From there she went to science. The class was halfway over, and Haden Yates, Jenny’s brother, was up discussing sound waves. It might have been interesting if she gave a shit.
She didn’t.
Not while she was still reeling over last night’s vision. Reeling over the mere possibility that her father, and if not him, her uncle, was a killer. Over the fact that another day had passed and she wasn’t any closer to finding Natasha. Add that a part of her heart was halfway over the ocean heading to France, and was it any wonder that she didn’t give a rat’s ass about sound waves?
Someone in the back of the room chuckled. Della looked back and right then she realized something wasn’t right. She turned her head around to make sure she wasn’t mistaken.
Nope. No mistake. She’d been so busy wallowing in self-pity that she hadn’t realized Kylie and Miranda were missing. Damn.
What kind of friend was she? Especially considering Miranda was in the same sinking boat as Della. Well, she didn’t have her dead aunt haunting her ass, but at least romantically the girl’s heart had been yanked out of her chest.
Della shot up out of her seat to leave, only to remember that one didn’t just leave class and discussions on sound waves.
“Della?” Mr. Yates said.
She looked at him. She started to explain she needed to go find her friends, but that didn’t sound like a good enough excuse to leave class. And lately, Mr. Yates had been complaining about absences—even when they were approved by Burnett.
“Uh … I need to be excused.”
“Because…?”
“Personal reasons,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t argue, and if he did, he wasn’t going to like her alternative get-out-of-class answer. But she wasn’t above using it—even if it was a lie.
“What kind of personal reasons?” he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
Well, damn, she’d tried to spare him. She put her hand on her hip and met his unhappy gaze.
“I just started my period and it’s about to get messy. Of course, you wouldn’t understand that.”
Mr. Yates’s mouth dropped open, but he didn’t excuse her from class so she continued.
“I mean, I know guys don’t understand the whole period thing.”
Red color climbed up his neck to his face and almost looked cartoonish, but he still didn’t excuse her.
“But seriously, if your penises bled once a month—”
“Go!” he almost yelled, and she barely heard it over the laughter from the other students.
“Thank you.” She shot out of the classroom and didn’t slow down until she stopped at her cabin.
She could hear Miranda and Kylie inside. Miranda’s broken voice echoed the loudest.
Feeling terrible about abandoning them when they’d been there so much for her these last few months, she stormed inside. They sat at the kitchen table. Miranda had a pint-size carton of Chunky Monkey ice cream in her hands, and three empty cartons sat on the table. And they looked licked clean.
Kylie stared at Della as if she didn’t know what to do with the witch. Not that Della had any great ideas.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know we were having an ice cream party.” Della stopped at the table.
Miranda let go of another sob and shoveled another big scoop of banana ice cream into her mouth. “He haaaasn’t even called,” she whimpered around the sweet goo in her mouth.
Della exhaled and reached deep for patience. “He’s only halfway there. Once you get up to around twenty thousand feet, it’s kind of hard to find a cell tower.”
“I gave him a special phone.” She hiccupped. “It doesn’t need a cell tower.”
“All cell phones need … Oh, you mean a magic one?”
Miranda nodded and let out another sob.
“Cool,” Della said.
“Not cool when he’s not calling … me. Why hasn’t he … called me?”
Kylie frowned at Della as if saying she didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sure he’ll call,” Kylie said and the chameleon’s heart raced to the lie.
Della dropped down in a chair and couldn’t help but wonder if lying was the best option. She tried to envision Perry flying and suddenly a question arose.
“How is Perry flying with humans if he can’t be trusted to be around them?”
Miranda dove back into her pint of ice cream. “Burnett gave him a Benadryl. It slows down a shape-shifter’s ability to shift.”
Della gave that some thought. “Then why doesn’t he just take Benadryl daily? Then he wouldn’t have to go to some school to teach him to stop shifting.”
“He had to take a dozen pills,” Miranda said.
“A dozen?” Kylie asked.
“Well, duh,” Della said. “Maybe he passed out on the plane and that’s why he’s not calling.”
“I think he’s purposely not calling me,” Miranda moaned.
“I don’t think that’s it,” Kylie said, and her heart did somersaults in her chest, telling Della that was exactly what Kylie thought. Hell, Perry had probably already confided in Kylie and told her he wouldn’t be calling Miranda.
Damn Perry! It didn’t even matter if the reason he was breaking up with Miranda was because of his own insecurities. He was still breaking her heart and her spirit. Miranda’s spirit was fragile. And that royally pissed Della off to the nth degree. She took a deep breath and tried to calm the fury from brightening her eyes.
Miranda shoved another heaping spoonful of Chunky Monkey into her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked pathetic and gross because her nose was running down to her upper lip and she was still eating.
And just like that, Della lost it. She couldn’t stand by and see Miranda like this. “Stop!” she screamed and yanked the ice cream from Miranda’s clutches.
“Give that back!” Miranda demanded and jumped up and tried to dig her spoon into the carton.
“Let’s not fight,” Kylie said. “Give her back her ice cream.”
“No!” Della jerked the pint back from Miranda’s spoon. But the witch went for it again.
Della stuck her finger into the ice cream. “My fingers are filthy!” She glared at her teary-eyed roommate. “I had some nose problems earlier.” She kept poking her finger in the ice cream, hoping to discourage the girl.
“I don’t care! I want my ice cream,” Miranda screamed and went to grab the carton.