His words brought home the fact that I was wearing a long-sleeved uniform shirt while most of the other students, with the exception of Griffin, had on short sleeves. I felt a sting of self-consciousness and wished I had worn my new school blazer to cover my choice of shirt. But the snooty receptionist had been right—it was warm, even in the stone hallways of the castle—too warm, I had thought, to wear the blazer which was currently draped over the back of my chair.
“No, I’m from Seattle,” I said, lifting my chin though my cheeks were burning. “It’s a lot colder there.”
“Well it can get kinda hot here in Frostproof. You might want to change into something more comfortable.” He did his little bump and grind move again and one of the other guys said,
“Come on, Sanchez. Leave her alone.”
“But she’s so pretty. Besides, I’m just talking to her, Reyes.” He licked his lips at me obscenely and made a rude kissing noise. “Thought maybe she might want some beefsteak for lunch.”
Okay, I’d had about enough of this. I didn’t normally like confrontations but I had the sense that if I backed down, I’d have problems with this jerk forever.
“Seriously?” I glared up at him. “Are you referring to your penis? Because I don’t think English class is the best place to make that offer.”
“Oh yeah, chica? Where do you want to go then?” He bent down, sneering directly into my face.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, staring back at him. “Maybe the science lab? So I can get a microscope to try and find it?”
His face darkened as the other green-tag boys howled in laughter.
“Burn!” shouted one of them. “Oh, she burned you bad, Sanchez!”
“Very funny, you little puta.” There was a growl in Sanchez’s voice that sounded almost animalistic and his eyes seemed to flash yellow for a split second. “Very fucking funny. You—”
“All right now, class, settle down. Settle down.” Mrs. Wainright’s voice caused Sanchez to freeze. “Mr. Sanchez,” she said, frowning at him. “Are you bothering our new student?”
Sanchez, who had been leaning over my desk, straightened up with a fake looking smile. “Of course not, Miz W. I was just welcoming her to Frostproof and Nocturne Academy.”
“Well then, that’s all right.” Mrs. Wainright smiled benignly and I got the idea the she was completely and totally clueless. Not just about what had happened—or almost happened—between myself and the thuggish Sanchez, but clueless about the whole entire dynamic of this weird school, whatever it might be.
“All right, dear,” she said to me. “Why don’t you stand up and introduce yourself to the class?”
The bully I could handle but this was mortifying. Despite my desire to teach someday, I didn’t really like public speaking. As Sanchez and his posse slunk to the back of the room, I stood, my cheeks flaming, and turned briefly to face the class. All eyes were fixed on me and none of them were friendly. Well of course they weren’t—I had probably just insulted their star quarterback.
“I’m Megan Foster—I mean Latimer,” I said, trying to keep my chin up. “I just moved here from Seattle.” Despite my determination to be brave, my words came out in a mumble.
“What’s that dear?” Mrs. Wainright frowned. “Please speak up and tell us a little more about yourself.”
God, was this torture never going to end?
“I’m Megan Latimer,” I said, forcing the words to come out louder from my desert-dry throat. “I moved here from Seattle and…and I’m staying with my aunt Delilah. Or I was before I came here to Nocturne.”
I saw several eyes widen and some of the female students started whispering together. I heard my aunt’s name mentioned once or twice as they looked at me appraisingly. Aunt Dellie’s reputation clearly preceded her.
Great. Now I was going to be not just the new girl but the new girl who lived with her crazy aunt who claimed to be a witch.
My cheeks got hot as I stood there, listening to them talk about me. Surely this was one of the levels of hell Dante wrote about. Griffin’s head was turned in my direction and this time I was sure he was looking at me. The key at my neck throbbed and I tried to ignore it.
Please let this be over, I prayed. Please just let me sit down.
“That’s nice, dearie. You can be seated now.”
To my relief, Mrs. Wainright released me and I was able sink back down into my seat. Cheeks still burning, I turned to face the white board and tried to ignore the whispers behind me.
“Now then.” Mrs. Wainright cleared her throat, a dry scratchy sound that made me thirsty just hearing it. “Today we’ll be talking about Dracula. Who has read the assignment?”
Almost no one raised their hand. I was hesitant to raise mine, even though I had read and dissected the book way back in freshman English.