Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

THEY WERE going to be friends forever, she and Allison. Vivienne never had many friends in Lewisville. She had shown up late to a group of kids who had known each other their entire lives. Allison was the popular girl in middle school. An entourage of boys always surrounded her. But Allison didn't want any of them; she only wanted Daniel. Vivienne had never been popular before, but while she was friends with Allison, she was a part of something special. When Allison disappeared so did the calls asking her to go out to the movies or to watch the boys play ball.

But on that night, at the party, Vivienne was popular again. It was a different kind of popularity. For the first time in her life, she was interesting to men. At first, Vivienne hung onto Calbert's hand, but as the night wore on, she got tired of nodding while Calbert greeted his equally burly and meat-headed friends. Vivienne excused herself from them to take a closer look at the ice sculpture of a mermaid at the bar holding up an icicle torch. As soon as she left Calbert's side, a tall, lanky boy with spiked hair and a diamond pinky ring approached her. Before she could duck away, he offered her one of the two bubbly pink beverages he was holding.

"Don't worry, I'm not a demon," he assured her. "I'm a writer for Glitteratti, one of the many useless gossip blogs in Manna City."

Vivienne smiled at that. She had never heard of his blog, but she liked his self-deprecating attitude. He gulped down his drink and in one swallow. Vivienne noticed that many of the other guests were holding drinks too. It smelled like perfume, but when Vivienne took a sip, it tastes sweet, like cranberries.

"My name is Jaix Beneton. You're Vivienne Weisse aren't you? Do you mind if I take a picture of you?"

Vivienne nodded weakly. Jaix stepped back and snapped a picture. Click, click, his camera went.

"You have the most interesting eyes," Jaix said as he scrolled through the pictures he had taken to check they were what he wanted. "They're quite legendary. Unforgettable really. You would make a terrible spy or bank robber."

Vivienne chuckled in disbelief wondering if he expected her to find that flattering. She took another sip of her drink and contemplated if she should throw the rest of it in his face to deter other members of the paparazzi. Finally, she chickened out. Vivienne waved goodbye to him and turned to walk away.

"In the newsroom, they're saying you are a fortune-hunter, that you were thrown out of Malgrave Academy for skinny-dipping and being indecent in front of the male students. Is that true, Vivienne?"

Vivienne glanced back at the writer. Maybe the drink was getting to her head, but she openly laughed at him. Were they just making things up now?

But as soon as Vivienne walked into the crowd, she suddenly wished she had stayed by Calbert's side. Everyone was staring. It was just like her first day of middle school; she was the new girl who had no right to be there.

Back in Lewisville middle school, Vivienne had sat by herself at lunch for weeks. She always brought a book to read because no one would talk to her. She was the strange girl who had been homeschooled for a while. As for what she had seen in River Way, she didn't bother trying to tell the rest of them about it. They thought she was batty enough already with her love of climbing trees and debilitating fear of the dark.

But one day, Allison had strolled across the cafeteria and sat down across from her.

"What are you reading?" Allison had asked. "Is that for a class?"

Vivienne could hardly believe that the most popular girl at school was talking to her. She nearly wished that she wasn't reading a gloomy book like Goethe's Faust. All she managed to do was point at the dusty cover and shake her head.