Devils' Day Party: A High School Bully Romance - C.M. Stunich Page 0,181

do anything with …” He pauses and looks over at the moms again.

“Oh, come on, Jane,” Cathy murmurs, dragging my mother down the hall so we can have some privacy. “We can do the spell another time.”

But, of course, we can’t.

She just doesn’t know that yet.

And no fucking way am I going to tell her.

I turn back to Calix and see that his lips are turned up in a slight smile. A real one, this time.

“She isn’t going to post the video … at least not tonight. I don’t know how you knew about it, but I’m glad.” Calix pauses and exhales sharply, like this is a hard thing for him to talk about. “Apparently, her mother is sick, and she’s going through a lot. I’m not sure that she even really wanted to post it. I think she just wanted someone to pay attention to her or talk to her. Considering she followed me to Crescent Prep in some fucked-up attempt at making us the perfect couple, I guess it was only fair that that person should be me.”

“Well then,” I say, holding out my arm and letting him take it. “I’m glad you did.”

“Are you sure you’re not pulling a Devils’ Day prank on us?” Raz asks as the four of us head outside and down the ramp toward the Aston Martin. “Because there’s just something all of this that feels … different.”

“You’re not wrong about that,” I tell him as I move around the front of the car and Barron steps up to open the door for me. “Because everything will be different after today.” I smile just before I climb in the car, pausing to look up at the crescent moon and the splatter of beautiful cosmos across the night sky. “Everything.”

Once we hand over our phones to the gatekeeper, Calix heads up the winding road to the parking lot, taking up the frontmost space that’s been left open specifically for him and the other high-ranking members of the Knight Crew.

That’s expected.

What isn’t expected is for me to climb out with them.

Masked faces turn to look at us, a sea of goblins and faeries, ogres and demons, devils and pixies alike. They watch as I approach the bonfire with an entourage of wickedly beautiful men in tow, pausing in their revelry and debauchery to stare at us.

“Well?” Calix snaps, getting that haughty air of superiority that I’m so used to. “What are you waiting for? This is supposed to be a fucking party.”

A moment of silence passes before all the still forms, the ones dressed in goddess-like shrouds or floor-length coats of velvet, they start moving again, as if some cosmic hand has just pressed play.

Luke appears out of the crowd, dressed in her sequin shirt and bow tie made of sticks and leaves. She’s got Sonja with her, both of them looking at me like I’ve sprouted horns.

“You …” My best friend squints her brown eyes behind the ugly façade of the goblin mask. I've managed to render her completely speechless. I’m going to miss you, Luke, I’m going to miss you so hard that no matter how many lives I live, you’ll always be my best friend.

“I'm here with three devils?” I ask, holding my hands out to either side, palms up, as if to say here's my harem, bitches, deal with it. “If that was your question, then yes, yes I am.”

If I can only have the boys for one more night, then so be it.

They’ll always be mine, whether there’s a tomorrow for me or not.

“Get used to it,” Raz sneers, sauntering over to the table laden with alcohol and grabbing an entire bottle of vodka for himself. It has bits of flower petals floating inside of it, just like the one we drank inside the school bus, the school bus that we painted filthy with our lascivious acts. “Your girl over there just asked us to treat her to an orgy this weekend. How could we possibly refuse?”

“It's not as bad as it first appears,” I murmur, snatching Luke's arm and dragging her away from the bulk of the Knight Crew. “Were you able to talk to Pearl today?”

“Look.” Luke points over to one of the logs where Pearl sits, draped in my dress and nursing a drink. April sits close by, one elbow on her knee, a smile on her face as the two of them talk in low murmurs. They’re both teen moms—well, one is a soon-to-be-mom—whose families want