumor pot and causing chaos in the social world, Jewl understood that she needed to stay on top of all the stories being spread around Pangaia.

Denver smirked. "There's going to be a new girl coming soon. I might have run into her in the city last night, and kinda, sorta, bit her."

"Kinda, sorta? Like, your teeth only halfway sunk into her neck and then you changed your mind?" Jewl raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I bit her. Full on."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because she's coming to the school, and I thought we talked about how it's unsafe to bite people you've just met. Drinking a stranger's blood is unhygienic and stupid."

He snorted. "My body cleans out whatever might be in the blood. I'm immune to all bloodborne illnesses."

"Science would love to study you. I'm sure they'd be happy to have cures for AIDS and ebola."

"Planning to sell me out?"

"Not today," she said. But good information to have in her back pocket all the same. If she let Denver talk enough, he revealed all kinds of interesting tidbits about himself without even realizing it.

She cleared her throat. "So you bit a girl and she's coming to school? Why is she coming here?"

"Because she's Divine."

Divine. That word sent a shiver down Jewl's spine.

"How do you know?"

"I smelled it on her." He gave her a pointed look. "Like I can smell it on you" were the words he wasn't saying.

"Cool," Jewl managed. "And she's coming here?"

"Yes," Denver said. "Just a hunch."

"You don't even know for sure?" She scoffed. "Your information is as unreliable as you are."

"Hey, I'm telling the truth," he sneered.

"Not doubting that, but how do you know she's coming here? Why believe your hunch? And why do I care?"

"Because I'm pretty sure she's a nymph too," he added.

Great, just great. More news she hated. Having another member of the Divine on campus would suck—a lot. A nymph too? Lovely. Which means I need to watch Anj extra hard. If I'm not careful, I'm going to lose him to her.

Once again, she thought about telling him her deep secret. If she cleared the air, then maybe he'd understand why she felt so guarded all the time. But he has a lot of secrets too. Way more than I do. He's not even thinking about telling me anything that he's hiding. Why should I take such a huge leap when he won't?

She knew exactly how their conversation would go.

"Thank you for telling me all of that. I know it was hard for you to do," would be his words.

Then she'd wait for him to give her something back.

And he wouldn't.

He never would.

No, I'm not putting myself through that humiliation.

"And you need me to be your alibi because you bit her, I'm guessing?" Jewl asked.

"It might help. I'm not sure how much trouble that will get me into," Denver admitted. "You know the ice I'm on gets thinner every day. Sometimes I wonder why they allow me to stay at all. It's like they want to kick me out, but are afraid to."

Jewl shrugged. "School politics are not my thing."

"One of the reasons I like you so much," he said. "If you ask nicely, I'll keep her occupied so your boy toy doesn't stray. Let's be real, if she has to choose between us, she's going to pick me hands down."

"Sure," Jewl said.

Denver could think that if he wanted to. Jewl knew the truth. Anj was a catch. All of the girls at school wanted him, and all of the guys wanted to be him. It's part of why he was so popular. Jewl was popular enough by association, but some of her fame came from fear as well. She didn't make it a secret that Anj was her soulmate. The end. She'd fight for him to the death.

"I'll watch them," Jewl said. "He's in a mood, but I don't think he's actually done with us. You know?"

"Maybe you should be," Denver said. "I don't know why you put up with his games."

That's love. "If you don't understand already, then I'm not going to bother explaining it to you."

Denver shrugged. "You deserve better. You're a cool girl."

"Coming from you, that means a lot." It did. Denver didn't praise anyone often.

He might be right. She might deserve better. She probably did. A lot of her friends would agree. If they knew the truth about her and all of the things she was hiding too, they might see that Anj was the one who truly deserved better than her.

"So can I count on you to say we hung out the night of the bite?" Denver asked.

"Fine, but if they don't believe it, that's not my problem. I'll only sell the lie to a point."

"Thanks." He made his way back to the door. He paused in the frame. "Get your claws into her before the other Divine kids do. I don't want her to be a stuck up snob."

"We'll see."

If Jewl had it her way, they would be staying far away from each other.

She especially had to keep her far away from Anj.