Chapter 19
“LOVEFOOL” BY THE CARDIGANS
Iwas about ten seconds away from wringing her neck.
“Is it always this painful?” Erica hissed, clearly thinking the same as me.
Olivia giggled and played with the rings around our friend’s fingers. She leaned forward enough for me to see and nodded, confirming my suspicions on the way this choir practice was run.
We were in the auditorium, sitting on folding chairs, the choir risers still set up from a pep rally last week.
I was trying my hardest to remember the way Quinntessa’s eyes sparkled in the morning sun, but Diana’s voice continued to strike through my memories of this morning with painful precision.
Quinntessa was reading in her car when I pulled in, as she did every morning when she wasn’t sleeping her life away.
I figured she still had nightmares and needed her sleep, so I kept my distance the past few days.
I preferred walking the bike now over waking her, unless I knew she was awake.
That way, she wouldn’t be frightened from her nightmares after struggling all night to sleep.
Some nights, when I happened to be in Coven, I’d park my bike and lean against the brick of Miss Angie’s house to watch Quinntessa’s hips sway in the window, her fingers in her hair as she danced, hearing the periodic sound of her laughter as she fell on her bed with her dog.
I liked seeing her enjoy herself in the window. She’d been turned away from football, kept her distance during lunch hours from other students, and rushed out of classes to run the track while the boys practiced. Mustang was a robot. A robot raised by a Bills fan, so I guess it made sense.
She never gave up. Even after being turned away by Coach Steel, picked on by the other players in the hallways, and becoming a hot topic in the Coven Chronicles for three straight weeks, Quinntessa Dawson held her ground.
She was impressively strong, I’d give her that.
Or she was stubborn as fuck. Either way, good for her.
I liked a woman who didn’t let men define her life.
Not like that, though. I didn’t like Quinntessa Dawson. I just had a little bit of respect for her, given we were both in the same shitty situation with our parents.
As Diana stood at the front of the room bitching at us for dragging practice back by ten whole minutes and wasting somehow less time than she was giving us this lecture, I thought of Quinntessa Dawson.
The girl I still needed to take care of by Valentine’s Day, before people I loved started to die in her place.
I had to stop becoming so distracted with her dimpled smile and freckled skin.
And the way her eyes filled with hearts when she saw a football like some dumb golden retriever in the park. I could still remember how soft she was that night I almost blew her head off. How she relaxed at my touch . . .
My eyes squeezed shut tight, and I rubbed my sweaty palms over the thighs of my jeans.
I didn’t understand what had come over me. Ever since I caught Quinntessa crying in her sleep, it was difficult for me to separate what had been asked of me from who she was. Her name haunted me, so I preferred using any nicknames to separate myself from her, and still, it didn’t work.
She wouldn’t get out of my fucking head.
I should have killed her when I had the chance.
“It’s important we’re prepared for the showcase,” Diana continued. “We cannot be the team that looks a mess just because we’re lazy!”
I glanced behind us as someone cleared their throat loudly. A few seats back on the risers, Meadow Wood raised her pencil above her head, twirling her sunflower eraser top.
Obviously, the girl whose family owns the florist in town would have flower eraser tops.
“Don’t you think instead of spending the better part of an hour berating us over being a little late this morning, we should be practicing?” Meadow asked. “We have new members, and they have no idea what’s going on.”
I turned back around and shared an amused smirk with Erica. Leave it to Mr. Evers to find every kid who didn’t want to be in a club and drag them into a club as punishment for God only knows what.
Meadow was a star student. I had no idea what she could have done to land in here—unless she genuinely wanted to be here.
She volunteered her time during the summers and worked her family’s store around her school hours. She wasn’t in clubs, sports, or attended after school events, so to see Meadow Wood arrive this early to school when she usually helped deliver early arrangements was quite the surprise.
I imagine Rillie was caught selling test answers or key copies again. She must’ve ignored my warnings against selling to Duke. He misplaced everything, and it was hard enough convincing our teacher that the results came from some hacker in Murdafest. I didn’t think Miss Veer believed us in the end.
Zachari was born to be here. Noah enjoyed music. Christian was here for Leo . . . Erica and I were only here because we had to be. Me, because I was not going back to the Ghouls, and Erica, because Olivia asked her to.
Mhm. Because Olivia asked her to.
I tongued at my lip piercings to keep the smile threatening to pull over my lips away. There was no need for me to meddle in that mess.
“I am trying to get everyone on the same page, Meadow.” Diana crossed her arms with a heavy huff. “As I am the lead soloist?—”
The entire room broke out into a thunderous groan. While Mr. Evers was sitting nearby, attending to grading papers as he usually did in the mornings, according to Olivia, multiple voices spoke up to protest. If he was going to let her lead morning practices, she could at least act humbled.
“You’re more annoying than the US government.” Erica raised her brows when Diana gasped. “What? I wouldn’t vote you as president.”
“I want to practice my music,” Noah grumbled quietly behind me.
I chuckled and looked over my shoulder to give the teen a small, amused smile. I hadn’t heard them talk much in class, so it was nice to hear multiple occasions where Noah felt comfortable around their Spirit Hunter friends.
Noah’s nose crinkled, their eyes trailing around my pink hair. They forced an awkward smile on their face and continued to rub Juliette’s large head on their lap.
“I don’t like the color pink, but it’s nice on you,” they whispered, voice toned with a cutesy rasp.
“Thanks, Noah.” I smiled.
I might be a lesbian, but Noah Pierce was too damn cute, with their pencil over their ear, little genderfluid pins along their lanyard, and the biggest fucking dog I had ever seen.
I wrinkled my nose at Juliette when she panted up at me, tail thumping loudly against the risers. Olivia poked at my shoulder and gave me a look when I reached back to pet her.
“She’s working,” Olivia quietly reminded me.
“Shit.” I quickly took my hand back and nodded apologetically to Noah. “Sorry. I forget.”
“Okay.” Noah hugged Juliette.
“That’s extremely offensive, Erica.” Diana’s jaw was on the floor, though no one seemed to agree with her.
“Eri.” Olivia smacked our friend on the thigh. “Stop. Let Diana ruin her own campaign.”
“I agree,” I finally spoke up and arched a brow when the brunette scowling in the front of the room turned to me. “Let her ramble on until we don’t have time to practice. It’s her choice. I, for one, think it’s a brilliant strategy.”
That shut Diana up in seconds. Obviously, she wouldn’t want to encourage such behavior from her club members, especially me. She hated me. I could see it in her face.
“Leave her alone.” Christian spoke up from the top of the risers. I didn’t look in his direction, nor did I respond to the half-wary look Olivia gave me. “She wants what’s best for us. You should have been here on time instead of flirting with Dawson.”
“I knew it,” Zachari snorted.
There were a few snickers around the room as I sat up in my chair. I took a few calculated breaths before turning my body in my ex-boyfriend’s direction.
“Why don’t you go back to the locker rooms and suck a?—”
“Alright!” Mr. Evers clapped his hands loudly to interrupt. He gently guided Diana to a chair and stood in front of the stage. “Why don’t we just get started, hm?”
Christian and I stared at each other for a short, tense second. I ground my teeth and turned back around, feeling the weight of his words loom over me.
My head turned to the right just enough to see Erica staring at me. I pursed my lips and focused forward, doing my very best to ignore her entirely.