A Dangerous Desire

8| Secrets

<Glory>

That night, I tossed and turned in my bed. The only thing on my mind was Deathbringer and his stupid grin. I wanted to set myself on fire, because goddamnit was he hot. Oh, and the worst part? I fell. And I fell so hard that it made me lovesick.

"And, like, he's in all of my classes," I said, continuing my rant to Tsunami as we walked to our next class. "Don't you think that's the slightest bit suspicious?"

"Girl, Starflight was in all of my classes in the 10th grade and he wasn't part of some 'secret organization'," Tsunami said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Sure, that was the worst year of my life, but like, you're just being dramatic because you want a reason to not like Deathbringer."

"I'm not being dramatic," I defended.

"So, let me get this straight," she continued. "Deathbringer shows up at your house with a bouquet of flowers for your mother and proceeded to ask you to feed him?"

"Yes," I said, sighing in aggravation.

"And you wanted to?" she pressed.

"No!" I cried instantly. "God, this is why I don't come to you with my problems."

"Alright, alright, listen," Tsunami said. "I can help you. Here are some tips since you're obviously falling for him." She continued before I could snap at her. "You're going to need to play hard-to-get. It seems to me that you apparently love chasers and Deathbringer loves a chase."

"I don't love chasers–and I'm not trying to get him to fall for me," I cried. "I'm trying to figure him out and why he's so obsessed with me. He tells me both his parents are dead, but I don't believe it. He's definitely hiding something."

"Alright, fine," Tsunami said. "If it helps, I'll do some research on him for you, find out where he's from and what he's about, and then you'll leave me alone about your crazy theories?"

"The only crazy one here is you," I mumbled.

"What was that?" Tsunami demanded.

"Nothing," I said, louder.

"That's what I thought," she grumbled.

"Fine, do what you need to do, but I'm not easily convinced," I said dismissively as we stopped in front of our next class. "Talk to you later."

"*"

"So, Thorn decided she'd make it an Arts and Crafts class, which I think is actually super smart," Sunny said as we walked home together. "It starts Monday."

"Awesome," I said, looking up at the trees as squirrels chased each other on the branches.

"So?" Sunny pressed. "Are you coming? It'll be fun! Starflight and the others will be there."

"Was that supposed to convince me?" I questioned.

"Well... yeah," Sunny said, a little wistfully.

I sighed. "I was planning on working that day," I said with a slight shrug. "I can't, sorry." Sunny sighed.

"Sometimes I wish you were..." She stopped herself short, catching herself before saying something she knew she'd regret.

"What?" I asked. "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing," Sunny said in a hurry. "It isn't important. It's just... we never hang out anymore, just us. We were best friends... and now we're not."

I looked away. I felt the same just in the slightest, but I had more important things than book-scrapping.