Page 51 of Twisted Ties

“Maybe you should ask her anyway. This doesn’t sound safe, Azlan. Sometimes I think you forget you’re only one man. Sometimes I think the Chancellor forgets it too.”

“You know I can take care of myself.”

“But it’s not only you now, is it? Not only yourself you have to worry about. If anything happens to you …”

I stroll towards the window and gaze down at the street. I don’t want him to see my face.

“Nothing will happen to me,” he says gently.

“It better not, pal,” I say through gritted teeth. “Because if it does, I don’t care if you’re already dead, I will wring your neck.”

“You care about her,” he says, softer still.

“So you keep saying.”

“So you keep showing.”

I scoff at him. But I can’t deny it.

17

Rhi

I could really dowithout gym first thing the next morning. My body is sore from the separation away from my mate and I didn’t sleep a wink again last night.

“You could probably plead with coach to let you off, considering the state of your leg only a week ago,” Winnie says as we hurry towards the gymnasium.

“Nope,” I say with resignation I try to feel. “I’m serious about learning. I’m going to focus damn hard on my studies and that includes learning everything I can in gym class, even if it’s mostly going to involve being thrown on my back over and over again.”

“A skill I’m sure you’ve found rather useful over the last few days.” Winnie chuckles.

I can’t help a smile. And I can’t help feeling grateful for Winnie. For all my bravado, I’m not exactly looking forwardto facing Spencer on the mat again. His black mood when I bumped into him on the path two days ago suggests he’ll be as brutal as ever. Coupled with the way my body reacted to him when we last met, I have a feeling I’m going to be battered and bruised by the end of the lesson.

For once, I am in luck. No combat training this lesson. We’re back to running laps around the field. Something I’m actually fairly good at and, compared to many of the other forms of torture Coach Hank likes to thrust upon us, relatively painless.

This luck doesn’t last long though. I’m about to step into my uniform once gym class is over, when Summer and her little posse emerge from nowhere, forming a tight circle around me.

I go to sidestep them, but before I know what’s happening; several pairs of hands have grabbed me, pinning my arms to my sides and pushing me towards the showers.

“What the hell?” I yell, trying to free my arms so I can defend myself. But there are too many girls holding me tight, their long nails pinching into my flesh. “Let me go!”

“Stop it!” Winnie shouts, and I peer over my shoulder at her as I attempt to dig my heels into the cold tiled floor. She’s being held against the lockers by three of the cheerleading squad. “What are you doing?”

“I’m so fed up with this little pig polluting the air I’m forced to breathe with her stench. God, I can smell her a mile away,” Summer says in a bored voice, her arms crossed casually over her chest and something sinister brewing in her eyes.

“I don’t smell!” I snap. In fact, I had already showered and dried myself. “If a smell’s following you around, ever thought it might be yourself?”

“Aaah!” Summer screeches. “Get her in the stupid shower.”I tussle as best as I can with the four girls holding me, but it’s no good. With my hands trapped, I can’t use my magic and they push me easily into the cubicle right at the back of the row. They force me under the shower head, two of them holding my head. I hear Summer click her fingers and a torrent of freezing cold water comes thundering down.

It’s so cold it whips my breath away and I can’t breathe, water running into my nose and my mouth and my eyes as they hold my face under the downpour. I choke on the water, trying desperately to spit it from my mouth but more and more of it pours into my face.

“Stop it!” I hear Winnie call through the gurgle of the water in my ears.

I start to panic, no oxygen reaching my lung, my chest starting to burn, my head beginning to spin.

Just when I think I can’t take it anymore, the flow cuts off and I gasp for air, coughing and spluttering water down my front.

“What do we think? Clean enough?” Summer says. I blink up at her, water streaming down my face. My hands are still held and I can’t wipe it away. “Hmmm,” she says, with that stupid smile I’d really love to wipe from her face. “I don’t think so.”