She scrunched up her face and waved a hand back and forth in front of it. I didn’t know what she was talking about.

  “A bunch of what?”

  All I wanted to do was look at her. She was adorable in her outfit and my hormonal boy brain wanted to see more. I closed my locker and started walking to my first css, avoiding looking at her as she walked beside me.

  “A kobaloi is basically a goblin. Little green dudes with gigantic eyes and messed up teeth. They talk a bunch of smack and like to py hide and seek till they finally attack.”

  My eyes widened at her description.

  “They don’t travel in groups, do they?”

  We turned down the hallway my css was on.

  “Only when they hunt. Why did they come after you? How many did you kill?”

  I looked at her as if she had offended me.

  “I ran away. I’m not sure what was following me.”

  My eyes dropped to her lips. She was wearing lip gloss or just had really shiny lips today. Either way, I had to look somewhere else.

  ‘Grab her by the throat and kiss her like no one has ever kissed her before.’

  I cleared my throat as that thought pyed out in my head. Then I saw Eddie, Mike, and Kris walking toward us. They were watching a video on Eddie’s phone when he looked up and saw me. He stuck the phone in his pocket and the three of them headed straight for me. I was stunned to see Mike looking like he did before I vomited in his face. He looked like it had never happened. I opened my mouth, but no sounds came out as they approached us.

  “One of his nurses was Shineblooded. I’ll expin more ter. Just know that Apollo is the god of healing.”

  I thought about that as the three goons stopped in front of us. Apollo is the god of the sun and the sun shines. So Shineblooded must refer to that. Eddie waved a hand in front of my face.

  “What’s wrong Snakeface, you scared of being this close to whoever this is?”

  His eyes traveled slowly from Nix’s head down to her feet. The joke was on him, I was afraid of being this close to her and if he was smart, he would be too.

  “I’m Eddie, and you are?”

  He held out his hand for her to shake, and a wildfire of rage rolled through me.

  ‘I should snap that arm off at the shoulder and beat him and his two minions to a pulp with it.’

  This time, I smiled at the thought. If anyone deserved to see my cruel side, it was this clown. Nix just gnced at his hand and then folded her hands in front of her.

  “What’s with the nickname I don’t get it?”

  She shook her head from side to side as she spoke. Eddie was more than willing to fill her in on where the name came from.

  “I gave him the name a few years ago. If you notice, his chin is pointy, but his forehead is wide. His head is shaped like a snake’s.”

  Nix stared at me as he spoke, nodding to herself till he was finished.

  “Yeah, I figured it was gonna be something stupid.”

  She interced her fingers in mine and started to walk away from the three of them with me.

  “Whoa, who the hell are you to call that brilliant nickname stupid? And why are you hanging out with Snakeface?”

  Eddie stepped in front of us before we could escape. It occurred to me at that moment that they didn’t remember what had happened yesterday. I added that to the list of things Nix had to expin to me ter. Nix sized Eddie up with her eyes.

  “My name is none of your business and I’m hanging with Troy because he’s the only one of you worthy of my time.”

  She stepped past the three stunned boys and walked away, pulling me with her.

  “Wow, that was crazy.”

  I looked back at the three boys. They looked like they still couldn’t figure out what had just happened.

  “I just spoke up so you wouldn’t put anyone else in the hospital.”

  She let my hand go after saying that.

  “That was an accident.”

  I held up a finger to emphasize my point. She smacked my hand away and walked into my first css ahead of me. We walked to the back of the room and sat down.

  “That doesn’t help your case at all. It just means you are an even bigger threat because you could kill without meaning or even wanting to.”

  She leaned forward to whisper that to me. I rolled my eyes at her.

  “It’s really strange how I’m the one that keeps being attacked, but I’m also the only one getting bmed for it.”

  I folded my arms and stared toward the front of the css as the teacher walked in. We didn’t speak for the rest of that css or the other three she followed me to. We walked side by side in complete silence. The only good thing that came from her being so close to me was the break I got from Eddie and his gang. After that first encounter, they barely even wanted to look in our direction.

  After my st css, she walked me to my locker to grab what I needed to take home, and I lost my patience.

  “So how long is this weird obsession with me gonna st?”

  I smmed my locker shut and headed for the main exit.

  “Until I make a decision about what to do with you.”

  I didn’t like how matter-of-fact her answer was. As if when she made a decision, I would just have to accept whatever came next. I stopped walking and turned to face her. My stare locked on hers.

  “And what if I don’t wanna wait that long?”

  She smirked and stepped closer to me. Our noses were less than an inch apart.

  “Then force me to leave you alone.”

  We stood motionless for what felt like hours, just staring each other down.

  “I’m not afraid of you.”

  She smiled at my statement. It made me wanna grip her up and do something to her. That second part had become unclear.

  “Whenever you want another beating, Stormy, all you gotta do is ask.”

  I remembered the stars on my wrist and walked away from her. Well, I would’ve if she didn’t continue following me the way she had all day.

  “So, is this a door-to-door service, or do you wanna come in and lie on my bed again?”

  Her face turned bright pink, and she punched me in the shoulder. I immediately wondered why my wind didn’t stop her.

  “Don’t say it like that. You make it sound like something happened between us.”

  I cocked my head to the side. The girl that had threatened my life less than an hour ago was blushing.

  ‘She’s pretty when she blushes.’

  I ignored that thought. She wasn’t pretty. She was mean, and cold, and a stalker.

  “The evil one has a friend. They must be evil, too.”

  I heard the voice and hoped I was hallucinating. When Nix looked past me and scrunched up her face again, I knew I wasn’t.