Burning Hope

Chapter 17: The Mean Girl is After My Boyfriend

For once, I had pleasant dreams when I went to bed that night. I dreamt of Luc and I holding hands, walking down the beach and watching the sun set over the horizon. And then we went to a rave and jammed out to electronic music that I had mixed. It was absolutely perfect in every way. I now knew that if I could put my trust in anybody, I could definitely do so with Luc.

I was almost sad when I had to wake up.

"Scar..." Luc teased me, nudging my side gently. "We have to wake up. We have school today."

"Nooo~" I tried to say adamantly. "I don't want to do the school thing today."

"And I do? Listen, I may be a good student, and strong and stuff, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it." He grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth. "Come on, princess. It is your royal duty to be educated."

"Just give me five more minutes, mom." I groaned.

"Don't think that I won't physically take you out of that bed and drag you to class, because I've had to do it before, and I really don't mind doing it again."

I groaned and rolled out of bed, facing a wet-haired Luc with nothing but a towel on his shoulders and pants on. I wanted to sit there and spend the rest of the time just gawking at his nicely sculpted chest, but I managed to pull my eyes away, forcing myself to continue making eye contact.

"What happened to the sweet Luc that was whispering French things to me last night?" I whined. "Now you're just being mean."

Luc chuckled. "The French-speaking Luc only comes out when he's needed. He's not needed right now. Right now, Mean Luc is needed, and Mean Luc will get you out of bed and to school on time, and Mean Luc doesn't care what Scar has to say." He ruffled my hair and smiled. "Go take a shower and get dressed. You have a big day ahead of you, learning Life magic and all that."

I sighed and walked into the bathroom after taking my skirt, a new overcoat from my drawer—which I had assumed Luc had gotten for me—socks and necessary undergarments. I took a quick shower and dried off, putting on my uniform. I began humming to myself as I brushed through the thick and unruly mess that was my hair. I quickly put it back in a ponytail and walked out.

Luc smirked. "I had always been taught girls can take up to two hours in the bathroom, so I'm rather impressed. You took fifteen minutes."

"Uh...yeah." I said, slipping on my loafers. "Girls who take that long usually spend all that time doing their hair and putting on makeup to give thirsty boys false impressions and so they can look just like everybody else. I'm not like that."

Luc chuckled. "You have no idea how happy you've just made me."

I grabbed the uniform's complimentary tie and began tying it around my neck. "Well, I told you that I don't believe in makeup and I meant it. I want people to like me for me. If you don't like my face the way that it is, then I don't need to try to impress you, and you can just get out of my life, and never come back. In fact, I don't really need to try to impress anybody."

"As it should be." He looked at my hand, then smiled. "And you'll never have to for the rest of your life."

I was confused. "What?" I asked him.

"Look at your wrist."

I looked down to see an intricate pattern had formed on my wrist. How did that get there? I looked up to Luc for an explanation. "What happened?"

"You've officially chosen me to be your mate." Luc said, kissing the tip of my nose. "I have one, too." He showed me a matching mark on his right wrist.