“We’re just trying to talk to some pretty girls…and you.” He guffawed, like he’d just made the funniest joke ever.
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
He scooted closer, grinning suggestively. “Though maybe we can work something out, you and me. If you’re nice enough, I might forgive you for being such a bitch.”
I scowled. “Thanks, but no, thanks, Romeo. Not in the mood.”
“Hey,” Colin called from the other end of the table. “El Trainee Roberto. A little focus here. Eyes on the prize. Isn’t that right, ladies?” He gave a smooth grin to the dark-haired girl. But she was staring at her lunch like she was trying to bust out some telepathy and bend her cutlery with her eyeballs, so he turned his attentions to Pretty Girl instead. “You need to come to the castle,” he told her. Then his eyes lit. “In fact,” he added, “all you first-years have to.”
The girl actually said, “Really?” She was studying him like she might find some good there if she peered hard enough, as if he might’ve been cute enough to look past his evil little soul.
I rolled my eyes. Don’t pass go, Pretty Girl. Just go directly to the door to collect your Darwin award now.
“Oh, totally,” Colin said, sensing her interest.
Redheaded Dan added, “You new girls get assigned what are kind of…buddies, like.”
“The vampires in charge didn’t tell us anything about that.” Regina was more skeptical than her friend, and I gave her better odds.
“They sent us to tell you,” Yasuo said.
Pretty Girl looked from one to the other. “You’re not joking?”
Dan grinned and nodded. “You’ll be ambassadors, like.” He sure liked the word like. Maybe it was a London thing. He clarified, “You know, mates.” That, I knew, was a Britishism, but still, the boys guffawed at the double entendre.
“Seriously?” I muttered to myself. I couldn’t decide which angered me more: the girls for being blinded by a couple of cute faces, or the boys for taking advantage.
Colin scented Pretty Girl’s weakness and had her cornered like the doe-eyed creature she was. “We take you on a tour,” he told her with that creepy grin.
“Get real,” I whispered.
But Yas had heard. His eyes instantly zoomed to mine. “What did you say?” He wasn’t dumb. He knew me, and he’d know exactly what I thought about these clowns. It was what he used to think. So why was he hanging out with them?
“I said you’re a real big deal,” I lied.
Dan, the ginger moron, actually smiled. “Jealous?”
“In your dreams, Danny Boy.”
Colin angled away from me, giving his full focus to the girls. “Don’t you ladies listen to Drew. She’s an Initiate—she’s just trying to screw with you.”
Dan was staring at me now, with a combination of macho bluster and flat-out stupidity. “Little D is messing with you. It’s what the older girls do.”
The new Acari looked like they were actually buying his story, and I told them, “They’re the ones screwing with you. Not me.”
“Not true,” Dan protested. “We’re supposed to explain things to you.” The way he said things sounded like fings.
Colin added, “Show you around.”
I shot a glance at Yasuo. He was silently watching the proceedings. The look on his face was unreadable, like a combination of amusement and scorn. Why was he even involved with these knuckleheads?
“But we can’t go off the path,” Regina said warily.
“Oh, you won’t. You won’t. We just need to…” Dan gave Colin a loaded look, uncertain how to finish what he’d started.
Colin caught the ball and ran. “You have to come with us so we can explain the curriculums that you’re going to take while you’re here.”
I groaned. The guy had the IQ of a tennis ball. “The curriculums?”