Bookishly Ever After (Ever After #1)(56)
I stopped midstep and pinned Em down with a withering glare. “You mean like Dev and your plan to get us together?”
Em rolled her eyes and broke her grip on my arm. “Please, that was not fictional. The two of you were just too chicken shit to actually admit you liked each other. You know, Kris only noticed you after your makeover—”
“Which was your idea,” I reminded her. “And, by the way, thanks for that.” I straightened the fairy-tale-like top Grace had convinced me to buy and fluffed my still-perfect hair.
She ignored me and kept talking. “—while Dev always looks like he just got a starring role on Broadway every time you walk into a room, no matter what you’re wearing.” I tried to break in, but she stuck her hand up in the air to stop me. “It’s the truth, whether you like it or not. Don’t blame the messenger.”
“Whatever. Just don’t diss the objects of my affection.” I paused at the door of my homeroom and glanced one last time over at Kris. He seemed to finally sense my eyes on him and looked up to give me one of his gorgeous smiles. Real, not like those “I have to pretend to like you” smiles he usually gave to people he didn’t know during election season.
My heart started doing jumping jacks and I ducked behind the door with a wave at Em. “See you at lunch.”
Em shook her head one last time and hurried off to her own homeroom. I wove between the desks to my seat and dropped into it, pulling out Hiding. Found was coming out in a week and I wanted to reread some of my favorite parts to prep for the last book in the series. Plus, I wanted that smile still fresh in my head while reading a little more Cyril goodness.
Even though I babied my books, the broken spine of my hardback fell open to the mirrorfall scene and I dove in. I read straight through the Pledge of Allegiance and roll. When Ms. Marin handed a few of us an orange paper, I just slipped it in the back of my book so it stuck out like a flag and vaguely registered that the paper said something about the sixth grade camp info session in Mr. Cooper’s classroom I had to attend instead of first period.
I feel a cloud of cold engulf me, colder than anything I’ve ever felt before. My veins freeze, my breath comes out like dry ice shoved into my lungs. And for the first time since all of this started, I scream.
The bell rang and I stood up, propping my book up in one hand and maneuvering out of the classroom without breaking my attention from the book. Being able to walk and read without bumping into things was a major skill I had developed.
I pull my body up off the floor and find myself in a place that’s familiar and still not. Like I am in a mirror image of somewhere I know. Instead of a familiar greyish tinge, this place is alive, the vibrant colors of the wood and wallpaper and rugs tugging at my memory. Then, it dawns on me. I’m in the mirror world, the place I saw through the house mirrors. “That bastard.”
I flipped the page, dodging a freshman and turning down the history hallway instead of my usual route. If I read fast enough, I could probably get in another two pages before the bell.
I reach out for the giant gilt Victorian mirror hanging in front of me—my room, or at least a silvery flipped version of it, fills the frame, but when my hands touch the glass, I can’t get through. I splay my palms flat and push. Nothing. “Damnit, Damnit, Damnit.”
A hand touches my shoulder and I whip around, freezing at the sight of a pair of familiar blue-grey eyes set in a healthily colored face.
“Cyril,” I breathe, and my heartbeat is so loud I’m sure it can be heard even through the mirror. “Please, please tell me this is a dream.”
He frowns and I notice for the first time the faint purpling on his cheek. “I tried to stop him before he could trap—”
“So, you’re counseling, too?” Dev’s voice broke through my reading bubble and my head shot up, a mini heart attack happening in my chest. I hadn’t even noticed him next to me. I threw him a confused look and he waved an orange flyer at me. “For camp? You’re carrying one of these.”
I stared at him dumbly for a second, still half in Marissa’s world.
Say something, my brain prompted and I sputtered out a barely coherent, “Uh-hrmmm.” I slid the ponytail holder off my wrist and shoved it in the book. My brain turned on again and I snapped the cover shut. There was no way I could let him see the absolutely swoon-tastic first kiss between Marissa and Cyril, made especially hot because of all the insane sexual tension from a book and a half of not touching, and her fear of being trapped. Dev seeing that wouldn’t be embarrassing at all, never. I pulled the book protectively to my chest. Hopefully, the bright new blush Grace forced on me this morning hid my reddening cheeks.
He didn’t seem to notice my momentary breakdown. “That’s great. I wasn’t going to do it, but Em mentioned to Mr. MacKenzie that I was a scout and he talked me into counseling. Something about how a lot of their senior class first choices had to drop out because of some career fair thing and he had to go with a few junior second picks. He didn’t want to leave the counseling to just you and a bunch of delinquents.”
I finally snapped all the way back to the non-book world, bringing with me a little bit of Marissa’s sass. “Great, so he’s still sticking me with a bunch of delinquents.”
We reached Mr. Cooper’s World History classroom and Dev gestured for me to walk in first. I loved this room. It was the only classroom in the school built auditorium-style, with the seats stepping down to Cooper’s desk and the board. When I came here as a freshman, I loved how it made me feel like I was in a college class instead of honors world history.