Reflexively, my gaze travelled across the bobbing heads. Alex sat alone at our bench. She noticed me and wiggled her fingers, animated by my arrival like I was something special. Rake thin and inked from head to toe, Alex confused people when they first saw her. She was too pretty to look at straight on and most slid looks her way to digest her beauty like jolts of lightening, rather than get a fist in the gut at the sight of her. Long blonde hair and sultry blue eyes contrasted startlingly with her deeply tanned skin, a few shades shy of rich chocolate.
She smiled, and the blue runes prettily decorating her cheekbones crinkled. 'Hai,' she said and chucked a can at me.
I caught it one handed and tipped my chin up as thanks. Popping the top, I took a few slurping gulps and grinned at her, breakfast done.
Alex's general attitude to life was, 'And what?' She didn't give a damn what people thought of her, or what she did. If the upper dwells gave her hell or looked down on her for coming from the slums, she'd punch them in the face then ask who was next. She took the same approach in her friendships. This was why she was my only friend. She didn't care I was a freak since she figured she was already one too.
Ambling over to our bench, I sat on the table surface and tucked a leg under my butt, left the other hanging.
Stuffing a bread roll into her mouth, Alex pretended to roll her eyes in the back of her head. 'It's all bad, Rae. Real bad,' she said around her mouthful. 'I slept terrible, and there's a bad storm coming in. My hair be all static.'
She made a big hair gesture with her hands.
Overly excited or emotional, Alex tended to slip deeper into her colloquial roots to twang like crazy. I used to have to concentrate on what she was saying when we first enrolled, her slum speak was one of the most broken and slow I'd ever heard, but after a year or so I understood her babble easy.
Relaying the horror of how a third grade had tried to ask her out, but puked, she paused to screw her eyes up. 'S'up with you? You look all shiny and more frazzled than usual.'
I should take up cards because my face didn't twitch. Keeping a neutral expression I shrugged. 'Not that much.'
Her eyebrow climbed. Maybe my face was a little too composed. 'You gonna share or keep evading? Don't make me beat it out of you. I went to your room this morning to eat breakfast, but you weren't there. Where you go? I tore this place up looking.' She leaned in, her voice hinting at naughtiness as she said, 'You do something prohibited?'
My gaze flicked to then from hers, down to the floor. 'I met a boy,' I said and felt my cheeks warm.
Gods, could I have not managed anything better? I knew what she'd think I'd been doing.
'I knew it, a secret rendezvous. Tell me. Is it Jono? He's an ass, but I won't mind if you like him. Honest. Zoe has her she-devil eyes on him but he's had a big thing for you for months.'
I ignored the comment, held down a sigh. 'You won't understand.'
'What's not to understand? I don't mind who you fool with.' She slid a considering look my way. 'That is, as long as it's not Ro.'
I rubbed at my scratchy eyes and pushed some hair out of my face. Taking a second to think on it, I decided it'd cause no harm to tell a little more of what happened. 'This morning, I went for a run and I-' I frowned and searched for words that wouldn't make her freak out. Alex had a penchant for the melodramatic. 'This boy,' I said and flushed when I thought of Breandan. 'He bumped into me. Or rather I bumped into him since he seemed to expect me. It was the weirdest feeling, like I was meant to be with him.'
'Was he familiar? Someone you'd met in the upper dwells, perhaps.' She sounded suspicious.
I couldn't help but smile at comparing the magnificent mental image of Breandan, next to one of the skinny, pot-hole-faced pubescent boys the dwells produced in an alarming quantity considering the human race was near extinction.
'No. He was not from the slums either before you ask. His name's Breandan.'
'Hold up.' She pinched the bridge of her nose then rubbed at the runes on her cheek. This told me she was agitated and I braced myself for a lecture. 'This boy you met was Outside, as in beyond the Wall?'
Fiddling with the skin peeking through a slash in my jeans, I nodded. 'I know what you're thinking but it's fine. Do not tell anybody. I'm dealing with it.'
Her eyes widened and I realized my mistake. 'You know what he is don't you? What kind of demon he is.' I said nothing. To open my mouth at such a point would be a bad thing. I'd already told her much more than I had meant to. But it was nice to tell someone, who would not think I was clinically insane, and release some pressure.
'You know I won't tell anybody, but you need to never go out there again.'
She looked worried, but I couldn't help but add, 'He touched me, held my hand and I'd wanted him to.'
It would have sounded stupid to the average person, and if it had been anyone but Alex, I would have kept my mouth shut.
As little as I'd told her, Alex's mouth popped open. 'No lie, touching? You willingly placed your hand in another? Like actual skin contact.'
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't tell her what really happened with the fairy-boy. It was weird, admittedly not weirder than the vampire slumbering in my wardrobe, but still pretty messed up. Even if I tried to tell her the boy was a fairy she'd take me to get my head checked. If I said the word 'vampire' she'd probably hit the klaxon as a reflex.
'Only you could make a demon friend,' she said, and to my amazement sounded jealous.
I placed a finger on my lips and shot her a look. Did she want the whole world to know?
'Keep it down, I was safe.' She peered at me, seeking the truth and I composed my face to blank. It wasn't a lie per se. I just didn't divulge all details that no doubt would horrify her. 'I guess you could call him a friend,' I said slowly. 'I don't think he'd ever hurt me in fact he helped me out of a pretty tight jam. I only told you so much because it was odd, and you would've bugged me until I told you something semi believable.'
I shrugged to give the impression of nonchalance.
She was not convinced, and her pinched face told me so. 'You gonna get yourself dead. I told you to forget about that damn hole. I should've made you tell a Cleric.'
My voice was flat when I replied, 'Whoever he was, he's long gone.'
Drumming her nails on the table she shrugged. 'Say-so. Let's move.'
She went to grab my hand but I flinched. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed my blazer lapel instead and dragged me behind her.
Half way down the hall the morning bell rung and the corridor filled with bodies.
I gripped the strap of my bag tightly. I knew I had a class, I'd spent all morning trying to get back in time for it, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what. 'What we dealing with first period?'
'Demon Theory,' Alex shot over her shoulder.
A jaw-cracker of a yawn took me by surprise, and I shook off a little sleepiness. Damn straight I was on my way to class even after my pre dawn drama. I could not skip class; the punishment was not worth it. I was pretty much good at everything I tried and took eight classes instead of the six most Disciples preferred; Martial Arts, Explosives, Subterfuge, Entomology, Demon Theory, Equestrianism and Alchemy. I was tired, and could feel a grump coming on, but I vowed to keep it together a few more hours for the sake of maintaining. My plan was to get through the day with my head down, deal with the dead thing in my closet then sleep and wake up to everything being back to normal. Rather, as normal as they were before.
Alex caught my yawn. 'That must have been some run.'
I nodded faintly. Someone pushed past and bashed my shoulder. I winced. I got another shoulder bash after two more steps and became freaky alert. I hated walking the halls during period changes. Usually I'd be early or late to class and avoid the masses, but Alex liked to be on time.
I hung my head and lowered my voice. 'The next person to touch me is going to be in a world of pain.'
She sent me a consolatory look then shrugged. There wasn't much of anything you could say to make someone like me feel better.
I'd always had problems with getting close to other people. Physical contact made my skin crawl. I could only bear to be a more than a foot close for a few seconds before some peculiar reflex took over, and this horrible
