I said, beaming at him.
I turned with them, and we started to head inside.
“Oh, Sarah… I wanted to apologize for the other day. I lost my cool and I shouldn’t have,”
I told her, peering at her side profile, trying not to notice how washed away she looked.
She glanced at me, narrowing her eyes.
“Why are you apologizing?”
She asked, furrowing her brows together. “I crashed your bake sale with an ice cream truck.”
“Yeah, but I should have remembered that it was all for the student. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you for being there. It wasn’t right of me.”
She stared at me for a moment longer with an expression I couldn’t read, but then she turned away and muttered, “Whatever.”
I was hoping we could start fresh, but I didn’t really see that happening.
“Whoever wins this election, I hope we can put our differences behind us and remember that it’s the students that matter the most. Not ourselves,”
I said to her when it was clear she wasn’t going to say anything more.
“That’s very wise of you, Lila,”
Alpha Jonathan said from behind me. “Your father must be very proud.”
I didn’t say anything and neither did Sarah.
When we got to our section of the dorm, Eileen Carter, a middle-aged plump woman with curly blonde hair and bright purple glasses, stood before us with her hands on her hips. She was also the dorm advisor.
Eileen was the kind of woman that changed her glasses so frequently, I never knew what color she was going to wear. It usually matched her clothes but, in this case, she wore a yellow floral nightgown that dropped down to her ankles.
“Curfew was over an hour ago,”
she seethed, staring between the two of us. “All students, except vampires, were expected to be in their dorms and resting before classes tomorrow.”
Vampires had inverted days and nights. They take night classes because the sun hurts them. Regular students are allowed to leave their dorms at 6 a.m. and are expected to return for the night at 9 p.m.
Vampires were allowed to their dorms at 6 pm, which is when the sun usually sets, and are expected to return for the day at 7 am, which is when the sun rises.
We do have some overlap but only for a couple of hours and then we don’t usually see them for the rest of the day.
On Friday and Saturday nights our curfew is lifted because most students go home, but on Sunday curfew is back in place and it was almost 10:30 pm when we arrived at our section of the dorm.
Eileen Carter, our dorm advisor, was anything but happy.
“What do you have to say for yourselves?”
Eileen hissed, still staring between us.
“My apologies, Miss Carter. I’m afraid it was my fault. I was supposed to drive the girls here and I got pulled into a meeting that took a bit longer than planned. Then I treated them to dinner before we came back,”
Alpha Jonathan said, giving her a genuine smile.
I was amazed that he was able to lie so easily. l
It was clear she didn’t realize he was there, and she was startled to see him.
“Oh, Alpha!”
She said, bowing her head. “I didn’t realize…. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s no problem at all. You are only doing your job; I can’t fault you for that.”
She blushed and nodded before looking at me and then Sarah.
“Off to your dorms,”
she ordered. “Hurry now.”
“Good night,”
I said to her before making my way toward the stairway that led to the dorms.
“Have a good night, Lila…”
I heard the darkening tone of Alpha Jonathan behind me, and I turned to see his dark eyes pouring into mine.
Something about him gave me such a creepy vibe, but I smiled anyway.
“You too, Alpha.”
Then, I turned and went to my dorm.
Lila’s POV
“Hello, Lila. How was your weekend?”
“Oh, hey, Miss Emily,”
I said as I approached the art room.
Miss Emily stood outside the door wearing a beautiful, dotted dress that rested just above her knees and a pair of knee-high boots. Her short curly brown hair was pinned out of her face and rested just above her shoulders. She also wore very light makeup; I liked Miss Emily because she always had such a natural and comforting look. She was very beautiful.
Last year, I remembered she had an obvious crush on Enzo. He never paid much attention to her though and I knew it upset her. She was young, maybe in her mid-twenties. She was also mate-less.
I know she will find her mate soon though; she’s way too kind-hearted and sweet to go without a mate for much longer. The moon goddess will bless her; I’m sure of it.
But in the meantime, regardless of whatever crush she had on my mate, Miss Emily will always be my favorite art professor.
“It was nice; I spent time with family,”
I told her some of the truth, but obviously not all of it.
“How are your parents doing?”
“They are doing good. They say hi,”
I lied, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Well, tell them I said hello,”
she said in return with a pleasant smile. “Would you like to have lunch together this evening? I’d like to hear about your summer as well. We didn’t get a chance to talk much.”
“I would like that,”
I said in return.
“Oh, good,”
she said, her smile widening.
I went into the art room and found my easel; we didn’t really have any assigned seating. But I liked a particular section in the classroom; mainly because I could see the front perfectly and yet I wasn’t too close. It was also a little bit away from everyone else, so I didn’t feel smothered.
Most students in the class had a particular easel they enjoyed the most and this one happened to be mine. When I sat down on the stool, I began to organize my brushes from smallest to biggest. Miss Emily already got the paint set up in their rightful places, so I didn’t have to worry about that.
Usually, if I got here early enough, I would set up the paint for her. But it seemed she had gotten here way earlier.
The class filled up soon after and I said hello to some familiar faces as they found their own seats.
Miss Emily soon joined, standing in front of the class near her own easel, which happened to be facing the class for our viewing.
“I know some of us already excel in this, but we are going to be doing portrait paintings today. Everybody is going to be painting a picture of me. It doesn’t have to be exact; you can be as creative as you’d like. Just make sure it’s appropriate.”
She sat down on her stool and did a little pose with a smile, making some of us chuckle. I got started on mixing some of the paint to make her exact skin color. Portrait painting was my strongest suit; last year I painted a portrait of Enzo, and it got featured in Cassidy-Ann’s art studio.
Speaking of Cassidy-Ann, I needed to call her. I know she’s been busy since we’ve returned to redoing her art studio. She took the opportunity, while she needed to fix it anyway, to redo the entire studio and make it even better looking.
It’s scheduled to reopen next month; but for right now, she halted business and hasn’t needed an assistant.
But I can’t help but wonder if there’s more, I can do for her right now. I felt helpless and I have to admit, I missed her and the studio, even though I spent the entire summer with her.
“How did you do that??”
I heard someone asking; I turned to see the girl sitting on a stool behind me and she was staring wide-eyed at my pallet.
“Do what?”