When Celia woke up from her nap, her head felt heavy and her body felt cold. It was chilly outside and she had fallen asleep in the open. Kind of a stupid move, but whatever, Celia already knew she had a knack for doing stupid things.Celia jogged back to the Girls" Dorm, eager to take a hot shower and wash away the cold on her skin.
***
Ash gathered her hair and tied it up in a nice high ponytail. Isabelle had told her once that she looked pretty with her hair pulled high and back.
"You have a lovely jawline and a graceful neck, Boots," she had said to Ash. At the time, Ash had laughed at the phrase "graceful neck" and joked about several stupid ways for a disembodied neck to move to be considered "graceful."
Now that she wanted to actually look good for someone, she wondered as she brushed her hair back if she did indeed have a "graceful neck."
[Would a vampire get into this neck? Is this the kind of neck that would set off a vampire? Are vampires even real? Would Hunter know about vampires?]
Ash"s mind started going into overdrive again. There was suddenly so much about the world she didn"t know about. She was part of that unknown world all this time and she hadn"t even known it.
[I would have lived my entire childhood not knowing I was a werewolf,] Ash thought, suddenly contemplative.
So much of her early childhood had been lost and forgotten and now that she was about to become an adult, she suddenly found a piece of herself that could tie her back to the parents she did not remember and the ancestors she did not know. It was a profound feeling. She knew now what she had to do.
***
Hunter waited for Ash outside the cafeteria. He had headphones on and pretended to be listening to music, but he just wanted to avoid conversations with the other students as he waited for Ash to show up.
Ash came into view at 7:00am on the dot. When he saw her, Hunter immediately perked up. He smiled and waved at her.
Ash looked to her left and to her right. Then she pointed to her chest and widened her eyes as if to ask Hunter if he had meant to wave at her. It was a goofy move. Hunter"s smile got even wider. He thought it was really cute.
Hunter walked up to her and grabbed her hand.
"I already got us breakfast," he said, holding up a brown paper bag.
Ash and Hunter sat next to each other on a metal bench. Hunter handed her a bagel from inside the paper bag.
"Why did you ask me to meet you?" she asked, looking at the bagel.
"Are you asking me or the bagel?" he answered.
"I was talking to the bagel."
Ash turned her head to look at Hunter.
"Why are we having breakfast together?" she asked him.
"I wanted to pick up where we left off last night."
"We weren"t eating bagels."
"No . . . we were not . . . " Hunter smiled at her impishly.
"Don"t say it!" Ash immediately cut him off before he could flirt with her.
"All right. I wanted to know if you considered my offer. Will you come home with me?"
Ash bit into her bagel and chewed carefully. The bagel was warm, but her mouth felt dry. She struggled with the bread in her mouth, taking a long time chewing.
Hunter sighed and handed her a bottle of orange juice. The seal had been broken and the cap was loose. Ash drank it down and swallowed what was in her mouth.
"We"re sharing juice now?" she asked him.
"Boots, focus. Are you coming home with me or not? I"d like to tell my parents first before I take you home."
"Hunter, I think they know about us."
"What, my parents? No, they don"t---"
"I meant Celia and Isabelle. I think they know about us."
Hunter immediately shifted his body toward Ash. He bent down closer to her and lowered his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"I had to lie to them about where I was when I was with you. And they knew I was lying. They tried to catch me in a lie."
Hunter considered this for a moment and nodded. He put his hand to Ash"s face. A bit of her hair had come loose from her ponytail and he gently tucked the stray strands behind her ear.
"You don"t know what they know, right? It"s not like they"ve said anything?"
Ash shook her head "no."
"Is there a way we can find out what they know?"
" . . . My birthday. It"s this weekend. School break starts next week so we"re free to leave the campus. I think we might go out to the city, but I don"t know yet. You could come with us. We could talk to them," Ash rattled off.
Hunter"s expression softened when Ash mentioned her birthday. She seemed nervous telling him about it. His mate was inviting him to her special day. He felt a warm feeling rise in his chest and he planted a quick kiss on her mouth.
The kiss was so soft that Ash almost doubted that it even happened. Startled, she crushed the bagel she was holding in her hand.
Hunter looked down at her clenched fist smashing the half-eaten bagel. He laughed softly.
"All right. I"ll come to your party."
"It"s not really a party---"
"I"ll go with you to your birthday, but only on one condition."
"What"s that?"
"We have to go together."
The poor bagel didn"t even stand a chance inside Ash"s tightly closed fist.