Dex wouldn’t let go of my wrist as he led me down the hall toward the front of the school, Anthony trailing behind us. I nearly tripped. Finally fed up with me being dragged, I stopped and pulled myself from his grasp.

We were the only ones in the hallway, and I was glad. Everyone else had already gone home so we could be as loud as we want without people overhearing what we had to say.

“What is your problem?” I demanded, rubbing my wrist where he had been tightly hanging on. He definitely did have superhuman strength, that was for sure. “You didn’t have to drag me all the way out here! I can walk on my own!”

“Are you sure about that?” Dex questioned, and I didn’t really understand what he meant by that.

Anthony let out a sigh as he pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Smooth comeback, Dex.”

Dex didn’t even look at Anthony as he said, “Shut up.”

I now shook my head. “You sound like a crazy person.”

“I don’t want you around that guy anymore,” Dex ordered, not even listening to what I had said. I gaped at him. “You don’t know anything about him. He could be dangerous.”

I shook my head. “Nick is harmless.”

Dex looked at me as if I was insane. “You just met the guy!”

“He seems fine to me,” Anthony spoke up from beside us now with a shrug. Dex glared at him. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“Kind of!”

“Really, Dex, your emotions are showing. You should be careful.”

“Shut up.”

“Dex is right, though,” Anthony now said, and Dex seemed relieved at the fact that someone was agreeing with him for once. “Nick could be a Redrum member, but I doubt it. I think Dex is just overreacting like usual.”

“You see? Anthony agrees with—hey!”

“You know what? I’m going home,” I told them now, not in the mood for their banter as I took a step back away from them. “I’ll just walk. Or fly. Or just walk, so I don’t freak out any humans.”

I expected one of them to stop me right away, so when they didn’t, I couldn’t help but feel a little angry. They’d just let me go home on my own? I didn’t even know if I knew the way back to the DAU!

“You know he can’t join the team,” Dex finally called out after me, and even though it wasn’t the response I wanted, it stopped me from going anywhere.

I turned back toward him. “Besides the obvious reason being that he wasn’t recruited, why can’t he?”

“Because our team name would sound ridiculous,” Dex shrugged, and I kind of just gave him a look because I couldn’t tell if he was actually being serious or not. “Just imagine it. Instead of VAKAD, it would be VAKAND. Or VANKAD. Or if you want to mix up the letters a bit, VADANK or VANDAK. I don’t like it.”

Anthony rolled his eyes. “You would rearrange the letters so you’d be closer to Violet.”

Dex ignored him, even though I could tell he really just wanted to tell him to shut up.

I didn’t know how I was supposed to respond to this, because I didn’t know if Dex was actually being serious or not.

I only gave him a look. “Dex.”

Anthony was also giving him a look. “You really suck at explaining when your emotions are all haywire.”

Dex turned toward Anthony, looking like he was going to hit him. “Shut up.”

Anthony now turned toward me. “He does have a point though,” he agreed, and I was surprised that they were actually agreeing on something. “Our team name would sound weird. And VAKAD’s already strange to begin with.”

I let out an impatient breath. “I don’t think the team name would be our main concern.”

“We didn’t let Lena on the team and she’s our mentor’s niece,” Dex reminded me, his arms crossed over his chest in almost a pout.

“She’s also a pain in the ass,” I reminded him, in case he had somehow forgotten.

Lena might have been a good friend of mine—my best friend, even—but even she knew how much of a pain she could be. And she enjoyed it. 

“As true as that may be, she isn’t on our team,” Dex continued. “She’s just an ally.”

“What is your problem?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing as I continued to look up at him. “You’re acting weird!”

“You see, Violet,” Anthony began, and Dex did not look like he wanted our brainy teammate to continue. “Dex is experiencing this thing called jealousy—”

Dex elbowed him in the side, cutting him off and shutting him up, but I had already heard what he had said. And my eyes went wide.

“Dex,” I blinked, surprised. “You’re... jealous?”

Dex looked panicked for only a second before finally letting out a long breath that he seemed to be holding in for some time and saying, “Yes.”

I was surprised. Dex didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would be jealous of other people. He just seemed so confident and full of pride most of the time that the person he was jealous of should probably have felt really good about themselves.

It seemed to be hard for him to admit. I understood how that felt, since it took me so long to admit that I was jealous of Kristie. I still didn’t like talking about it or thinking about it. I didn’t want to be jealous of her.

But it wasn’t just Kristie I was jealous of. I was jealous of Lena, Vanessa, and Lynx too. I was jealous of all the girls that were so effortlessly pretty while I had to try my hardest just to look presentable.

“Dex, you don’t have to be jealous of Nick,” I told him, pushing my thoughts aside.

Dex’s eyes went wide. “I… don’t?”

“Nick’s not the only one he’s jealous of…” Anthony muttered, but both Dex and I chose to ignore him.

“Nick’s not going to replace you on the team, so you have nothing to worry about,” I smiled now, and Dex immediately deflated. “You're not going to be replaced.”

Anthony clicked his tongue. “I’m not so sure about that…”

I continued to smile at my teammates. “Now come on. Let’s go home.”

I turned and started off down the hallway, expecting the boys to follow right after me. But they didn’t move right away, waiting until I was out of earshot before Anthony said, “He may not replace you on the team, but he may replace you in her heart. Unless you’ve already been replaced by Tom. If you were even there in the first place.”

“Shut up,” Dex snapped at him, and then continued to look in the direction that I had left. “She really is the stupidest girl I have ever met.”

Anthony laughed, patting him on the shoulder as he moved to follow me. “Or she just was isolated in her room through puberty.”

Dex said nothing as he followed after Anthony, knowing that he had nothing left to argue. I was glad that this conversation was over.

Using his powers, Anthony caught up to me in no time. “You know, if you really want to drive Dex crazy, all you have to do is hang out with Tom more often.”

I made a face. “I’m already planning on spending more time with Tom.”

Anthony looked surprised. “Really?”

“Why do you seem so surprised?” I questioned. “You’re the one that just suggested it.”

He shrugged. “I was just joking around. Would it really be a good idea to get close to Tom?”

I didn’t answer right away. Honestly, I knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea. He was a human, and I wasn’t. A relationship between us was against the rules and taboo. But I still couldn’t deny the connection I felt with him.

“I’m going to see what happens,” I answered honestly, since that was all I really could do. “If nothing happens between us, then I don’t have to worry. If something does happen between us… that’ll be great, and I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”

“Sounds like someone has a crush,” Anthony sing-songed.

“In the wise words of Dex,” I started, continuing down the hall as our aforementioned teammate sulked behind us, “shut up.”

“Aw, how cute,” a new voice suddenly cooed, and I stopped dead in my tracks, Anthony did as well. “Violet has a crush!”

I scowled when I saw I was now face-to-face with Vanessa, Lynx right by her side. It had been Vanessa who had spoken, but I expected as much. Vanessa didn’t even know that Lynx and I hated each other.

Vanessa was the last person that I wanted to hear that I had a crush on Tom. He was her ex-boyfriend, and they were still friends. And she really, really hated me just because I was close to Dex.

Vanessa now turned toward Lynx and laughed. “She seemed like a sloppy seconds kind of girl,” she grinned.

The look on Lynx’s face surprised me. She looked… scared?

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so rude to her, Vanessa,” she frowned, and I didn’t know what to say about the timid tone she had. Was this even Lynx, or some kind of alternate clone of hers? “You know how much I hate confrontation.”

That was the biggest lie I had ever heard in my entire life and it took every fiber of my being not to laugh in her face.

A new pair of footsteps stopped us from saying anything else, and I turned back to see Dex had finally caught up to us. He seemed surprised to see Vanessa and Lynx together, but other than that, he didn’t really have any type of special reaction to seeing them.

“Hi, Dex,” Vanessa greeted flirtatiously with a wave.

Dex nodded at her as a greeting and smirked. “Hey.”

I felt my eye twitch. Couldn’t he refrain himself from flirting with her in front of me? He knew I didn’t like her and yet he continued to do it anyway! It was almost like he was doing it on purpose just to piss me off.

“So, I was thinking,” Vanessa smiled charmingly, continuing her way closer to my strong teammate. I just wanted to kick her. “Since Violet is dating my ex, I should date hers, right? So what do you say? Do you want to go out sometime?”

I felt my eyebrow twitch. I hadn’t ever told Vanessa that Dex and I had ever dated. I told her we were best friends. Actually, it had even been Lena that had told her these things. So why did she hate me so much?

Completely ignoring Vanessa, Dex turned toward me. “You’re dating her ex?”

“I’m not dating anyone!” I nearly shouted.

“So, what do you say?” Vanessa asked again, wanting Dex’s attention on her and only her. She was going to act like I wasn’t there until Dex did the same, but everyone knew that wasn’t about to happen. “Do you want to go out sometime?”

I stopped breathing. I honestly didn’t know how Dex was going to answer, and that really bothered me. Would he go out with her even though she was an insufferable witch?

“Please excuse this interruption,” a voice over the intercom suddenly said, and I felt myself start breathing again.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “These things always have the worst timing.”

“Vanessa Grey to the office, please,” the woman over the intercom said. “Vanessa Grey to the office.”

The dark haired girl let out a sigh of annoyance, but did as the woman on the intercom said. “I’ll see you later, Samara,” she waved to her friend. She then turned toward Dex. “I’ll definitely see you later.”

Dex only smirked at her. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

With a glare at me and not even a look at Anthony, Vanessa was gone. And now we were all alone. With Lynx. That didn’t really make the situation any better.

“You’re doing a nice job putting on the nice girl act,” I scowled at her, my arms crossing over my chest. “But I don’t buy it.”

Lynx grinned at me. “I was hoping to better my acting skills while I was here.”

It was weird to see her change from a timid girl who didn’t like confrontation to who she actually truly was. It was almost kind of scary. It was frightening how well she could trick people into believing she was someone she wasn’t.

“It’s sad,” she sighed, examining her nails as she spoke. “My closest friend here is interested in Dex. It’s such a shame.”

Dex didn’t look bothered by this at all. “There’s enough of me to go around.”

I elbowed him in the side. “Dex!”

“I like the sound of that,” Lynx smirked, completely ignoring me as she took a step toward Dex. “But I’d like you all to myself.”

She reached out to touch him, but I grabbed onto her wrist before he could. “Don’t even think about it,” I threatened.

“Aw, Vi,” she sighed, not even trying to remove her wrist from my grasp. “Let me have some fun, will you? You’ve got your hands full with Tom. Literally.”

Dex tensed. Anthony rolled his eyes. My grip on Lynx’s wrist tightened because what she had said had been a lie. She was making fun of me. 

Suddenly, I was being pushed away and slammed into a locker. I slammed to the ground, my head spinning at the sudden impact.

“Violet!” Dex shouted, taking a step toward me, but Lynx stretched out her arm to stop him from coming any closer. He could have easily pushed her aside, but as I sat up, the look I gave him told him to stay where he was.

Lynx brushed at her wrist where I had grabbed her. She didn’t even look like she had just thrown me into a wall. She didn’t even look like she cared in the slightest, and I was sure she didn’t.

Without thinking twice about it, I raised my hand and threw her into the same locker I had bashed into. It was now noticeably dented.

She grinned at me once she hit the ground. “You’re not as strong as you think you might be,” she informed me. “You need to learn how to control your powers more. Though you’re getting better.”

This angered me. I had been training every day, yet I still wasn’t as good at my powers like the rest of my teammates were. What was wrong with me?

I now lunged at Lynx so that I was now on top of her as I pinned her to the floor. But now, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do.

“Cat fights are usually hot,” Dex commented, and I wanted to hit him for talking and not trying to stop this. “But this one...”

Anthony let out a sigh. “You never cease to amaze me.”

I then remembered Lynx’s weakness. But before I could reach for her hair, a new voice now called out, “What is going on?”

Lynx and I turned to see Malicius, another teacher I didn’t recognize with him. Dex and Anthony just stood there in silence.

“Fighting is not allowed!” the other teacher shouted, and I felt my breath catch it my throat. “Both of you, up to the office, now!”

“I’ll take care of this, Jim,” Malicius suddenly intersected, and I didn’t know if I was happy or upset about that. “They’re both my students. I’ll handle it.”

This teacher that I still didn’t know the name of glared at both Lynx and me before turning on his heel and starting off down the hall. None of us said anything or moved until he was out of sight.

“You maybe want to get off me, princess?” Lynx asked with a scowl on her face. “You’re heavy.”

I did as I was told, brushing myself off and making my way over to Anthony and Dex. Malicius helped Lynx up and she brushed herself off as well.

“The school is not a good place to fight,” Malicius informed us, gesturing over to the dented locker. “Obviously human items are not built to sustain our battles.”

Lynx blew a piece of her hair out of her face. “She’s the one who started it.”

I gaped at her. “You’re the one who pushed me into the locker! First!”

Lynx shrugged, as if this was no big deal, and I was now completely fed up with this. I wanted to leave before another fight broke out and before Vanessa came back.

“Come on,” I snapped at my two teammates, turning away from our enemies and toward the front of our school. “We’re going home.”

Dex and Anthony followed me as I made my way toward the front door. Lynx and Malicius didn’t try to stop us.

“Are you okay?” Dex asked me now. “You hit the locker pretty hard.”

“I’m fine,” I assured, even though as I walked, I found that my side hurt slightly. “Well, my side kind of hurts…”

Without saying anything, Dex was suddenly picking me up bridal style. I would have started flailing my arms and legs around for him to put me down if I wasn’t afraid he’d drop me. So I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my chin on his shoulder. There was no point in denying him when he was just trying to be nice.

“You shouldn’t walk,” was all he said as we made our way out the front of the school.

“Wow, Dex,” Anthony now said. “Even you can be a knight in shining armor sometimes.”

Surprisingly, Dex didn’t tell Anthony to shut up. He just held me, and I said nothing.

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I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow, so I'm trying to update all my stories! Only one more chapter left and that's Beauty and the Beat. So if you guys read that book, I'm working on it. :)

No updates until next weekend! Like I said, I'm going to be in Disneyland. :D

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :)