Gemstone Academy: Diamond Class

Chapter 13

       It was Sunday and I sat at our table alone in the dining hall. The people I normally eat with were all busy. I knew Victoria still had to do her Spells paper about the elements to write, which was due tomorrow. I'm not sure where Leo, Yolanda, or Jenna was. I assumed they had homework as well.

      A hush fell over the dining room and I knew without looking up that Dario had walked in. Unless it was Elridge, which I highly doubted. Elridge never ate in the dining room. EVER. So, it had to be Dario. Not to mention I recognized his footsteps. What I didn't expect was for him to sit next to me.

     "Hey, Angel."

     "Hey." I couldn't help but notice how close he sat to me. He had the whole table. And he sat right next to me. Did Vampires not know what personal space was?

     "Where's your friends?" He asked.

     "I don't have any."

     "What am I? Trash?"

     "Yes."

      Dario shook his head at me smiling. "Here I am trying to be nice, and you call me trash."

     "So, I talked to Magius the other day about the graffiti."

     Dario raised his eyebrows at me. "And?"

    "And he told me about the war Demons had against vampires and the Angel."

     "So, you think the demons are behind this?" Dario asked.

     "Well yeah, Magius said there's still some Demons who want their power back. You were supposed to be looking into it.  What do you think?"

    "I think you're right. Of course there isn't any solid evidence. I just snooped around school trying to get information, but was unsuccessful. I can tell you from personal experience that some demons loathe vampires. My guess is now that there's another Angel, their hate has grown stronger."

     "Oh goody. More things for me to worry about."

     "Hey, you don't worry your pretty little head," Dario said lifting my chin up with his index finger so I was looking into his bright purple eyes.  "It was just graffiti. Not an act of war. They haven't done anything yet."

      "Key word being 'yet.' I can't get rid of this bad feeling I have."

     Dario dropped his hand and sighed. "Well, my Angel, there is always a possibility of something bad happening. But we don't know for sure. Elridge seems to think that the demons wouldn't dare go after you and the vampires. They're just talk and no action."

     "You're right. I worry too much. I just wish this bad feeling would go away."

     "That's okay. Some people don't worry at all, you just make up for that. As for the bad feeling, I can't do anything to fix that. Just try to relax."

      "Easy for you to say. I'm just sick of worrying."

      "And I'm sick of talking about my wedding. I can't wait to get it over with."

     Oh fuck. I forgot that his wedding was coming up. What a way to ruin Christmas. I kept telling myself I was only mad because I hated Adrijana. Dario could do better. It had nothing to do with me possibly liking him like everyone thought.

      "I forgot about your wedding," I said. "Maybe you should stop calling me Angel then. I don't think Adrijana would appreciate it if you kept calling me that when she's your wife."

     "Why? That's what you are. You are the Angel of the mythical world. Therefore you're my Angel. So no marriage is going to change that."

                             👑👑👑

      In my last tracking class before Christmas break we were supposed to be playing a game. We were split into two teams where one team had to hunt down members of the other team.  Basically it was hide and seek. Cool right? No, not really. Not when you weren't in the mood. Instead I sat up in a tree branch leaning against the trunk, not giving a damn if someone found me or not.

     "Hey, Hump," I called down to Humphrey who was sitting on the ground leaning up against the tree I was in. He was on the same team as me. We were being bums together.

     "Yeah?" He called up.

     "Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

     "What? Are you high right now?"

     I laughed. "No, I just like to randomly ask people that to see what their reaction is."

      "Okay. You're weird."

      "Thank you. Why don't you come up here? There's room. That way we don't have to talk so loud and risk us getting caught."

     "I rather stay down here, thank you."

     "Why? Can't climb or something?"

      Humphrey didn't answer. 

     "Holy shit really?! I was kidding! Why can't you climb?!"

      "I'm a werewolf! Have you ever seen a dog climb a tree?"

      "But you're half human."

      "Yeah I know. But no werewolf can climb trees. It's just a thing. It's like we are programmed to fear climbing."

       "That's strange. And you call me weird. You're the weirdo."

       "Fuck off."

       We were both quiet for a minute. I closed my eyes and listened to my surroundings. It didn't sound like anyone was around us. Geez, what were those wolves and vamps doing? It's not like Humphrey and I were trying to hide. And we weren't exactly being quiet.

    "You looking forward to break?" Humphrey asked.

     "Maybe. If I didn't have a stupid wedding to go to."

     Humphrey scoffed. "I keep forgetting about that. I don't want to go either."

     I sat forward and looked down at him. "Do you not agree with the wedding?"

     "Of course I don't agree with the wedding." Wow. I didn't expect him to be so blunt. "I don't want my cousin marrying some slut."

     "Dario told me he doesn't mind marrying her."

     "Of course he told you that. He tells everyone that. He has to, or else he may not marry her and that will piss a lot of people off."

    "But you know better?"

     "Yeah. I know everything," He said smugly making me laugh. "I think Dario's heart is someplace else," He said eyeing me.

     "So you think he really is just marrying Skank Bitch because he has to?" I asked leaning back up against the tree. I decided it was best to ignore the "Dario's heart is someplace else" comment.

     "That's my guess. I couldn't do it. Arranged marriages are stupid."

     "Victoria told me wolves need to keep their species. Does that mean you will marry a werewolf?"

     Humphrey didn't say anything. I leaned forward again to look at him. He was staring off into nothing. It looked like he was thinking.

    "Wow. That looks painful. It wasn't supposed to be a hard question. It's a yes or no."

     "No. It depends."

     "Depends on what?"

     "On who I fall in love with."

     "So... say, hypothetically, if you were to fall in love with Victoria. Would you marry her? Even though she isn't a wolf?"

     "Yes," Humphrey said without hesitating. "Just out of curiosity. Why Victoria?"

      I smiled down at him. "Oh no reason. She's just the first person who popped into my head."

     "Right. I think you're lying," Humphrey said. "But I'll let you go with that."