CHAPTER THREE

“So, she’s Jesse’s ex-girlfriend?” Beth sounds a little troubled as she glances at me. “How did he react when he saw her?”

My backpack is hauled over my shoulder as I try to make my way across the rocky terrain. This is one of the things I hate about the Level One island. It’s so rocky. It feels like the entire island was built upon rock and stone.

The only clear area is where some of the physical classes are held and where the main buildings are.

“Well, not too pleased,” I reply. “Not too upset either. He seemed shocked.”

“Shocked?” Beth echoes, a frown on her face. “Well, that’s not good.” She shoots me a quick glance. “Or is it? I’ve never really dated before so I don’t know.”

“Neither have I,” I respond, grimly. “But it’s not a good thing, in my book. She wanted to catch up with him and he didn’t exactly seem disinclined.”

Beth makes a face. “Now that does sound bad.”

“What does?”

Quill’s voice is out of breath as he suddenly appears out of nowhere from behind us.

I give him a wary look. “I’m sorry. Do we know you?”

He frowns in my direction. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Like you don’t know,” I glower at him. “You’ve been avoiding us like we’re carrying the plague!”

“Not us,” Beth corrects, looking away, and I catch a strange look in her eyes. “Mostly you.”

I stop walking at that and turn to stare at Quill. “So, I’m the one you suddenly have a problem with?”

Quill with his reddish auburn hair and intelligent blue eyes glares right back. “I never said that! I was busy!”

“Busy?” I echo. “You mean busy avoiding me? Because you sure as heck weren’t too busy to meet up with Beth, apparently.”

Quill narrows his eyes. “Well, it’s not like you’ve been chasing after me, dying to hang out. You and Jesse are stuck like glue to each other all the time.”

I gape at him. “All the time? You do realize we have classes till dinner, don’t you? I barely see him! And if I do see him, I have to go to crazy lengths just to do so!”

“Well,” Quill blusters, trying to say something but clearly coming up empty. “I’ve just been busy, okay?”

I stare at him, trying to press down the throbbing sensation which I can only describe as hurt. My tone is cool as I say, “Then don’t let me waste your time.”

Turning on my heel, I begin walking towards the main building, my jaw tight.

Jerk!

When Beth doesn’t immediately follow after me, my hurt turns into anger and I squeeze the strap of my backpack, grinding my teeth.

She catches up to me not ten minutes later, completely out of breath. “Sorry. I had to – He wanted to talk. So, I-“

She glances at me before wincing, “You don’t look happy.”

“I’m fine,” I shrug, staring straight ahead as I keep walking.

“Taylor,” Beth says, quietly. “Quill’s just dealing with some stuff. I’m serious. It’s not that he’s avoiding you to be mean.”

“It’s fine,” I repeat. But I can’t help but remember a few weeks ago when both of them had been giving me the silent treatment and how much it had sucked. To see Quill do that now without any reason upsets me.

I stomp my foot harder on the ground as a part of me wishes to go back and give him a good shake and demand what’s crawled up his butt. But my darn pride is holding me back.

My friendship with Quill is different from what I have with Beth. Quill’s the first guy I have ever befriended. There is a camaraderie between us that has existed since our first meeting. When he avoids me like this, I feel a strange tension within me.

It’s been bad enough that ever since I’ve been upgraded to Level One from Level Zero, our schedules have become different. Our physical classes, which have become more like survival missions at this point in my, pessimistic opinion, are now held away from the other Level Ones. Quill still isn’t aware of his supernatural self and till he transforms at least once, our outdoor classes with be held separately. So, I only manage to see him in the indoor classes or during mealtimes when he sits as far away from me as possible.

I’ve even discreetly tried sniffing myself in the beginning to make sure it’s not some weird stink I’m giving off.

Beth glances at me and then tries to change the subject, “Anyway, we have a new class on our schedule this week. I think it’s supposed to be resistant training.”

She takes out her schedule from her pocket and peers at it, “At least that’s what I think it says. I kind of smudged the ink. Do you remember?”

I sigh, heavily, “Does it matter? They’re going to work us till our muscles collapse and then tell us to try harder for the next lesson. I mean if I can’t walk on water today, what makes you think tomorrow’s going to be a miracle in waiting?”

“To be fair,” Beth laughs, “the counselor said that you have to feel the rock and understand the pattern. I got to three rocks before I fell in. You just dove into the water.”

“I’m not liking the sass,” I make a face at her. “And you’re making it sound like I just decided to go for a swim. I tried to feel for something. There was nothing there.”

“Maybe my werewolf senses are superior to your vampire ones.”

Beth is grinning at me, and I narrow my eyes. “If only I knew how to drink your blood. That’d teach you.”

Our conversation comes to a halt as we reach the mess.

We’re already late and it’s mostly empty as a result, so we grab some fruit buns and croissants and I tuck a bottle of juice and a few jam rolls in my bag. Beth does the same. Lunch is a long time coming.

“Late, girls?”

At the sound of the voice, we both turn around to see Counselor Gisela. I smile almost instantly. She’s one of the newer counselors assigned to our outdoor classes. Her hair is short and wispy, a color combination of silver and gray and yet she looks so young. Her eyes are a gentle brown as she smiles at both of us.

“Yeah,” Beth admits.

“Well, hurry up,” she urges us. “You have your classes starting in ten minutes.”

Nodding, we hurry towards the main building, quickly devouring our breakfast while running.

The classrooms in the main building are like typical high school classrooms, except that each row has a line of two attached desks and a bench to sit on.

The mathematics class has already begun, and the instructor throws us a dirty look. I walk past Quill who barely glances at me. But as soon as Beth follows, he removes his bag from the bench offering her a seat. Beth has no choice but to accept and I growl something nasty under my breath at Quill.

The classes continue till noon when we have to disperse for our outdoor lessons.

I catch Beth murmuring something to Quill before she leaves the class and for a moment, I see a downcast expression on his face before he nods and begins packing up.

“What was that about?” I ask her, worried for him despite my anger at his pettiness.

“What was what?” she blinks.

“What were you guys talking about?”

Beth looks away. “Nothing important. He had to ask me something.”

When I look at her, questioning, and she doesn’t reply, I understand.

She doesn’t plan to tell me.

I don’t understand any of this.

“Let’s just go,” I mutter.

Beth is relieved to change the topic and she takes out her schedule since we have the same courses. “We have that new class right now. We have to follow the coordinates.”

I throw my head back, groaning.

This is one thing I hate about this place.

“When will I ever need to learn to use coordinates with the internet in existence?” I demand.

Beth agrees, “I thought it was interesting the first few times, but I don’t like it now. It takes too much time. Come on. Take out your map. I forgot mine.”

I lower my backpack and take out the large piece of paper and unfold it. I can see a few other students doing the same. I would ask them but apparently those who figure out the location and get there first get some points awarded to them. So, people aren’t exactly helpful.

“I think it’s here,” Beth looks up as I peer over her shoulder at where she’s pointing.

Before I can say anything, a snooty voice from behind us speaks up, “You’re wrong.”

We both look over to see a dark-haired girl in tight pigtails and my upper lip curls in response to the sight of her. “Abigail. How would you even know?”

Abigail is one of those pretentious know-it-alls that drives me insane. She’s the student who has her hand up in every class. A know-it-all wouldn’t exactly be an issue. But her arrogance and stuck-up attitude gives me all sorts of anger issues. Not only does she have a holier than thou attitude, but she also looks down her nose on nearly everybody. I know this for a fact because during our first sessions as a Level One, Beth tried to befriend her, only to be shot down by Abigail in a manner so rude and condescending that Beth had to physically restrain me from punching her in the face.

As expected, Abigail doesn’t disappoint, “Well, if you must know, you’re holding the map upside down for starters. And you need to lock down where you are located. God, you’re idiots.”

Beth flushes in embarrassment at her mistake and quickly turns the map around. However, unlike her, I refused to admit our mistake, “Well, just so you know, what Beth was doing was a new way of reading the map. If only you knew that much.”

“You’re lying,” Abigail narrows her eyes.

One thing about Abigail is that she’s quite gullible.

Book smarts apparently don’t make you immune to being tricked.

I scoff loudly, “Beth comes from a family of cartographers. A very prominent family. So maybe you want to check that attitude. Amateur.”

Abigail’s face turns a bright red.

I make a derisive sound before grabbing Beth by the arm as soon as I see two Level Ones begin walking.

Beth is silent for a few seconds before murmuring, “A family of what?”

“Just keep walking,” I say, looking ahead.

***

Fortunately, we are among the first few people there and there’s no sign of the counselor who is supposed to be heading this class.

Abigail must have followed us here because she stays at a distance, her expression dark.

By the time, everyone is gathered and there’s no sign of the counselor, there are few restless murmurs. Some of the students are thinking about just leaving, assuming that the counselor has forgotten. But before they can get the whole class to agree to the collective bunk, a familiar voice speaks up, “Welcome class! Sorry I’m late. I got caught up in some matters.”

Everything inside me turns cold in rising dread.

No.

Oh, please no!

Turning around, slowly, my eyes land on a curvaceous redhead.

Crap.

Jesse’s ex-girlfriend is the counselor for this class?!