more concerned about being publicly humiliated in front of the five hundred Burtonwood students who were currently sitting inside the cafeteria eating their breakfast.
“I’d say about negative six hundred and five.” Loni puffed as she readjusted the heavy bag that was slung over her shoulder. Her short black hair was gelled up so that her heart-shaped face looked even more heart-shaped than ever.
“You do realize that wasn’t the answer I was looking for,” Emma noted as Loni shot her an apologetic wince.
“Sorry. But what do you expect? This kind of news travels fast around here.”
“I know, but it’s so unfair. I mean, the explosion wasn’t my fault,” Emma protested as she touched the horrible eye patch the school nurse had insisted she wear after making her spend all of Sunday in the infirmary. Apparently, a small speck of debris from the explosion had flown in there and it had to be removed by a large magnetized needle and a lot of freaking out on her behalf. “All I did was follow those stupid fairies, and the next thing I know—boom! The whole place exploded, the kitchen was toast, and my eye wouldn’t stop aching. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, it’s not like anyone was hurt.”
“Yeah, including any fairies,” a voice rang out from behind them, and Emma spun around to see Glen Lewis.
“Did you miss that part in your handbook where it tells you that you’re actually supposed to kill them?” his twin brother, Garry, added, like part two of a bad comedy act.
“Just ignore them,” Loni advised as they both came to a halt in front of the large bronze statue of Sir Francis Edgar Hilary Mackay, who stood guarding the entrance of the cafeteria. Loni automatically reached up on tiptoes to touch Sir Francis’s forehead. “You know what ogre slayers are like. Idiots.”
“I know.” Emma sighed as she followed her friend in pressing two fingers onto the cold metal face of their founding father. She had no idea where the forehead-touching-forgood-luck tradition came from, but with the way her week was shaping up, she didn’t want to take any chances.
“After all,” Loni said as she brushed past the twins and walked through to the cafeteria entrance, “you might not be slaying a lot of fairies right now, but you’re stopping them from causing trouble. You should be proud, not embarrassed.”
“I agree. You should let everyone know how great you are.” Garry Lewis gave the statue a quick high five and followed them through, before raising his hands with a flourish. “In fact, allow me to do the honors. Ladies and gentlemen, can I please introduce Miss Emma Jones, the one-eyed, foodcourt-destroying, fairy-slayer extraordinaire.”
Well, so much for hoping that no one had heard about what happened, and as the entire cafeteria burst out laughing, Emma futilely pushed forward her straight brown bangs to try to hide her eye patch. If she had been smart, she would’ve remembered to leave her long hair loose, but out of habit she had hastily tied it back into a low ponytail when she’d gotten dressed. Something she was now regretting.
“Look,” Brenda Vance, an anally retentive demon slayer from Emma’s year, called out. “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Oh, wait, it’s a fairy. Quick, let me blow it up.”
The laughter increased and Emma tried to concentrate on her breathing. The worst thing was that she couldn’t even blame them because it was true. After all, who had ever heard of a fairy slayer? It was stupid.
“Demon slayers are even bigger idiots than ogre slayers.” Loni bristled in annoyance as they both picked up orange trays and joined the line for their first meal of the day. “Just ignore the—” Loni continued, just as a voice called out from somewhere behind them.
“Yo, Curtis—nice job, man.”
“Three kills in one night? You rock,” another person added, and Emma spun around to see the lanky figure of Curtis Green standing at the cafeteria entrance propped up on crutches, his left leg covered in a fresh blue plaster cast. As the clapping continued, he raised an arm and shot the room in general a lopsided grin before he swung his way toward the back of the food line.
Right where they were standing.
Emma watched in horror as he joined them, the final confirmation she was having a bad morning.
“Hey, Jones. What happened to you?” he asked as he came to a halt and leaned forward on his crutches,