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Everyone laughed.
"Joke's on you," Jamal said. "You'll see, come Wolf Moon, you'll all be blinded by my sexiness."
He winked and walked away while the rest of the table laughed again.
Luka set his fruit cup on my tray. "Since you love strawberries."
My brow furrowed and I turned to him. "I never told you that. How'd you know?"
He shrugged. "Lucky guess."
I accepted the fruit. The lunch lady had given me a paper cup of grapes instead. "Want mine?"
"Sure," he said.
I passed my grapes to him. "Thanks."
"You two kind of make me want to throw up," Jessica said. "Are you officially a couple then?"
"Um no," I said. "We're friends."
"Well I don't see you batting your eyelashes at Makayla," Jessica said, eyebrows raised.
"You don't see us in private," Makayla said, sweeping me into a hug. She planted a kiss on my cheek. "We're very close."
We all laughed again. For the first time in my life, I felt like I fit in someplace. Was this what other girls felt like growing up? It was nice to have friends. Though, I couldn't help but miss Ben. Why would he tell me he doesn't want to see me one minute then jump to protect me the next?
"What's wrong?" Makayla asked as she let go of me.
"Just worried about Ben," I said. "He doesn't seem happy right now."
"He did meet with his dad last week. Don't worry, he'll come around. He does this every time his dad visits. He'll be back to normal soon," she said.
I could appreciate that. My aunt was toxic enough to throw me into a tailspin every time she was around. When she passed, I spent weeks wrestling with the fact that the only emotion I felt was relief. She'd had a hard life and despite my attempts to help, she never overcame her addiction. Though, the alcohol wasn't what did her in, technically. She'd stepped in front of a bus on her way home from church. She didn't drink before church, but the reports said she was drunk.
I didn't want to think about the fact that it might not have been an accident now that I knew the truth about my parents. She had treated me terribly but at least she managed to keep a roof over our heads until she passed.
I shook the thought away. I hated thinking about my life before the Academy. Now that I was here, things were easier in some ways and harder in others. But unlike my life before here, I wasn't alone.
"So tell me about this Wolf Moon thing," I said, changing the subject.
"Are you Raven Winters?" Someone asked from behind me.
I turned to see a brunette with pigtails holding a piece of paper. She blew a bubble of bright pink bubblegum and it popped before she sucked it back in and chewed it. "Well?"
"Yeah, I'm Raven," I said.
She snapped her gum as she passed me the paper. "They sent me to give you this."
I took the paper from her and glanced down at it. When I looked back up, she was already walking away.
Luka snagged the letter out of my hands. "What's this?"
I grabbed it back. "I haven't even read it yet."
"Report to Dr. Green's office," Makayla said, reading it over me.
"Hey!" I said. "Can you two let me read my own mail?"
