Page 17 of Bad Moon Rising
“He’s full of shit, Daisy.” I roll my eyes conspiratorially and offer her an impish grin. “I had to study for that damn History test today.”
Not a total lie. I did study for the test…but at six in the morning before arriving at school.
It’s not like it matters, anyway. Orion and I got into SCC in Sardinia. We’re set. The only reason we need senior year at all is to get our diplomas and…and Lily is here.
Daisy’s face pales, a startling contrast to her vibrant, sun-swatched hair, and she reaches down for her backpack at her feet.
“Oh, shit! Is that today? I thought it was next week.” She grabs out her huge textbook—where everything is already highlighted—and then her color-coordinated notebook. Is it wrong of me to be turned on right now? I never thought I would find nerds sexy, but here we are.
“You’ll ace it. Don’t worry,” Orion tells her gently, placing his hand on hers.
I home in on where they connect, a muscle in my jaw twitching.
“Do you know me?” She begins to sift through the pages of her textbook with a speed that is almost staggering. A loose curl falls free of her braid and caresses her cheek. “Worry is my middle name.”
“Actually it’s—” Orion begins, but Daisy places her hand over his mouth with a pointed look in my direction.
I pout. “Why are you being so mean to me, Daisy, love of my life, light of my world, heart of my—”
She cuts me off with a snort, shaking her head as if I’m being absolutely ridiculous.
I wonder how she’d react if she discovered everything I said is the truth.
Orion carefully extracts her hand from his mouth, but I note that his cheeks are redder than normal. He ducks his head with a tiny grin tugging up the corner of his lips.
I once again find myself narrowing my eyes at him. Just how far down the rabbit hole of crushes did my brother go?
A part of me doesn’t want to know the answer, while the rest of me craves it more than anything else.
Giggling captures my attention, and I peel my eyes away from my twin and girl to see Lacey Heading and Chelsea Roth smiling at me and batting their fake lashes in my direction. I offer back a tight-lipped smile in response.
I know the two of them have a bet going over which of them I’ll take to the prom. I suppose it makes sense, at least in their minds. I’m the quarterback of the football team, after all, and Lacey is the head cheerleader. I’m also currently the star of the school musical opposite Chelsea—the J.D. to her Veronica. The laws of high school state that I’ll ask one of them to be my date.
But alas, love is a fickle thing that obeys no laws.
Which reminds me…
“So,” I begin, steepling my hands together over the top of my chest, “Have you guys been seeing all of that prom propaganda?”
Daisy perks up almost instantly, though she doesn’t divert her attention off of her textbook. Still, I can tell she’s listening when a muscle in her jaw begins to twitch.
I know my girl, and a stuffy prom is the last place she’ll want to be. However, with Brooks home, we could do what we did during his proms—hang out at our house, watch shitty horror movies, and stuff our faces with pizzas.
Of course, that’s not the true reason we’re not attending prom this year. The dance just happens to fall on the full moon, and with the werewolf still at large, we’ll need to find somewhere safe to hold up. The plan is simple—have one of us with Lily at all times while the other two sneak out and hunt the werewolf under the guise of picking up pizza, grabbing snacks, and other miscellaneous tasks.
We’ll kill two birds with one stone—keeping an eye on Daisy and putting an end to this monster once and for all.
“Obviously, we’re not going,” I continue.
Orion nods absently from where he’s doodling in his notebook, one of his ear buds in his ear and the other dangling over his shoulder.
“Obviously,” he parrots, not really paying attention.
“Oh.” Lily flips a page in her book but still doesn’t bother to look up.
“We’re probably just going to hang out at my place,” I continue, gauging her reaction carefully. At one point, I considered myself an expert on all things Lily Dean. I could read my sweet Daisy like an open book. But now, that book has been converted into a foreign language, and no amount of Google translate can unveil the words on the page.
What is she thinking?