Apprentices: Waxing Crescent

Did Anyone Say Party?

I reach my bedroom just a minute before ten o’clock. I need to make a call, or else I’ll be crucified, ripped apart, then put back together just to go through it all over again. You think I’m dramatizing? Well, you don’t know my aunt.

My fingers quickly type her number in, and I press my phone against my ear. I hope she’s not awake yet. I hope she’s not awake yet. I hope she’s not …

“Well good morning! Or should I say good night?” her overly joyful voice interrupts my inner chanter. Great. Just when I thought she would spare me tonight.

“It’s good night, yeah. I just called to check in on you.” Or rather, let her check in on me, so I can continue living in peace for about a week or so. “What are you doing?” I ask, trying to sound genuinely interested in what she has to say.

“Oh, don’t be so formal with me. You know I hate small talk,” she responds, making me breathe out in relief. Great. This means I can get straight to the topic.

“Have you heard about Cincinnati?” I ask, holding in my breath at the deafening silence on the other side. Then, she sighs.

“Yes. Yes, I did,” she replies hesitantly, clearly not happy that I’m asking her about it. You see, my aunt is a warrior witch. She raised me, but only until I was old enough to attend Kindergarten. She then handed me over to the Seminary, bored with working in one place.

She used to work in the Warrior Headquarters, but didn’t like that she had to stay here. She was always a person that needed to move around. So, she has now been working on the field, all around the world. She’s currently located in Dubai. At least that’s where I think she is.

“And?” I encourage her, trying to dig further. But the moment she takes a breath, I realize I’m about to get an earful. I quickly move the phone away from my ears, trying to protect them from noise exposure. Turns out I’m wrong. Because there’s silence on the other end.

For a moment, I think she’s just preparing her words. Then I think I accidentally turned the sound off or broke off the call. But no. Everything’s working just fine. And the seconds are still going on, meaning that the connection is there. I place my phone back against my ear, listening to the silence on the other side. Then, I hear her breathing, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

“Aunt Marion? Are you there?” I call out again, starting to get a little worried. Did I give the woman a heart attack or what? This isn’t like her at all. She’s supposed to be shouting at me by now.

“Yes,” she cuts off my thought process, almost making me breathe out in relief. Great, she’s not dead because of me. Yeah, I can get dramatic. A little. “I’m not supposed to talk about the matter,” she finally tells me, her voice sounding cold and stern. It makes all the alarms light up inside me.

“So it’s important, huh,” I state, holding my breath in expectation. This time, I’m not fast enough with putting the phone away from my ear, because Marion’s voice is already roaring at me from the other side.

“You have no business sniffing around this, do you hear me?! If I hear one more word about the crazy s**t you say around the school, I will fly straight to Ohio and have your ass whipped!” she bursts out, making me let out a long sigh.

“So, I gather you spoke with Mr. Franklin,” I grunt into the phone when she’s done with her shouting session. He’s our math teacher. I hate to think about it, but him and my aunt kind of had a thing years ago. Bleh. They still keep in touch, and he tells her about all my offenses.

“Like hell I did! Stop picking fights you aren’t meant to fight! Your little rebellious acts are seriously getting over the line!” she continues a bit more quietly, but still in the same pissed off tone like before. But I know just what’s going to cool her down.

“When did you guys talk? I thought it’s morning where you are,” I throw in, using a suggestive tone. The silence that follows makes me barely hold in my laughter. I knew it. She just went off the phone with him before I called her. So much for there’s nothing between us.

“That’s none of your business,” she finally spits out, making me let out a chuckle. I just can’t hold it in, this is far too entertaining. “If you don’t have anything useful to tell me, go to bed. It’s too late for you to be up,” she then adds, making me roll my eyes. Playing mother once a week. But I do have one more question for her. One I always ask, even if I already know the answer to it.

“Did you … Did you hear from mom?” I want to know, letting myself show a rare glimpse of vulnerability. This time, she’s the one sighing. Despite probably being fed up with being asked the same thing over and over again, she answers calmly. She always does.

“No, little moth. She doesn’t speak with me,” she replies gently, making me grow silent. I breathe in, trying to control my emotions. After a long moment, I’m feeling like myself again. It’s fine. It’s all gone. I don’t care.

“Okay then, I won’t be keeping you anymore. You must have a busy day ahead of you,” I speak up, my voice not wavering even for a moment. Wow, I’m getting good at the whole cold-hearted b***h thing.

“It’s okay. Sleep tight,” she responds, making me nod. Stupid, she can’t see you.

“Yeah … Have a great day and … be careful.” You’re the only family I have. I don’t say the words out loud, but I know she’s aware of them.

“I always am. Good night Evelyn.”

“Good morning Marion,” I say, before breaking the connection. I smile to myself. It’s a little thing we have, always saying goodbye like that. Wherever either of us is located at the moment.

I’m not in the mood to shower and do all that skincare s**t, but I know I’ll sleep better that way. I sigh, locking the door behind me and step into the bathroom. But when I turn the light on, I almost jump to the ceiling.

“Bubba, you scared the living s**t out of me,” I tell my cat, who is staring at me with her big green eyes, clearly not giving a damn about my well-being. The damned thing is sitting on the toilet, slowly swinging her tail from the left to the right. I sigh. “What do you want? I fed you before I went to detention,” I say, crossing my arms against my chest in a challenging way.

Beelzebub stares at me with the same unimpressed gaze, only blinking slowly in response. Aw, the little s**t missed me. I walk over to her, petting her shiny black fur gently. She pulls away at first, but I hit the spot behind her ears, making her freeze. Then, she rubs her head against my hand and gets up, trying to cuddle against me, but I jump away.

“Hey, not at my favorite jeans. You know how I feel about that,” I scold her, while still offering her my hand. She sends me a pointed look, then cuddles with me again. I sigh at myself. It’s ten o’clock and I’m talking to a cat. It’s official. I’m going insane.

When I start brushing my teeth, she blinks furiously, the toothpaste probably irritating her eyes, then jumps off the toilet and escapes back into the room. Good. A little peace and quiet never hurt.

I only realize how late I am, once I lie in bed, setting the alarm for tomorrow. I’ll get less than eight hours of sleep. f**k my life.

I gasp in surprise as I suddenly feel Beelzebub jump onto the bed. This cat is going to be the death of me one day. She lazily strolls towards my stomach, lying on top of it and purring in satisfaction. “I’m not getting much sleep if you don’t shut up, you know,” I mumble into the darkness and pet her head. Which only makes her purr even louder. Right. Can’t touch her if I want her to stop.

When my phone rings in the morning, I feel like I barely even closed my eyes. I groan as I feel around the nightstand for it, trying to turn the alarm off. By the time I finally manage to do that, I’m already exhausted. It’s only a full day of classes and two detentions. How bad can it be?

I turn to the side and bury my head into the pillow, letting a loud groan into it. Then, I hear a faint meow from somewhere below. I look up, making eye contact with Beelzebub. This time, she meows again, even more loudly.

“Yeah, you’re hungry, I get it,” I grunt, forcing myself to get out of bed.

By the time I feed the cat, clean the litter and make myself look presentable, I’m already running a little late for breakfast. Well, late for my standards. I have the unhealthy habit of always being early for every meal, so I don’t have to stand in line.

I rush towards the cafeteria in a hurry, hoping that I managed to pack all the supplies I need for today’s classes. I have mathematics today. How will I manage to look at Mr. Franklin with a straight face, knowing he’s been talking to my aunt before sleep? I don’t know. But I’ll have to find a way if I don’t want to earn myself even more detention.

I’m not the first person in the cafeteria. But neither am I the last. It’s quite empty and there’s no line at the counter. Perfect. Just what I like.

By the time I sit down at our table, my friends are slowly starting to roll out of their beds. And a rare few are already showing their faces at the cafeteria. Katie being the first of them. As she plops herself next to me with a kind smile, I shake my head at her.

“You’re late,” I inform her, making her sigh at my lack of manners. She steals an almond from my plate, making me protest with a loud: “Hey!”

“And you’re grumpy,” she teases me, then gets up with an amused smile plastered on her face. I let out a long sigh. It’s going to be a long day.

The boys only start arriving when the cafeteria is full. I carefully observe the dynamics between Jake and Marcus, trying to figure out if they’ve worked things out. Judging by their big, stupid smiles, they’re doing just fine. Still can’t forget that Marcus could see me fully naked, if Jake and I were doing it in a different position.

“What’s with your face?” Katie asks, just starting to chew on her egg sandwich. I turn to her, quickly explaining what went down yesterday. And the eggs almost land on the table. Oh, my dear best friend, ever so subtle with her reactions.

When she finally swallows, she starts laughing immediately. And by then, the boys are already sitting down with us, greeting us in confusion. I flash a wide grin at them, not even bothering to explain what’s going on. They’re used to our weirdness by now.

“So …” Marcus begins with a smug look on his face, staring right at me. I narrow my eyes at him, knowing very well what he’s about to blurt out. But not if I have any say in it.

“Don’t even try to start, Marcus,” I cut into his word, sending him a deathly glare. He stops, his chest inflating as he looks at me like I’ve offended him in the worst way possible.

“You don’t even know what I was about to say,” he protests, while I scoff in response. Sure, I don’t. I might not be the brightest, but I’m also not the stupidest person in the room. And I know the way his mind works well enough to predict what words are going to travel out of his mouth.

“Of course not. I can’t read your mind. But I can read that smirk on your face,” I respond, crossing my arms against my chest. It’s a good thing I’ve already finished my breakfast because Marcus is already making me lose my appetite. And it’s not even seven thirty in the morning yet.

“No, Evy, he was actually not going to say … You know,” Jake jumps in, glancing between me and his mate in a cautious way. I raise my eyebrows in surprise, trying to recall the one time that I falsely predicted what Marcus is about to say. Oh wait, it never happened. But this might become the first one.

I shut my mouth, casting a curious glance towards my frenemy. He stares at me in the same way, making me roll my eyes. “Alright, just say what you mean to say. But if you speak about what I think you’re about to speak about, I will blow your brains out with violent air magic,” I urge him to speak, making the whole table fall silent.

Jake is the first one to make a sound, sighing loudly at my threat. “You can’t solve all your problems with magic,” he reminds me oh-so-nobly, making me wave my hand at him dismissively. Says a werewolf that doesn’t have one ounce of the powers that I hold in my little finger. Yes, I’m being cocky. But not without a reason.

Katie turns to Marcus in a friendly matter, trying to cool the atmosphere. “Okay, what were you trying to tell us?” she asks, making his face light up. Here it comes.

He addresses the whole table now, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive way. “What are you doing tonight?” he wants to know, making me chuckle in surprise. Everyone turns to me like I’m a lunatic.

“Avoiding you, of course,” I answer, knowing that I don’t have the time to think of a funny response, which would explain my amusement. But strangely enough, the whole table laughs, making my lips curl up. Evelyn one, Marcus zero.

“That was a hard burn. Gimme five,” Gabriel says, extending his hand towards me. I meet it with a loud clasp, proud of myself for no good reason. But the moment Marcus speaks again, my face already falls.

“Oh, that’s a shame. It means you won’t be able to make it to the party,” he tells me in a sad voice, dramatically placing his hand over his chest.