“It’s not too late to leave. We can go to King’s Palace,” I said.

  Nix and I stood in front of the bowling alley. It was senior ditch day, but after that speech Delores gave yesterday, I wasn’t sure spending a day out with her was a good idea. Nix stepped close to me and slid her arms around my waist.

  “It’s the last school trip we’ll ever take. I don’t want little Miss Home Front to take it from us. Plus, if she tries anything, I’ll drop her ass so fast it’ll make Hermes jealous.”

  She had a point. I was also hoping the public location would deter any attack.

  “Besides, look at what I wore for you. Don’t you wanna see me in it?”

  She spun around, giving me a view of how good she looked. She was in a plum-colored dress that stopped just below her knees, paired with some black flat-bottomed shoes. She even carried a tiny black purse under her left arm. She was in full female mode and nailed it.

  I should push her against that wall and bite her neck.

  I stared hard at her as that thought resonated in my mind. She was so cute it was hard to resist, but I had to. We had to keep our wits about us if we weren’t going to do the smart thing and leave.

  “Did I break you?” She asked and snapped me out of it.

  “No, what made you ask me that?” I said with my face twisted.

  She grinned. “You froze up. I thought maybe you had seen too much.”

  She walked past me and tapped me on the cheek. I didn’t move for a few seconds as I tried to decipher what she meant. She reached back, grabbed my hand and yanked me forward into the bowling alley behind her. We walked hand in hand up to the counter. The sound of bowling balls hitting pins echoed through the open space. I scanned the area. I saw several people I recognized from school but not Delores.

  We bought two games and an order of fries to share before taking a seat at a small rectangular table in front of our lane.

  “Are you any good at this?” Nix asked as she slipped her right foot into a plaid shoe.

  “Not at all, but I am the king of the double bounce bumper strike,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

  Nix smiled again. “That actually sounds badass if you don’t know what it means.”

  She entered names for us into the computer to start the game. Mine was Stormie, and hers was Phoenix. A light bulb immediately went on in my head.

  “Wait, you used your full first name?” I asked, scooting closer to her in the booth.

  Instead of answering me, she put her index finger over her mouth. Telling me to keep that information to myself. I imitated zipping my lips closed and winked at her. She flinched.

  “What?” I asked, looking in the direction she was looking.

  “You were really cute just now. It surprised me,” she said and gently shoved me before standing and going to get her ball.

  I couldn’t help feeling flattered as I watched her walk away. She turned around and looked back at me. I blew her a kiss and then stuck my tongue out at her. As I turned my head to the right and stared at the table beside us. I don’t know how I missed it, but a large group of basketball players and cheerleaders were sitting in the two rows next to ours. Delores and the enormous blonde were sitting together looking directly at me. I looked back at Nix just in time to see her bowl a perfect strike.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Ha, follow that Stormie!” Nix called.

  Her eyes landed on me, then wandered to their table. Her smile wavered for a second, but then she looked back at me and it returned. She sat down.

  “The plan doesn’t change. We ignore them unless interacting becomes necessary.”

  I nodded and did my best to pretend I hadn’t just seen them. I picked up a neon blue ball with a 9 on it and walked up to the lane.

  “No pressure!” Nix yelled out from behind me.

  I turned around and glared at her. She stuck her tongue out at me.

  “At least I blew you a kiss with mine.”

  As I stood there, Delores walked up to her lane. She still didn’t have bowling shoes, but she picked up a bright yellow ball and smiled over at me. Her rosy cheeks emphasized the red tint of her hair.

  “Let’s see who can get the highest score.”

  She was either being really sneaky or civil. I could be civil. If it turned out to be some kind of setup, then I would do any and everything I had to get Nix and me out of here.

  “Okay,” I said and smiled back at her.

  We rolled at the same time. Her ball traveled down the lane faster than mine, and she got a strike. Mine barely made it to the end of the lane. It knocked over a single pin as it fell into the right gutter.

  “I won this round,” she said with a cutesy smile.

  I turned and walked back to my table, where Nix was walking toward me, holding up a single finger.

  “At least you hit one,” she said and poked me in the nose.

  I bit her finger. She pulled it away and giggled as she walked past me. The sound was like symphony music to me, beautiful.

  “Ugh, I hate overly affectionate couples,” the blonde said with a grunt.

  Nix and I both looked over at him. He walked up to his lane and picked up his ball without acknowledging us.

  “How would he react if we just started making out right now?” Nix asked without looking away from him.

  My heart thundered in my chest at that thought. She popped me in the chest.

  “Down, boy, it was a joke,” she said and grabbed an orange ball with a 12 on it and effortlessly bowled another strike.

  We continued our game in the same manner. She scored strike after strike, while I was lucky to knock down three pins at once. Toward the end of our second game, she didn’t roll a strike. She stared at the pins, confused.

  “Why wasn’t that a strike?” She said with her hands on her hips.

  I walked up beside her and grabbed my ball.

  “Nobody’s perfect,” I said with a mocking grin.

  “They are when they’re cheating,” the blonde said from his table.

  This time, his glare was locked on Nix. She started moving toward his table before I realized what was happening. I dropped my ball and followed her. I could tell from how quickly she moved that this was about to get ugly.

  “You got something you wanna say?” She said, stopping in front of their table.

  Delores, who was taking her turn bowling, walked back over to the table and sat down.

  “What’s this about?” She asked, gesturing weakly at Nix and me.

  The blonde broke his glare and gave her his attention.

  “She’s a filthy cheater, and he’s too dumb to even notice it,” he said.

  “Look, I don’t know what your obsession with us is, but just mind your own business, please? We just want to bowl,” Nix said and folded her arms over her chest.

  The blonde smiled and raised an eyebrow at Nix.

  “And what if I don’t? Is your little boyfriend here going to make me?”

  My jaw tightened. All I wanted to do was knock that smile off his face.

  “How about we find out what I will and won’t do.”

  I stepped forward, but Nix stopped me with a hand on my chest.

  “No, we came here to have a good time. He’s not worth it.”

  I heard her, but my blood was boiling. I pressed against her hand, but not hard enough to move it.

  “The storm is not mocked,” Typhon said as the churning started inside of me.

  “Oh wow, she has a pet monster. I wonder how she tamed it,” the blonde said and sent me over the edge.

  I grabbed a cup full of orange soda off the table and started to toss it in his face.

  I saw a blur of red and orange, and then Delores was standing in front of me.

  “Was the slightest provocation all it took for you to shed your skin and show everyone how unstable you truly are?” She asked as small flames ignited on her fingertips.