Don't Forget

3. The Frustration of Knowing a Mind-Reader

Jarek Renaldi was not someone I had been expecting to befriend when I decided to attend Vietate High. He wasn't exactly my type: shaggy black hair that flopped into his haunting blue eyes, an ever-present bored expression, and the haughty attitude of someone who thought they were better than you. He even had an eyebrow piercing, a black stud on the right side. It was hard to see, given his hair covered it up, but when the wind blew or he tossed his head, there it was.

He wasn't a rule breaker, necessarily, but he was rude and had a dislike for authority—though, I think he had a dislike for everything in general. Because I wasn't his exact opposite, but I was close, I didn't expect us to get along. And we didn't get along, not really, but there had always been this connection between us. I couldn't describe it, but somehow, I knew he would be on my side of the fight, whether or not I wanted him to be.

The fact that he was a super-human meant his veins went unseen; super-humans had silver blood, so their veins didn't press against their skin, blue and pulsing. Rather, there was nothing to see. For that reason, you could argue they were flawless, like the angels. But they still had their blemishes: they scarred easily, and suffered through acne just like the rest of us.

But Jarek wasn't like that. Minus the scar he'd had if he ever removed his piercing, he was attractive. Not as breathtaking as the angels—because nothing could surpass their looks—but he had a certain edge to him that made him pleasant to look at it.

Sometimes, it seemed that was all he had going for him, his looks. For beneath them was an arrogant jerk that liked to tease people relentlessly for their thoughts.

Why he had chosen me specifically to pick on, I wasn't sure. I thought perhaps it was because I was a human and most creatures harbored a grudge against my kind, but Jarek was unexpected—strange, given that he rarely showed emotion. When it came to him, I just had to go with the flow.

And that's what I did when he approached me after lunch, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. He told me, "There's a party tonight in the S building."

My lips pursed. "Yeah?"

His mouth twitched in his version of a smirk. "And I see you're hoping to attend."

Now I frowned, eyebrows furrowed. "Please get out of my head."

He leaned closer and whispered, "Don't think so loud." When he straightened, he shot me a conceited look. As he walked away, he lifted a hand in a wave, saying, "See you tonight, sweet cheeks."

A blush sprang to my face at the nickname, and I huffed in his direction. I didn't appreciate his nicknames for me either.

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Vietate High had gotten a reputation of being a party school. It wasn't by fault of the faculty—they had tried to dampen the destruction of drunken creatures. But it was pointless to lay down a rule against parties; the creatures would find a way around it.

Vampires and super-humans had a talent for finding loopholes. (Many, when instated in human societies, became lawyers.)

So the parties went on. And the creatures loved their alcohol, more than humans at times. Of course, it took a lot of alcohol to affect the creatures, since their systems worked a bit differently than ours. Some stipulated that the reason the creatures adored their booze was because they were descendants of Dionysus, the God of Wine. No one put much stock into that theory though.

Maion commented from inside our bathroom, "It sucks that Rian can't come. He's always so fun at parties."

Even though the friendly werewolf didn't need alcohol to be funny, the drinks did bring out a whole new side of him that everyone enjoyed seeing.