“Yet,” Meiying corrects, “And do not call me a freshy. It’s as bad as baby Liu.”
Isa laughs. “Ignore her. She’s in a mood.”
Meiying rolls her eyes. “I’m not in a mood.” She folds her arms across her chest, and I fight back my laugh. She’s pouting like César. Bottom lip jutted out and brows furrowed into a scowl.
“Sure,” Isa drawls.
“Urgh. Whatever. Do your friendly chat thing with the new girl. I’m off to ruin Georgia’s day.” She turns on her heel and heads straight for the exit.
“And how exactly do you plan to do that?” Isa calls after her.
Meiying turns, walking backwards. “I caught Jordy making out with some random from the Coven in the hallways after first period this morning. Georgia is going to lose her shit when she finds out one of her very own witches was playing tonsil hockey with him.” Her eyes glitter with mischief.
“Please tell me he’s not still sleeping with that piranha?” Isa groans.
Meiying grins. “He’s a wolf among sheep. You let him fool you with that smile of his, Isa. You should work on that. Jordy is a player through and through. He’ll sleep with anyone who has a rack and a nice pair of legs. Georgia knows it too.”
“Then why are you about to start drama?”
She chuckles. “I just want to give her a little reminder that just because she’s screwing a wolf, doesn’t mean she’s special.”
Isa mutters out a curse before turning back to me. “Sorry about that. Georgia and Meiying have some history. She sorta screwed over Meiying’s brother.”
I shrug, not really sure what she has to apologize for. “Don’t worry about it,” I tell her, though I’m adding Meiying to my be-cautious-of list because she sounded way too excited to go and mess with whoever this Georgia girl is. “I’m not really following, anyway. Is this Jordy guy a friend or boyfriend or something?” I hope he’s not her boyfriend. She seems nice and it would be really screwed up if he was hooking up with a bunch of other girls on the side while seeing her.
Isa laughs. “Just a friend. I don’t think Jordy has a single boyfriend bone in his body. Monogamy and him don’t mix. But that’s a story for another day.”
“I’ve got time,” I say and I do. The bell won’t ring for another ten minutes, and I like her. She’s friendly and has this open and welcoming personality. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but she is totally friend material. KeAnna would love her—assuming she doesn’t already know her.
She waves me toward one of the tables. “Come on, I’ll give you the lowdown on the wolves, anyway. If you don’t get it from me, you’ll get it from someone else and it’s probably better you get it from me. I don’t want you to have the wrong impression, especially since I’m sort of one of them.”
We take our seats and I pull out a small package ofPresuntinho—Piraque crackers. Isa tosses her bag on the floor and I wave the package toward her. “Want one?” I ask.
She purses her lips, nostrils flaring before shrugging. “Why not.” I hand over a cracker and she takes a bite. She chews slowly, her brows furrow before she swallows. “That’s…interesting,” she says, but takes another bite.
I nibble on my own and grin. “I take if you’re new to ham-flavored crackers?”
“Yeah. You could say that. They’re sort of weird but also kind of—”
“Addicting,” I finish for her, leaning across the table to hand her another.
She nods and takes it. “They are. Anyway, what was I saying?”
“The wolves,” I prompt, because any information about the people who rule this school is sure to be useful.
“Right. So anyway, the school is run by the wolves. Hellbound High is supposed to be a school for paranormals to mix and mingle, but the Pack controls most of Texas and the Southwest Pack Alpha is a wolf.”
I nod my head pretending like all of this makes complete sense when really it’s mostly over my head. I’ve never followed Pack politics, but I don’t mind a crash course. As a psyker, I’m not affiliated with any main body of people. The Vampires have the Seethe. The Shifters have the Pack. There’s rumor that psykers like me have formed some type of group, but it's not very official and it’s not like anyone has come calling and asked me to join. What I do know is, where supernatural politics are concerned, there are rules and powers that be that you do not want to piss off. Living as a human has made me somewhat immune to all that but I won’t be for long now that I’m voluntarily diving into the paranormal world.
“Anyway. The Alpha’s son goes to Hellbound High. Rafael Castillo.”
“No shit?”
She smirks. “No shit. And, he’s my mate.”
“Wait. Mate? As in forever life partner. Soulmate kind of mate?”
She nods her head.