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"Oh thank god! I really didn't want to go through that awkward, 'I don't know anyone, where the fuck do I sit' panic that always hits," she said excitedly. "Thanks for not being an asshole. The new girl usually gets picked on for a bit, and I'm the new girl a whole lot."
"Of course. I was picked on for three years here, but thankfully my bullies got suspended recently. Now it's like an entirely different school," I reassured her, not wanting her to think she would get the same shit here.
"There you are, Doll," Evander's smooth voice wafted over to me. I looked up and smiled as he kissed me on the top of my head, before he hurried over to the buffet line to snag some food.
"Oh, your boyfriend is cute!" she hissed, giving me an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle that had me almost snorting milk out of my nose.
"Thanks, he is a cutie. But we aren't official yet, just trying out dating first," I fumbled over the explanation, not sure how to explain what we all were.
"Morning," Calev's deep voice rolled over me, a blush coloring my cheeks at the sound alone. The others trailed in behind him, their smiles already in place. Each one took turns giving my shoulder a squeeze, or a kiss on the head, or something in the way of a greeting. This new phase of openly touching and flirting was nice, but now my panic was welling up inside of me, wondering what this girl would think. When they were all occupied, she leaned in closer to me, her eyes lighting up excitedly.
"Wait, you're dating them all?" she whispered, clapping her hands quietly. "You're one lucky girl! Did you leave any hotties for the rest of us?!"
They all looked over when I snorted out a laugh, but turned back to the food quickly. "Probably not," I said honestly, feeling a bit possessive of my guys. They hurried over to join us with their selections, dropping into seats around us and digging in. The only one hesitating was Aeson, who looked oddly uncomfortable. Dhara seemed to pick up on it too, because she started to fidget in her seat and steal glances at him.
"Who might this be?" Tristan asked, his usual friendly smile in place, easing some of the tension. My eyes picked up the slight tightness around his eyes. I wonder what his deal is?
"This is Dhara, she just moved here and is taking my old room," I explained, "I ran into her, literally, on my way down here."
"Nice to meet you," he said, his easy grin still in place, but a tenseness in his jaw. "This is Aeson, Evander, Calev, and Lachlan. I’m Tristan."
"Nice to meet you guys, too," she said brightly, throwing her trash away in a nearby trash can.
'What the fuck is going on, and why are you being weird?' I thought to Tristan, the others’ voices drifting into my mind as he opened the mental link up again.
'I recognize her. Her parents are part of a supernatural faction known as the Citrine Commanders. They're trained at Citrine Island Academy. It's further north from us, but their reach is expansive. They try to claim they're the good guys, but every time they try to 'help', disaster follows,' Aeson's usual smooth voice was edged in frustration.
'Why would she be here?' Evander questioned before turning to her. "How long have you been in town? Got to see any of the sights yet?" She looked relieved at the simple question. Great, now I'm going to side eye everything she says and does.
'The same reason we were sent here... Lennox,' Calev said like it was obvious. Fuck, probably because of all of our recent abilities testing.
'What kind of radar is in place to find people like me?' I asked quickly, but it had been something I'd meant to ask for a while.
'It's a magical sensor that detects low level bursts of magic. If it triggers in one place more than a handful of times, they send someone out to retrieve the person before the humans find out,' Tristan explained. ‘Untrained supes can be volatile.’
"I'm a military brat, so we moved around a lot. But I’m most recently from Vegas," she explained, bringing us back out of our heads.
"Must be quite the temperature change," Tristan joked. Despite the teasing tone, he wasn't kidding. It was snowing today, and I'm sure Vegas was still hot.
"Yes, but I hate the heat. Give me spring or fall, and I'm a happy girl," she said with a laugh, before giving me a tight smile. "Can you still show me to my room?"
"Of course. I'll be right back, guys," I said, standing up and following her back to her bags. I grabbed two of them, leaving the other two for her, before leading her upstairs. We were quiet for most of the walk, my mind trying to process everything I'd just learned. I’d just assumed that Obsidian Cove’s Academy was the only big school, and that all supes lived over on the island. Now that I thought further, that would be silly. No way every supernatural in the entire world ended up here.
"Sorry I'm so socially awkward, I don't know how to 'people' well," she mumbled as we came to a stop.
"Same, no worries," I said with a quick smile, pointing to the door we’d stopped in front of. She pulled out a key and started to put it in the door, when it flew open.
"What are you doing here?" Cierra asked, her familiar sneer in place. Poor Dhara will have fun with her.
"Bringing your new roommate up here," I shot back, holding back an eye roll. Glad to know she didn't get the 'we don't hate Lennox anymore' memo.
"Hey! I'm Dhara." She gave a small wave and stepped around me, plopping the bags on the floor. Cierra moved back and out of the way, letting Dhara through to set her stuff down. Unfortunately, Cierra had taken over the entire room. No wonder she was pissy, now she has to clean and move all her shit back.
"Good luck," I said quickly, waving and hurrying back downstairs. I w
anted to put as much distance as possible between me and Cierra.
"Where's the fire, little Psycho?" Calev teased as I ran completely past them. Whoops.
