The Curse of Betrayal (3 page)

“Well, which one do you love more?” she asks me hitting the magic question right on the head. As I think, she rests her head on her palms. Her legs cross at the ankles, swaying side to side.

“Turns out, I’m part of some strange love triangle curse thing. I love them both—just different ways.”
 

“What do you mean curse?” Her giddy personality turns serious at the mention of my curse, which has come to be a pretty typical reaction.

“Apparently, Hades hates us or something, and I’ve been reincarnating for thousands of years loving both of them and then dying. It’s really messed up,” I tell her, trying to explain the curse the best I can, even though I don’t even know why I’m in it or any of the details yet.
 

“You said your name was Ryder, though.” She tries to put the pieces together. I can tell she’s heard my story before by the puzzled look on her face. I guess now’s as good a time as ever to get it all out.
 

“My nickname is Ryder. My real name is Eurydice,” I reveal.
 

“Holy shit!” Kara screams, cutting me off. She jumps up off her bed and rushes towards me, her scrawny arms spread.
 

I’m caught off guard as she tackles me on the bed, covering my body with hers. “What’s so exciting? I don’t get it!” I laugh as she shakes us together in the overzealous hug attack.
 

“You’re like a legend around here.” She sits back on her heels, attempting to compose herself.
 

“No, I’m not,” I say, not liking the attention especially when it has to do with this bizarre love thing.
 

“Dude, everyone knows your story. This is crazy,” she mutters, lifting herself off of me before sitting on her desk chair. I get myself up and plant my butt on the edge of my bed. I pray that nobody else knows the story. All I want to do this year is end my curse, find my mom, and be stronger.
 

All I want is a fresh start.
 

CHAPTER TWO

beginning of my godly life

Janurary 17
^th

Hey Dad,

I miss you so much even though it’s only been one day.

How did you guys make it home?

I hope you’re eating well.

Make sure to stop by Junior’s once a week for dinner.

Janie said it was okay and I want to make sure you can live without me.

Just kidding, I know you can.

Anyway, it’s only been like twelve hours since I’ve seen you, so not much to report.

I love you and miss you!

Ryder Mason

Sent from my MacBook

Thank the gods for alarm clocks. The beeping goes off at six-thirty on the dot, warning me to get my ass out of bed before I miss my first real day at DGA. Leisurely, I gather my shower caddy, bathrobe, and towel and head into the bathroom between my room and the one next to us. There are two stalls, which is nice, but it’s going to take me a while to get used to sharing. I’m used to my long showers and lying in the bath. Being an only child tainted me.
 

I’m up before the others, so thankfully, there’s only one shower being used. I mutter a ‘hello’ to her before undressing in the changing room, positioning my towel so it’s right outside the door and getting into the lukewarm water. Let me just repeat myself—this is quite the ordeal. After having a subpar bathing experience, I head into my closet, aka a small indent in the wall covered only by a piece of cloth, to get ready for my day.
 

Kara has awakened when I get back in the room, and after brushing her teeth, she starts getting dressed. “I cannot function this early,” she mutters. I look over, and she’s standing at the entrance to her closet but not moving a single muscle. She’s just staring at all of her clothes like she’s never seen them before. It’s actually kind of funny and quite zombie-like.
 

“I hear you. Those showers suck,” I complain, grabbing a pair of denim jeans and throwing them onto my bed.
 

“You’ll get used to it.” She finally starts moving, grabbing a grey dress and flinging it onto her bed behind her. I roll my eyes at her theatrics while I fish a waffle shirt out of my top drawer. It’s freezing out, and I would rather dress for warmth and comfort than fashion.
 

“What is your first period?” I ask, hoping that we’ll share at least one class together so I’m not completely alone all day. She says physics, so I rush to my desk, half-naked, to see if our class matches up. After she throws the dress over her head, she comes to my side and snatches the schedule from my hands. “Rude,” I mutter, glaring at her, but she doesn’t notice. She stares down my schedule intently as I finish dressing beside her.

“We have two classes together!” she squeals, tossing my schedule on the desk, only to miss and have it flutter into a wet puddle near my feet on the floor. I angrily stare at her again, but she just shrugs her shoulders. I bend over to lift the sheet up and see the ink start to run, leaving a black, smudgy trail down the page. I blow on it and wave it around in hopes that it dries. I have no idea where I’m going all day, and I need that thing as a guide.
 

I don’t dress up, but I do make an effort to look good today—other than my weather appropriate clothes. First impressions are everything, and I want people to like me. I take the time to brush my already straight brown hair, pencil straight. I put a pair of silver hoops in my ears and tuck the front strands of my hair behind my ears so they’re perfectly visible since I almost never wear jewelry.
 

My skin is pale and gaunt from barely sleeping, so I apply a thin layer of blush on my cheekbones to give me some color and accentuate my high bones. I even take the time to put some coal liner under my eyes to show off the bright green—while they’re still this color. Who knows, by the end of the day, they may be blue like Ollie’s or even purple like my mother’s.
 

My dad got me a new backpack for Christmas that I like, shockingly enough since an older male’s taste isn’t typically so great. After shoving some pens, pencils, notebooks, and a calculator in the main compartment, I zip it up and grab my schedule, shoving it into my pocket so I know it won’t be too far out of reach. I’m using it as my lifeline today to get to and from class in a somewhat organized manner.
 

“I’m going to go early and check out my classes,” I tell Kara as I reach for the door knob.
 

“Do you want me to come with you?” She’s not even close to being ready, but she asks anyway, and I appreciate that. By the mess she has on the floor and the half up hair-do she has going on with that blonde head of hers, I can tell she has another half hour, at least, to go before she’ll consider herself presentable.

“That’s okay. I’ll see you in class.” I rush out the door before she comes after me with her way-too-bubbly-for-seven-am attitude.

I want to get the day started and map out my classes before I make a complete fool of myself stumbling lost around campus. But before that, I need to stop and get breakfast before anyone else is in there. Don’t get me wrong, Kara’s friends were welcoming, but I’m not comfortable here yet. I don’t think I can handle having to put on a happy face this early in the morning with a group of strangers.
 

As expected, the student center is empty when I walk in, save for a few overachieving students who are studying while eating simultaneously. Shaking my head, I quickly get through the line, grabbing some Cap’n Crunch and a milk carton, before sitting myself down at a vacant table off to the side of the main aisle.

I eat my cereal while reading my schedule, attempting to memorize teacher’s names, rooms, and subjects, and then matching them all together. It’s a bit overwhelming, being thrown into a new place with new people—starting a new life in just one day. It’s all a bit much and I’m starting to lose it. A light knock breaks me out of my trance as Ari hovers over me, banging his knuckles on the wooden table.
 

I smile up at him. “Hey!” I squeak out, way too over enthusiastically.

“Hey there. What are you doing?” He sits himself on the top of the table, making me think he isn’t going to stick around for long. I look around the room and am thankful there aren’t any wandering eyes.
 

“Trying to figure out where the hell I’m going today.” I roll my eyes in his direction. My eyes fall back to the piece of paper in front of me before coming back to meet his green ones—our eyes match today. The thought sends scorching heat into the pit of my belly, but I try to ignore the burn long enough to focus on the words coming out of Ari’s mouth.

I only catch the butt end, “—have me?”
 

“Have you?” I ask back, puzzled as hell as to what he just said.
 

“Like as a teacher…” He goes on to explain, wrinkling his perfect nose up at me. It’s not unattractive; in fact, it has the opposite effect—a stream of lust swims through my bones, igniting me more.

“Oh, um, yeah. I have you first hour and seventh hour,” I mutter, remembering that I get at least two long hours with Ari every single day. I was so happy to have time with Ari earlier, but now a sense of dread overwhelms me.
 

“Hmm,” he pauses pensively. “Well, I’d better be going. See you soon,” he mutters, glancing around the room sneakily before exiting through the courtyard he brought me to yesterday. I frown in his direction as he fades into the shadows like a sketchy spy.

As I watch him leave, a flash illuminates to my left. Startled, I look that way and see a kid is sitting and creating fire two tables down from me. My mouth falls open in awe as I watch him light things and then destroy them.

He’ arranged wooden Popsicle sticks arranged into a house-like structure atop the lunch table. With the snap of his fingers, a small fire erupts Then with another snap, it’s gone. He does this over and over again until there’s just a heap of charred wood in front of him.

“Good job, Martin,” a teacher praises him. The teacher approaches him from behind and pats him on the back for his fire starting. Odd, I’d figure a teacher would be upset for starting a fire inside. “Try making it taller.”

“I don’t know if I can,” the student answers, frowning at the pile on his table. He looks hard at the wood and then snaps, creating a three foot tall flame on top of it.

The teacher claps. “Wonderful, Martin. Simply wonderful!” The teacher is giddy with enthusiasm for the kid. Finally, he snaps again and the large fire is gone. “Keep practicing and you’ll be a star!” the teacher exclaims in leaving.

Martin looks my way, probably feeling my eyes on him, so I quickly look down at my food and pretend to be interested in it. I’ve lost my appetite, so I toss the rest of my cereal. After dumping my food in the trash, I grab my bag and schedule.

I have to walk past Martin to get to class, so with my head down, I practically jog out of the room. “That was cool,” I tell him shyly.

“Thanks.” He nods at me. I hurry out of the building, clutching my backpack to my chest. The wind chill is insane and almost instantly, my face burns with the cold, my eyes watering. I hike up my sweater so it covers my chin and sprint the rest of the way to the hall. Only sprinting is worse because my face feels like it has suffered from windburn. But I got here faster, so I shouldn’t complain.

My classroom is on the bottom floor, so it’s not difficult to find the magic numbers on the door. I end up making it to class with ten minutes to spare, thanks to my super speedy adventure across campus.
 

I don’t know why I’m feeling so paranoid or this overwhelming need to get to class and be a perfect pupil, but I do. Ari teaches this class, so I make it a point to sit towards the front of the room and off to the side, virtually right where the teacher’s desk is so my eyes can admire him all class long.

Statistics falls under the math category, so I’m a tad nervous. I hate math, but I’m fairly good at it—although high school math was a bit of a joke. I’ve never taken this level of math before, so to pass, I’m going to need to focus, and with Ari being the teacher, I highly doubt that’s going to happen.
 

The room begins to fill as time painfully ticks by but I keep my head down, not wanting to draw any more attention than necessary. I turn towards the door and peek out from under my wall of chocolate hair, willing Ari to walk through the door soon so at least I feel comfortable in his familiar presence.
 

But, he doesn’t.

Instead, Lisa and Megan stroll in hand-in-hand with their boyfriends flanking them on either side. I perk up since I recognize their familiar faces, but Lisa’s almightier-than-thou stare shoots me down instantly. Megan waves over towards me, a sorry expression on her face, before she sits on the opposite side of the room with Lisa and their men. Clearly, we all know who holds the reins in that relationship. I turn and rest my head on my palm, waiting for class to start and end already so I can move on to the next.