Chapter 86 Chapter 1: Nixie

Chapter 86 Chapter 1: Nixie
Nixie:

I wake up in the middle of the night, panting and sweating. Our bedroom is dark as I sit upright in the bed, my hands trembling. Oh shit, why now? I reach out for the lamp on the bedside table and switch it on, watching as the orange glow of light fills the room.

Anna and Elva are sleeping peacefully on their bed, hugging their blanket tight. At least they don’t have to go through this shit I go through every time. I am a half-siren and a half-werewolf and so this academy is purely for werewolves. If they find out that my father was a siren, I could get kicked out of the academy. Now I have to hide my siren self every freaking time.

And the worst part? I get really uncomfortable when I haven’t been in the water for so long, like right now that my whole body is wailing like a fish. Sometimes, I wonder if I can keep this up, running through campus just to get the feel of water on my skin. Well anyways, I have been doing this for a month so maybe I might survive the academy year after all.

Elva stirs in her sleep, “Nixie, that you?”

“Yes.” I say tiredly, hopping out from the bed and wrapping a thick coat around my nightgown. “This is exactly what happens when I am a siren, for fuck’s sake, it’s literally three in the midnight. I gotta go have a quick dunk in the water, okay?”

I doubt Elva heard what I said but she nods her head and mutters under her breath. Okay, right. Thankfully, I have mastered each and every inch of the academy. I started with a map, crossing the dots for the nearest river and after finding it, I was overjoyed.

I desperately need the water, no. I am craving it. My hands are still trembling as I sneak through the hallway, careful not to get caught on the cameras. After doing this for so many days; I have quite become a pro. I go through the courtyard as I slip past the gate that guards the north river.

“Perfect.” I say to myself, no one has ever come to North Lake, I don’t know why but I guess it is to my advantage. The coat falls to the floor as I gradually sink into the water, the ache in my bones lifting as I shift, my rainbow scales coming into view.

I exhale, sinking further into the hush. I now feel at ease and better than before. I better enjoy this before I get back to my dorm in fifteen minutes. I hear the crunches of leaves and my heart skips a bit.

What. The. Fuck?

Then the breaking of twigs, my body tenses. Shit. Someone’s coming. I sink lower into the lake, keeping my head slightly afloat.

“Yes, mom.” I hear a deep voice, no doubt it is masculine. “Fine, fine. You don’t want me studying.” The voice says, it seems to be getting closer because the voice keeps intensifying. “I know what you mean, mom. But I am socializing, I promise. Well, I am trying to, it’s really kind of hard to find your way when you have social anxiety, but I am the president of the after classes math club, so that’s a plus, right?”

Math club, ugh. The figure slowly comes into view and I see a tall, broad shouldered guy, he’s barefoot and not wearing a shirt, just the loose sweatpants that cling to his hips. His blonde hair is a soft, tousled mess like someone who just rolled out of bed. A freaking backpack is slung over one shoulder and he is clutching a thick textbook.

He adjusts the glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Okay, mom. I’ll call you later, yes, yes. I will focus on eating a lot and not studying all the time. Okay, bye.” He ends the call and squints at the water, I hold my breath, and thankfully he didn’t see me. Damn, he needs to get out of here so I can leave.

He looks nerdy- but in an annoyingly sexy kind of way.

Like the type of guy who gets straight A’s, apologizes for sneezing too loud, and somehow still has abs. Seriously? Who goes out looking like that to study by a lake at midnight?

He walks closer to the lake, humming under his breath. I roll my eyes, feeling pressured. How long do I have to remain here? My tail comes out into view and I widen my eyes, trying to dunk it under water but it is already too late because nerdy boy over here has seen me and is now frozen.

“Hey,” I sound absolutely lame right now, but I smile at him gently.

He blinks slowly.

We both scream.

The scream he let out is high and startled and so human, it nearly makes me laugh- if I am not currently risking expulsion. He stumbles back a step, almost dropping his hefty textbook like he has just seen a ghost, and then he runs.

Fuck, fuck. It isn’t supposed to be like this. What if he goes straight to the headmistress? This is not how I envisioned my night.

“Wait! Just hold on a second!” I say, panicked. The moment I step into the mud, my full, human legs have already appeared. I grab my coat and start running towards him but I can’t catch any sight of him.

I stand there, dripping, stunned and very confused.

I blink at the trail he left behind, muttering. “What the hell? He came out here to study? By the north lake? At midnight?”

I wrap the coat around my body and shiver.

Great. Shirtless, nerdy lake body just became my worst problem.

And I don’t even know his name.

\--

“So you are telling me that someone in this campus aside from Elva and I know that you are a half-siren?” Anna asks with gleaming eyes, slurping from her noodle soup. We are in the dining hall so she’s speaking quietly because hell knows I can’t have any more strangers knowing about my secret identity.

“He saw me, squealed so loudly and took off!” I say in annoyance, puffing out a breath. “Girls, I don’t know what I am going to do, what if he reports to the dean or something?” The numerous thoughts run through my head all at once, I can’t get expelled, I can’t afford to. The phone on the table lights up with a text from Dominic, my half-brother who’s always making sure to check up on me.

Dom: Everything alright?

Nope, everything is most certainly not alright, I will reply later, I turn to Elva; she might as well be the memory card of our group. “He’s tall, he has blonde hair, I can’t just tell which year he is.”

Elva stares at me blankly, before working on her phone. She looks at us. “There are a lot of tall, blonde guys on the campus. You are going to be specific on which exactly you mean.”

“Any features you remember?” Anna looks at me and I sigh. I am so fucked, the only thing I remember is a blonde haired shirtless guy screaming like a baby.

“Wait.” I say, hope in my voice. “He was calling his mother on the phone.” Anna and Elva both pause to listen to me. “He said he was going to socialize more and oh...he mentioned being in the math club or something.” I turn to Elva, because she did mention that she was part of this after class math club or whatever. At that time, I didn’t read much into it, I just brushed it off as a bunch of nerdy hobbies but now, Elva might be the only one who knows him.

Elva scrunches her brows. “Math club? Tall, blonde hair, does he wear glasses?” she asks and I nod in enthusiasm. 

“That’s Ivan Vexmore.” Elva says, widening her eyes. “No shit, that guy’s IQ is so freaking high, I heard he’s fluent in seven languages and has even published two books, he won the state championship for best chess player and his father owns these big hotel chains all across every pack!” 

Does the fact that I just got entangled with a total nerd make it better? Absolutely not.

“What now?” I ask. “I have to somehow talk to him, you know, convince him not to spill a word.”

“That would be quite easy; he is a pretty kind guy.” Elva nods her head. “Though he can be really nerdy sometimes, he's also very shy and socially selective.”

“I need to do something in return for him, like a favour to make it all even.” I say, looking at them. I glance around the throng of people in the dining hall, I doubt he even eats here; maybe he eats his breakfast in a library crammed with philosophical textbooks.

“Well, everyone knows he has a huge crush on Kaela Croft, you should see the way he acts around her. He blushes so deep! People think it’s adorable though.” Elva informs us.

“Kaela Croft?” Anna asks in bewilderment. “Every literal dude on campus has a crush on Kaela Croft.” Kaela Croft is one of those popular girls on campus, the type of girl that every boy wants. One would expect her to be a badass popular queen but she is actually pretty kind. We did a project together a few days ago.

The perfect idea pops in my brain. “I know what I am going to do.”

“What?” Elva swallows.

“I am going to help him by-” I get interrupted when Alex joins us in the seat. He reaches out and kisses Elva on the cheeks, making her blush.

“Hey,” he tells us, smirking. “What’s up?” he tries to reach out for one of Elva’s bread but she glares at him playfully, suddenly my heart has this ache, don’t get me wrong, I am very happy for Elva, it’s really amazing to see her loosen up once in a while ever since she fell in love.

But I guess this heart ache is some type of longing for my own, it is really ridiculous to say, but maybe I want someone who I will talk to till three in the morning, someone who would write poems for me, I guess that I want love.

I sigh. “Well, it’s a pity I can’t finish breakfast with you, I have to go find Ivan.”

Alex frowns in confusion, but Elva holds his arms, her eyes expression saying ‘I’ll update you later’ oh and Alex knows that I am a half-siren, half-werewolf, it kind of slipped out when I was drunk but he doesn’t seem to mind.

\--

Ivan:

“Your mother told you to socialize more? I really think she’s right.” My annoying best-friend, Mira, says taking a huge chunk out of the chicken sandwich. 

“But I do socialize.” I say, staring at my Greek yoghurt placed near my astronomy textbook.

“I am the only friend you check up on everyday and also, that’s because we are roommates!” she puffs out, Mira and I have been friends since we could talk, our parents are business partners so we mostly got paired together in gatherings, parties, and balls. We ended up forming a reliable bond in which she does all the socializing at all these functions and I simply cheer her on. “For one, this does not look like an ideal place to have breakfast.” She rolls her eyes.

“But you love having breakfast in the library with me.” I say, besides we aren’t one that has breakfast in the library every day, there’s a bunch of other people with their food and textbooks.

“I do,” she looks around. “But we have to stop this sooner or later, Ivan. You’ve to learn how to get out of your shell, do something that’s unlike you for once.”

“Like what?” I sigh. The door of the library opens and someone walks in, her champagne blonde hair is let out in waves, falling over her shoulders. She’s wearing a brown leather jacket over a graphic tee and baggy jeans.

My heart starts pounding; it’s the siren or mermaid I saw yesterday, I only wanted to study by the North Lake, it is peaceful there because no one comes there and I didn’t expect to see someone playing in the water and because of my photographic memory, her face is forever implanted in my memory.

Her eyes scan the whole library before it lands on Mira and I.

Mira jerks me in the elbow so hard. “Shit, I think she’s coming to us, don’t you know who she is? She’s Nixie Coral; every dude here will literally die to talk to her.” Mira is whispering a little too loudly that when Nixie reaches us, there’s a tiny smile on her lips.

“Hello.” She says a little too breathlessly, I look at her jean clad legs....Those legs were a tail yesterday, I need to snap out of this.

Nixie looks at Mira, “sorry to interrupt whatever is going on.” She doesn’t seem sorry at all. “But I have to speak to Ivan alone.”

“Oh really.” Mira stares at me weirdly with that very weird smile of hers. “I will be over there so you guys can have your chit-chat.” She jerks my elbow again playfully, before taking her tray to the other side of the room.

Nixie sits on the chair with so much ease, staring at me with such intensity it makes my face go beet red. We look into each other’s eyes and hers are really silver, I have never seen such an eye colour like that before but then again, she is a siren or mermaid or whatever.

“Siren.” She sighs and I widen my eyes. “Sorry, I can read minds, however it’s only when I choose to.”

“And you choose to read my mind?” I ask, goose bumps rising in my skin.

“I am most certainly not doing it again. What goes on in your head? It’s like you are thinking of a bunch of equations right now.” She says, making me blush harder.

“It happens sometimes.” My head is always this messy place I stuff all my thoughts into; I practice my equations up there, my conversation skills and everything.

She nods her head. “So...have you told anyone yet about you know what?”

I swallow and nod, when I saw her yesterday, my first thought was going straight to the school authorities because that’s what I would have done in any circumstances, but something made me just go to my room and lie down on my bed.

“That’s good.” She seems very relieved. “I want to help you in exchange that you won’t tell anyone about my secret, including your friend over there.” It will be hard keeping a secret from Mira; we tell each other mostly everything. That’s how it has been since we were five years old.

“Help me?” I ask in confusion and she nods.

“You like Kaela Croft, well I am going to help you get her.” She smiles, a little bit overconfident.

“How?” I ask, going red again. Seriously, I have to stop with this whole blushing stuff. Mira said it makes me look weak.

She reaches out and adjusts the tip of my glasses. “I don’t think you know this but if you want someone like Kaela to notice you. You have to be with the right people, she won’t notice you if you are stuck in the sidelines, you have to be in the spotlight.”

That’s what Mira tells me every day.

“What do you suggest I do?” I ask, I can feel Mira’s burning glare on me but I choose to ignore it.

“Date me.” My heart hammers and she curses under her breath. “Well, not like that, like a fake date, just to attract rumours that we are together. Trust me, Kaela will pay more attention to you that way.” She swipes my phone off the counter and types something into it, I am pretty sure it’s her number.

“Just text me if you are in. I have to get to class.” She stands up and easily walks out of the library. Mira comes running to me like a lunatic, smacking me hard on my arm.

“Are you insane?!” she yells on the top of her voice. “I heard something like fake dating to attract Kaela’s attention. For pete’s sake, Ivan, this is the sign you have been waiting for. Hell knows you need someone snarky, confident and sharp in your life except me.” She says.

“I don’t know about this, Mira.” I say in a low voice. “I do want Kaela to notice me, but not in this type of way.”

Mira rolls her eyes, grabbing my phone. “Well, she won’t notice you if you don’t even want to come out of your shell. Trust me, one day you are going to be thanking me.” She types on my keyboard a little too quickly. “I already told her you are in.”

“What?!” I yell.

“You should be thanking me, Ivan Vexmore, you are about to go on the adventure of your life.” Mira laughs cheekily and I know at that moment that I am fucked.