Shadow and Stars

Twenty

After determining that my great-great-grandma probably wrote that note I found in Luna's diary, I feel betrayed. It feels like a slap in the face: yeah, my future family members will have to deal with this bitch, but oh well, sucks to suck!

But I wonder if I shouldn't just give up and let Luna take the magic from me.

"What? You can't be serious," Julian says as he opens his bag of SunChips and leans over the cafeteria table. "That's a horrible idea."

"But then she'd be off my back and stop screwing with my life!" I take a chip from the bag and cram it in my mouth.

Julian levels me with his glare. "Camryn. You're thinking like Aurora. That might make things easier on you, but what about the havoc Luna could wreak on the rest of the world with that magic?"

I sigh and lean back against the plastic chair. "You're right. So what do we do?"

"We have to figure out a way to stop her."

"You see how well that went for her sister; what makes you think we will do any better?"

He shrugs. "You have me."

I can't help but smile as a warmth spreads from my face to the tips of my toes. "That's true...I do," I whisper as I brush his calf with my foot.

His cheeks flush, and he raises an eyebrow. "Well, I'd like to see—"

"Ms. Young, Mr. Byrne. How's the project coming along?" a monotone voice drones over our heads.

I drop my foot flat on the ground and sit up.

"It's great, Ms. Ferguson," Julian says. "We're almost ready to turn in the first half."

We are?

"Well, that's good to hear. I was thinking the two of you were focusing more on the...ahem...social component of the project," she says with a raised eyebrow before walking out of the cafeteria, swinging her lanyard around her hand.

We look at each other and burst into laughter, and when I can breathe again, I say, "We are so not ready to turn in the first half. We've barely started!" My heart pounds as the anxiety about my grade rushes in.

He grins as we get up from the table to go to our next class. "Sure we have."

"Huh?"

"What do you think I've been doing every afternoon after school before we meet to hang out? Even for the week we weren't talking, I was working on it," he says with a shrug. "I told you I'd let my grade slip if you didn't tell me what the fuck was going on. And you did. So I've held up my end of the bargain."

I forget where we are for a moment and I throw my arms around his neck. "Thank you, Julian. For everything. I don't know what I would've done without you the past few weeks."

He gives me a squeeze and drapes his arm over my shoulders as we walk to class. "You would've had a lot less fun watching your life implode," he says with a straight face, and again, I can't help but laugh.

In bed later that night, I'm reading the diary yet again when a knock at my door breaks the silence. I shove it under my pillow and sit up. "Come in!"

Dad rounds the corner, his hair disheveled from what appears to be a rough day at work. "Hi ladybug. How was your day?" he asks, sitting on the corner of my bed.

"It was fine, nothing special."

"How is everything? Have you talked to Levi?"

Hearing his name strikes a chord, but it doesn't wreck me like it did a few weeks ago. "Not in a while...we've just agreed to stay away from each other, I guess."