The Deal with the Demon Prince

*Chapter Ten*

*Chapter Ten*

Aurora knew that something was wrong.

Furtive glances that were not so furtive were sent her way. Whispers that were not so inconspicuous drifted through the corridors. A few hours later, the ‘furtive’ glances had transformed into blatant stares. Oh dear god, she felt like an exotic caged animal being watched by a bunch of kids in a zoo. During the few hours of the day she had been here, she had gone to the school bathroom multiple times just to check if she had some pen marks on her forehead or if her eyeliner had smudged, and she resembled a panda.

Her eyeliner was perfect, and no visible pen marks or bread crumbs were on her face. She had even made sure that her colored contact was perfect.

As the door to the canteen swung open, all the chatters stopped at once. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who they were talking about. Aurora quickly spotted Cade, and she made her way to the table, making sure that she didn’t make any eye contacts with anyone. Slowly, she could see people turning away and resuming their conversation, but Aurora could easily tell that they all still had some portion of their attention on her.

“I need to ask you guys something,” Aurora said, standing in front of Gabriella and Cade.

“Shoot,” Cade said, sipping his coke.

“Did you befriend me because of that ‘job’ you were given?”

Cade didn’t answer.

“Yes, we did,” Gabriella answered. “That was before we knew you though.”

Aurora waited for her to say more.

“We heard that you were a human who was given a dangerously unstable power. We were supposed to protect you from any angels or demons trying to mess with you, but more importantly, we were supposed to protect you from yourself,” Cade said, dropping his voice. Aurora focused on her bracelet. She played around with the dangling pair of wings.

“We thought you were some bitchy girl at first, and we just had to do it as a job,” Gabriella said. “That quickly turned out to be false. You were no bitchy girl, and well, I was really glad. Right now, I now you may not trust us, but we really consider you as our friend,” she rambled.

“As cheesy as this may sound, I agree,” Cade said, focusing on his burger.

“Aurora, listen, I’m really sorry if we misjudged you. Please give us a chance,” Gabriella pleaded.

“Well, we kind of deserve it if she decides to ignore us,” Cade muttered gloomily.

Aurora motioned for them to stand up. Gabriella and Cade exchanged a confused glance before they both stood up. In one motion, Aurora enveloped the two of the in a bone-crushing hug.

“I have no right to be angry at the two of you,” she said, whispering into their ears. “After all, I hid my own identity from you guys as well.”

She pulled away and saw Adrian approaching them. Gabriella followed her gaze.

“I asked him to sit with us,” Aurora explained, nodding at Adrian who wasn’t even looking her way.

“Adrian?” Gabriella’s voice came out a pitch higher than normal. “Adrian the notorious scary guy who is abnormally hot but is harder to approach than a raging demon is sitting with us? Oh my gosh, Aurora! He really is scary!” Gabriella squealed when Adrian turned his curious gaze to Gabriella. “But hot as hell,” she whispered in Aurora’s ear as soon as he looked away.

Aurora couldn’t help herself. The soft chuckle that she had been trying to keep down ever since Gabriella had started her ramble burst out of control. The trio stared at her, each with a different expression. Aurora coughed quickly, recomposing herself.