Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Chapter Nine

Dex was ignoring Sophie and me the next day. We stayed close together, talking about what we do at Havenfield that afternoon. Biana chimed in a few times, but she couldn't come over because she had promised her parents that she'd study later. Things were so much better between Sophie and I now that I knew what she had been hiding. It was just like any other day. Until study hall.

Sophie, Biana, and I were sitting at a table that sat four, going over our Elementalism material. We were all pointedly ignoring Dex, who was glaring at us from the other side of the room.

"Hey, how do you-" My question was cut short by Stina Heks plunking herself in the one empty chair at our table. None of us liked Stina. She was mean, and her favorite hobby was to make fun of people.

"I never knew you were such a good actress," Stina sneered in no discernible direction. Sophie froze. I rolled my eyes.

"What are you talking about, Stina? Make it quick," I said in a bored voice. Stina gave Biana an evil grin.

"I know your secret," she sang annoyingly. Biana glared at her.

"Ooh, I'm really scared." I stacked my books, ready to leave.

"You should be," Stina said seriously. Biana tensed, and her eyes darted to Sophie. What was Stina talking about? And how did it concern Sophie? I pushed the thoughts out of my head. Stina was just trying to get Biana to admit to something stupid.

"Come on, let's go," I said, picking up my stacked books. Sophie stood up too and motioned for Biana to do the same, but Stina grabbed Biana's wrist before she could do anything.

"You see, Maruca and I have really bonded since you ditched her, and she told me something very interesting this morning. Something interesting about how you and Sophie really became friends." I stopped. There was real fear in Biana's eyes, and her face had gone pale. What was she hiding?

"Biana, what's she talking about?" Sophie asked quietly, echoing my thoughts. Stina stared wickedly at Biana.

"You wanna tell her?" Biana didn't move or even blink. Stina laughed.

"It's funny, actually. Biana here was forced to be your friend. Her dad wanted eyes on the human freak, so he made her be friends with you so that you'd come over to her house." Sophie looked a little sick. I was frozen. Would Biana really do that?

"Is that true?" Sophie looked terrified.

"Yeah, of course, it's true," Stina interrupted. "She hated you before. Did you really think she just randomly wanted to be best friends with you? Oh, I guess you did... you're even dumber than I thought."

"Stina, that's enough," I snapped. "This is none of your business, and you're just being mean now." Stina's eyes glittered as she turned her gaze to me.

"Oh, look, it's the mama's girl who also just so happened to randomly become BFF's with the human girl. Did your parents put you up to it, too?"

"Wow, you really don't know anything, do you? Sophie... let's go." She shook her head and backed away from all of us. Biana looked like she was about to cry.

"Don't!" Sophie said as Biana reached for her, then ran out of the room. I gave Stina the dirtiest look I could muster, and followed, leaving Biana alone with her.

When I got outside the room, it was clear that Sophie had just literally run into Fitz, who was with Keefe. That... was not good. Another Vacker? This could only end in disaster.

"Hey, I'm getting some serious levels of rage right now. It's probably not a good idea to annoy her," Keefe was saying. I internally rolled my eyes and put my hand on Sophie's shoulder while she glared at Keefe.