CHAPTER SEVEN

Before I can say anything, Rachel quickly switches to a beaming smile, “Nothing. I was just advising Taylor to focus on her physical activities rather than the extracurricular.”

“And what extracurriculars would those be?” Dr. Brown smiles but for some reason her eyes are cold.

Rachel doesn’t seem to notice that, and she laughs, lightly, “You know how teenage girls are.”

“Yes, I do,” Dr. Brown murmurs, her eyes lasered in on Rachel. “Considering you were one till last year.”

Rachel’s smile hardens.

“Aren’t you getting late for class, Taylor?” Dr. Brown looks my way. “You should get going.”

I nod and, grabbing my bag, I run past her, whispering, “Thank you.”

I catch the discreet nod.

I hurry along to the classes, my niggling thought that Rachel is out to get me now a full-blown theory. We’ve had two interactions so far and both times she has gone out of her way to target me.

Fortunately, I just have that one class with her today, so I put all thoughts of Rachel away for now and decide to focus on the classes. Truth be told, while the physical classes are exhausting, it’s a good kind of exhaustion. While being a vampire and being surrounded by those like me has become the new normal, there are times when I find myself jerking back to reality and feeling confused. My life has changed so drastically within so little time. A part of me feels that none of this is real, and if it is, why have I never crossed paths with a vampire or a werewolf before? Did my dad know about what I was? What did that make Dad?

These are all questions that eat at me, giving me a constant headache.

I have to force myself to focus on the now. I can see a lot of the students going through the same thing but the counselors don’t exactly answer our questions. And I haven’t tried asking Dr. Brown.

The thought gives me pause.

Why haven’t I asked her?

Something to bring up in the next meeting. Maybe it’ll distract her from asking all those soft, probing questions that kind of make me want to open up to her.

***

I’m staggering by the time the day comes to an end.

Heading to the mess with Beth by my side, as well as Kathleen for some reason, I want nothing more than to go back to the barracks and collapse on my bed. My whole body aches from the workout I’ve been getting for the past six hours.

“So, are you going to see Jesse then?”

Beth is already caught up with what happened in the courtyard with Rachel.

“No.”

“Why don’t you just hear him out?” she suggests, ever the peacemaker.

“Jesse is your boyfriend, right?” Kathleen pipes up from the side.

“No,” I admit, reluctantly. “We’ve just –“ I glance at Beth for the right words and she raises her brows.

“-uh, they’re seeing each other.”

“Seeing each other where?”

I gape at Kathleen. There’s a limit to being oblivious.

“They like each other,” Beth pats my arm in an obvious attempt to calm me down.

“Oh,” Kathleen looks interested but I really don’t want to talk about Jesse, right now.

Fortunately, we reach the mess pretty quickly and Beth and I are ushered forward by Quill who’s nabbed a nearly empty table in the corner. However Susan and Abigail are also sitting there, the latter shooting me a disdainful look.

“You know, you’re going to have to get over whatever your problem with me is, Abigail,” I tell her pointedly as I sit across from her, my tray in hand.

“As if I would ever waste my time on someone like you,” Abigail scoffs, flipping one of her pigtails over her shoulder.

“Ouch,” Susan smirks.

“I’d believe that if you’d stop glaring at me for, I don’t know, breathing?” I rebuff.

Quill looks between the two of us, “Woah, is there something going on between you two? I sense some tension.”

“No tension,” I bite into the golden roasted potato on my plate. “Abigail keeps on glaring at me. It’s starting to give me an existential crisis.”

“Taylor,” Beth nudges me, muttering under her breath. “Stop bullying her.”

I roll my eyes and look away but fall silent as Abigail says something nasty in response to my retort.

If it was just her stuck-up attitude, I wouldn’t have cared. But Abigail has gone out of her way to insult Beth a time or two. And I’ve chosen to take that personally.

However, it’s not like Abigail is someone who can be bullied. She, herself, is a bully. Beth is still struggling in her physical classes and Abigail has zoned in on her as the weakest person in class to harass and demean.

As I look around, my eyes land on Rachel who’s sitting at the top table which is reserved for the Director and the counselors. She seems to be in conversation with someone but her eyes keep flickering in my direction.

What? Is she worried I’m going to run out and meet Jesse?

I do glance around the mess, but I don’t see Jesse anywhere.

I’m still tired and while I do feel guilty over the idea of him waiting around somewhere for me, I harden my heart.

Yawning, I shovel the remaining food in my mouth, not paying attention to the conversation flowing around me. As soon as I’m done, I sigh, “Alright. I’m heading back. I desperately need to sleep.”

Beth smiles at me, “I’ll try to be quiet when I get in.”

“Thanks.”

I put my tray back in the dirty pile section before grabbing my bag and heading to the toilets to wash my hands. I splash some water on my face to wake me up before looking at my reflection in the mirror. “Don’t think about him. You know your worth. There’s no need to feel guilty.”

As I head outside, I’m just about to round the corner that leads to the entrance hallway when somebody grabs me by the wrist and pulls me to the side.

“What the heck?!”

The words are barely out of my mouth when I see the face of the culprit.

Jesse gives me a smile, “You sure took your time.”

I yank myself away from him. “I wasn’t coming to see you.”

He studies me, “Really? Then who were you going to see?”

Is it just me or is there a certain amount of coolness settling in his eyes?

“I was going to the barracks to sleep, if you must know.” I readjust my bag’s strap.

“You’re mad at me,” Jesse finally realizes.

“Oh, ding-a-ling!” I say, mockingly. “Give the man a prize.”

But if I thought Jesse would get annoyed, he once again shatters my expectations by chuckling, “Look, I’m sorry, okay? I get that Rachel being here seems a bit weird but she and I are just friends. Also, the other day, she just walked me back to my island and then we parted ways. I talked to Rachel and she said it had been a slip of the tongue. You really have nothing to worry about.”

I hesitate, “But she was pretty nasty to me during our class.”

Jesse laughs, “She must have been nervous because it was her first day and her first class. Don’t think too much.”

He seems sincere enough and his explanations do sound reasonable. However, I know that he’s wrong about one thing. Rachel doesn’t like me.

“How long were you guys together?”

I see Jesse’s smile turn stiff, “Is it really that important to know?”

“Yes.”

“Two years,” he admits. “We met as Level Ones and were together till she decided to leave the camp.”

A strange, unsettling sensation grips me. “So, you broke up because she was leaving.”

“Well,” Jesse looks uneasy, “I mean – I asked her to choose, and she chose to go so we ended things.”

“This was-?”

“A year ago.”

My chest tightens. “That’s not a lot of time-“

“No!” Jesse immediately steps towards me, his voice fierce, “When she left, she chose to leave me. And I moved on. I met you. I like you, Taylor. Look, I arranged a small midnight picnic for us, on the Level One island, near the waterfalls and -”

“Taylor, there you are!”

My back stiffens when I hear Rachel’s voice. However, like before during our first meeting, her voice is infused with warmth and cheer, “Oh, hi, Jesse. Taylor, I wanted to remind you about your guard duty tonight.”

“My what?” I stare at her. “I don’t have guard duty till Friday. It’s Wednesday.”

Rachel smiles at me, “I know but there was some mix-up with the scheduling and your name is now on the schedule for guard duty for the Level One tunnels.”

Jesse glances at me, “I’ll come with you-“

“Actually, Jesse, I need to show you something,” Rachel wraps her arm around his. “Come on.”

“Wait, Taylor-“

However, Rachel speaks louder, “She’s already late, Jesse. You don’t want her getting in trouble, do you?”

My jaw is tight as I watch them go and Jesse shoots me an apologetic look over his shoulder.

I don’t have any of the equipment with me so I begin running back to the barracks to drop off my bag and grab a jacket and a flashlight. I can feel my bones aching in weariness. I desperately want to sleep. However, I quickly make myself a cup of tea in a flask and carry it with me.

The trek to the small cabin in the forest is a long one, and the silence is haunting. This is the one thing I hate about these islands. The constant mist and rain and this eerie silence once the sun sets. This is also my first time returning to the tunnels since the incident.

I’m not exactly eager about it.

Wondering which one of the Level Ones I will be paired off with, I cross my fingers and hope it isn’t Anderson.

However, as I reach the small shack, I see a familiar looking blonde girl with blue eyes.

Oh crap.

Like Jesse, Veronica is also a Level Three student. However, we don’t like each other for several reasons. One, she has a major crush on Jesse, who just happens to be dating me. And second, she broke into our barracks on the very first night there and tried to hurt Beth and the other students.

Veronica sees me at the same time as I do her and her face twists in annoyance. “Oh look, it’s the local trailer trash.”

“Why are you here?” I stare at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be the guard for the Level Three Island’s tunnels?”

She scoffs, “Don’t ask me. There was a change in schedule, tonight. I can’t believe I have to do my guard duty with somebody like you.”

“Trust me, Veronica,” my tone is dry, “I’m not exactly dying of thrill here either.”

She scoffs, “I don’t know why you have all this attitude. Nobody even likes you here. Cause you’re a freak!”

“Oh!” I clutch my chest, widening my eyes dramatically, “Oh, no! Nobody likes me?! How will I go on?!”

Veronica’s eyes turn dark in displeasure and I straighten up, flipping my slightly longer hair over my shoulder. “Ready to go or do you want to say something else? I could do this all day.”

“Crazy freak,” she mutters under her breath, storming inside.

“I treasure our time together, too,” I call out, before following her.

“So, who was it?” I ask, watching her push open the trapdoor. “Who was the counselor who paired us off?”

“Some Rachel,” Veronica looks annoyed. “And stay out of my way.”

However, I’m not listening to her.

This was Rachel’s doing?

Why am I not surprised?