The House of Grey- Volume 4 (10 page)

“Condition?”
Monson scratched at his chin
.
“
W
hat
was it
?”

“That we had to go in the same group as Monson.”

“What the heck is that?” Casey
’
s
face
was
screwed up in a mix
of
thoughtfulness and irritation
.
“
Y
ou know
,
I gotta say, she is a seriously weird chick
.
”

“No disagreement here
,
” seconded Monson
.
 

The boys walk
ed leisurely,
reaching
t
he Inner Gardens
,
the
location of
Monson
’
s
me
e
t
ing
with Baroty so many months ago.
These days, Monson and his friends tried to avoid
t
he Gardens, as
they
had become
a sort
of
informal meeting
place
for students. The Gardens
were
not as close as the grounds outside
T
he Barracks
,
but seeing as most of that
was
ripped up
in the service of Baroty
’
s vision for the campus,
it
was
within reason that the students would find somewhere else to hang.  Most of the “cool” kids could be found there if they were not studying or doing
one of
the various other activities that Coren had to offer. Monson was not a fan of the crowds
but
Casey liked the atmosphere, which Monson secretly thought had something to do with Kylie
’
s frequent presence there
.  He kept this observation to himself, as Casey was so sensitive about her.

“What are you doing here
,
Grey
?
” A smoothly arrogant voice
startled the three boys
. Monson
pivoted
to his left to see none other th
a
n Derek Dayton sitting
smugly
on the grass surrounded by his usual goons and groupies.

“Ah
,
Derek
,
” Monson replied coldly
.
“
Y
ou
’
r
e
looking
—
”

“Delight
ful
, Grey
.
” Derek touched his
own
face fondly
.
“
T
hat’s the word you’re looking for
.
”

“I was thinking more along the lines of ripe
,
or maybe moldy,”
retorted
Monson
,
a
thin
smile playing
about
his lips
.

Derek’s eyes narrowed.

“You haven’t answered my question
,
Grey.”

“And what question was that?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Here?” sneered Monson
,
feeling too annoyed to avoid the confrontation
.
“I would think that
was
obvious
.
I’m
standing
here
,
Derek
.
Why do you ask?”

“I thought I forbad
e
you from coming here
.
”

“Yes
, you
did
,
didn’t you
.
”
Monson offered a very friendly
and
very fake smile
.
“
B
ut there
’
s a problem with that
.
You
’
re
under the assumption that I care about what you say
.
O
h
,
and
FYI….
”

Monson leaned down towards Derek
to
whisper
,
“I don’t.”

His
comment hung in the air for
a
moment
,
the quiet following like a hangover.

“Always the
hero
,
aren’t you Grey?” 

“Not by choice
,
Derek
.
” Monson motioned to the others
.

“Your day is quickly coming
,
Grey. Just you wait.”

“You really are an idiot
,
Derek.
What does that even mean? Are we going to meet at high noon? Draw pistols at the sound of the clock?
You know
,
I don’t even
care
why you hate me so much.” 

“I couldn’t agree more
.
” A quiet yet penetrating voice shot through them
,
causing all to glance towards the
sound.
“I think your hairline
is
receding
,
Derek
.
Y
ou may want to get that checked
out.
”

Soft, slightly pink cheeks and lips
visible below the brim of
a dark baseball cap
, which tightly constricted
a mountain of shiny b
l
ack hair. Cyann stepped forward
,
closely followed by her sister Indigo.

“Ah
…
Cyann
!
” Derek spoke in his fruity anguish
ed
voice. “Why don’t we
skip
all the pre
liminaries?
W
e all know what you think of my look
s.
”

The girls sitting at Derek’s feet stared at Cyann with open disgust
,
their hatred of the eldest Harrison actually emanating like heat from asphalt. Cyann pushed the front of her hat up a bit
,
revealing
her icy blue eyes. 

“It seems your fan club has something to say
.
” Cyann peered down at the girls
.
Derek glanced towards his groupies
,
who quickly averted their eyes.
Cyann’s ability with a
bokk
e
n
was legendary
.
T
here was no way they would risk an open confrontation with her
,
not if they wanted to keep their faces intact.

“Good girls
,
” cooed Cyann softly
.
  “
C
ome
boys,
let
’
s leave Derek to his
harem.
”

Cyann promptly herded the others away from Derek.

“It’s
OK,
Cyann,” yelled Derek after them
.
“I love to watch you go
.
”

Cyann ignored him
,
leadin
g the group to a grassy knoll where they
sat
under the sweeping branches of a massive weeping willow. The p
l
ace was hardly serene
,
however
.
N
ot far away
,
a cluster
of
football players including Damion Peterson were tossing a football
,
making rude comments
,
and generally acting like stereotypical jocks.

Monson sat down
and
inadvertently caught a glimpse of Taris Green
across the makeshift field
. She was beaming at one of her friends who
was
apparently in the middle of a
riveting story judging by the
expressions
of her
audience
. Monson continued to watch as Taris giggled enthusiastically. H
is
smile widened.  Funny how certain people
could add so much to a setting;
Taris was
truly
one of those people. Her
behavior was
n
either forced
n
or exaggerated
—
her smile was laid
-
back
and
confiden
t—and
she just emitted likeability
. 

Monson focused on her
eyes, which were not quite as attentive as Monson knew they could be
.
I
t was as if...as if she was looking right through
her friend
to something else.
He
sat for a moment more
,
trying to determine what exactly she was thinking, but
as
so often happen
ed
at times like these, those times when
he
want
ed
to look a little longer
,
Taris glanced in his direction. Her eyes met his.

They watched each other for a moment; then, in true Taris fashion, she winked and blew him a kiss.

“
She just totally caught you,” Casey started to chuckle. “Man
,
that girl likes to tease you
.
”

Artorius
was the one who answered
.
“HA! Grey
likes
to be teased by that girl
!
W
ho are you kidding
,
Case
?
Beside
s,
at least he’s got something going on.”

“She
’
s
not even that cute
.
” Indigo adjusted her expression
,
a gnarly look
spreading over
her face.  She stared at Taris even as Taris re
joined the
c
onversation with her friends. “She looks like a hedgehog with all that
—
”

“Not even that cute!” Casey sputtered in outright indignation
.
“
A
re you insane
?
She
’
s
one of the hottest girls in
—
”

“
As far as upperclass
man
girls go
.
” Monson noticed
Artorius
’ obvious emphasis on “upperclass
man.
”
“
But
Kylie’s cuter th
a
n Taris
.
”

Both
Indigo
and Casey narrowed their eyes at
Artorius,
the daggers manifesting
themselves
with spiteful clarity. 
Artorius
did not notice
,
however
.
“
A
nd Cyann is cuter th
a
n both of them so I’m not sure what you two are arguing about.”

Now there
was
an interesting development
.
A
fter
Artorius
’ declaration
,
Monson
tried in vain not to
stare at Cyann. He settled his eyes upon her and watched as a slight rosy tinge colored her olive skin. An amazing phenomenon
. Artorius
was right
.
Cyann really was beautiful.

“Anyway
,
Monson
,
as I was saying before we
were
so rudely interrupted
.
” Casey threw a nasty glance at Indigo
.
“I think I have a way to get these random chickadees to leave you alone.
”