Beauty and the Wolf

Five. Hi Again

Daisy quickly realized it was next to impossible to get Mark alone. The ogre was a magnet for conversation. Underclassmen approached him for help with their homework, teachers showered him with compliments, and his friend group spent every available second with him. And they were quite the circus bunch. Sure, he had a couple of ogre friends that were both horrendous to look at, but then there were the others. 

Daisy observed them from the other end of the hallway, idling by the water fountain. She pretended to be on her phone when in reality, she was subtly stealing peaks at Mark and his regular crew.  

Mark was grabbing items from his locker. Jessie, one of his ogre friends, was rummaging in his locker, muttering about a rotten sandwich he couldn't find for the past week. Daisy could smell the foul tuna sandwich from where she stood, and she wrinkled her nose. Mark's other ogre friend and cousin, Kyle, leaned by the lockers near Jessie, fully invested in a soap opera on his tablet, eyes glazed. Daisy's ears were ringing at the purposeful high-pitched wails of the actress as she cried about having some affair and apologized to her husband profusely for her actions. Even from where Daisy stood, she could hear the emptiness in the actress's apologies. Daisy hoped the writers didn't script for the husband to forgive the wretch.

On the other side of Mark, his locker neighbour was levitating his books to his locker, looking dreadfully devastated. A mummy and kitsune, the only girls in the group, stood by, waiting for the boys to collect their belongings. 

Once the Chinese boy finished levitating his books, he closed his locker with the snap of his finger and melodramatically leaned his forehead against it. "Guys, it's official. Today is day five hundred of me being mateless." 

"Cheer up, Theo," Mark replied, awkwardly patting the sorcerer's head. "He's out there."

"I know he is, but where?!" Theo groaned into the locker. 

"It's a shame it's illegal for you to cast a locater spell," the mummy, Billy, commented. The Egyptian girl was covered from head to toe in decayed flesh and tattered bandages. Her uniform hid as much of her monstrosity as it could, but that still left her hands, legs, and head. Her head was wrapped entirely in dressings, leaving only her jaundiced eyes and cavity-infested mouth exposed. Oddly enough, the mummy didn't smell as horrendous as she looked. Daisy caught the whiff of shea butter and vanilla from the mummy's direction. 

"You'll find him eventually," Mark reassured his friend. "I bet he's just in another city, that's all."

"Do you know how many cities there are in the world? I should've started travelling the world years ago!" Theo lifted his head and squinted his eyes up at Mark. "And why aren't you as bummed as me? You haven't found your mate either."

Daisy sucked in her breath, snapping her head up in Mark's direction. She watched his back as the ogre stood still for a few seconds. She noticed his back muscles tense, and she waited, wondering if he'd disobey her direct order and tell his friends then and there about them. 

Mark instead shrugged his shoulders. "I figured I'm wasting time if I mop around. I got a life too. She'll come to me when she's ready." 

Daisy released her breath out of relief. 

Theo still didn't appear convinced. "And when will that be?"

"Hopefully soon," Mark mused. 

Little did the ogre know, his wish would be coming true shortly. Daisy crossed her arms over her chest. A freshman troll hesitantly approached her, wishing to use the water fountain, but she growled in response, causing the troll to scurry away. Daisy shoved her phone into the pocket of her skort, feeling her impatience weighing on her. Just how long was Mark planning to talk to his friends?