Moon Curse

Chapter 4 - Drake

It wasn't nearly as difficult to get Nyx to agree to a lunch date as I thought it would be. Then again, I never specified that it was a date.

But all the same, she walked quietly next to me, wrapped up in her own thoughts, whatever those were. As we entered the cafeteria, I asked her what she'd like, and she said just a small salad would be fine. So I put together a salad from the salad bar, hesitant to do so as I wasn't sure what she liked.

I added regular lettuce first, of course, but then was unsure which way to go. Caesar? Mediterranean? Asian chicken? I looked at her. She smiled just a little and pointed to the cucumbers. Then the tomatoes, feta cheese, olives, and finally some basic olive oil based dressing. I noted what she liked in her salads.

"You want a drink?" I asked her. After a brief hesitation, she nodded, and grabbed a Dr. Pepper. I grabbed a bag of Lays chips, then paid for the food. I looked over as I did so. Nyx was chewing her lip in an admittedly adorable way. I wondered once again what she was thinking about.

Since almost everyone had finished their food around this time, no one was really eating outside on the field. I gestured to it. "Wanna sit there?" I asked.

"Sure."

Once we sat down on the grass, she immediately asked about our fight. I'd almost forgotten that was the entire reason she'd agreed to lunch with me.

"When are we fighting? Are there any rules? What happens when I win?" She asked eagerly. Wow, she honestly thought she was going to win. She wasn't, but it was interesting how she seemed to hope, no, know that she was going to win.

I smirked at her. "You really think you'll win? Listen, princess. I never lose. Especially not to a girl."

"We'll see. How about after school?" She said.

I shrugged. "Sure. After school it is. Plus, the nurse's office stays open an hour after, which I'm sure you're happy to hear."

She chuckled darkly, and mumbled something I couldn't quite hear. It was kind of awkward after that, and neither of us talked much.

When I finished, I told Nyx there were ten minutes until class started, so she better finish up. She drank her Dr. Pepper in one gulp and stood up. Then she pulled a piece of paper out of her plain black backpack. She studied it, and I realized it was her schedule.

"Do you know where... French 5-6 Honors is?" She asked. I had to say, I was impressed. French 5-6 was pretty much exclusively for seniors, and Honors classes were pretty hardcore at Northridge.

"Sure, it's on the top floor of the French building. I have Spanish 3-4 next, and they're both in the language part of the school. I'll take you there." I said. She just nodded, and I led the way to the language rooms.

When we got to the Spanish 3-4 classroom, I stopped. "This is my class. Your class is up there to the left. Good luck!"

She laughed. It was a musical sound, like bells or a harp, played by an angel. Sure, that sounded dramatic, but it really was a beautiful sound. And her face lit up when she laughed, her eyes and nose crinkled and her lips curled up and parted so the sound could emerge. She was so beautiful.

"Thanks!" She said, still laughing. I wasn't sure what was so funny, but I'm glad it was.

Spanish wasn't anything special. The teacher went over the syllabus for the year, and the teacher informed us, in Spanish, that we were not to speak English in her class.

When class ended, I immediately looked for Nyx. When I saw her, she was smiling and laughing with a girl I recognized as Chelsea Freeman, who was a girl a year ahead of us.

Chelsea was the kind of all-American blonde girl, with bouncy yellow hair always tied into a ponytail, and wide blue eyes. A lot of guys had a crush on her, especially because she wasn't only pretty and smart, but she was a lot of fun. I'd heard she liked to party hard, and it surprised me that Nyx was friends with her. Nyx didn't strike me as a party girl.

She smiled when she saw me. "Hey, Drake," like we'd been friends for longer than a couple hours, if you could even call it friendship. "You know Chelsea?" She asked.

I nodded. "Hi."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow!" She grinned to Chelsea and waved as they separated. Nyx turned to me. "What's up?"

"I just thought I'd show you you're next class. What is it?" I asked.

"Oh, English 3 I think." She replied.

"No English 5-6 Honors?" I asked innocently.

"Is that even offered here?"

I laughed. "No. But how come you're so good at French?"

She smiled. "I'm fluent in nine languages, actually. French is my favorite though."

"Nine languages? You speak nine? And not just like, counting to ten. You can speak nine fluently? Which ones?" I asked.

"Well, Latin is one, but it hardly counts because it's a dead language. But also English, obviously, and French, Spanish, Mandarin, German, Russian, Romanian, and Italian."

"That's so cool. How'd you learn all those languages?" I asked. She looked really uncomfortable.

"Just picked them up, I guess. I've lived in a couple different places. Anyways, so um... I have a class to get to, so. See you after school. In the gym?"

"Yeah, see you then." I said. Nyx headed off to her next class. "Wait, you have English next? That's the other way." I informed her, pointing to the right.

She blushed a little."Thanks."

After admiring her from behind, I walked away to my class.