Demon Hunters: Book 1 Faith [editing]

Chapter 48

Riley nearly tackled Zoe the moment she walked into Mrs. Willow's English class, even though class was already in session. "My long lost twin sister!" She bounced on one foot, having left her crutches behind. "We've finally found each other!"

"Uh, hi." Zoe patted her on the back.

"Who knew I would look so good in black?" Riley spread her arms out, modeling her jacket—not leather like Zoe's, but dark denim. "And this shirt! So, classic!"

A few of the students laughed at their small family reunion. Mrs. Willow came up behind them. "Don't you too look like the pair. So glad that some of my students have school spirit." Only two other students dressed as twins in their classroom. Could it be their "twin" wasn't in the same class?

Zoe gave Mrs. Willow the note from the attendance clerk and settled into her desk.

Riley hopped back by herself. She scooted close to Zoe and opened her textbook. Mrs. Willow resumed her lecture. "As I was saying, transcendentalists believe that people have intrinsic value and that societies can work to corrupt them..."

Riley whispered, "So where were you this morning? You totally missed the boys. Talk about dork central."

"Sorry. I had to go to the hospital."

"Hospital? Are you okay?"

Zoe registered the alarm in her voice. Am I okay? She felt herself smile at Riley's concern for her welfare. "Yeah, yeah. Just a check-up. That's all."

Riley placed her hand on her chest. "Well, that's a relief." Then she giggled. "Oh, my God, have you seen the new kid yet?"

Zoe almost cringed when Riley invoked the Lord's name in vain. "New kid?"

"He's looks like a freshman, but he's absolutely adorable. Blond hair, deep blue eyes, totally an underwear model." She blushed. "Uh, not that Diego isn't hotter than hot. He totally is, and he's my love biscuit."

Love biscuit? Zoe finally had a handle on temperature words like "cool" and "hot." Now, food words?

"Anyway," Riley continued, "I think Erica has a total crush on him."

"Erica?"

"You know, you met her at cheer practice."

Zoe nodded.

"He has a funny name. It's sounds like a cereal. Maybe we can invite the new kid to join us for lunch."

"I guess so." Zoe started to dread lunchtime, especially with those cookie sales. Only a few more days left!

Austin grunted in frustration. "What the hell!" He jabbed at his phone. "Come on, come on!"

Mrs. Willow frowned at him.

"Who the fuck did this?" Austin screamed, completely unaware of the class.

Mrs. Willow gasped. "Austin, watch your language."

He looked up, dazed. "Uh, sorry. I just got hacked." He held up the screen to his phone. From across the room, Zoe could see a message displayed in red letters: Your account has been temporarily locked out because of too many failed login attempts.