Donovan King is the impossible. He's the kind of boy that runs with the lions in the daytime and howls with the wolves at night. He's a god in a place where gods dare not roam, with wings of chipped gold and sterling silver.
He's the king of his ver...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
XXVIII
a r i a
SEMI-FORMAL WAS JUST AROUND thecorner, and considering the number of participants competing to be semi-formal queen, I was probably the most nervous I have ever been in my life.
Okay, scratch that. There were plenty of moments in my life when I was unnecessarily anxious, but this was definitely one of the most unnerving.
It wasn't because I was going up against Kiki; I decided to stop seeing her as less than a human being, because that's what we all were. I think she decided to stop too. Every time we saw each other in the hallway, we'd nod, smile, then be on our way.
It was a nice, unexpected change. I think people noticed it too, but they chose to say nothing. I liked it that way; saved time from gossip.
Winter was setting in. Snow covered the window ledges and Christmas lights framed the overhang. The café was starting to look like Santa's workshop, minus the elves and the toys.
"Christie's heading out earlier today, and was wondering if you could take table four for her?" Kara spoke, carrying a plastic tray of empty cups behind the counter.
I tightened my apron and smiled. "Yeah, 'course. Where's Christie headed?"
"Kyle's not feeling well, she thinks he's got a fever."
There were plenty of times I felt bad for Christie, working three part-time jobs and taking care of a toddler were loads of responsibility. But I knew she wouldn't want anyone to feel that way, she had confidence she could handle it.
Nodding to Kara, I grabbed the notepad and pen hitched on to my apron and headed to table four.
"Hello, what can I—"
I dropped the notepad and pen as soon as I saw Jaxen Finley and Kaleigh King in the booth. They were mid-kiss, green eyes meshing with black as they stared at each other, then at me.
"Um..."
Jaxen's eyes widened as he realized who I was: that girl who was always with his best friend, the one black sheep in a herd of white. "Aria?"
"Y-yeah," I stuttered.
"What're you doing here?"
I looked down (a little irritated, to say the least) at my uniform and said, "I work here."
Kaleigh's eyes widened. Of course we've never met before, but somehow she knew who I was. My guess was that she got a little too close to Mr. Tea-Spiller, splitting the kettle in two.
