DESCENDED

DISMISSED

"I didn't get to a chance to warn you about something," I tell Sebastian.

"What?" He shovels a fry into his mouth.

"The party... I invited Jasmine and her friends. I just wanted to give you a heads up."

Upset, he asks me, "Why? Why would you do that?"

"You said I could invite anyone I wanted," I remind him.

"I know. But she hates you."

"Exactly. I invited her as a peace offering."

"That idiot's been dying to come to one of our parties," one of Sebastian's friends sighs. A fiery red head who looks like she just stepped off the runway.

"You're way too nice," Sebastian shakes his head.

"I know, I know. I just figured it would get her off my back for a little while. And since you're the reason she's even sweating me, you should go along with it." I guilt trip him.

"We've barely met, and already you're using me," Sebastian chuckles. "You're not off to a good start Savant."

"Just think of it as the beginning of a beautiful friendship." I quote from my favorite movie.

Casablanca.

"Casablanca... nice. I'm Elizabeth." The girl next to me introduces herself.

"Yes. How rude of me," Sebastian shakes his head. "Savant, this is Elijah, Isaac, Liz, Christian, and Crystal. Guys... this is Angelique Savant."

Everyone shakes my hand. And when I glance over at Anna, she has this goofy grin on her face. Giving me the thumbs-up.

"So, does inviting Jasmine to the party mean that you're going?" Sebastian asks.

"Yes. If my aunt says it's okay."

I glance past Sebastian and notice Samuel and his friends are watching us. Sebastian follows my gaze and seems to disapprove of who I'm looking at.

"What do you know about Samuel?" I ask.

"Demonti?" Elijah asks. Disgusted.

"Yes," I nod.

"Samuel is bad news. You should stay away from him," Elizabeth, or Liz, or whatever she calls herself, says to me.

"He says the same thing about Sebastian."

"Yes, but Sebastian isn't a liar," she defends him.

"Are you saying that Samuel is?" I ask.

"I'm saying that the only thing Samuel likes to leave behind is collateral damage."

Samuel winks at me, and I quickly look away. Then Sebastian looks over at Samuel and back at me. Bothered by my curiosity of him.

"You're being beyond rude right now," he tells me.

"I can't just ignore him," I reply.

"Yes," he sighs heavily. "You can."

"It's rude."

"So is sitting here with me while you're smiling at him. If you're going to do that, you might as well go over there."

"What's your problem?" I asked.

"My problem is there's a lot of things you don't know about us Covington boys. Particularly our backgrounds. Samuel is a really bad guy, Angelique. He'll hurt you," he cautions me.