Surviving Year One (Grim Reaper Academy 1)

“Thank you.” I was beaming. Professor Lesage gave me one of his best smiles, then moved on to correct Sheba’s posture. I turned back to Francis. “Come on. Do it right this time.”

We practiced like this for another thirty minutes, then Mr. Lesage gave us additional tips and tricks and sent us on our way. Francis got a perfect strike a couple of times, and I felt what he’d described, too. It was fascinating, because after each simulated cut, I felt more alive. It was as if my string of life grew stronger, and my desire to enjoy every minute on this Earth increased. Talk about a certain cure for depression…

GC waited for me, and we went up to his room to get our scythes. I was practically living with him now, although we hadn’t gone all the way, yet. He was happy to wait, and I was determined to make him wait at least until the Christmas holiday. The thing was… No matter how hard I tried, I still couldn’t fully trust him. It was like I trusted him to a certain extent, but if someone asked me, I couldn’t have said that I trusted him with my life. If he could wait until Christmas, if he didn’t pressure me, and if he didn’t break up with me because I wasn’t ready to fuck, then maybe what we had was for real. Despite him being, practically, the perfect boyfriend, I couldn’t deny that I sometimes had nightmares about us having sex and then him betraying me the next day, telling everyone about it, telling lies, making the entire school call me a whore. Was it paranoia? Maybe? But what if it was just a strong sense of self preservation, and what if it was the only thing that kept me safe? I hated living with this uncertainty. Did GC really like me? Did he want me for me, or was this whole relationship part of a greater prank that was supposed to destroy me forever? It was stressful, and it hurt, but it wasn’t my fault. They’d successfully bullied me into the paranoid person that I was now.

PE was next, and to my disappointment, Mrs. Charon announced that we would be starting out special practice for the Yule Ball. The ball was scheduled for Christmas, the night before the winter vacation started and all students went home. Needless to say, I felt completely deflated. Everyone was looking forward to the Yule Ball, but not me. The parents were invited, but I knew mine wouldn’t come. No one had invited them, and no one would. Headmaster Colin had asked me about them, and I’d begged him to not contact them. Ever. If they found out where I was, they’d take me back home for good. So yeah, Yule Ball was going to be a bore. And because my parents wouldn’t be there to see our scythe demonstration, there was no reason for me to perform. I had no intention to get up on that stage with the VDC, the only girl in my Cabal, the only human in the entire school, and let everyone’s parents treat me like a circus attraction. I was going to practice with the VDC because I needed the worth points, but I’d already told Mrs. Charon that I wouldn’t perform at the ball. She understood.

“I have an idea,” Klaus approached me after PE, when we were crossing the yard to take our scythes back to our rooms. GC had stayed behind with some guys. “For your revenge on Sariel.”

“You do?”

“You’re not performing at the Yule Ball. So, you won’t need your scythe.”

“I don’t follow.”

He stopped walking and put his hands on my shoulders. “Woman, the scythes are unique and attuned to our energy. We chose the scythe we chose at the test because it was meant for us. We can only do our job with our scythe, and with no one else’s. But you won’t need yours at the ball. Because you’re not performing. Sariel, though… he’s doing the demonstration. In front of his parents. In front of the whole Academy.”

He grinned, and I grinned with him. Oh, I was following now.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Patricia was supposed to lend me a dress for the Yule Ball, but that wasn’t happening anymore. Our friendship wasn’t happening anymore. Not since she and Paz had started dating.

“We can still be friends,” I’d told her. “I don’t care who you date. Paz was a jerk to me, but if he makes you happy, then I’m happy.”

“It’s obvious that he has a thing for you,” she’d explained, half enraged, and half pained. “I don’t want you around him.”

I’d rolled my eyes. “In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve been avoiding him since forever. I don’t want to be around him either, trust me. And he doesn’t like me, Patty, he despises me. He, Sariel, and Francis almost killed me.”

“You know that was Lorna.”

“Whatever. Look, this doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends. Come on! Are we seriously ending our friendship over some guy?”

“He’s not just some guy,” she’d said in a small voice, and that was when I knew Patty was in love with Paz, and if he’d been the one who’d convinced her to end it with me, she wasn’t going to change her mind.

I was out of a friend, and I was out of a ball dress.

“Why don’t you ask GC to buy you one?” Klaus had asked me in History.

“Do you hear yourself? I don’t depend on my boyfriend. I don’t need him to buy me anything.”

“Well then, what the hell are you going to wear?!”

“I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t go at all.”

“Would GC allow that?”

“No…”

“Fuck it. I’m buying you a dress.”

I didn’t resist him much. He hadn’t exactly been the most loyal friend this past semester, and he knew it. The dress would wash some of his sins. So, the weekend before the ball, we went down to the city and I chose a cute, frilly dress that he paid for with his parents’ money. Obviously. It was a light, girly shade of purple, it stopped right above my knee, and the tight corset pushed by round breasts up and made them look even bigger. GC was going to love it! But what was most important was that I loved it. It was the nicest thing I owned, and I couldn’t help but hug Klaus for dear life, and even give him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“You know what? All of your sins have been washed. Even the original sin.”

He rolled his eyes at me but couldn’t suppress a smile. “You do know I’m baptized, right?”

“I honestly didn’t know mages get baptized.”