Page 28 of Friend
Chapter Six
Malls
Bianca was dressed for a date—which this technically was—but my guts churned with jealousy at the thought of her being so cute for someone else. Where did she even get that green dress? And why would she dare to wear those stupid black shoes at this time?
I bought them for her—Mary-Janes, she called them. She needed them because they were ‘so cute.’ I hadn’t evenseenher in them before today.
And she was wasting this entire look onCory.
It wasn’t fair.
After we made our ‘plan,’ she’d given him a handwritten note during lunch yesterday, asking him to meet her at the mall instead. During the last class period, he’d agreed.
And yes, it was easier this way. But it was still a pain in the butt.
Especially after Mr. Geier called me at ten last night, grilling me about where we were going and what we were doing. The call ended with the usual bit—that he trusted me to be ‘responsible.’
I wasnotbeing responsible right now. Because if, for even a second, Jonathan Grier knew that I was helping his daughter sneak out for a date with a werewolf—especially that werewolf being Cory Moore—he would skin me alive.
And normally, he was a very passive man.
Still, it was torture having to hide in the food court. From across the room, Cory aggressively approached Bianca and chatted her up, and my hatred swelled.
Although maybe he wasn’t being that aggressive.
In fact, if I was being honest, he looked positively normal. I was still waiting for Bianca’s expression to change, indicating he’d said something awful. I wanted her to slap him, but it didn’t appear to be happening today.
This was my punishment—it had to be.
They turned from me, but before she did, Bianca shot me a quick look and made a shooing motion with her hand. Then, without further hesitation, they wandered further into the mall.
At least he’d agreed on lunch at one of the adjoining restaurants instead of his original plan—and it helped that the movie theater was here too. Bianca wasn’t thrilled about missing out on award-winning cheeseburgers, but she’d get over it.
I drew the line at him taking her anywhere alone.
Go after them.
The thought barely passed my mind before Kiania’s presence stirred in my awareness.
‘Are you being serious?’ She did not sound pleased.
I whistled under my breath, the pressure in my chest building. Kiania padded in front of me a second later. Yes, we were in a public place, but the only ones who’d be able to see the shikigami were those who were gifted.
And right now, I didn’t care about subtlety. Only that Cory did not notice.
Please.
She grumbled angrily. ‘Children are silly.’
I frowned at her. We were not children, we were teenagers.
The tiger turned from me and vanished after them.
With that taken care of, my heart felt lighter, and I stood, not willing to waste another second with self-pity. The faster I finished this, the quicker I could get back to Bianca. I had Kiania, and I had her cell phone being tracked.
Surely nothing too terrible could happen.
I stepped past the glass doors, going outside. It’d been ages since they disappeared, I wondered how it was going.
