CHAPTER 7

KATHERINE. “Do you guys also have elements?” Priyanka nodded before holding her free hand up and in the blink of an eye, light burst in front of me, sending heat washing over my skin while I jolted. Flames had blossomed into being and were currently hovering above the tips of her fingers, moving in tune with her fingers as she wiggled them. “Show off,” Josie snorted while I had to concentrate to calm my racing heart and with a grin, Priyanka put the flames out one by one till there was just a lone flame hovering above her forefinger. “What about you?” I asked Josie and she leaned forward, blowing out Priyanka’s final flame. “Air. I’m not ‘that’ good at wielding it yet,” she replied, shooting Priyanka a glare before returning her gaze to mine. “What about you? Do you have one?” I shook my head. “You’re probably just a late bloomer too. I didn’t know I had one till the last Elemental Science class.” I doubted I was that – a late bloomer – because my parents and grandparents didn’t have elements but I didn’t say so. Repeated chants of the name ‘Blake’ drew my attention back to the lake just in time to see the golden-haired boy launch out of the water with the help of a water elementalist and do a flip in the air before landing gracefully into the water. Cheers rose from the people around him and Josie said “He’s such an attention whore”, the ground suddenly shifted beneath my feet. “Whoa!” I blurted out, steadying myself by grabbing the edge of the stage as Josie fell to the ground. “Fucking earth elementalists,” she groaned before a dark-skinned guy swooped in to stabilize Priyanka who was wobbling as I helped Josie to her feet. “Really? You couldn’t catch me before I fell?” Josie asked him and he shrugged while Priyanka’s face lit up when she saw his face. “You said you weren’t coming.” “That was before you said you’d be here,” he replied, flashing her a smile as she turned to face him. “Hey.” “Hey.” Then she pressed her lips to his and my eyes rounded a bit in surprise while Josie booed them. When they pulled away from each other a moment later, Priyanka faced me and said, “Katherine, this is Dave, the blight of my life.” “Hey.” Dave gave me a small smile. “Priyanka’s just joking. She loves me to bits.” “Ew,” Josie cut in before telling me, “They’re mates. They’re disgusting.” “Oh,” I muttered, glancing at the couple once more and my stomach did a little flip as I watched them interact. ‘Mates…’ I thought before realizing that most of the people around us were in pairs and it was obvious that they were in a relationship. The reason I was in Blackwood came to mind and as Priyanka and Dave beamed at each other, I couldn’t help but wonder if my mate was in this clearing right now… close by. “Get a room, freaks,” Josie stated before grabbing my hand and pulling me away from them, leading me toward the tables that had snacks and drinks on them. “I need a drink.” Still thinking of my mate, I replied, “I need one too.” **** ‘Ugh. I’m never drinking again.’ My head pounded as I opened my eyes, shielding them from the bright lights on the ceiling with my hand before I reluctantly sat up in my bed. I felt like shit and my brain was so foggy that I couldn’t quite remember everything that happened after Josie and I started drinking last night. I didn’t even remember coming back to my room. “You’re awake,” a familiar voice said and I glanced at the direction it came from to see Lenore walking over to me with a cup in her hand. When she got to my bed, she held out the cup and I raised a brow, still trying to get my thoughts together. “Hangover cure. You’ll feel better five minutes after drinking it.” “Oh,” I muttered before taking the cup and drinking from it. I heaved a sigh as the sweet, warm liquid slid down my throat and cradled the cup against my chest. “You’re an angel.” The corner of her mouth turned up and she began to head toward the door. “Go take a shower. Class starts in thirty minutes,” she said and I groaned before proceeding to drag myself out of bed. The moment my feet touched the ground, my stomach growled, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get ready and also get breakfast from the dining hall in those thirty minutes. “I’m going to the dining hall. What do you want for breakfast?” It was my turn to smile at her now because her bringing me breakfast would be really convenient. “Is it too soon to fall in love with you?” I asked and she snorted. “The same thing you’re getting.” My headache slowly began to alleviate after that and I drank the liquid in the cup again. “What kind of alcohol was that?” I had drank alcohol before but none of them had been as strong as what Josie and I had last night. Lenore paused at the door and turned to face me, her eyes twinkling. “Werewolf alcohol. Some of the students made it last week so it doesn’t have a name yet.” “Well, I’m never drinking it again.” “Theo and I support that.” It took me several moments to process what she said and when I finally did, I drew my brows together. ‘Why would Theo support that?’ Then it hit me like a train – Josie and I downing drink after drink, Josie and I dancing with some girls next to the bonfire, me going over to Lenore when I spotted her and Theo by the lake, me bumping into Theo and causing him to spill his drink, me telling him to chill the fuck out because it was an accident when he scowled at me and harshly told me to ‘watch it’, me puking at their feet. “Oh my God!” I blurted out, eyes wide with horror as I remembered more of what happened in bits and pieces while Lenore laughed loudly. “Don’t worry. Theo won’t hold it against you,” she said in between laughter and walked out of the room but that didn’t ease the mortification I felt. “Oh my God,” I repeated, lowering myself to my bed just before I remembered something else – Theo’s face close to mine, his warm breath on my skin, as he placed me on my bed while Lenore said something I couldn’t quite hear from somewhere in the room. “There we go,” he had said, his voice surprisingly soft, before he rose to his full height and in the dim lighting of the room, with his dark hair framing his face, he looked incredibly ‘hot’. “You’re really so, so pretty. Too bad you’re also really mean,” I had told him in a slurred voice just as Lenore stepped into view and she let out a soft laugh while he raised a brow. ‘Crap.’ Heat rushed to my face as I finished reliving that memory before I gently dropped the cup I was holding on the nightstand, buried my face in one of the pillows on the bed, and screamed.