Apprentices: Waxing Crescent

Cafeteria Beef

I walk behind Mrs. Fritz in silence, not recognizing the path she’s taking. I hope this won’t take too long, I’m already starving.

We near the cafeteria but take a different turn, and instead stop in front of a massive door. She knocks firmly, taking a short glance over her shoulder, like she’s trying to make sure that I’m still following her. The door soon opens, and a man pushes his head through it.

He looks the teacher up and down with a stern gaze, then does the same with me. He seems kind of badass. “What do you want? This isn’t the staff room,” he remarks, turning his gaze back to Mrs. Fritz.

“I’m just here to inform you that Miss Pierce will be serving detention with you for the next two weeks. She will be here every day, weekends included, at seven o’clock sharp,” she speaks up, her voice not leaving any room for questions. But the man clearly couldn’t care less about that.

“What are we supposed to do with her?” he asks, furrowing his eyebrows as he glances at me, then back at my teacher. He’s clearly annoyed that he’s being ordered around.

“Keep her busy for two hours. I don’t care what you will use her for. Just make sure she’s working hard,” she answers, sounding quite annoyed. Thanks, Mrs. Fritz. This is how minors come to get abused.

“I’m glad you’re so concerned about my working habits,” I remark, unable to help myself. Pure cynicism drips off my tongue, making them both look at me in surprise. Mrs. Fritz is just about to say something, but the man beats her to it.

“We’ll take her. If she can keep quiet for two hours per day,” he says, his forwardness taking me by surprise so much, that I’m unable to find a proper comeback. Which is a rare occasion in my life.

“Great, she can do that. She will come back at seven,” the professor quickly responds again, greeting the man with a nod, before turning his back on him. “Come, or you’re going to miss lunch,” she says to me, and I don’t have another choice but to leave. The man has already closed the door anyway.

I narrow my eyes at my teacher. “What even is this place? Is there some kind of cult behind that door, or what?” I attack her with questions, trying to figure out why she would send me to detention here. She shakes her head ever so slightly, like she can’t believe I’m so uninformed.

“I thought you would know that this was the Warrior Headquarters,” she says casually, knocking the air out of my lungs. Oh, sweet hell. This is where I’m serving detention? In the lion’s den itself? This is the most awesome place in the entire school!

“Oh,” I simply respond in return, trying not to sound too excited. She doesn’t say anything, but I can see a hint of a smile playing around her lips. Well, perhaps Mrs. Fritz isn’t as boring as I thought she was. This will be the coolest detention I ever got.

We soon part ways as she sends me into the cafeteria, and I can barely prevent myself from running towards Katie in excitement. She needs to hear about this. She will be so jealous.

Unfortunately, my bragging has to wait a little. Because there is a leech sitting behind my table, sucking the life out of my friends. I flip my hair over my shoulder, deciding to take matters into my own hands. I walk down the tables like I own the place, fully aware of the admiring looks I’m getting.

I’m a popular girl. And I didn’t become that by doing nothing. Ever heard of the phrase fake it ‘til you make? Well, it’s the perfect description of what I am. I worked hard to earn my status at this school and everyone knows it’s best not to mess with me. But clearly, some bitches would still like to get stitches.

The leech is sitting beside Jake, right at the edge of the table. Doesn’t she have anything better to do than to annoy my friends? Like, hang off her boyfriend’s elbow, maybe? Or did she suck the life out of him already?

The worst part is, she took the last free spot. Our table is always a little crowded, but there’s usually enough room for everyone. At least for everyone that matters. And I am one of those people. I won’t let a wannabe take my place.

Jake frowns the moment he takes a single glance at my face. He knows me well enough to read my mood. I can see him turning to the audacious b***h, murmuring some words to her. She stiffens visibly for a moment, then shakes her head and looks up, her dark eyes meeting mine. The second our gazes clash, I can’t help myself anymore. I glare at her with all my might.

I only have ten steps left until I reach the table, but she doesn’t seem any closer to disappearing out of my sight. In fact, it seems like she glued herself to the bench. Well, we’ll see about that.

I force myself to tear my eyes off her, my face brightening up confidently as I greet everyone present at the table. Everyone but her. “Hi guys!” I speak up cheerfully, earning myself a few hesitant greetings in return. I lock gazes with Katie, who seems like she isn’t breathing. She knows things are about to go down.

I lift my leg and slide it in the tight spot between Jake and Sheila. Just to be clear, me calling her by her name doesn’t happen very often. And it’s the same other way around. Which is why I have absolutely no regret when I pull my other leg over the bench, then squeeze myself next to Jake by pushing her to the ground.

She lets out an angry groan, clutching the edge of the table with her hand, but she still manages to land straight on her ass. I turn towards my friends with a satisfied smile. I’m suddenly in a much better mood.

“You f*****g b***h!” I hear Sheila burst out at me as she gets back on her feet, but I keep smiling, not gifting her with a single glance. She’s like an annoying fly that you’re trying spat away.

“Did you guys hear something?” I wonder out loud, pretending to be confused. Katie is still pale, while some of the boys seem to be entertained by the show. Marcus especially, since he joins in on the fun.

“I think you should get your hearing checked out,” he tells me solemnly, pretending to be worried. I put my hand over my mouth, pretending to be shocked by his observation. Just to be clear, I don’t like Marcus. But sometimes, when we’re dealing with common enemies, we know how to stick together.

“I can’t believe you!” Sheila screams at me again, but I still don’t give her a second glance. I just smirk, knowing this is the perfect way to get on her nerves. I can feel the gazes of the whole cafeteria on us. She’s loud enough for people in Africa to hear her.

“Evy …” I hear Jake sigh beside me, making me send him a pointed look. He’s the first person who should be on my side right now. I’m not going to listen to voices of reason right now. She stepped foot onto my territory, not the other way around. Or does she see me causally chatting with her boyfriend? I don’t think so.

In the next moment, I feel myself being yanked up by my hair, making me yell out in pain. I quickly shift my weight to my feet and grab the b***h by her wrist. My murderous gaze meets her crazy eyes, blood boiling inside me. Now she’s taken this too far.

I stare up at her slightly, but she doesn’t scare me. Not even a little. I clench my fingers around her wrist in a tight grip, using all my strength to make her hurt. I can see her grinding her teeth together, but she doesn’t let out a single sound. And she doesn’t let go of my hair either.

Only when I feel something cracking in my hand does she open her fingers and lets go of me. She tries to pull her wrist back to herself, a pained expression now covering her face, but I don’t let go.

“Evelyn!” I hear Katie’s voice call me, a hidden urgency in her voice. I take one look at her and it’s all it takes for me to realize that I’m about to get in trouble. I follow the gesture of her head to the entrance to the cafeteria, where two of our professors are just walking through, talking to each other. Their faces are still turned towards one another.

I let go of Sheila’s wrist, sending her one last dirty glance before taking my place at the table again. I can hear her rushing away, but I’m not as satisfied as I was a few moments ago. My scalp still stings from her crazy move.

“Are you alright?” Jake asks quietly, making me turn towards him with a sweet smile. I am angry with him, but I don’t intend on showing that. Not in front of our schoolmates. What would they say if they saw their future alpha being humiliated by a witch? The wolves would lose it.

“I’m fine,” I answer, tucking my hair behind my ear, so he can get a better look at my neck. I know how much that drives him nuts. “Just a little hungry,” I continue, not even trying to hide the double meaning behind my words as I lick my lips.

Before giving him a chance to answer, I get up from the table, sending Katie a short glance. She gets up without me saying a word, carrying her tray away. I get to the buffet, smiling at our cook, Mrs. Bardot. She sends me a knowing look. “Calmed down, have we? You’re a little late today, Evelyn. There isn’t much left of your favorites,” she says in greeting, making my face fall.

I glance at the dishes behind the glass, realizing she’s right. There are only a few crumbles left where Hawaii pizza was supposed to be. And to make matters worse, there are only about five fries left and two nuggets. What am I supposed to eat now? Bloody spinach with mashed potatoes? Even the thought of that makes me feel like vomiting. “It’s fine. I brought this upon myself,” I tell her solemnly, already offering her my plate.

But Mrs. Bardot chuckles, taking the plate from me with a wink. “You’re lucky I always look out for you and save a little something on the side,” she reveals, turning around and disappearing into the kitchen before I have the chance to thank her.

In that moment, Katie appears beside me, leaning down towards me. “What was that?” she first scolds me, shaking her head at me in disapproval. I roll my eyes.

“You know I can’t stand her. She was all over Jake,” I remark, not even trying to hide how much she frustrated me. I even forgot how excited I was about serving detention in the Warrior Headquarters. “That’s not why I wanted you to accompany me,” I then continue, making Katie raise her eyebrows.

“Is it something about what Mrs. Fritz told you?” she asks carefully, clearly not wanting to ask too much, but at the same time wanting to know if she told me the truth. The truth about what made us lose warrior witches in Cincinnati yesterday. I shake my head, already letting her know that I didn’t find out anything more than this morning.

“No … It’s about where I’ll be spending my evenings for the next couple of weeks,” I state, leaving the tension hanging in the air. She stares down at me with a curious gaze, but she doesn’t question me furthermore. I truly admire her patience. There is no other person like her on this world. I finally smile at her just as Mrs. Bardot comes out with my plate. “My punishment is to be helping out in the Warrior Headquarters.”

I then turn to the cook, ignoring my best friend’s shocked expression, as I take my food. I didn’t just get pizza, but also fries and nuggets. My face lights up like it’s Christmas. “Thank you, Mrs. Bardot, I love you!” I thank the woman, sending her a kiss through the air. She just chuckles in response, shaking her head at my silliness.

Only then I turn around and motion for Katie to follow me. She has a dumbfounded look on her face, and she doesn’t say a word the entire way to the table. “Please, pull yourself together, I don’t want anyone asking questions. This is a top secret, got it?” I murmur to her, glancing up to meet her gaze. She nods solemnly, putting a smile on her face. Good girl. That’s why I like her so much.

Jake, Marcus, Chris, Gabriel and Dave are all laughing at something, while Tim is rolling his eyes at them. Good, this means that they won’t notice anything out of the ordinary. They’re too preoccupied with themselves.

The latter four are all werewolves as well, Jake’s and Marcus’s classmates. They have some sort of hierarchy that I don’t really understand, with Jake being future the alpha of the pack they all grew up in, while Marcus is supposed to become his beta. As for the four of them, I only know that Dave is the delta, because they always send him around to do things for them. They’re good company to keep and that’s all that matters. And we’ve been to some hell good parties together.

It might be odd that there are only two witches hanging out with six werewolves, but that’s how our society functions. There can never be too many witches together. We’re too full of ourselves. I’m only hanging out with Katie because we understand each other. If that wasn’t the case, I would rather be seeking the company of vampires. Just kidding. No one wants to hang out with vampires but vampires.

“So, did our little rebel find out what went down in Cincinnati?” Tim asks in a tone that almost sounds like he’s mocking me. But I choose to ignore it, because I’m just glad that Sheila isn’t breathing down my neck anymore.

“Nope, I didn’t have that luck. Just got a couple more weeks of detention,” I answer before shoving about a third of my pizza slice into my mouth. All that thinking and the beef with Sheila left me starving.

“Loser,” Marcus adds fuel to the fire, but weirdly enough, I just shrug in response. He might have earned himself some bonus points by joining in on my mutual hate of Sheila.

“Marcus, don’t start,” Jake warns him, his voice full of disapproval. Well, well, look who stepped on my side now. He looks at me with those chocolate brown eyes, kind of resembling a puppy. How can I ever stay mad at him? It’s impossible.

“It’s fine, really. I’ll live through it,” I assure everyone, pretending that my punishment doesn’t bother me. In fact, I decide not to say where I’ll be serving the said detention. Werewolves never truly appreciate the awesomeness of warrior witches. They would never understand why I’m so excited about working in the Warrior Headquarters.

But as I share a glance with Katie, I can see her smiling conspiratorially. I know that the moment we’ll have a minute to ourselves, she’ll be begging me to tell her everything about how the Headquarters are like. After I get in there, of course. Tonight, at seven. I can barely wait.

As Katie and I make our way towards our afternoon classes, I can’t keep my mouth shut anymore. I need to know what that b***h wanted from Jake. “Hey, I know you’re a saint and above such things, but I need to know. What was Sheila doing at our table? Specifically, at my spot?” I ask, making her stiffen, then sigh.

She looks around, probably trying to make sure that she isn’t anywhere close to us, then turns to me with a haunted gaze. “She wanted to know if any of us saw Killian today,” my best friend explains, her words making me furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

“Why would any of us know where her boyfriend is, if she didn’t?” I remark, unable to believe that she came just for that. I think she was looking for trouble. Tried to make me seem like the bad guy. But really, what girl wouldn’t lose it, when she saw another trying to leech herself on her boyfriend? Well … Except that Jake isn’t my boyfriend.

“I don’t know, but she seemed worried. She said that they were together in the evening, but that he went back to his room for the night … And that he wasn’t there in the morning, when she went to check on him after he didn’t meet her,” Katie keeps explaining, while I just roll my eyes.

“He probably got tired of her,” I blurt out without thinking about it. My best friend lets out a sigh, and I already know I’m about to get lectured. Yes, I was harsh. But after everything that I had to endure because of that wench, I truly can’t find a nice word for her.

“He’s her mate, Evelyn. He wouldn’t just … I don’t know. The whole thing seems fishy to me. And not one of our friends saw him, but they’re in the same class. Don’t you think it’s strange?” she thinks out loud, her voice sounding preoccupied. I take one look at her to realize she’s worrying about other people’s problems again.

“Stop doing that to yourself. It’s Sheila’s mate. Not yours. Relax, okay? She’ll find him sooner or later,” I try to calm her down, without voicing my thoughts that he probably just escaped the protection border to get drunk. It wouldn’t do her any good. She nods at my words, but I can see that this is going to keep bothering her for the rest of the day. If not even longer.