Playing with Fire

e p i s o d e | s e v e n (pt. 1)

Anna hops over to my locker at the end of the day, looking even more chipper than usual. I guess that her new role as a student mentor didn't go too badly, as much as she was stressing about it all week.

"You look happy," I note, closing my locker looking down at Anna's bright expression.

"I don't think I did too bad," she responds cheerily.

I tousle the top of her head with a hand, before she protectively covers her hair with her arms. "I told you you'd be fine." After a moment of hesitation, I ask, "What about Hawthorne? Did he give you any trouble?"

Anna shakes her head, though I notice that her eyes briefly flicker. "He just sat there the whole time. I don't think he was too excited about it." She shrugs. "But whatever, right? As long as we're both in there, Eyre will have no choice but to believe that it's a team effort."

I study her expression for a minute. "You want to be a team?"

She widens her eyes at me and quickly shakes her head. "No, that's not what I meant. I mean ... she wants us to be a team." Anna purses her lips thoughtfully. "Well, what I'm saying is ..."

"You know," I interrupt her. "You don't have to lie to me."

"I'm not lying!"

I just smile. "Anna, I don't really care what happens between you and Rowan Hawthorne, as long as you stay safe. All I've been doing is warning you about him, because I know him better than you do." It's a semi-lie. Of course I care about what goes on in between them. But it's a lie that I can risk for the sake of her comfort. I hate feeling like she can't tell me the truth.

Anna looks a little desperate at this point. "I'm not lying ..." She trails off when we both spot Rowan passing to head towards the exit doors. Though he doesn't acknowledge our presence, I notice Anna's eyes following his figure as he leaves.

"As you were saying?" I ask her, outwardly portraying amusement.

"Even if I wanted to be his friend, he doesn't want to be mine," she assures me simply. "He's actually pretty rude."

Well, that's nothing new. I open my mouth to respond, when Valentine suddenly walks up to us and puts her arm around each of our shoulders.

"What are my beautiful siblings talking about today?" she asks.

"How rude Rowan Hawthorne is," I respond icily.

Val immediately drops her arms and rolls her eyes. "Seriously, Kai? Get over it. Not everyone in this school is going to despise Hawthorne as much as you do. In fact, I think pretty much everyone adores him." She sticks her tongue out at me and turns to face Anna. "By the way, you did great in class. I mean, I had no idea what you were talking about, but you still did great."

Anna blinks at her. "You didn't get it?"

Val shrugs. "Well, I'll never get math." She looks over at me. "What are you doing? Let's leave this damn building."

We start towards the exit, but are stopped by the sound of someone calling my name. When I turn around, a tall, brown-haired girl starts towards us, a cocky smile on her face. Valentine immediately stiffens.

"Hey, Kai," the girls says to me brightly. Her eyes land on Anna and Val, and her voice grows flat. "Kai's sisters."

"Oh, hi, Milana," Valentine drawls. "How are you?"

"Fine. And how was your extra class? I heard you had so much fun." The amount of fake sweetness in these girls' voices is immeasurable.

I notice Val's hands curling into fists, and I lightly tap her on the back of the arm to signal for her to calm down. Milana Hale is the type of person to provoke fights and then later play the victim. Val has already fallen for her traps many times before – especially when both of them had been heads-over-heels for Rowan freshman year.

Unfortunately, in recent years, I've become Milana's newest target.

"Are you doing anything today?" she asks me, clearly blocking Valentine and Anna out of the picture now.

"Uh, he is," Val snaps immediately. "You know. With his family."

Milana rolls her eyes. "Did I ask you?" She makes no attempt to conceal the disgust in her voice anymore. "Anyhow, what I was going to say was that I'm having a party at my place tonight. I'll be nice and invite all of you, just because I know that you'd come anyway."

Valentine snorts. "As if."

"Aww." Milana feigns a hurt expression. "Then I'll take care of Rowan Hawthorne myself."

Val's eyes flash at the statement, but Milana's already skipping out of the front door. "I'll see you tonight, Kai!" she yells towards me, before disappearing out the metal doorframe.

"Bitch," Valentine mutters, still fuming. "I hate her so much."

"Are you going to go?" Anna asks both of us curiously.

Val clears her throat awkwardly. "Well, I mean ... it is the weekend, and I do have nothing else to do, so ..." She shrugs, pretending to be indifferent. I know that she's already made up her mind, though; it was set the moment Milana mentioned Hawthorne. "I'll think about it," she finishes ambiguously. She raises an eyebrow at Anna. "Do you want to come with?"

"Hey," I interject, scowling. "Remember what happened last time?"

"I swear, I'll keep her away from alcohol." Val throws me a glare. "Do you want her to stay home all night by herself?"

"She won't be by herself. She has Grandma." I turn to Anna gently. "Don't feel like you're obligated to go. Milana's going to have just as much alcohol as Rowan, and you're not going to be comfortable."

"On the contrary, I'll take good care of her this time," Val snaps.

Anna puts her arms in between us. "Hey! It's fine," she exclaims. "I'll think about it."

I stare at her in surprise. "You'll think about it? Anna, I thought you hated social events. And it's going to be even more problematic if you run into alcohol again – which you undoubtedly will."

She puts her hands defensively over her head, as if ducking for cover. "Just let me think about it, okay? I'm not saying that I'll go yet." Pointing to the exit doors, she motions for us to follow. "Hurry. We've been standing here for too long now."

Val gives me a smug half-smile as we leave the school, catching up to Anna and throwing her arm around Anna's shoulders. As I head slowly towards my car, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. I think I've figured out why Anna is considering going to the party.