Fairy Bad Day - By Amanda Ashby
“WHAT JUST HAPPENED? ”
Suddenly, she was aware of the silence between them, and after the embarrassing misunderstanding of the tie incident, she decided that she had better stand up before she made another stupid mistake. She started to get to her feet, but before she could, she felt his fingers reach out for her hand.
“Jones . . . ” His voice was low and raspy and sent a delicious shudder racing through her as his fingers curled possessively around hers and he pulled her back down to the bench. She looked up to see him staring right at her, and she swallowed. Last time this had happened he had fixed her tie, but tonight she didn’t have her uniform on.
“Yes?” Her voice was croaky, even to her own ears, but instead of answering, he lowered his mouth to hers, and before she knew what was happening, Curtis was kissing her. The feel of his lips on hers, his skin touching hers, his fingers entwined in hers . . . it all made her feel something that she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Happy. He deepened the kiss, and Emma felt her whole body start to tingle. However, too soon it was over, and Curtis suddenly pulled away and leaned back against the bench, shaking his head as he looked up into the night sky.
“I shouldn’t have done that.”
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Published by Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2011
Copyright © Amanda Ashby, 2011
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eISBN : 978-1-101-52906-5
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Jenny Bent, my fabulous Skittleloving agent. This book wouldn’t have existed without you. To Christina Phillips, Sara Hantz, and Pat Posner, only you guys know what this one was like to write—and I will buy you pretty shiny things if you promise not to tell! I would also like to thank my amazing editor, Karen Chaplin, who works so hard to find the story within—thank you, thank you, thank you! And to everyone else at Puffin, you have no idea how much I appreciate all that you do to make my dreams come true.
To Marie Zitney, Delia Lynch, and Vanessa Charters, I met you guys well before the Internet ever existed, yet somehow you’ve turned into my Facebook cheer squad—thank you! To my mum and my entire family, thank you for your excellent bookstore-stalking abilities! I’d also like to give a special thanks to Mandy, Claudia, Ruby, Niko, and Willie for being such amazing friends when we needed it most! An extra big shout-out to all the amazing YA bloggers out there who do so much to support writers. You guys are the best! And as always, nothing would exist without Barry, Molly, and Arthur. Thank you for ignoring the dust, the burnt meals, and the occasional vagueness.
CHAPTER ONE
Demon, definitely,” Emma Jones whispered as another sophomore made his way from Principal Kessler’s office to where everyone was waiting on the grassy quad. It was late afternoon and the sun was still lingering. Two seconds later the student lifted both his index fingers up onto his head to mimic demon horns and let everyone know that he was now a demon slayer.
“That’s incredible. How do you do it?” Loni demanded, her dark violet eyes almost as wide as the large silver hoops that were hanging from her ears. (The same earrings that Loni had dragged Emma all around town searching for, before finally deciding to buy them from the first store they’d looked in.)
“It’s a gift.” Emma grinned and shrugged as she marked her chart. So far she had managed to correctly call the designation of