Zodiac Academy

17. Honey

  Jaxson led me to a huge table with more than ten seats. People were already crowded around it and grabbing food. He sat down in a chair with an empty one next to it. I took the one next to him and kept my hands to myself.

  Apparently, it had been a whole day since our "escape" and I had been asleep since I was knocked out. Adeline had feared I had gotten a concussion from the hit and was going to call a doctor soon. My waking up had narrowly stopped her.

  She still called in a doctor to check up on me. They weren't expected to be here for hours, though. I was stupidly hoping I would be gone before then, but I had an undying suspicion that wasn't going to happen.

  I sneezed and Jaxson cleared his throat. "Careful not to do that on the food, please." He grabbed two chunks of buttered bread before handing me the basket.

  I took a small piece and passed it to the next person. "I'm sorry that I've been just sitting in clothes that will give me a cold. Someone didn't inform them that they should be changed."

  He stuffed his mouth to avoid answering me. I stuck my tongue out at him. He took the opportunity to stick a spoon on my tongue. He pulled it away and I licked the substance from my lips.

  "What is that?" I asked.

  He lifted up a jar and read the label. "Honey," he said, pronouncing it like 'hone-E.'

  "Honey?" I mimicked. "Why does it taste so good?"

  A woman on the other side of Jaxson burst with laughter. She was the woman who took me to Adeline. Who claimed to be Jaxson's aunt.

  "It's pronounced honey. Like when someone calls you honey?"

  Jaxson cleared his throat, his cheeks dusting with pink. "Of course."

  "Isn't that a school you guys were in? Can't you read?"

  "Yes. But we have no use for pet names. And none of my books have ever said anything about honey," I replied, unamused.

  I grabbed the jar from Jaxson's hands and spooned some of it into my mouth. "Oh," I mumbled, "this stuff is liquid gold."

  "But you know about liquefied gold?"

  I couldn't care less about anything she said now. I just wanted to eat this forever. Why didn't we have this at the academy?

  "It's that good? Give me some." Jaxson grabbed the jar from me. He seemed just as pleased as I was.

  The woman frowned. "I don't know how you can eat that. It tastes horrible. But don't eat it all, you brats, there are other people who enjoy it as well."

  Jaxson set it down. "Don't worry, Aunt Janice." He smiled at her.

  Wait, this lady really was his aunt? I was half-convinced she had been mistaken before. Maybe he didn't mean by blood?

  "So, you are related to her?" I whispered.

  "Yeah," he mocked my whispering tone.

  I raised my hands. Geez, all he had to do was confirm it. He returned his attention to his food. With nothing else to do, I did the same.

  With only a few bites under my belt, Adeline sat beside me. She could have sat anywhere. Yet, she chose not to. All it took was her sitting beside me to lose my appetite completely.

  Not even honey could fix this.

  I set down my fork and slouched in my seat. I had been avoiding her since her claim to being my mother. I didn't believe her. What could she possibly gain from telling me that? Did she want ransom from the academy?

  The academy may care about their system but they didn't care that much about their students to give someone ransom money. They would rather give me up. If I were them, I would do the same.

  Adeline sighed. "You still don't believe me."

  I turned my head away from her direction. I watched as Jaxson ate his food. Until he glanced at me and gave me a weird look. Then he shoved my head away from him.

  He only laughed when I glared at him. What a jerk. A jerk with a newfound boldness. He would never have done that to me at the academy.

  Now that I thought about it, he was actually a lot more open here. I subconsciously rubbed the unseen tag on my wrist. It was almost like being in the Gemini Club again. He was relaxed in the beginning.

  Would he start to freak out again after a little while? What would he do without his brother around? Leo had been the only one to calm him down before.

  "Aquarius," Adeline snapped. I glanced at her for a small second. "Were you listening to me?"

  I played with the fraying tablecloth. No, I had not been listening to her. I didn't want to listen to anything she had to say. Especially not anything having to deal with her "being my long lost mommy."

  My best friend cleared his throat. "She didn't listen to you at all. She was too busy thinking." He looked me right in the eyes. "And staring," he added quietly.

  I gave him a fake smile. He only fluttered his eyelashes back at me. He was such a dork.

  "Aquarius," Adeline pressed.

  Rolling my eyes, I looked at the woman. "What?" I groaned like a child.

  Adeline set down her silverware and gave me a stern look. "Do not look at me like that, young lady."

  "Or what?" I tested.

  Her nostrils flared as she frowned and took a deep breath. "You should be respectful to your mother," she said.

  "You may be biologically related to me, but you are not my mother. I don't have a mother. She abandoned me as a baby," I snapped.

  "That is not true."

  I shrugged. "How would I know? It's not like I got any letters."

  Before she could utter another word, I passed my plate to Jaxson and stood. I wasn't going to listen to this anymore. Walking away from the table and leaving all of those people behind gave me a small sense of relief.

  Until I heard feet stomping after me. Please, please, please don't be Adeline. I would probably smack her into next week if she thought it was a good idea to pursue this issue now.

  My wrist was grabbed and yanked behind me. I twirled around unwillingly and faced Jaxson. He looked down at me with pity clear in his features.

  "I don't want your pity," I snarled, shoving him away.

  His grip tightened. "I don't care about your mommy issues. You don't know where you're going," he stated.

  Looking around the hall I had stormed down, I realized he was right. I had no idea where I was going. Why couldn't he just let me wander? Maybe I could have made it outside and ran back to the academy.

  "You're room is down that hallway." He pointed on the other side of the room with the table. I scowled.

  "I'm not going back in there."

  Jaxson sighed. "Alright. Then we'll take the long way."

  He started to lead me down the hallway I had gone down. His grip eventually loosening enough to drop away completely.

  "Thank you," I whispered. He grunted in acknowledgement. For the rest of the walk, we were silent.

^~^
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