“Not by a long shot!” the one on the right added, and all three stormed down the hallway.
Bella watched them walk away, then turned back to Eva, with a victorious grin on her small, round face.
“That was freakin’ awesome!” she awed.
“I really didn’t want to do that.”
“What are you talking about?” Bella praised her. “That was monumental! No one ever spoke to her like that!”
“I lied about the karate thing. I mean, me and my dad did some boxing, but that’s about it. I could throw in a few mean punches, but I’m not sure how I’d do in a real fight.”
“She doesn’t know that,” Bella replied.
“Yeah, but maybe I made it even worse,” Eva wondered. “I don’t know. You told me to stay away from her. Maybe you’re right, but I just didn’t want to be the target from day one, you know. I was a nobody in my old school, people made fun of me. I guess I just wanted a clean slate here, to create myself as I am, not as I was.”
“I can understand that.”
“Well, we’ll see what I did,” Eva sighed. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it again.”
“Don’t worry, I got your back. See you after class?” Bella asked.
“Of course,” Eva smiled.
She already liked Bella. Principal Rannulf made a good decision pairing them up. She almost wanted to thank him.
Chapter 7
Eva was picking up some books from her locker, and Bella’s cheerful face popped up as Eva slammed the door shut, with a loud bang. She always wondered why these lockers made so much noise, as if the kids’ chatter wasn’t loud enough. Sometimes, she could barely think in the hallways.
“Oh, crap, you scared me!” Eva jumped with fright upon seeing her friend. She pressed her hand against her heart. It was beating like crazy.
“Guilty conscience, eh?” Bella winked, as the two started walking to the gymnasium.
“Not really, just jittery is all,” Eva explained.
“Well, after all you’ve been through lately, I’d consider myself lucky to be just jittery. You could have gone totally, batshit crazy,” she said, with such sincerity, that Eva almost burst out laughing.
“And miss all this drama?” Eva eyed her sideways. “You must be crazy!”
The two girls burst out laughing. All around them, students were headed the same way, busily chatting to those they were with. There was excitement in the air. It was almost palpable.
“So, this game is a big deal, huh?” Eva asked, looking around her.
People were wearing t-shirts and jerseys with the school name or pictures of the school mascot and waving the school flag.
“Can’t you tell?” Bella raised her eyebrow, gesturing all around them. “We’re playing the yearly game with Pleamore Academy,” she explained matter-of-factly.
“Pleamore Academy?” Eva repeated.
It didn’t ring a bell. Then, it occurred to her that, of course, it wouldn’t. It was probably another secret school for vampires or something like that.
“Werewolf Academy?” Bella told her, with a surprised tone of voice.
“Werewolf Academy?” Eva felt like all she was doing was just repeating Bella’s words. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Werewolves really exist?”