Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Chapter 1

Chapter 2: A Misappropriated Tart

"I am NEVER going back to Heartslabyul House. I'm joining YOUR dorm. For good."

Kat looked down at Grim.
He looked back at her with an expression that was just as confused as she felt.

The first brief moment of confusion passed pretty quickly. Then the exasperation that had been lingering since the first night-- god, was that really just yesterday night?- resurfaced.

"No," she said bluntly.

Blinking, Ace stared at her in a moment of stunned silence.

Then he shook his head.
"NO?!" He burst out incredulously.
"What kinda answer is that?!"

"The only one you're gonna get," she replied.
"First of all, you've been nothing but a jackass from the moment we met. The only reason I'm NOT currently homeless right now thanks to you is because we had to go to a haunted-ass mine and almost get killed by a gross fucking monster."

"But Grim--" Ace protested.
She held up a hand.

"I'm not done," she snapped.
"Yeah, Grim ran away, but YOU did that first. If you had just done the thing like you were supposed to, we wouldn't have had to go find you, and Grim wouldn't have had the chance to make a run for it."

"But I--" he tried again.

"Not. Done," Kat interrupted him, using a deep, icy tone that she'd picked up from her mom.

"And because of YOUR attempt to escape, Deuce, who was just trying to help, almost got expelled."

She took a breath.

"Even worse-- if we weren't there, and you hadn't decided to give it a fucking rest and cooperate for once in your fucking life, I firmly believe he would have tried to get the magic crystal by himself and gotten himself killed."

She paused.

"He would be dead. DEAD. A person would be dead. Because YOU didn't feel like washing windows."

This time, Ace didn't reply.
He stood still, arms slack by his sides. By the spotty moonlight streaming in through the cobwebbed windows, she could see that his face had gone pale.

She let the silence hang in the air for a second, then continued.

"And now, you show up at this godforsaken dorm at this godforsaken hour, and it wouldn't take a genius to see that you've caused, or at the very least participated in, another fucking problem. People who aren't in trouble don't come knocking on the door of a derelict building at whatever in the fuckin' A.M. and announce that they live there now."

She crossed her arms, shifting her weight.

"I've seriously had enough trouble in one-and-a-half days to last a lifetime. I don't want you here. I get that you're only sixteen and teenagers do dumb, impulsive shit and are generally little assholes, but we could have DIED."

Stepping around Grim, she walked back to the door, holding it open.

"So-- no thank you. You cannot join my dorm. Your application has been rejected. Please leave."

There were a few more seconds of silence as both Ace and Grim gaped at her, open-mouthed.

Then Ace shifted his weight, shuffling around awkwardly.

"I--" he began, then licked his lips.

"I-- yeah," he continued, in a voice that suddenly sounded very dry.