Staying Under

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"I should have known," Dee said several days later in the lunch hall. Everyone kept looking our way, probably because they didn't recognize me in my original white-blond hair. I had done it as soon as my magic returned, just like I was ordered to. Dyeing spell was one of the first spells I had learned when I discovered it in the academy's library. Most everyone in the school knew me as original redhead, except for people like Dee, who had been here before I was even here. "Lord Ellison is so devious. He never meant to transfer you from the start. He just wanted you to obey his wishes and threatened you with the thing you most cared about. Additional points to observe your negotiation skills, I bet."

I had also realized that the moment after I signed the contract, but since it was all done, I was just glad I got to stay at the academy. "Well, you can't turn back time with any magic."

"I still can't get used to seeing you with platinum hair," Amy muttered, stabbing her steak viciously with her fork. "You are so...blond. Even your eyebrows and lashes. I look like a mouse next to you now."

"I think it suits your skin color," Dee supplied helpfully. "Don't you know that red hairs used to be a sign of vampirism in Greek? Now you look more like a Norse nobility."

"Hear that, Amy? From Greek vampire to freaking Princess Elsa." I sighed into my cup. "It'll all be over in less than a year. And then I can change my hair back."

"Mmph," Amy grunted. "Now Hot Baby Face is just going to get more smitten with your full ice princess glory. And don't say there's nothing going on between the two of you. I see how you exchange long glances. I'm not blind."

"It's unrealistic," I said, more to myself than to her. "He's only assigned here until the end of the month, which is two more weeks. And then I'll never see him again."

And the fact was, I didn't feel sad about that. We talked and yes, flirted a couple of times. And maybe I had some hero-worship thing for him, but that was all our attraction was. I didn't miss talking to him that much. I never felt any urge to touch his hair or feel his lips. Not like I did with...him.

Across the hall, I sought for his face. He sat in his usual table, surrounded by his buddies and some fan girls. As if he sensed me looking, he looked up from his plate and met my eyes. We hadn't talked since what happened that day in the pond. No banters, no mocking gaze, no 'Isla' or 'Williams'. The other day when I passed by him in Archery, he met my eyes briefly, and it seemed like he was going to say something, but he never did.

I guessed kissing had broken our frenemy relationship. I just didn't know if it would ever go back to the way it was or we'd stay this awkward until graduation.

"So you really are taking Duels after lunch?" Amy asked me after Dee left for the restroom. "You know who teaches Duels, right?"

"Um, wasn't it Mr. P?" Everyone called him Mr. P because his last name was too hard to pronounce. It was either that, or his first name, which we learned was Edward. Behind his back, kids often called him Mr. Ed Pee. I wasn't worried about the teachers. I was more worried about the fact that I was now enrolled in three sports classes in one semester. If I took fencing, too, I'd hold a record.

"Not this semester. It's Mr. Abercrombie this time."

Wow. Mr. Abercrombie was one of the teachers who were just plainly mean to students. He always found a reason to bully students. I never had a class with him, but his reputation preceded him. "I thought he only teaches senior classes. He doesn't seem the sports type."

"Yeah, up until this year. Seriously, didn't you hear all the hot gossip from August?"

I didn't. Not when they weren't about me. I was just that self-absorbed. "He's going to hate me for getting in mid-term, isn't he?"