Fairy Bad Day(45)

By fourth period Emma was starting to get despondent. She had stayed behind to show the pendant to Professor Vanderbilt, but he had thought it was merely some sort of key ring.

Even worse, she was late to the simulation labs, and by the time she got changed into her sweats, Professor Meyers had already arrived, along with most of the class. But instead of giving her a tardy (thank you, thank you, thank you), the teacher merely nodded for her to go and get her fight gear. Emma scooped up an equipment bag and was just about to head over to where Loni was standing when she remembered that today they were fighting their assignment partners. Which would explain her friend’s pained expression as Brenda was lecturing her about something or other.

Emma shot her a sympathetic glance before heading over to the simulation circle that she had been allocated. There was no sign of Curtis, though. In fact, she hadn’t seen him all day.

“Hey, Jones, don’t tell me you were getting worried about me?” a voice suddenly said from behind her, and she spun around to see him swinging his way toward her, his simulation gear hanging around his neck as he handled his crutches.

“What?” she protested, a little too quickly, her voice breathy as she still struggled to deal with the effect his presence was having on her. Then she realized he was looking at her expectantly, as if waiting for an answer. “O-of course not. I just figured you were too scared to fight today.”

“Really?” He lifted an eyebrow at her as he came to a halt and leaned forward on his crutches so he and Emma were almost nose to nose. “Because I can assure you I’ve been looking forward to it. I just had to go and see Nurse Reynes about my leg. Speaking of which, she asked if I had seen you because apparently you had an appointment with her to get your eye checked.”

“Oh, must’ve slipped my mind,” Emma lied. There was no way she was voluntarily going back to the infirmary because it reminded her far too much of the hospital where her mom had died. Call her crazy, but she found denial worked much better when it was hidden away in a nice quiet corner of her mind.

“Well, she wants you to reschedule with her.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my eye,” Emma insisted as she reached up and gave it a rub.

“I’m just the messenger.” He shrugged as he pulled on his gloves, and Emma found herself marveling at how his navy T-shirt clung to his muscular arms and at the way he chewed his full bottom lip in concentration, which, in turn, seemed to highlight his strong jawline. “Anyway, you haven’t told me if you found anything.”

“Huh?” She stared at him blankly for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

“You know. Invisible fairy? The books we got from your dad’s house last night? Ringing any bells?” he prompted as an annoying half smile twitched around his lips as if he knew that she had been checking him out.

“Oh, right.” She felt her cheeks brighten again as she scooped the pendant out of the pocket of her sweatpants, showed it to him, and explained what she knew about it. “Loni thinks it might be good luck and Tyler thinks it might have some sort of mystical power.”

“And what do you think?” he asked, his dark eyes drilling into hers, and for one stupid moment she almost felt tempted to tell him about the dreams she’d been having. How real they felt and how, as much as she wanted to think that this was the last they had seen of the darkhel, her gut feeling was that it was still out there. But before she could even consider putting any of her concerns into words, Professor Meyers clapped her hands.

“Okay, everyone, let’s get started.”

Emma quickly put on her goggles and laced up her gloves as she and Curtis moved into the simulation circle. Three days ago if she’d had to fight him she would’ve been determined to beat him at all costs, preferably in a humiliating way, but at that moment, as she lifted her hands into a defensive position, Emma realized that despite the trash talking they had done last night, she really didn’t care if she won or lost.

She watched as he carefully got into position and then dropped his crutches outside the circle just as a red light flashed in her goggles to let her know the simulation had begun. Then she raised her hand to block Curtis’s first virtual move and watched in appreciation as he easily anticipated her shot and countered with one of his own. After all the tension and stress of the last few days, Emma suddenly realized that this fight was just what she needed to burn off some steam. She held up an arm to block his parry and then the fight started in earnest.

Half an hour later it was over, and when they looked at the counter, Emma was surprised to see she had won. She shot Curtis a grateful look.

“Thanks for that.” She took the goggles off her head and put them down on the bench.

“For what?” He pushed his own back up into his blond curls.

“For going easy on me.”

“Jones, I didn’t go easy on you. In fact, I was just going to ask you what you’ve been eating for breakfast because that was some fight.”

“Yeah, right.” She shook her head. “Anyway, something else I need to thank you for is last night.”

“It was nothing.” He shrugged as he busied himself taking off his simulation gear.

“Somehow I don’t think Kessler would’ve seen it that way if he’d caught us. Anyway, I just want you to know that I’m really grateful for what you did.”