December
So many days eased into calm around me following that initial visit to Mrs. Hastings’s office. I should be happy about that. I should be happy things were starting to feel normal around me for once. Days at my dad’s house were easy, the two of us passing ships, and things at school were even easier. Hubert would drop me off. I’d go to class, and the fight between Ramses and Royal quickly became a distant memory to the other drama and scholastic events going on at the school. My life was finally normal.
But I was anything but happy.
I looked for any indicator, something that told my sister had a relationship with anyone else besides Royal and his friends. I got no help from them, not even bothering to ask. I’d been warned about getting involved, so there’s no way they’d be helping on this. The trail was quickly running cold without resources, and anything I gathered on my own wasn’t much. I actually went to the library at one point, searching yearbooks of all things. My sister’s sophomore year didn’t hold much and her junior year even less outside of sports. My sister had been a jock, point blank. She didn’t associate with anyone outside of that, at least on paper. There was no trail, no history.
And Ramses was coming back today.
He’d texted me a few times over the course of his suspension, nothing major or anything. He wanted to know how things were going at school and if things had settled. He wanted to know the fallout and if I was okay. I hadn’t told him about the confrontation with Royal the day of the fight or even that I’d been over to see Royal. I didn’t tell him anything. Mostly because I didn’t know how to deal with him and what we initially had tried to do. I was so far away from our original plans now and, quite frankly, didn’t know how to talk to him about that. My responses to him were very short over the two weeks of his suspension, the halls a buzz the closer he got to returning to school. Royal wouldn’t be long behind, and though I didn’t know his exact date, I assumed not far behind Ramses. He’d gotten a longer suspension since he started the fight, but no one knew for sure when he’d be coming back.
Actually, I was kind of nervous on the day of Ramses’ return. I still was for all intents and purposes his “girlfriend,” but so much had changed since we put that plan into action. Royal had basically admitted to me he wanted nothing to do with that haze, that he had tried to stop her but she did what she wanted to do. It’d been Paige who sought revenge on someone and over something she hadn’t even shared with me, and exposing the Court…
Well, a lot of things had changed.
I waited in the hallway with friends, our meeting place before classes started. The whole school was whispering about Ramses coming back, and our friends were too, asking me how he’d been. I honestly couldn’t tell them. I hadn’t really talked to him, and overwhelmed by all the questions, I ended up making some sorry excuse before he even arrived. I said I had to get to class early or something, walking away, and I didn’t even stay long enough to see what they thought about that. I didn’t stay long enough to see Ramses. I was so lost and confused and just needed to get away from all of it.
Ramses: Hey, missed you before class this morning. What’s up?
A text from Ramses came in the middle of fourth period, and after checking to make sure my algebra teacher was at the white board, I eased my phone out from under my notebook.
Me: Sorry. I forgot I had a meeting with my history teacher. Totally crapping out in that class.
That was true, but so not the reason for the avoidance. I hadn’t wanted the confrontation with Ramses. We’d have to be fake again, and I just wanted to put that off for a second more. I really didn’t know how to bring up that I was having second thoughts about the whole thing. I mean, he may have had his own reasons for joining the Court, but my sister and I had definitely been the catalyst for it. He’d invested so much, sat out in the middle of the frickin’ woods in his boxers for that ring on his finger, so yeah. I didn’t know how to tell him I was reconsidering some things.
Ramses: Ah. Well, no problem. Just missed seeing you.
I swallowed.
Me: You dork. You did not.
Ramses: So did! All that expensive shit at my house is boring without others like yourself to mooch off it with me.
Happy for a laugh for once, I smiled, covering my mouth since I was still in class.
Ramses: Speaking of. You totally ghosted my ass. What’s up with that? Everything okay?
I had ghosted him, but not completely because I wanted to avoid him. I’d been involved with this new project regarding my sister, trying to figure out who she’d been dating, and honestly, that’s where my head had been at completely.
Me: Just been busy. We’ll talk. Later when I see you.
Ramses: K. K.
No sooner had he said it than the bell rang for lunch. I gathered my stuff and immediately headed for Kiki’s locker. We usually met there, then met up with the others at lunch since her locker was right outside my fourth hour.
“You heard about Ramses, right?” the tall goddess said to me in passing. Seriously, she looked beautiful like every moment of the day. It was hard to believe she actually played sports and sweated. She pushed black strands out of her face. “Like the school is seriously freaking, and you missed it this morning.”
“Missed what?” I asked, pushing the doors open to the lunchroom. We got inside, and all she had to do was point. I spotted Ramses at our usual table and he was actually sitting on top of it. His arms expanded wide, he looked like a frickin’ mage telling a grandiose story. No doubt about his suspension, and I started to laugh until I realized how many people were at our table with him.
I laughed even less when I saw their fingers.
The boys had a shine on their right hands, king rings and the girls underneath their arms wore necklaces. They wore necklaces like mine and that symbol I still wore to keep up with appearances.
“What the fuck?” fell from my mouth, and it’d been loud enough over the chaos for Ramses and crew to notice me.
A loud and vibrant, “’Zona!” shouted my way, and immediately leaving the table, Ra
mses came over. He pounded Kiki’s fist, allowing her to pass before coming to my side. She headed into the lunch line, and shocked, I just stood there.