Zodiac Academy

4. Confidence

  A week. They avoided me for a week. I was going to kill them. What other friends could they talk to that tolerated them as much as I do?

  The professor was starting to announce class was dismissed as I stood up abruptly and walked over to the twins. The stares I got from the multiple zodiac groups in our shared Air Manipulation class were not going to stop me from going to confront them. They were my best friends and I didn't deserve to be avoided or ignored.

  I slammed my textbook on Leo's desk, the bell interrupting a lot of the noise I had made. "Why are you guys avoiding me?"

  "Aw, do you miss us?" Leo asked.

  "You're both my best friends! Of course, I miss you guys. What's up with the cold shoulder?" I demanded.

  Leo shrugged. "We needed time to think things over."

  "What things?"

  Jaxson tapped my hand. I turned my glare down at him. His bright eyes looked up into mine. He looked as if he had a thousand words to say, but his lips formed none of them.

  "Well?" I pressed.

  Leo sighed. "Alright, alright. We were testing to see if you would come to find us."

  "That's total crap."

  "I was worried," Jaxson whispered.

  I looked back at him. He was looking at his desk and flipping open my textbook's cover again and again. Worried about what? How he dropped his guard and started to panic in front of me?

  "Aquarius," Leo snapped, "don't push him."

  I nodded without looking away from Jaxson. "What were you worried about?"

  His head tilted to the side. His shoulders pulled upwards as if being pulled by puppet strings then dropped.

  What else could I do? Fighting him wasn't going to do anything. He could tell me when he felt like it.

  I grabbed my textbook from him and walked out of the classroom. They were nice people for the most part; if they wanted me to be present whenever we were all free to spend time together, they will come to me.

  Jenny met me in the hallway. "What happened between you guys?"

  I sighed and waved my hand around aimlessly. "Nothing much."

  "I haven't seen them go to your desk in a week," she stated. "Something's up."

  A swirling wind picked up around us. Jenny's fingers were circling on her book. "They had things to do, I guess." I shrugged, trying to make her forget the topic.

  Shaking her head she frowned. "You seemed pretty upset walking over there. And all week you've been wandering around without them."

  "I don't know what to tell you."

  "Alright." The wind stopped. "Just show them who's boss. Teach them you're not to be ignored."

  "Lovely advice, thanks," I said, rolling my blue eyes.

  She gasped, hopping on the balls of her feet. "I have an idea! If they don't talk to you today, come see me tomorrow before A. M. class. Libras and Capricorns may be the only ones to be allowed to wear makeup, but they can't stop the rest of us from wearing anything we want."

  A gleam appeared in her eyes. I don't know if I'm going to like what she has planned. I may not be the best looking girl here... that's it, no buts. I may not be the best looking girl here. Going to see her before class was probably going to be a bad idea.

  Recently, when I had I been one to shy away from bad ideas?

°^°^°

  I stared at the mirror before me. This was a bad idea. A horrible idea. I didn't like it.

  "What if they're gay?" I blurted. I was uncomfortable and maybe this would stop her from her actions.

  Jenny paused, if only for a moment. She clicked her tongue at me. "Nice try."

  I knew Leo wasn't gay. Or he was just really good at acting pleased with girls clinging to him. I don't think so. I think he was straight.

  Jaxson wasn't exactly an open book. I don't really know anything about him. He is always found with his twin. They like to talk simultaneously and keep to themselves most of the time. They may be my best friends, but I didn't know that much about them. And that didn't really bother me.

  Jenny took a step away from me, looking pleased with her work. She had thrown a black cropped hoodie on me with matching jeggings. She took my dark brown hair and had me pull it into a high ponytail. Her idea of getting them to learn who was boss was showing off skin. What illogical nonsense was this?

  She slapped my ass and walked over to her door. "Ready?"

  I grimaced at myself in the mirror. She had also used lip gloss that tasted like orange juice, but it was sticky beyond belief. The top was clinging to what curves I did have and the bottoms were the same. Never having put my hair up like this before, it felt like I had weights pulling at my head. Overall, it was uncomfortable and I wanted to change.

  Jenny tugged me out of her room. "It doesn't matter if you're not. Here we go!"

  She dragged me all the way to class. A few looks were thrown my way on the walk to the room, but Jenny ignored them all. She was smiling happily as she dragged me to teach those boys a thing or two.

  The only thing I thought this would teach them was that a girl's body could easily become a distraction from listening to a professor drone on about using our Air wisely. I knew Jenny wasn't stupid. What was she trying to pull?

  She shoved me into the room. Thankfully, I had better balance than most people and didn't even falter. I self-consciously made my way up to my desk. My hair was swaying from side to side and it felt weird, almost abnormal.

  Cho winked at me from the crowd and someone else whistled. Ew. I hated this attention, but if I went back they would know that.

  I huffed and straightened my spine. I pulled myself up and walked with confidence. If I had to deal with this I should at least be confident about it.

  I glanced at the Gemini twins' seats. Leo was staring with a confused look and Jaxson looked angry. My confidence started to wilt. Was something wrong with the way they saw me? It looked awful to me but I didn't care about my own opinion. Why were they looking at me like that?

  A gust of wind came from behind me and I glanced back at Jenny. She had taken her seat and watched me. She blew me a kiss and winked.

  My lost confidence hadn't returned. I took my seat quickly and ignored all the longing looks I was starting to receive from my classmates.

  Jenny was going to regret making me do this. I was going to make sure she knew never to do this to me again.