XXV. The Talk-3

Zoey didn't say anything this time. Her facial expression hardened as she glared at me. "Josh is talented!" I stressed. "He is sweet and kind, and a decent person who had a great shot of getting a full ride to a four-year college. But you're messing with his head and affecting his performance when you could just be with him and be happy! I don't understand it, Zoey! What is wrong with you?" Zoey snapped. "What's wrong with me?" she seethed. "Your little mind couldn't even begin to comprehend me, us, and our way of life!" "Enlighten me then," I challenged. I would be stunned if she could justify being such a bitch to Josh. "My family is one of the oldest pure lycan families on the continent. Eckhart lycans came over on the freakin Mayflower. Eckharts have mated into packs all over the country, and my parents expect nothing less than an influential pairing." Okay. Maybe I was a little stunned. Had I really just heard her use the term "pure lycan"? Was that … was that a little racist? I mean, the only thing I could equate it to were the purebloods in the Harry Potter series. Were her parents supposed to be the Malfoys of the lycan world? That explained why she had been so attached to Shea. She didn't really care about him, but her parents were forcing her to mate powerfully. "We aren't meant to mate with humans," Zoey continued. "Humans don't have the capacity to love and understand one of us." Her eyes looked me up and down. "Just look at your mother," she added coldly. I bit back a nasty retort. I was doing this for Josh, and not myself. "Josh is just like any other teenage boy. Full of hormones that make him feel things that aren't real. And when he goes off to college next year, he'll forget all about me and screw the first sorority girl he sees." Right there. I saw Zoey crack. It was only for a split second, but goddammit I saw it. She didn't believe this crap. She wasn't some human-hating lycan supremacist. She was afraid of getting hurt. Zoey was hurting inside. Really hurting. Oh my God, I was feeling sympathy for Zoey. "Do you believe that I would hurt Shea?" I asked her. Zoey shrugged her shoulders. "Like mother, like daughter," she replied curtly. I rolled my eyes. "Josh will love you if you let him," I said insistently. "I mean, you reel him in, only to treat him like he's a leper the next minute and you're still the only thing he can think about. At some point, Zoey, you've got to decide what you want and take it. You don't have to be afraid. You could be really happy if you wanted to be." Zoey's eyes began to water, and she immediately turned away from me and looked out the window. I watched her focus on her breathing as she tried to stop herself from crying. The door to the classroom suddenly opened. Josh, full of confidence and determination, marched into the classroom and quickly assessed us both, softening when he saw Zoey in her state. "I don't want you fighting my battles for me, Sara," he told me, though offering me a grateful look. "Zoey, look, I know that I'm not good enough for you. I'm not super smart, I'm not rich, I'm not as good looking as some of the guys you hang out with, but goddammit, I will treat you the way you deserve to be treated," he appealed to her. "I know some part of you, deep, deepdown underneath your frosty, ice queen surface, cares about me. You wouldn't spend so much of your time going out of your way to treat me like shit if you didn't. I care about you, too. A whole damn lot." Zoey, who hadn't looked away from the window to this point, slowly turned her head and looked at Josh. The expression on her face was nothing short of vulnerability. I wanted to slip out of the classroom quietly to give them a moment, but then I didn't want to draw attention to myself and ruin whatever was about to happen. "You will neverbe able to comprehend just how much I care about you, Josh," Zoey said quietly. She walked over to him calmly, stood up on her toes and kissed him softly, before leaving them both alone in the classroom. Josh just looked at me with a bewildered expression on his face. "Fuck it," he said, after a minute of silence, throwing his hands up in the air. "I'm over it. I've got a game to prepare for and a scout to impress. I'm not going to let a flaky girl ruin this for me." He stormed towards the door before turning back to me. Just as I was about to appeal to him to give Zoey a chance, as much as it pained me, he said, "Could you please remind me of this the next time I'm whining to you about how much I like her?" I smiled. "Sure." ---- I remember seeing a comment a lot earlier in this book about Zoey and how I was pitting two girls against each other, and I remember thinking -- "Noooo, I promise there's more to Zoey then meets the eye!" hahahaha. I just hope she can sort her stuff out … In re-reading this book I realised I've made at least three Harry Potter references unintentionally hahaha. I honestly wonder how often I slip them into normal conversation without even realising. No joke, I did spend a whole day of my school holidays wrapping 36 empty boxes for school's Harry Potter book week, and I spent most of the day saying, "36?!? But last year, last year, I had 37!" Then I made pom poms out of tissue paper to look like the icing on the cake from Chamber of Secrets that Dobby drops on Mrs Mason's head hahaha. Harry Potter gets kids reading! Fun fact, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was the first book I ever read. (Proper book, not counting school books and picture books). I never got why Americans called it Sorcerer's Stone though? Aren't wizards all technically sorcerers? A philosopher is a scholar. And there I go again. Just written three paragraphs about Harry Potter. Somebody needs to stop me. Okay, I'm going to bed. Night guys. Vote and comment xxx