“I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” Mr. Hoel said. His words were clipped. “A former human would have little hope of grasping at the complexities of what we covered today and will cover in any future lectures.”
I cleared my throat. “It’s a good thing that being new isn’t the same thing as being ignorant. I’m grasping your complexities quite well, I just happen to vehemently disagree with them. And I have to say your vitriol on the human condition really gets under my skin.”
“I don’t understand—”
“What? Were my words too big for you? Which ones, and I’ll try to explain.”
Meredith elbowed me. “Oh my God! Stop,” she mumbled.
Mr. Hoel strode down the aisle toward me, but Mr. Dawson stepped between us. “Class dismissed. Everyone clear out.” Mr. Dawson’s order echoed in the silent gym. I wanted to stay and argue with the ignoramus but Adrian grabbed one arm and Meredith the other. They dragged me out of the gym.
“Do you have a death wish?” Meredith whispered. “You already know the Hoels have it out for you. Why’d you do that?”
I shrugged out of their grasp and continued walking to our dorm. “No one was contradicting him. I couldn’t just sit there and let him think that we all agreed with that bullshit.”
“Well, it was dumb,” Adrian said. “He’s a powerful enemy for anyone to have, but especially so for a recently bitten girl.”
“Standing up against prejudice is never ever dumb.”
He sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Sure.” I shrugged. “And look, it’s not like he wasn’t already my enemy. The only thing that changed is that everyone knows it. That could save my butt.”
“I’m not sure if you’re suicidal or a genius,” Meredith said.
I grinned. “Go with genius. It’s way more accurate.” I held my fist out to Adrian and he bumped it.
“You’re way more badass than me,” he said.
“Thanks. I guess I’m gonna change and whatnot. Dinner in a bit?” They nodded.
I went up the stairs to my room. It wasn’t until I got to my room that I let out the breath I’d been holding. Maybe going off on Mr. Hoel wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had, but unless I figured out time travel, there was no changing it. And even if there was, I didn’t think I wanted to.
One girl against three ass-Hoels. Those odds weren’t so bad, were they?
Chapter Thirty
I woke up on Saturday totally ready for the weekend. The sirens had gone off all night again, and I couldn’t be the only one a little on edge. My only hope was that I’d have a day blissfully free of people gawking at me or blowing my mind with crazy werewolf history or the “physics” behind magic.
A little R and R would go a long way to soothe my mental state.
I listened for people moving about the dorm, but the sweet sound of silence greeted me. The clock said it was eleven. Thank God for sleeping in. The only thing I needed to know was what to do with my day.
I peeked into Meredith’s room, but she wasn’t there. I hoped she hadn’t gone somewhere too fun without me. What did people do on the weekend here anyway?
I threw on some clothes and grabbed a pair of cotton jersey gloves before heading down to the cafeteria. Adrian and Chris sat at the pristine replacement of our usual table. A few guys in all black were scattered around the room, but other than that it was nearly empty, my lucky day.
Chris reclined with his feet on the table. “How’s it going?”
“Okay.” I ate a bite of my omelet. At least the food was good. It would seriously suck if I had to eat the typical nasty school food by the truckload. “What are you guys up to?”
“Just hanging out,” Adrian said. “Thinking about catching a movie.”
I waited for a “want to come” but got an uncomfortable silence instead. Adrian squirmed as I stared him down. Why were they being distant all of a sudden?
Chris grabbed my hand. “We’d take you if we could. But we can’t.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I’m sure you guys want time to do guy stuff or something. I’m sure Meredith is around somewhere.”
The guys shared a look.
“You guys are totally acting weird. What’s going on?”
“Don’t be upset,” Adrian said. “Meredith and Shannon went shopping.”
That totally blew. I’d been dying to get off campus. The fence had been majorly creeping in on me the past few days. Maybe I’d just take my car and go for a drive. Grab some pizza and read a book.
Chris cleared his throat. “Look. You can’t leave.”
“What!” Now I was pissed.
Adrian raised an eyebrow. “You can’t leave campus.”
That irked me. Why was I just now hearing about this? “So what, I’m a prisoner?” These boys were driving me nuts. “I really wish everyone would stop beating around the bush and just tell me what the hell I need to know.”
A scuffle came from under the table. Chris groaned as Adrian’s foot made contact.
“You’re not in control yet,” Adrian said. “Until you get a handle on your wolf, you can’t leave campus.”