My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2)

From Bad to Worse (Part 4)

I ran after him, Hannah and Pierce trotting after me. "We were wrong about Kai."

Theo stared at me, deadpan. "Really? Where's my chain?"

"I don't have it yet. But I'm sure he'll be coming back with it any time now. See ..." I explained the entire story of my escape and reunion with Kai as we walked back to the dorm.

Theo just looked grimmer and grimmer the further into my tale I got. The only time he didn't look all thundercloud was when I mentioned warding up the location. By his creased forehead and intense look of concentration, I knew Theo'd switched over to figuring out how exactly to solve that puzzle.

"It's doable," was his only comment.

As I wrapped up, Hannah patted my hand in sympathy, just as Pierce attempted to clasp her other hand.

She swooped out of his grasp.

I threw her an "oh really?" look as I tugged on the school doors on the side of the building.

Locked.

She threw me a "not even" look back, but at least had the good graces to look like she knew she was full of it.

I gave a wan smile, happy to be part of teen normality, and hurried around to the front of the school with my little entourage.

"Soph," Theo began.

"Not now, Rockman," I replied wearily, tromping up the front stairs.

"Code red 'need to know' situation happening," he insisted.

I waved him off. I didn't really care. I needed to sleep and get my head together.

"If she just gets up to our room, maybe it can wait a bit," I heard Hannah tell him.

"What she said," I echoed. I threw open the front door of Hope Park, walked into the blissfully warm foyer with its red and white tiles and cluttered announcement board, inhaled the comforting smells of lemon polish and bleach, and ran slam into Principal Doucette.

"Where in God's blazes have you been, young lady? We've been worried sick!" An angry flush spiked his black skin.

I didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry," I mumbled. There was now grey shot through his short, neat dreads and I had a sinking feeling I'd put it there.

He turned to Hannah and Theo. Pierce had made himself scarce.

"Go," he said, in a tone that brooked no argument, before taking me by the shoulders with his ex-football player hands and propelling me through the front office into his.

"Sit," he commanded in that same voice.

I slumped into my favorite chair, with no clue what to expect. This chair and I were on intimate terms, since I'd been called in to Doucette's office way too many times. But that was usually because of some run-in with Bethany. And I could mostly get myself out of those lectures.

I wasn't sure how to explain my two month absence. Especially when I was already on probation. Considering Hope Park was the one place warded up to keep me safe, now, more than ever, it was a no brainer that I had to stay here until we figured out exactly how I could get Persephone's memories back and protect the ritual location. I couldn't risk Zeus or Hades getting hold of me.

I had become the poster child for "stay in school."

Principal Doucette sat behind his desk and looked me over as if to ensure I was really there.

I took some comfort from the familiar smell of his fatherly cologne. I really liked and respected Doucette and I think he had a soft spot for me, given my continued enrollment despite being a royal pain in his ass a lot of the time. I felt terrible that I couldn't share what had happened and let him understand that I hadn't just ditched school. Wasn't trying to disappoint him.

I squirmed in my chair guiltily, knowing I was doing precisely that.

Before I could figure out what, exactly, I should say, Doucette spoke. "A boy is no reason to run away, Sophie."

Hello? Say what?

"Bethany told us," he explained, obviously misunderstanding my look of shock. "I understand that the adolescent years are a time of overwhelming emotions. And crushes that feel like you'll die if they aren't reciprocated. But to threaten both Bethany and Kai, to the point where he felt uncomfortable staying here?" He sighed and folded his hands on his cluttered desk. "It's not right. Running away, most certainly out of remorse, is the one detail that makes me think you're not beyond help. It's the one reason we haven't expelled you."

He looked at me as if to signal that it was my turn to talk.

Words failed me. That cow had taken her manipulative lies to a whole new level.

I hadn't asked for any of this. My powers. My responsibility. The whole love mind trip. But I was dealing best I could. Actively trying the best I knew how.

I'd just lost two months of my life and survived my psychotic father, only to come back and discover that my principal thought I was a stalker runaway and that Bethany had twisted her bully status into cemented victimhood.

I couldn't help it. I started to shake. With rage. Lucky for Doucette, I didn't have enough in me to start blasting everything in sight. "I'm sorry," I repeated again, keeping my eyes downcast and my nails digging into my palms.

Principal Doucette handed me a box of tissues. Guess he thought I was crying.

A knot formed in my stomach as I thought about Felicia, my adoptive mom. Any more infractions from me and she'd be thrilled to kick me off her meal ticket. Which meant no tuition money, no enrollment, no Hope Park, and, by extension, no Sophie.

I risked a glance at my principal. "What did Felicia say?"

"She was," he hesitated slightly, "concerned."

Translation? She hadn't given a damn and he just wanted to spare my feelings. Unsurprising but still crushing. Although when weighed against Zeus', maybe a slightly more positive parental response to having your kid take off.

Wow. I was really reaching for crumbs of affection here. "Tell me."