Blood Of The Luna

Chapter 13

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Call me paranoid, but I always believed that if something could go wrong, then it was bound to go wrong. And if you faced even the slightest bit of hesitation, then you shouldn’t do whatever it was that you were planning to do in the first place. Naturally, this lead me to avoid any unnecessary, nasty situations in my life. All I had to do was let myself think properly about the pros and cons of something, and if the cons outweighed the pros then I wasn’t going to do it.

So when Oliver told me not to go to the dance, even though he didn’t have a proper reason why, I just couldn’t do it. I did try to ask me what he meant, but he simply looked at me like I had lost my mind entirely. We had just walked out of class, even though I hadn’t been paying any attention to what was happening in there. All I could think about was Oliver’s warning. And now, he was pretending it never happened.

“Listen,” I said. “I don’t want to keep pushing this, and I know you don’t either. But the fact remains that you specifically told me not to go to the dance, and now you’re refusing to tell me a reason why. I don’t know what game you’re playing at here.”

“Alyssa, have I ever done something like this to you?” he asked. “Why would I tell you not to go to the dance? I didn’t even know about the dance until today. So how could I suddenly be against it?

“Is this some kind of prank?” I asked, feeling my temper rising. “I’m really not in the mood for pranks, Ollie. The last thing I need is for you and your band of geeks to try and mess with me. That will probably end with one of you losing a limb or two.”

“I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “I never spoke to you today, if not right now that you ambushed me with all these accusations.”

“But you did,” I snapped, enraged by his stupidity. Why couldn’t he see that I was being serious? Why couldn’t he understand that I needed to know if he had been serious or not.

“Maybe it would help if you told me exactly what I said to you,” he said. “That would surely ring a bell if what you’re saying is true.”

“Just forget it,” I said, walking away from him with my rage brimming to the surface. How stupid could he be? How absolutely pathetic and horrible could he be, to mess with me like that? His warning had sounded serious; deadly, even. There had been an ominous tone to his words, like a message announcing the death of a loved one. Dark words were hard to forget, and so his words stuck with me more than anything else.

Was there really something sinister at the dance? Perhaps this was a warning, and someone had decided to use Ollie to send the message to me. I had heard about some people being able to connect to someone’s mind and control them, even going as far as making them do things that they wouldn’t normally do. Was it something like this that happened to Ollie?

I was still more inclined to believe that it was merely a prank. Because if it was someone taking control of his mind, then who would it be and why would they want to tell me that specifically? It all sounded like a joke, and no matter how I looked at it, one thing was clear to me.

I was going to that dance whether they liked it or not.

I absolutely hated being told what to do. It was literally the worst thing anyone could do to me. And I sure as hell was going to do the exact opposite of what I was told to do.

“Who’s got your panties in a twist?” she asked as I walked up to my locker with a confused look on her face. “You look like you’re about to rip someone’s head off.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Ollie McGinnis was just being a dick.”

“What did that creep do now?” Ethel asked, slamming her locker shut. “Please don’t tell me he tried to feel your ass up as well. He did that to me one time in gym, and I had to punch him in the throat before he learned his lesson.”

“No, he didn’t,” I said. “And when was this? Were you ever planning on telling me?”

“Junior year,” she said. “And I didn’t think it was necessary. He apologised afterwards, and I forgave him.”

“Doesn’t sound like you did,” I muttered. “But he didn’t try to feel me up or anything like that. He just leaned over and told me not to go to the dance. He sounded very serious about it, and he said there was nothing there for me except death and doom. But when I went to ask him about his warning just now, he denied saying anything.”

“What an i***t,” Ethel said as he walked past, loud enough that he would hear exactly what she had said. Ollie merely frowned at us both but he kept on walking.

“So you’re not going?” she asked.

“Who’s not going?” Joaquin asked as he came up to us. He immediately threw his arm around Ethel and pulled her closer to his side, causing her to squeal with joy.

“Allie is considering not going to the dance,” she said.

“I never said that,” I argued. “I was just warned about it by Ollie McGinnis. But I’m still going.”

“Great,” he said. “Then our plans are still in place. We will find a way to make you the Queen this year, and everyone will have to bend the knee.”

All three of us laughed, and I actually began to consider the possibility of becoming the New Moon Queen. It didn’t seem like a bad idea, except that it was an ingenious plan to make women nothing more than objects of desire. It was like tying a diamond studded leash around a dog’s neck. It might be pretty, but he was still a slave to the system.

“No way,” Ethel said suddenly. “I see that look in your eyes. You’re trying to figure out a way to make this about misogyny or something else that will get you out of this. I refuse to hear it. You will go to this dance, Allie. You will be voted as New Moon Queen this year and you will like it. I will make sure of that even if I have to drag your cold, lifeless body to that dance.”

The bell rang just then, and everyone began to hurry up. I had to quickly throw my stuff into my locker and hurried after them.

Ethel was already making plans for the dress she would wear when I caught up to her and Joaquin. He had his arm around her shoulder now, and I felt awkward falling into step beside them at first, but then Ethel noticed me catching up and she slowed down so we could all walk at the same pace.

“I saw this really cute red dress at the mall,” she said. “It’s a strapless beauty, and I’ve been telling myself not to buy it because there’s no point to having a dress like that when there’s no occasion. Now I have an excuse. Allie, will you come with me after school? And don’t even tell me you have plans because I know you don’t.”

I laughed at her comment, even though I briefly wondered if there was any excuse I could use. The mall was an absolutely awful place, and I hated going there under any circumstances. It was like a different universe to the one I was used to, with flashy dresses displayed in several windows and the smell of hamburgers everywhere. The raucous was too much for me as well, and I would rather restrict my visits to a maximum of once every year. If I went with Ethel today, that would complete my tally for the whole year.

Better get it out of the way now.

“Please don’t tell me Damian is coming as well,” she said, grimacing at the mention of his name. “He’s the last thing I want to see today.”

“I don’t think he’s coming today,” I replied, even though I had no way of being sure. Last night was still fresh in my memory, and I wondered if his apology had been sincere. If he had really meant it, then maybe he would try and come to school today just to try and apologise again. Even though I wasn’t totally convinced of his repentance, I would probably listen to what he had to say. He deserved that at least, even if his apology was going to fall on deaf ears. I had already made up my mind on the type of person he was, and so far there wasn’t much evidence to convince me otherwise. He was proving me right with everything he did, and I wouldn’t want to be associated with someone like that.

Besides, he might not even show up after what happened to his brother.

But still, when I remembered those deep eyes, so dark they almost seemed black sometimes, and the curvature of his eyebrows, with full lashes to match his full lips, I felt a slight tremor shoot through me like an arrow piercing my skin.

I hated this; I hated not being able to figure him out. He was so complicated, so dark and mysterious that it would always prove difficult to try and understand who he was. I needed to know, however. I needed to be sure that he was who he claimed to be, and he wasn’t just pretending just for my sake. That would prove more horrible than if he was truly an asshole from the beginning.

Oddly enough, he didn’t show up when school ended and I walked out with Ethel and Joaquin. Both of them seemed relieved that he wasn’t here waiting for me, and they didn’t even try to hide it. Now, with my fate sealed, I had to go with them.

The mall was just as crowded as I thought it would be. It seemed as though everyone had the same idea to come and start looking for dresses. Ethel dragged us into the first store we saw, where she proceeded to try out seventeen different dresses. Joaquin merely muttered how beautiful she looked, even though he was hardly paying attention.

“What’s the matter?” I asked when she turned around and headed for the dressing room. “You have been looking around ever since we came here. Are you waiting for someone?”

“I just don’t want to be seen in a women’s store,” he said. “I have a reputation to uphold, and that involves me not being here.”

“Well get used to it,” I said. “You’re with Ethel now, and that means you will be required to attended these regular mall trips at least four times a week.”

“We’ve already been here twice this week,” he said with a slight chuckle. “Shouldn’t there be a rule which stops you from trying on more than three dresses at any one store?”

We both laughed at that, and I was surprised to find his good mood contagious. Clearly I had misunderstood the type of person he was. For being the resident BadBoy of Blackburn High, he was also quite charming, and I could see why Ethel had fallen for him.

Not that I was even looking at him in that sort of manner. But naturally, his charm and humour shone to the surface quite easily, and it was a breath of fresh air after the dankness that was Damian Lockheart.

Why are you still thinking of him? He shouldn’t even be on your mind today.

“f**k!”

“What is it?” Joaquin asked.

“Never mind,” I sighed. “I’m just having an internal argument.”

“With yourself?”

“Who else?”

“So you’re telling me you hold full-blown argument sessions with yourself?” he laughed. “What happens if you lose the argument? Do you ignore your own thoughts until you reconcile?”

I was about to reply when I suddenly felt something shift in the air. Joaquin felt it too, because he immediately frowned and his eyes froze instantly. There was a foul odour in the air, and the presence of an outsider was all I could concentrate on. It was the same way I felt around Damian, except this was ten times worse.

We rushed out of the store as if on cue, and just as we stepped out, I felt my blood turn cold at the sight of fifteen dark and dangerous people standing around at the entrance of the mall, all of them dressed in black and staring at everyone with murder in their eyes. My heart sunk to the pit of my stomach, and I felt my fingers beginning to tingle with a strange heat which flooded through my entire body. I didn’t need a billboard to realise who they were, or why every single one of us should have been scared in that moment.

Bloodhounds.

*