Persephone (2 page)

“Why?” I glanced down at the whole grain roll, carrots, celery, pomegranate seeds, and blueberries. “What’s the matter with it?”

“That’s, like, zero points.” Ashley’s voice was layered with false sympathy.

“She means there’s not many calories there,” Jessica explained. Her brown hair was chopped short in a pixie cut to distinguish her from her twin’s longer hair. “Mom’s dieting again, and she’s labeled every package in our house with a black marker so she knows how many points they are.” She rolled her eyes to show her opinion of that particular dieting method.

“Yeah, you should eat meat or cheese or something,” Rachel added.

“I’m a vegan.” It wasn’t an animal rights thing; I’d been this way all my life. My mom and I just preferred to eat things that came from the ground.

Rachel shook her head and pulled out her phone. “Here. I’m gifting you an e-book that deals with your problem.”

“What problem?” Melissa’s eyes flashed.

Rachel let out a deep breath through closed lips that puffed her red bangs into the air. “Kora.” She spoke haltingly, as though she didn’t want to continue, but her eyes glittered, telling another story. “You don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight. I mean, the amount you’ve lost already isn’t healthy.”

All ninety pounds of Melissa’s thin frame quivered with anger. “Oh?”

“You’re different.” Jessica waved her hand. “You’re taller. Kora, you’re like, what, four-ten?”

“Five foot.”

“Exactly.”

“Is that what you guys were whispering about during class?” I asked, incredulous. “My problem?” I put the word in air quotes.

“What?” Ashley wrinkled her forehead, and then laughed. “No, some idiot freshman asked Joel out this morning and got completely rejected. It was brutal.” She giggled. “You should have been there.”

“Oh.” I really was paranoid. No one had been talking about me, and no one was watching me at all. It was probably all in my head. My shoulders loosened, and I allowed myself to relax.

“Don’t change the subject, Kora. You don’t have to be afraid to ask for help.” Rachel’s voice was so sugary I felt ill.

I took a big gulp from my water bottle to avoid protesting. Instead I let Melissa chew them out, her voice tight with anger.

I
did
eat, just not big meals. I liked to snack throughout the day. I hadn’t
done
anything to lose weight. My body slimmed down and toned up of its own accord after I turned sixteen.

I heard soft laughter on the breeze, the sound so cold I shivered. The hunter’s eyes bored holes in the back of my neck. I rubbed it, wondering if I should tell someone about the feelings I’d been having.

Tell them what?
I wondered.
That someone has been following me? Sorry, Mom, can’t describe them because I’ve never actually seen this person. It’s just a feeling.

“Hey!” Melissa waved a manicured hand in front of my face. “Where did you go?”

“Pluto.” I blushed as I wondered how long she’d been trying to get my attention. “Sorry.”

“Did you remember to bring the tickets for the Orpheus concert?”

“Are you ready to go backstage?”

“No way!” Melissa exclaimed and let out an ear-piercing squeal, pumping her fist into the air. “No way!”

“How did you get tickets?” Ashley folded her legs under her and leaned forward. “It’s been sold out for months!”

I shrugged. “My mom managed it somehow.”

“That’s in Atlanta, right?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah. We’re staying in a hotel.” Melissa managed to keep the smugness from her voice, but I could still tell she enjoyed the importance of that statement.

“By yourself?” Rachel asked in disbelief.

“Our mom would never go for that.” Ashley shared a look with her sister.

I suppressed a grin. My mom trusted me. Unlike most parents, if I told her I was going to follow her rules, she believed me. “I’m going to have to work at my mom’s flower shop every minute of the break to make up for this, but it’s completely worth it.”

“Absolutely,” the girls agreed.

“I want that big cardboard cut-out of him they have in the mall for my birthday.” Jessica’s cheeks turned pink when we turned to look at her. “Oh come on, who wouldn’t want to wake up to
that
in their bedroom. That man is a god.”

Rachel snickered and started to say something, but something behind me caught her attention. Her eyes widened. I heard my name carried on the wind, felt the piercing stare, then gasped as something hit me from behind hard enough to force the breath from my lungs. I fell forward, gasping. Melissa’s hands shot out to me. Rachel and the twins cried out in surprise.

A shadow fell over me.

Chapter II

I knew I wasn’t crazy!
I didn’t have time to wonder if insanity might be preferable before I felt hands grip me from behind.

“Are you okay?” It was Joel. He picked up the ball and threw it back in the general direction of his friends. “Don, I told you to be careful where you’re throwing that thing!”

“I’ll live,” I managed, simultaneously relieved that this guy wasn’t the creepy name whisperer and annoyed at the prospect that I might still be losing my mind. I pushed myself off the ground and sat up, hands moving automatically to fix my hair.

I found myself staring into dazzling blue eyes. He shot me a confident grin and held out a hand. “I’m Joel.”

The introduction was pointless. I knew who he was. Everyone knew who he was. Unlike most of the boys at this school who’d been here since preschool, he’d transferred here for his senior year. I’d seen him around but never worked up the courage to talk to him.

When I didn’t say anything or accept his extended hand, his smile faltered. “Persephone, right?”

“Kora,” I corrected. Melissa’s sharp elbow dug into my side. “Um, and this is Melissa.” She shot me an annoyed look and then gave a pointed look at his extended hand.

Right.
I flushed and gripped his hand. I felt a pinprick of pain when static electricity zinged through my fingers with an audible pop.

“Hey, Melissa.” He gave her an easy grin and swept his blond hair out of his face.

Her cheeks colored. “Hi.”

“I’m
Rachel.” Rachel thrust her hand at him. I jerked back when her hand came close to grazing my face. Her voice prompted the twins to chime in with their names. Joel nodded, but didn’t spare them a glance.

“Didn’t I see you at the last game?” he continued when it became obvious I was too tongue tied to speak.

“She doesn’t go to the games.” Jessica scooted closer to Joel.

“Yeah,” Ashley chimed in. “No school spirit, I guess.”

“But I’m at every game.” Rachel fluffed her hair, as if that was always what she’d been planning to do and Joel hadn’t left her hanging. “I saw you make the final touchdown. I’ve never seen anyone run that fast.”

Melissa gave them all a scathing look. “Kora, I’m going to go get my stuff. I’ll meet you at the car. And weren’t you guys just saying that you were running late?”

“No,” Rachel said.

Melissa’s cheerful voice belied her death glare. “Yes, you were.”

They got the hint and left. I could have killed Melissa. I didn’t know what to say to guys! There was an awkward silence and then I stood.

“I should get these back to Professor Homer.” I clutched the yellow papers in my hand and started toward the Lampkin Building.

Joel was beside me in a flash. “I’ll walk you.” He didn’t sound confident anymore. He sounded self-conscious. “I mean, um, if you don’t mind.”

I smiled. “I don’t mind.”

We made our way down the cobblestone path woven through a trail of magnolia trees and harvest maples with bright red leaves.

“So…” Joel trailed off when we reached the classroom. “About the football, I’m really…”

“It’s fine,” I assured him.

He hesitated. “Hey, I was wondering, did you wanna go—” He touched my hand. I glanced up at him, meeting his eyes. His pupils widened and he broke off mid-sentence.

He leaned toward me. I backed up and met the door of the classroom. I hadn’t realized how little space there was between us before.

“I…um…I should go,” I squeaked, fumbling behind me for the doorknob. I opened the door and practically fell into the classroom.

Confusion marred Joel’s features. “Right. I’m so sorry.” He turned bright red. “See you,” he muttered before retreating down the hall.

Like most classrooms at Athens Academy, the door from outside opened straight into the classroom. Sunlight flooded the room from the floor to ceiling windows. I waited until Joel was out of sight before I turned to find Professor Homer.

He was sitting at his desk behind the glass wall separating his office from the classroom, red pen dancing across some unfortunate student’s paper. I walked past the posters depicting ancient Rome and laid the papers on his desk, moving the Colloseum paperweight on top of them so they wouldn’t fly away. He gave a distracted wave, hunching forward over the paper. His pen made an angry red slash across the page. I hoped it wasn’t mine.

I ducked into the bathroom on my way to the car, frowning. It wasn’t like Professor Homer to just wave a student off. He didn’t even tell me to have a nice vacation. I gulped, wondering if it really was my paper he’d been grading. Was my translation of
The Illiad
so awful he couldn’t even look at me? I closed the stall door, pushing the sliding lock into its bracket. I was calculating what failing my final would do to my grade when I heard Jessica laughing.

“What would he even see in her? She’s just so weird.” The door slammed and I jumped. “I don’t get why she tries so hard. And have you looked at her eyes? They have to be contacts, right? Nobody has eyes that color.”

“What about her hair?” Ashley asked.

There was a second of silence and I could imagine the three of them looking at each other. “Bottle blonde,” they said in unison.

Are they talking about me?
My eyes were green, but I’d never noticed anything unnatural about them. They were the color of a new blade of grass, just like my mother’s. I touched a lock of my honey-blonde hair. They couldn’t be talking about me. My hair color hadn’t changed in the last thirteen years. My mom would have a fit if I dyed it.

“That’s not the only thing about her that’s fake.” Jessica snickered. “I heard she had work done over the summer.”

Definitely not me, then.

“She acts so innocent, too! Melissa’s practically her guard dog.” Rachel’s voice echoed through the bathroom. “It’s sickening.”

“I heard she’s with Professor Homer,” Jessica said.

“Ugh. Do you think they’ve ever done it on that couch?” Ashley asked. Professor Homer’s room was famous for having a leather couch next to the bookshelf.

“It’s so wrong of her to lead Joel on,” Rachel said.

“You want to know something gross?” Jessica asked. “She’s probably doing Professor Homer right now.”

The girls squealed, and Jessica continued. “They’re probably on that couch doing—”

I flushed the toilet, drowning out whatever gross thing she said next. I forced myself to take a deep breath and open the speckled gray stall door, restraining myself from throwing it open.

I met their stares, not looking away until they dropped their gazes. With measured steps, I moved across the gleaming white tiles until I reached the sink and washed my hands. I wanted to break the silence, but why make it easier for them?

Proud my hands weren’t shaking, I dug a brush out of my purse and fixed my hair, and straightened my blue peasant dress, turning to make sure I looked okay from behind.

The girls stood in the doorway as if made of stone. I looked at them and kept my arms by my side instead of crossing them like I wanted to.

Jessica mustered up the courage to speak, her voice indignant. “You—”

“I was using the restroom. Maybe next time you want to spread garbage in a public place, you’ll be more careful.”

“I’m sorry.” Rachel tripped over each word. “We shouldn’t have said—”

“No, you’re not. You’re saying that because you got caught.”

Ashley rolled her eyes. “Oh, like you and Melissa don’t talk about us when we’re not around.”

“I don’t think about you at all when you’re not around. Were you planning to keep me in here all day?” They looked at me, confused, and I motioned behind them. “The door.”

“Oh.” Jessica let out a nervous laugh. “Oops.” They moved out of my way and I left, quickstepping to avoid the door slamming on my heel.