Waindale

forty-one. to be a teenage girl

When I get back to Adam's after spending the rest of the day at Elara's, I find him eating dinner in the kitchen.

"I would have waited for you if I knew you were on your way back. Here, sit down, I'll fix you a plate," he offers.

I sit with him in the breakfast nook. "No, no, you eat. I'll grab something later."

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Oh, you know, didn't I grab something before we left for the academy?"

Adam sets down his fork and knife. "You told me that you would go to the cafeteria before class. What's going on? You can't tell me that you aren't hungry after not eating all day."

"I don't know. I just haven't had much of an appetite lately," I admit. "Maybe it's because of the power my father restored to me. Maybe I don't need to eat anymore."

Adam lifts his fork to me with a piece of chicken on it. I roll my eyes, lean over the table, and bite it off. The meat feels strange in my mouth, but I chew and swallow and ask, "Happy now?"

I get up from the table and say, "I'm going to take a shower. Come find me when you're done, okay?"

"Oh, Wrenley," he says, catching me before I disappear into the hall, "the rogue—she is your friend Eli's mate. He'll be returning to the academy with her next semester."

"Wow," I breathe, "great news."

The next day at school I immediately find the girls and tell them what Adam told me concerning Eli's mate. They aren't too fond of him returning to the academy with her, but ultimately we decide that it isn't the girl's fault. We will meet her and be kind to her and make her feel welcome here in Waindale.

This Saturday is the winter formal that Vivianne has been mentioning every now and then. Although Imogen assures us that she already has her outfit picked out, she accompanies Vivianne and I as we search for our dresses Friday after school. There is a charming boutique in the center of town, and we find ourselves there, scavenging through racks of clothes. I look through tens of glittering and draping dresses before finding something that might work. On the other hand, Vivianne is busy in a dressing room with twenty or so dresses packed in there with her. Every time she tries on a new one, she shoves back the curtain to show us. Imogen is sat on a plush stool and reacts dramatically to every dress.

"No, Vivianne!" She cries. "Show me something worth my time, will you?"

"Wrenley, what do you think?"

I walk over to them with my dress laid over my arm. Vivianne is standing in the frame wearing a navy blue number. "It's a pretty dress," I say. My eye catches a pale blue one on the hook behind her, so I point it out. "But try on that one. I think that one will look amazing."

She returns to her cave of tulle and sequins. Imogen motions to the dress I'm holding and questions, "Find something?"

I hold up the lengthy, flowing, lavender piece and she tells me to get in a change room so she can see it on. It doesn't take me long to throw the thing over my head, and when everything is in place, when the thin straps are secured, I step out. Vivianne turns to me in the pale blue dress. We simultaneously decide that these are our dresses, and with Imogen's approval, we package them up and leave to grab a snack at Barb's.

"Don't worry, it will be warm inside. It's not like the winter formal is taking place in the snow," Vivianne says then takes a sip of her latte. "So it's settled then? We're all going together? No guys?"

Imogen takes a bite of her chocolate chip muffin and mutters, "No boys."

"I'd rather go just the three of us," I say.