Chapter 11 #2
“No, she can’t,” Boden snaps with a fiery look at Lyam.
“Actually, Boden’s mistaken.” I give Lyam a flirtatious smile. “I’m currently holding auditions for new friends. So you’re in luck. I’m Lena.”
“Lena, as in Vladlena Solis?” A crystal-like feminine voice rings out loudly behind Lyam. Everyone standing near me takes a step back, erecting an invisible social moat around me. I meet the striking light blue eyes of the woman who spoke, a smirk on the gentle curve of her face.
“Yes, exactly,” I respond cautiously. “And who might you be?”
She brushes her pale blonde hair over her shoulder with perfectly manicured fingers. “I’m surprised you don’t know. I’d have thought King Kian would have informed you,” she says in a way that’s clearly supposed to come off innocently and yet is anything but. “Or at the very least Boden?”
“Why would I?” Boden asks, his voice thick with boredom as he avoids looking at me.
Her eyes show the quickest flash of irritation before she covers it up with a candy-sweet smile.
“You’re too funny, Bo-ey.” She slides her arm into Boden’s before turning that cavity-inducing smile on me.
“I’m Katri, your wing captain. Kian asked me to help you out while you adjust to our way of life. ”
Ah, so it’s like that, is it? I may not be the most socially aware person, but I’m fluent enough to know how to deal with this.
You have to respond to girls like this with one of three tactics. One, you can grovel and treat them like the queen bee they think they are and hope they leave you alone.
“Oh, so I have you to thank for my new wardrobe?” I attempt tactic one—also known as the path of least resistance. Matching her smile, I say, “I really appreciate you doing that. It must have been additional work on what was likely a very busy day.”
“Of course, I’m always willing to help those in need.”
I can practically see her polishing her store-bought halo.
“I hope you found everything to your liking?”
Okay, so maybe this calls for tactic number two. Tactic two: out-mean-girl the mean girl. Easier said than done, but not impossible.
“I found everything…interesting.” I pause for effect.
“I’m just so grateful for your help. I would have never fit in here aesthetically without it.
I lived my whole life in metropolitan areas, so I just don’t really know how to do the whole suburban country club look.
” I glance down at her light-blue cocktail dress that I fucking hate to admit is anything but suburban.
In fact, it’s an annoyingly perfect match for her eyes.
Her smile tightens ever so slightly. “Well, I just knew they were your style. Clothing to fit you perfectly.” She didn’t outright call me ugly, but it was heavily implied, like a two-ton gorilla heavy.
“I owe you one.” I grind my molars, forcing myself to hold a smile. It appears she’s a professional at this.
“How have you been adjusting? I should report your progress back to King Kian.” She tilts her head. She is talking to Kian about me? I arch one eyebrow in question. She gives me a small condescending pout. “I heard there was some difficulty with your history class this morning?”
Clearly gossip travels fast. She’s not backing down anytime soon. If I’m going to leave this interaction with my head held high, I have to win.
So I let out a dramatic sigh. “Oh yes, that. It seems some people are quite excited about my presence here. I don’t know what I did to deserve such a large fan base?
” The group around us sucks in a simultaneous breath and, like the push of two negative ends of a magnet, takes another collective step back.
Flicking my fingers like I can’t be bothered, I offer a noncommittal grin.
“Well, it was sooo nice to meet you, Katie, Lyam, nameless spectators.” I raise my chin in the direction of the others standing nearby.
“And nice catching up with you, Boden, Callum. You’re so verbose.
” I could be mistaken, but I think I catch Callum smirk.
As I walk away and gently brush past the girls, something catches my foot, and I stumble toward the balcony’s railing, dropping my handbag.
As I reach down for it, an intense gust of wind pushes into my side, and I realize I forgot the last tactic—on very, very rare occasions, the only way to win with a girl like Katri is tactic number three: fight.
The only problem with tactic three? In this realm, I’m unarmed and underpowered. A second blast of hurricane-force wind slams into my side, sending me hurtling over the balcony. I plummet, twisting head over heels, and crash into the icy lake below. I suck in a breath before my head goes under.
The frigid water shocks my system, and my arms and legs flounder for purchase, but the lake is deep.
Govno, govno, pizdets! Shit, shit, fucking disaster!
The cold locks my joints, and panic makes me forget I can swim.
Disoriented, I struggle to tell which way is up, the dark sky blending with the murky water.
The weight of humiliation is an anchor dragging me deeper through the lake’s darkened depths to bury me in the sediment.
Vegetation and aquatic plants brush against my skin and tangle around my limbs, giving me a sense of direction.
My survival instincts take over, and I force my body upwards, fighting against the cold grip of the lake.
Bursting through the surface, I gasp and choke, my ears ringing with the mocking laughter of four hundred cruel students.
The heat of their gazes as they stare over the balcony at me does nothing to warm my skin.
I doggy paddle toward the edge, trying to ignore their laughter and the mineral-heavy aquatic smell of the lake.
Shivering, I pull myself up the muddy bank, my hands and knees sinking into the silt.
I chant to myself as I crawl: Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.
When I was younger and upset, Dmitri used to distract me with his terrible puns.
He would always laugh, and him laughing at his atrocious jokes would divert my attention long enough that I could calm down.
Lena, you will not cry, you will distract yourself!
It’s only September, how was the water that cold? It’s glacial. It’s colder than Dr. Eld’s left teat…I snort out loud…Get it, because he’s a witch? Even after nearly drowning, I still crack myself up. Success, tears averted!
I trudge up the embankment, thankful for the dusky light hiding my blush and my glass-cutting nipples. Naomi runs up to me, my bag—which I luckily didn’t grasp prior to my unplanned dive—in her arms.
“Holy shit balls, are you okay?” Her eyes are wild with worry. “What happened?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Not sure. One minute, I was walking by the balcony. Next thing I knew, a gale-force wind rammed right into me,” I whisper, my body freezing but my face hot with shame.
“Someone must’ve used their elemental magic.” She glances around for the culprit.
“Of course they did.” Because Katri and her friends are already experts in mean girl tactic number three. “I’m going to go back to my room. Thanks for this.” I take my bag.
“I’ll walk with you.” Naomi starts to link her arm through mine.
I flinch, pulling away so as to not soak the side of her dress with stinky lake water.
I haven’t even known this girl for thirty-six hours, and she’s already so freaking nice to me.
I can’t pull her away from this party she was so excited for.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m totally fine,” I try to assure her. “It’s PJ time.”
“You sure?” she asks, and I wave her off.
As I slog past the Komarov Center toward the walkway, I hear a high-pitched voice that sounds an awful lot like Katri’s pouring through the open windows. “Just like a Solis to make a fool of themself.”
A masculine voice responds, “Be grateful, they have a history of doing much worse.”
What the hell is that supposed to mean? I huff internally as my shoes squelch with each irritated step toward the center of campus. The cool evening air blows against my wet skin, making me shiver and my teeth chatter.
“Vladlena, wait up.” Callum jogs behind me on the path, their copper hair tousled by the breeze. “I’ll escort you back.”
Will the humiliation never end? I really don’t see the upside in interacting with the quiet magica who ignored me tonight.
“Please don’t, I’d like to lick my wounds in peace,” I murmur, keeping a steady pace back to the dorms. Though their long legs allow them to catch up to me quick enough.
“It’s nonnegotiable, I’m afraid.” They shrug, their hands in the pockets of their burgundy trousers.
“Ah, I see.” I side-eye them as we walk. “How’d you get so lucky to snag Boden’s gig as babysitter?”
Their lips twitch in amusement. “I volunteered. He needed to cool off.”
“Maybe he should take a dip in the lake,” I deadpan.
They blow out a strangled huff of air, not quite a laugh but something almost adjacent to one, before they roll their lip between their teeth and stare straight ahead. Well, at least they have a sense of humor. We walk without speaking. The crickets and my squelching steps are the only sounds.
“Speaking of,” they say, breaking the near silence, “aren’t you cold?”
“I’m freezing. That’s why I’m hustlin’ my ass to go take a shower.”
“But you’re seraphim…” They raise one dark copper eyebrow in question.
“So I’ve been told.” I’m not sure what that has to do with being cold. I pull my arms across my chest and hug my body tightly as we approach the steps of Havard Hall.
Callum tilts their head, giving me a strange look, like they’re attempting to examine the fine print of me.
There is a spark in their eyes. However, unlike Boden’s, they’re not lit with animosity but rather curiosity.
Perhaps they didn’t deliberately ignore me tonight.
Maybe they’re just shy or prefer to feel things out before letting someone new in.
“Well, warm up.” They lift their head toward the door before turning in the direction we came from and walking briskly back up the path. Or perhaps I’m totally wrong, and they don’t like me very much.
I trudge into Havard Hall, soaking wet, cold, irritated, and determined to get the elevator to work.
All I can think about is avoiding the multistory hike (prior to even reaching the spiral staircase) so that I can shower and sleep.
After fiddling with it for a minute or two, I walk over to the front desk.
“Hey, could you help me with the elevator?” I ask the girl who very clearly drew the short straw to be on duty while everyone else is at the mixer. “I’ve tried so many times. Obviously I don’t want to walk the stairs soaking wet.”
She rolls her eyes. “Student ID?” She holds out her hand as she walks past me to the elevator. I hand her my ID. “You have to tap it here on the outside.” Demonstrating, she slowly taps my ID on a pad and then the door opens. “And then you have to push your number. What floor?”
“Um…four.” I know it doesn’t go the whole way to my turret, but if it took me up to the fourth, I could trudge my way up the spiral staircase.
“Then you tap it again inside.” She taps the pad next to the floor numbers. Nothing happens. “Huh?” She taps it again. Still nothing. She looks down at my ID and then back up at me with wide eyes. “You’re Vladlena Solis?”
“Why do people keep asking me that?” I’m unable to keep the annoyance from my voice.
“There must be something wrong with your ID.” She practically throws it at me before running out of the elevator and hurtling back to her desk.
So I drag my tired ass up the stairs, dripping muddy lake water the whole way.
I make it all the way up to my bathroom.
All I want is a hot shower and a rerun of Bake Off.
After washing the stink of lake water off my body, I trudge into my room, throw on my Huxley sweats, and have a good cry while I watch Paul Hollywood critique a meat pie for its soggy bottom.
“You know who has two thumbs and had a soggy bottom tonight, Paul?” I shout at my tablet between sobs. “This girl!”
Riddle me this: What’s black and white and humiliated all over?