Fairy Bad Day(24)

“And then when it was over,” Tyler interjected, “the Department guys were all like, ‘Whoa, dudes, you were awesome. That was the best.’”

“Okay, so now he’s exaggerating.” Loni laughed as she gave Tyler a gentle punch in the arm. “Absolutely none of them said the words ‘whoa, dudes.’”

“Fine,” Tyler conceded. “But all the same, not only did we save the Department guys from getting shredded, but the zombie virus got reversed, which meant no one got turned into bone-munching living dead. All with no injuries. Definitely a good day’s work.”

“Wow.” Emma shook her long dark hair in awe as she soaked in every detail. Then she felt her mood start to plummet as she realized it might be the closest she ever got to some code-blue action. “You guys are so lucky.”

“I know, right.” Tyler reached over and grabbed a piece of Emma’s uneaten bacon. “And did I tell you, three of the hot juniors were all over me in the bus on the way home? Apparently they liked the way I handled myself.”

“You might’ve mentioned it once or twice,” Emma said diplomatically, since not only had he texted her about it, but on his way home in the bus last night, he had proceeded to draw diagrams and repeat the story every five minutes during breakfast.

“Or a hundred million times,” Loni corrected, a lot less diplomatically.

“Sorry.” Tyler shot them an unrepentant grin as he bit into the bacon. “But it was pretty cool. Anyway, now that we’ve told Emma all about the battle, I want to know what happened with this dragon yesterday? Did you seriously see one flying over—”

“Hey.” Loni suddenly pointed over into the crowd. “Tyler, isn’t that one of the girls from the bus? I think she’s waving at you.”

“Really?” Tyler was instantly distracted as he jumped to his feet and started to scan the room.

“Really,” Loni agreed. “You know I bet that if you went over and asked her out, she would probably say yes. Especially since, according to your horoscope, love is in the air for Leo. You should strike while the iron is hot.”

“Well, I was pretty awesome,” Tyler agreed as he smoothed down his blazer and tried to pat his unruly red hair into some sort of order. “Okay, I’m going to do it. Wish me luck.”

“Luck,” Loni and Emma both chorused, but it wasn’t until he hurried away from them that Emma rubbed her sore eye and frowned.

“I didn’t see anyone waving to him. Where is she?”

“Oh.” Loni shrugged. “I sort of made it up. It’s just Tyler’s on such a high right now from yesterday that I was worried he might ask so many annoying questions and we’d be forced to cut him up into tiny pieces and bury the body parts.”

Emma nodded. They both adored Tyler, but there was no doubt that sometimes his testosterone took over his brain.

“Thanks,” she said as she proceeded to fill her friend in on everything that had happened yesterday, from discovering that the dragon was in fact a fairy right up to her upcoming visit to see Principal Kessler in—oh, about ten minutes.

Once she had finished, Loni was looking more exasperated than ever, and her rosebud lips were scrunched together in two thin lines.

“I can’t believe that Curtis just stood there and let you call Kessler and leave that message. And here I was thinking he was a nice guy. He’s a Sagittarius too. You know I did not see that one coming, but you were obviously right about him. He’s evil. One hundred percent, unadulterated evil.” Loni bristled, causing Emma to reluctantly shake her head.

“Actually, Lon, Curtis tried to talk me out of it. In fact, short of tackling me to the ground, he did everything he could to convince me it was a bad idea. I should’ve listened to him.” She groaned before narrowing her eyes in confusion. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because,” Loni informed her in a stunned voice, “I’m trying to figure out if this is the first time you’ve talked about Curtis without scowling or making a face.”

“Okay, fine. You’re right. He’s not that bad.” Emma held up her hands in defeat as she thought of the conversation they’d had while she’d treated his hand. It had been... unexpected.

“Oh, really? Like how?” Loni demanded, raising her eyebrows.

“I don’t know.” Emma flushed, suddenly not quite sure if she should mention that Curtis had dark velvety eyes and seemed to understand her. Instead she shrugged. “He just seems nice, that’s all.”

“I knew it.” Loni clapped her hands in sheer happiness. “You like him. This is so exciting. I always secretly thought he liked you, but now that you like him too, it’s just so perfect. You’re an Aries and he’s a Sagittarius. And then there is the whole granola breakfast cereal thing.”

“What?” Emma’s sore eye started to twitch. “Loni, no. I don’t like him. I mean I don’t hate him anymore. But it’s not like I’ve suddenly developed a crush on him. That’s crazy. And please stop clapping. Everyone’s looking.”

“Yes, but—” Loni began, but Emma gave a firm shake of her head.

“Seriously, there’s no crush.”

“Oh.” Loni’s face fell. “So you’re not going to invite him down to the practice range? I heard there are some new demons there and I bet Kessler would let you count the practice on your Alternative Slaying assignment.”