The Golden Lily

emphatically, but the guy seemed oblivious. Angeline might be okay around wild dances in the backwoods of West Virginia, but this was not a situation she was comfortable with.

To be fair, what happened next wasn’t entirely her fault. He really should have left her alone when she said no, but I guess he was too caught up in his feel-good mood. He actually managed to drag her to her feet, and that’s when Angeline made her disapproval perfectly clear.

She punched him.

It was pretty impressive since the guy had almost a foot on her in height. I supposed that came from Eddie’s training in how to take out taller Moroi. The guy staggered backward and fell, hitting the floor hard. There was a gasp from most of the students sitting nearby, though only one of the band members-a guitarist-noticed. The rest kept on singing and dancing. The guitarist hurried forward to her fallen colleague and must have threatened Angeline’s personal space because Angeline punched her too.

“Eddie, do something!” I said.

He turned to me in astonishment. “Like what? I’d never make it there in time.”

It was true. We were two thirds of the way up in the bleachers, surrounded by others. I could only watch helplessly as the rest of the spectacle unfolded. The band soon caught on that something was terribly wrong, and their music faltered, finally coming to silence. Meanwhile, a group of teachers had rushed the floor, trying to pry Angeline away from Koolin’ Around’s bass player. There was a frantic look in her eyes, like a trapped animal that had gone beyond reason and only wanted escape. The teachers finally managed to restrain her, but not before she’d thrown a speaker at the lead singer (she missed) and punched the school’s shop teacher.

Trey leaned forward, mouth gaping. “That’s your cousin? Wow.”

I didn’t even bother responding. All I could think about was how in the world I was going to do damage control this time. Fighting was a serious offense in and of itself. I couldn’t even imagine what attacking a motivational musical group would elicit.

“She took out, like, three people twice her size!” Kristin exclaimed. “And I mean took out. Knocked them to the floor.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said dismally. “I’m right here. I saw it all.”

“How was she even able to do that?” asked Julia.

“I taught her some moves,” remarked Eddie in disbelief.

Unsurprisingly, no one even bothered sending this to Mrs. Weathers. Angeline was referred directly to the principal and vice principal. After her display, maybe they felt there was safety in numbers. It may have been Mrs. Weathers’s recommendation or simply the fact that our fictitious parents (and “cousin” Angeline’s) were notoriously hard to get a hold of, but I was asked to accompany her when she met with the administration.

My pre-briefing with Angeline was short and to the point. “You will act apologetic and contrite,” I told her as we sat outside the principal’s office.

“What’s contrite mean?”

“Apologetic.”

“Then why didn’t you just say-”

“And,” I continued. “If pushed for reasons, you will say you were overwhelmed and panicked. You’ll say you don’t know what came over you.”

“But I didn’t-”

“And you will not mention how stupid they were or say anything negative whatsoever.”

“But they are-”

“In fact, don’t speak at all unless you’re asked something directly. If you let me handle this, it’ll be over fast.”

Angeline apparently took that to heart because she crossed her arms and glared at me, refusing to say anything else.

When we were ushered into the office, the principal and vice principal-Mrs. Welch and Mr. Redding, respectively-were both sitting on the same side of one desk. They were side by side, presenting a united front that again made me think they feared for their lives.

“Miss McCormick,” began Mrs. Welch. “I hope you know that what you did was completely out of line.” McCormick was Angeline’s fake last name around here.

“Violence and fighting of any kind are not tolerated at Amberwood,” said Mr. Redding. “We have high standards-standards meant to ensure the safety of everyone at this school-and expect our students to adhere to them. None of your other violations of school rules come close to what you did today.”

“Even if we didn’t have those other transgressions on file, there can be no question here,” said Mrs. Welch. “There is no place for you at Amberwood.”

My stomach sank. Expulsion. Although the Keepers weren’t entirely uneducated, her academic background had hardly been up to that of average high school students in the modern world. She was in a lot of remedial classes, and getting her into Amberwood at all had been quite a feat. Expulsion wasn’t as bad as someone investigating how a petite girl like her could do so much damage, but it still wasn’t an outcome I wanted. I could already imagine one of my superiors asking, why didn’t you realize how volatile the school was making her? To which I would have to respond: because I’ve been too busy going on dates and helping vampires who aren’t my concern.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself before we notify your parents?” asked Mrs. Welch. They looked at Angeline expectantly.

I braced myself for an irrational tirade. Instead, Angeline managed to produce some tears which, I had to admit, certainly looked contrite. “I… I panicked,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me. So much happened at once, and that guy was so scary, and I just freaked out. I felt threatened. I wanted everyone to get away from me…”

I was nearly convinced, probably because it was seeded with truth. Angeline had had a number of flustered moments at Amberwood, no matter her bravado. There were more people at the school than had been in her mountain community, and she’d been so overwhelmed in her first week that we’d had to take turns escorting her to class. I really should’ve been paying more attention to her.

Mr. Redding looked a tiny bit sympathetic-but not enough to change his mind. “I’m sure that must have been hard, but it was hardly reason for you to act in that way. Injuring three people and damaging expensive audio visual equipment were in no way appropriate responses.” Understatement.

I was tired of the formalities and needed to fix things before they escalated further. I leaned forward in my chair. “You know what else isn’t appropriate? A thirty-year-old guy-because that’s how old he was, no matter how young and cool they were trying to be-grabbing a fifteen-year-old girl. It was bad enough that he did so when she clearly didn’t want to go with him. The point is he never should have touched her in the first place. She’s a minor. If a teacher did that, he’d be fired. I’ve read the book teachers are given from your HR department.” It had been an attempt to see if Ms. Terwilliger was abusing me. “Medical emergencies and breaking up a fight are the only times teachers can lay hands on students. Now, you might argue that that guy wasn’t a teacher or employed by the school, but his group was invited here by the school-which is obligated to keep its students safe. You’re a private school, but I’m certain the California Department of Education would have a few things to say about what happened here today-as will Angeline’s father, who’s a lawyer.” He was actually the leader of a bunch of mountain vampires and had multiple wives, but that was beside the point. I looked back and forth between Mrs. Welch and Mr. Redding’s faces. “Now then. Shall we renegotiate your position?”

Angeline was in awe after we left the office and went back to our dorm. “Suspension,” she exclaimed, a bit too much joy in her voice for my liking. “I really just get to skip class? That sounds more like a reward.”

“You still have to keep up with your homework,” I warned. “And you can’t leave the dorm. Don’t even think about sneaking out because that will get you expelled, and I won’t be able to save you again.”

“Still,” she said, practically skipping, “this was all pretty easy.”

I came to a halt in front of her, forcing her to face me. “It was not easy. You got off on a technicality. You’ve continually resisted efforts to follow the rules around here, and today-well, that was off the charts. You aren’t back home. The only time you should even think about fighting here is if Jill is attacked. That’s why you’re here. Not to do whatever you want. You said you were up to the challenge of protecting her. If you get expelled-and it’s a miracle