Death In Her Eyes - Erin Bedford Page 0,21

of the room. A bug huh? That was a new one. I’d have to remember that for the next time I had a face to face with dear old daddy. That should be fun.

Chapter 8

I had physical education after this class which skipped completely. Didn’t like it in high school wasn’t going to take it now.

After an uneventful lunch, I told Ayden I had to go to the bathroom so I could have an excuse to sneak a smoke. When I came out of the bathroom, I found Charity waiting for me. I took one look at Charity and turned the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Charity’s Mary Jane's clacked on the stone floors as she rushed to catch up with me.

I dug my hand into my bag and pulled out the cigarette I'd stashed their earlier. "To have a smoke."

"We have the next class together,” Charity stated as if that were enough to stop me.

"So?"

Charity to my surprise grabbed my bag and jerked me to the left. "So, if you don't want to get caught and be on time, you'll go this way. They do field practice on Mondays."

I surveyed Charity. What was her deal? She didn't have her little minions with her this time, and she'd made sure to grab my bag and not my arm which was no doubt the easier of the two. Plus, she was helping me get away with breaking the rules.

Deciding to see where this went, I jerked my head toward the hallway. "Alright then. Lead the way."

I followed Charity, acutely aware of my surroundings. It wouldn't be the first time I'd trusted the wrong person and ended up battened and bloodied behind a dumpster. Evidently though, I wasn't the only student who needed their nicotine fix. Or their high if the scent in the air was anything to go by.

Charity brought up out a side door in a small courtyard hidden between two stone buildings. A handful of students all around my age leaned against the walls and slouched on the ground. Some of them were the purple necktie and others didn't. It seemed the so called them versus us line Ayden and Charity had drawn at dinner didn't apply to this place.

"Come on," Charity took a joint from one of her purple neck tied friends and inhaled deeply. "We only have about fifteen minutes before the hallway rounds come by again."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I shoved the butt of my cigarette in between my lips and flicked the lighter I'd made sure to remember this time.

Taking a deep inhale, I scanned the little hidden alcove and harrumphed.

"What?" Charity arched a brow taking another drag of her joint before passing it back to her friend.

I shook my head and laughed. "Nothing. Just didn't expect this is all."

She smirked. "You think that since we're Nephilim we're not also teenagers? We still drink. We smoke. We fuck. Just because we have holy blood doesn't mean we're not still part human. Besides..." she glanced away from me and stared off into the distance. "If any of us have a right to need an escape it’s us. You know?"

I flicked the end of my cigarette and nodded. "Yeah. Right."

We stood there in not so awkward silence filling our lungs and heads with anything but what we were, what this life meant we had to be. No one moved until an alarm went off making everyone jump.

“Relax.” The guy Charity had been sharing a smoke with pulled his phone out and hit a button on the side. “It’s the five-minute warning alarm. We better clear out of here.” He exchanged a look with a Charity, who nodded and kissed him on the lips.

She walked past me and held the door open. “Come on, we have one more class before lunch break and this one you won’t want to miss.”

Taking a final drag of my cigarette I tossed it on the ground before stubbing it out with my boot. I blew the smoke out the side of my mouth as I followed her inside.

“Why are you being so nice today?” I finally couldn’t hold the question back.

Charity gave me a sideways look. “What do you mean? I wasn’t being mean at dinner. I was stating facts.”

I rolled my eyes. “You say potatoh, I say potahto.” When Charity gave me a confused frown, I elaborated. “You were being kind of a bitch. I should know. It’s kind of my thing.”

“Oh.”

She didn’t say anything else about the