Onyx (A Lux Novel)

“You could say that.” I thought about elaborating for a second, but what could I tell her? “I was ru

We headed down the hall, chatting about the party on Friday and what we were going to wear. I really hadn’t put much thought into it, figuring I’d just wear jeans and a shirt.

“Everyone is dressing up,” she explained, “since we don’t get a lot of reasons to actually wear something nice around here.”

“We just had homecoming.” I groaned, knowing I didn’t have anything dressy.

Carissa launched into the routine conversation about what colleges I was going to apply to. She was hoping I would send an application into WVU. Most of the students were applying there.

“Katy, you really need to start applying,” she insisted as she grabbed a plate of what appeared to be Salisbury steak. “You’re going to run out of time.”

“You know, I hear it from my mom every day. I will when I decide where I want to go.” Problem was I had no idea where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do.

“You don’t have forever,” she said, quick to remind me.

Dee was already at our table, and I launched into my own tirade the moment I sat down. “So I can’t wear jeans to the party? I have to wear a dress?”

“Huh?” Dee blinked and looked at me.

“Carissa told me I had to wear a dress on Friday night. I didn’t really plan for that.”

Dee picked up her fork and pushed the food around on her plate. “You should wear a dress. We get to be pretty princesses for the night and dress up for the party.”

“We’re not six.”

Lesa snorted and repeated, “Pretty princesses?”

“Yes, pretty princesses. You can borrow one of my dresses. I have enough.” Dee poked at her green beans.

Something was not right with her. She wasn’t eating and was now suggesting I could wear one of herdresses. “Dee, I don’t think I’d fit in one of your dresses.”

She turned her angelic face to mine, lips turned down at the corners. “I have plenty of dresses you can wear. Don’t be silly.”

I stared at her, dumbfounded. “If I wore one of your dresses, I’d look like a tightly packaged sausage.”

Dee’s gaze darted over my shoulders, and whatever she was going to say died on her lips. Her eyes widened and face paled. I was afraid to turn around, half expecting to find a set of DOD officers strolling through our school cafeteria in black suits.

The picture in my brain was equally hilarious and frightening.

I slowly twisted in my seat, preparing myself to be thrown on the floor and handcuffed, or whatever it was they did. It took me a moment to find what Dee was utterly transfixed by, and when I did, I was confused.

It was Adam Thompson—the nice twin as I liked to refer to him and he was Dee’s… friend? Boyfriend?

“What’s going on?” I asked, swiveling around.

Her gaze darted to me. “Can we talk later?”

In other words, it wasn’t something she could say in front of the others. I nodded and glanced behind me. Adam was getting food, but I noticed someone else.

Blake stood by the doors to the cafeteria, sca

I gave him a little wave back.

“Who’s that?” Dee asked, frowning.

“His name is Blake Saunders,” Lesa said, eyeing her lunch. She poked it with her fork as if she expected it to jump off her plate and run away. “He’s a new kid in our biology class. I found out he’s living with his aunt.”

“Did you go through his personal files or something?” I asked, amused.

Lesa snorted. “I overheard him talking to Whitney Samuels. She was giving him the third degree.”

“I think he’s coming over here.” Dee turned to me, her expression unreadable. “He’s cute, Katy.”

I shrugged. He was very cute. Blake reminded me of a surfer, and that was hot. And he was human. Bonus points there. “He’s nice, too.”

“Nice is good,” Carissa said.

Nice was great, but…I glanced at the table in the back. Daemon wasn’t sitting with us today. He seemed to be in a heated discussion with Andrew. There was also no Ash. Strange. My eyes bounced back to Daemon.

He looked up at that exact moment. The smirk on his face faded. A muscle in his jaw popped. He looked… pissed. Whoa. What’d I do now?

Dee kicked me under the table, and I twisted back around.

Standing beside me was Blake. A nervous smile was on his face as his eyes flickered over the table. “Hey.”

“Hi,” I said. “Want to sit?”

Nodding, he took the empty seat beside me. “Everyone is still staring at me.”

“Ah, it should fade in a month or so,” I told him.

“Hi,” Lesa chirped. “I’m Lesa with an e, and this is Carissa and Dee. We’re Katy’s cool friends.”

Blake laughed. “Nice to meet you. You’re in bio, right?”

Lesa nodded.

“So where are you from?” asked Dee, her voice surprisingly tight. Last time I’d heard that tone was when Ash had shown up at the diner with Daemon before school started.

“Santa Monica.” After another round of aahs, he gri

“Well, this is as far as you can get.” Lesa grimaced after taking a bite of her food. “I bet lunch was better in Santa Monica.”

“Nah, it’s also questionable there.”

“So how are you adjusting to your classes?” Carissa folded her hands on the table, as if she were going to do an interview for the school newspaper. All she needed was a pen and paper.

“Okay. It’s a much smaller school than my old one, so I’ve been able to find my way around easily. The people are nicer here, except for the whole staring thing. How about you?” He turned to me. “Since you’re still technically new?”

“Oh no, I hand over new-kid status completely to you. But it’s pretty cool around here.”

“Not much happens, though,” Lesa added.

The conversation moved easily. Blake was super friendly. He answered every one of our questions and was quick to laugh. Turned out he had gym with Lesa and art with Carissa.

Every so often, he’d glance at me and smile, revealing a set of straight white teeth. It had nothing on Daemon’s smile—whenever he decided to grace our world with its presence—but it was nice. And it was also drawing the attention of the other girls. Their eyes kept darting back and forth between us. My cheeks were growing hotter by the second.

“We’re having a party Friday night.” Lesa flashed me a quick grin. “You’re more than welcome to come. Dee’s parents are letting us have it at their house while they’re away this weekend.”

Dee stiffened with the fork halfway to her mouth. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell she wasn’t happy with the invite. What was her deal? Half the school appeared to be invited.

“That sounds cool.” Blake glanced at me. “You’re going?”

I nodded, twisting the lid on my water.

“She doesn’t have a date,” Lesa added with a sly look.

My mouth gaped. Real smooth move there.

“No boyfriend?” Blake sounded surprised.

“Nope.” Lesa’s eyes sparkled. “You have a girlfriend you left back in California?”

Dee cleared her throat as she found the food on her plate to be of extreme interest.

Mortified, I wanted to hide under the table.

Blake chuckled. “No. No girlfriend.” He turned his attention back to me. “But I’m surprised you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Why?” I asked, wondering if I should be flattered. Like my awesomeness was just so extreme that I couldn’t be single?

“Well,” Blake said, leaning in toward me. When he spoke, it was right in my ear. “That guy over there. He’s been staring at you since I sat down. And he doesn’t look happy.”

Dee was the first to look. Her lips formed a tight smile. “That’s my brother.”