The Forgotten Fairytales (12 page)

“I have an insatiable appetite.” Wolf snatched a bag of cookies. “But you already knew that.” His eyes lingered on mine, crawling on me as if ants burrowed under my skin. Heat flamed my cheeks and for a split second, I swore we were back in that forest, the roughness of the tree against me as we kissed, his lips fierce against mine…

The line shifted forward and Wolf’s tray knocked my arm, snapping me back to the present.

I paid the lunch lady and froze. A group of guys were taunting Kate—pulling at her hood, saying words I couldn’t hear. Huddled with the hood of her jacket over her head, she looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

Wolf grabbed a hold of my elbow. “Do you think it’s a good idea to mess with the system? You’ll make enemies fast.”

I flinched, surprised he knew what I had planned even before I did. “You said it yourself, I’m unknown. Therefore I can do wherever I want.”

The sight of boys taunting Kate froze me. The guys weren’t too familiar. A few were recognizable from combat class. The leader was a boy with russet skin and hair even darker. I think his name was Alvin, but I couldn’t remember.

I stopped in front of the table. “Hey, Kate.”

The cafeteria fell silent as nearly everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us. I’d been in situations where I thought people were watching me, but this time was different. This time they studied my every move. The sound of my racing heart beat into my ears like drums.

Rolling my shoulders back, I smiled. “Thanks for saving me a seat.” I placed my tray down across from her and planted my rear on the plastic seat. Alvin’s jaw dropped and I wrinkled my nose. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

They walked away, staring back over their shoulder at me scowling and muttering beneath their breath. The curious stares of the cafeteria returned to us again. Someone said, “Man, that new girl is whacked.”

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Kate’s gaze wandered, unable to make contact with mine.

“Those guys are scumbags. I should’ve done a lot worse.” I popped the top of my drink and took a long sip.

Kate adjusted the red hood of her jacket over her head. I was tempted to reach over and yank it back down. April tried to hide herself too. I hated it.

“Don’t do that.” I frowned. “Hiding won’t silence the beasts.”

No matter how hard you tried, you could never be invisible. People might not know the ones they call losers by name, but they knew them by their fear. They sensed it like hungry animals in the wild. They were predators and girls like Kate were the prey, destined to be devoured.

“How do you know?” Kate asked, a clear edge to her voice.

“Because I used to be you. And it sucked.”

Kate cheeks flushed red and angry. “Find someone else to be your charity project.”

Kate stormed off, leaving her half-emptied tray in front of me. I sunk in the seat, feeling more defeated than anything. Kate wasn’t a project, but a small flickering dream in my mind, one where us being friends defeated the barriers of the titles given to people. If Kate hated me, I wanted it to be because we had no similar interests, not because people said so.

The gossip continued through lunch. Eyes wandered, voices lingered, all spilling my name. I didn’t stick around long enough to listen though. The contents of my tray emptied into the trash, spilling along the inside of the bag like a messy painter’s canvas.

“Should’ve let it go,” Wolf said.

Did he ever go away? Ugh, I wanted to rip my hair out. “What do you want, Wolf, besides me?”

Wolf blanched. My words caught him off guard.
Point for Norah.

He recovered quickly and nodded behind me. “If your little prince didn’t interrupt I would’ve had you.” He leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear as he whispered. “I’m not the only one with Norah fever.”

Across the lunch room, where the beautiful people sat, Finn’s fiery gaze locked with mine. Pearl sat to his left, nibbling on a piece of toast like a chipmunk. Wolf was right though, if Finn hadn’t interrupted there was no telling what could’ve happened between us. The taste of him was intoxicating, like the sweetest poison. Even now, my lips ached to feel his, to taste that drug again. But my head was all,
hell no, Norah back away from Wolf Boy!!
He evoked drama. Yet, there was something there. Something I hadn’t expected.
No, Norah. Do not go there.

Finn stared back and forth between Wolf and I, noticing the closeness between us. The irritation in his eyes confirmed Wolf’s suspicion. Did he like me?

Point for Wolf. Ouch.

“Hello,” Beth said. When had she walked over to us? I needed to get my head out of the clouds and back to earth. Beth turned to Wolf and wiped the sweat off her brow. “Hello, Wolf.” Wow. “May I have a moment alone?” She motioned for me to walk with her.

Under her arm was the same book I always saw her with. I wondered what it was.

No one seemed to notice me with Beth. Being with a royal made me blend in. When we were a safe distance away, she turned to me and tucked a dark strand of hair behind her ear. “I think it’s nice what you did for Kate. Silly, but nice.”

Well, it was about time someone agreed with me. “She deserves a chance. Unfortunately, she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Only because she believes you’re one of Danielle’s minions,” she said. We rounded the hall into the main strip of lockers. “Kate’s an orphan. When she came here a few years back, Danielle welcomed her into the group, much like she’s done with you. Last year, something happened between them. I’m not sure what, but one second she was Danielle’s other hand, the next she had a scar on her face and no one spoke to her again.”

“Danielle hates imperfections,” I muttered. “Makes sense.” Poor Kate. One day she had friends and the next they hated her because she wasn’t perfect anymore. “But why are you telling me this?”

“Because, I like you. You have courage and determination. Qualities I envy. By now, I’m sure you’ve learned, what Danielle says goes. No one questions her word. I never had the courage to stand up to Danielle, not like you. Already I see something in you I haven’t seen in anyone else.” Beth smiled, though envy tinted her whisky eyes. “So I’ll tell you this, be careful. Befriending Kate will cause a ripple. One Danielle wouldn’t like. Unlike some people here, she will do whatever it takes to get her way.”

The warning was loud and clear. Beth was right, I was different. I never backed down and I sure as hell wasn’t afraid of some preppy princess. Kate needed friends, I needed friends. Who better to befriend than her than me. Especially since Danielle disapproved. That made it all the more fun.

I thanked Beth and entered my potions class.

As expected, Kate was the first one there.

At the sight of me, she put her olive green backpack on an empty chair and cowered behind her red hood. Taking a deep breath, I stood in front of her, refusing to let her turn me down again.

“The way I see it, you have two choices, one—run away and be afraid of someone who is trying to be your friend; or two—talk to me. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not one of Danielle’s sock puppets.”

N
o one liked the fact that I befriended Kate, but none more than Danielle herself. A system was in order. People stayed within their cliques “or else”. Although no one quite knew what that
or else
might be. Well, except for ticking off Danielle.

I’d only been in our room for two seconds before she confronted me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Relaxing?” I slipped my shoes off and plopped on the bed. The pillows fell to the floor where she picked them up and placed them on the chest nearby with all her fancy pillows.

“Kate is not one of us.” Danielle’s calm, controlled face was red with anger. “You can’t be a princess and be friends with other cliques. It doesn’t work that way.”

I sat up straight, sliding to my feet. “I’m not a princess and even if I were, I don’t believe in cliques.” I believed in equality, an ideal she never considered. “Kate’s nice. She deserves to be treated like a person.”

“No, she deserves to be dead in a ditch.”

What the flaming fuck? Really? “Wow, that’s low, even for you.”

“The truth hurts.” She slung her designer bag over her shoulder. “I ruined Kate for betraying me and I’ll ruin you too. Pick which side you’re on, Norah. I hope you choose wisely. Good always prevails.”

Danielle didn’t give me much of an option. In fact, I was pretty sure I’d do whatever it took to irritate her because I could.

Instead of bending, I sat with Kate at lunch the next day, and the day after that and the whole next week. At first, she barely spoke, still skeptical of my friendliness. I hardly blamed her. New girl wants to sit with nerd who is picked on by said girl’s roommate. Sounded like a deceitful plan in the making.

“Why do you let them get to you?” I asked. Kate shrugged and pushed the lettuce around her plate with a fork. “You should stick up for yourself. All it takes is a few times, and then they back off.”

“How would you know? You don’t have problems making friends.”

Man, she sounded like April. Just because I made people turn their heads didn’t mean I had friends.

“Yeah, my knack for pleasing people is impeccable.” I nodded toward the royal table where Danielle’s pale blue eyes were like piercing daggers searching for an entry point. “I used to get picked on a lot until someone showed me how to stick up for myself. Danielle and her
wu-tang
clan don’t scare me.” That comment got a slight smile. “You don’t have to change who you are, you have to find your backbone. You don’t soften near me. In fact, you’re kind of a hard ass. Show them that side of you.”

“You sound like an after school special.”

I tossed a crumpled napkin at her and laughed. She did have a nice smile when she tried, and her sense of humor wasn’t too bad. All she had to do was believe in herself.

“April’s your sister, right?”

“Yeah.” They were both housed in the same dorm. “Do you see her much?”

Kate’s eyes shifted. “She keeps to herself a lot. No offense, but you two are so different, I would’ve never pegged you as sisters.”

“We have the same dad, different moms. I imagine that’s where she gets her shyness from.” I twirled the straw in my drink.

“I bet it’d be nice, you know, having a sister like you.”

My shoulders sunk and guilt flowered within. My throat tensed like a golf ball had lodged inside. Respecting April’s wishes, I hadn’t said a word to her in a few days. I shouldn’t have listened though.

A shadow darkened the table and Kate’s smile vanished. Without a word I knew it was
him
. Desiree too. Yesterday I asked if Desiree wanted to sit with us, maybe help Kate see that not everyone was horrible. Wolf was
not
invited.

“Wolf asked to join, I hope that’s okay,” Desiree said.

I placed my elbows on top of the table and crossed my arms. “What, ran out of people to taunt, or do you enjoy stalking me
that
much?”

He snickered and set his tray beside me. “Stalking? No. Annoying, possibly.” His attention flickered to Kate. “What’s up, Goldilocks?”

Once again, the student body stared at the turn of events as Wolf and Desiree joined us. Shy Kate returned, her shoulders rising up, making her appear three times smaller—which wasn’t good considering she was sort of tiny.

Desiree didn’t miss a beat. After shoving a notebook in her backpack on the floor, she smiled at Kate and said, “Cute flats. I had a pair like those but ruined them hiking. Flats suck in the woods.”

Kate didn’t reply, instead she stared into her salad like she wished the lettuce would catch on fire and she’d have an excuse to run away. I kicked her under the table and she grunted, giving me a nasty glare.

“You gonna eat that?” Wolf pointed to the pizza and pear on my tray. I said no, and he scooped the pear up and put it in the pocket of his navy duster while inhaling the slice of pizza. I almost gagged as he polished off the crust in seconds.