My Ex From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #1)

Truth is stranger than prediction (Part 2)

"Ugh." Hannah groaned when he left. "You've got to be kidding me."

I stared at her, confused. "You felt nothing at his voice? His eyes? His body?" I fanned myself.

"Penisaurus Rex is not my type," she said. "Could he have hit on me more blatantly? In front of you?"

I cheered up. Best friends were the greatest.

"That was the point," Theo said. "Make Sophie jealous. See how she reacted."

"I was Jack Frost, "I replied. "But speaking of reacting, he made you, didn't he?"

"Yeah."

"Is that going to be a problem?" I wondered.

"Not as long as we don't leave the grounds," Theo assured me. "But the sooner you get your memories back and master your powers, the better."

"Theo," Hannah mused, "why can't you just take up your real form and protect us all that way?"

He shifted, uncomfortable. "I just can't." Abruptly he stood up and carried his tray off.

"Junior year has just gotten much more complicated," Hannah sighed.

Had I any idea how much, I may not have slept as soundly as I did that night.

I awoke on Monday morning ready to face the day. Or, at least, Guidance class. I'd have my ally Ms. Keeper after all.

I stumbled into the room with seconds to spare before the bell and took my seat. Everyone was buzzing about Kai, who thankfully was not in this class. Which I had counted on, my careful attention to my appearance revealing nothing beyond the desire to please myself.

Yeah, I hadn't fooled Hannah earlier, either.

Ms. Keeper entered and shut the classroom door. "Good morning, everyone," she said. "For those of you who haven't met me yet, I'm Ms. Keeper. I'll be replacing Mrs. Rivers."

There was silence for a second as everyone took in the hip, very attractive woman standing in front of them.

"Whoa. Trade up," one of the guys muttered.

Bethany narrowed her eyes at her competition. Which to Bethany was any good looking female in the same room as her.

In my opinion, Keeper totally won that battle.

"I want to start today with an exercise."

"Kegels," guffawed Anil, kicking one of his buddies across the way. I ignored him.

"Now, this is a communications exercise about self-image. I want each person to write down three truths about the others in their group. They should reflect how you see each person. Don't immediately just bash them. Be thoughtful in your comments. They won't be read aloud. Then distribute the comments accordingly."

People were already starting to complain so she held up her hand for silence, keeping it in mid-air until we'd all complied.

"When you get yours," she continued, "I want you to consider those truths and see if they match your perception of yourself. And if not, why not? You will have to hand in a written summary of the differences or perhaps, things that were in agreement." She put us into small groups of three.

I considered my group. Cassie, me, and Bethany. Delightful. Gee, could this have anything to do with Keeper wanting me to speak up about Bethany? Was she thinking she'd arranged a safe venue for that?

While it felt good to have someone trying so hard to be in my corner, I would never have ratted Bethany out. The Bethanys of this world always landed on their feet. And my life would have gotten worse, not better. It was all irrelevant now, anyway.

What to write then for this flake fest assignment?

Felicia had once dated some guru and I'd spent a summer putting up with "positive language" and "I statements" which was all fine and good but didn't do much to hide the fact that he was a hypocrite who was cheating on his wife with two other women and had a not-so-secret drug problem. Wheat germ didn't disguise the smell of pot. Oh well. I could play this game.

Bethany leaned over and hissed, "Fake contacts and a dye job aren't going to help. Kai is out of your league, junior."

Even if I couldn't actually kill her, I could think about it. In great detail.

I sighed. No time for fun right now. I leaned over to Cassie. "Can we talk later?" As in, you're going to share why you knew who I was.

Cassie, skittish, opened her mouth to speak but—

"No talking, girls."

Cassie turned her attention back to her paper, looking like she'd just dodged a bullet. I'd corner her after class.

I considered the assignment.

Might as well get the hard one over first. I regarded Bethany from under my lashes, then wrote, "you project confidence." Because bullies projected confidence. Confidence that they were going to beat you down. Next I went for "you lack interpersonal skills." See the previously mentioned bullying.

I watched Bethany twirl a lock of hair around her finger as she thought. She caught me looking and in one fluid motion disentangled her digit and flipped me the bird. Ah-ha! "Your motor skills are admirable." There. Nothing that could get me in trouble and even all true.

Cassie was tougher but I managed to find three "truths" for her as well. Then Ms. Keeper called time and had us exchange our papers.

Bethany's observations about me were concise. "Short. Stupid. Suck." I looked up from the note to see her smirking at me. "Got three for you," I said softly. "Giant, gelatinous, glutes." I left her working it out.

A second later a wadded up paper ball hit my head. Guess she'd gotten it.

I unfolded the "truths" Cassie had written about me. "A girl of exceptional power." O-kay. Next one. "Confused about her true self." This was getting creepy. Her desk was empty so I scanned the room to see where she'd gone.

She was having a quiet but intense conversation with Ms. Keeper.

Ms. Keeper seemed to be patiently trying to calm Cassie down while Cassie kept shaking her head "no." Keeper saw me watching and gave a small smile, trying, I guess, to let me know Cassie would be all right.

I returned to the last truth that Cassie had written. "The instrument of our destruction."

I dropped the note like I'd been scalded.