Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (10 page)

“Lucky you kept the blond highlights against your dark hair. Or I’d have frazzled the ends instead of the lights.” Molly continued to waggle her fingers.

While Rae got dressed
,
she
went over everything Molly had told her.
They
had
emailed back and forth
and talked on Facebook
over the
summer
,
but Molly hadn’t mentioned Reece. It wasn’t like her not to share everything
. “Is this Reece-guy a Guilder graduate?”

“Tatùed? Goodness
,
no
!
He’s just a normal, regular guy.
” She fanned herself. “And h
e’s
freakin’ hot
.
Did
n’t
I e
-
mail you how we met?
I can’t remember. An
y
ways,
D
ad
and I were car shopping and
admiring
a vintage
Porsche.
When
I realized it wasn’t for sale,
I
tripped the wires so the car wouldn’t start.
Reece came walking out of the
building
nearby
and couldn’t start the car.
He popped the bonnet and stared at the engine.
I walked over and started chatting with him.
I
told him my dad’s a mechanic, then
touched a wire
to reconnect
the current
.” She giggled. “I
pretended to fidget with the battery
.
It started, easy-peasy
.
He offered dinner as a thank you.”

“Is he your boyfriend?”
Rae thought about
Devon
’s kisses
as she followed Molly out of her room and down the stairs.

“
I
don’t know if
we’re dating exclusively,
we’ve never talked about it. H
e come
s
from a family with
a lot
of money
, and
class
.
He’s going to come up
one
weekend.”
She stayed quiet for a split second
then fluttered
her eyelashes. “He’s very talented…
in the bedroom.”

Rae stopp
ed walking. “Excuse me?
What’
d you just say?”

“You heard me.
” Molly giggled.

“
Was it
your…first time?”
Rae could feel the burn of
a
blush creep up her neck and all the way to her forehead.
This wasn’t a subject she had ever discussed with anyone
,
and even though
they were referring to
Molly’s sex life
rather than
her own, it still made her a bit uncomfortable
,
even as curiosity burned in her veins.

Molly shook her head.
“
I’m not going to
pull a Sleeping Beauty;
sit and wait ’til
my beloved comes along.
I plan on having some fun while I can.
Plus,
I’m curious
,
and he’s an
excellent
teacher.
” She snapped her fingers, a small spark escaping. “You know, h
e has a
couple of really
cute friend
s
I can introduce you to.”

“No thanks
.” H
eat
rose
to her face
again
as she thought
of
Devon
.
Will we ever
—
?
S
crew it! I don’t even want to think about it.

“Suit yourself
,
but mark my words
.
Y
ou have wants
,
and those wants will need to be met eventually.
”
Rae had to take a moment to untangle Molly’s meaning from her jumbled words. Sometimes Molly was hard to keep up with, physically and mentally. Molly
shrugged, grabbing a quick breath.
“
D
id you hear about the new girl?
I know
there are
more, but there’s this one girl.
She’s our age.
T
urned six
teen last year. I guess her brother
got sent home from Guilder – he’s
fifteen.
The dad
assumed
the boy would get the tatù, but it looks like the
girl got it
instead
.
I think her name’
s Desiree.
Anyways, this Des-girl, she can make
people want to
do
it!
That’s he
r tatù
.
She makes people horny.
” She laughed. “
I bet her
d
ad’s not happy at all about
that
gift
on his daughter
.
”

“You’re joking!”

“Nope. I’m not exactly sure how her
tatù
works
,
but I definitely want to see what she can do.
You need to learn to mimic it and
catch yourself a real cutie.
Oh
! Wait!
M
imic it and when Reece comes, throw it on him
!
”

“I
won’t
, and you know it
!
”

Molly
nodded
and grinned.
“Yeah, I know.
” She shrugged. “
I
t
wa
s worth a shot me asking.
I’ll get the other girl to do it for me.”

“
Moll
s
!”

The
y
reached the Refectory and
got
in
line
for breakfast
.
Happy chatter and laughter bounced off the walls, creating a loud, but welcome cacophony
.
Ah
—
the sounds of Guilder.
Rae
grabbed
a
tray and filled
it
up with
juice
,
scrambled eggs, bacon,
sausage,
and beans.
She had
dreamt all summer holiday about a proper,
full English breakfast.
One cannot live on Pop-Tarts and donuts alone.
She
giggled.
I could handle a full breakfast every morning for the rest of my life.

Molly
raced
over to Julian and
Devon
’s table with a loud screech.
She
slid
her
plate of eggs and toast
down
so fast she lost half of it
on
the floor. Rae followed slightly behind, watching Molly hug the boys
,
but too nervous to show
Devon
attention in front of everyone
.
Nicholas, another student
and Rae’s buddy
,
sat beside Julian and pointed to the empty space beside him
.

Rae
shared
a lingering gaze
with
Devon
before
sitting down beside
Nicholas.

“
Ms
.
Kerrigan!
How was your summer?” Nicholas
leaned over and gave
her a
one-armed
hug.

Her in-class buddy
hadn’t change
d
at all. She grinned, happy to see him.
“Hello,
Mr.
MacGyver
.
Summer sucked. I should’ve stayed here.
You were tall and lean when I left. I think you grew another couple of inches. Your mom been feeding you sprouts
?”

Nicholas ran a hand through his light brown hair.
“
Maybe a couple.” He pointed at her. “Because of you,
I spent t
he first two weeks watching
the
old
American television series you told me about.
Turns out, the writer of
MacG
yver
is some sort of second
or third
cousin
.
I learned a few handy tricks as well.”
He
glanced
at Rae’s tray of foo
d.
“Holy smokes.
You gonna
eat all that?”

“
U
h yeah
.
I’m starving
!
”
She sat d
own and started digging in
.
“
I haven’t had a meal like this since the last day of school
.”

He chuckled. “Never heard anyone
say they miss cafeteria food
before
.”

She elbowed him in the ribs.
“A girl’s gotta eat. Ain’t no shame in it. And an English breakfast…it’s a little bit of heaven.”

The
group
sat at their table and chatted
about summer, being back at school
and
when
Maria
arrived, she
told them what had happened
to her
yesterday
and how she couldn’t even remember how she got inside the Oratory
.
Rae tried to avoid talking
to
or looking at
Devon
too much
.
Before they realized,
everyone else had finished breakfast
and
the kitchen staff
had
beg
u
n to
clear the tables for lunch
.

“I think that’s our c
ue to head out,” Julian suggested.

Devon
walked beside
Rae
and purposely brushed
his
hand against h
ers
.
He glanced at her sideways and
winked
.

Do you think we’
re ever going to get a chance to hang out
,
just the two of us?
Rae sent the thought to
Devon
, mimicking Maria’s tatù.

Devon
shrugged uncertainly.
Molly squeezed in between the two of them and continued her endless chatter.

“Rae, we should head back to
Aumbry
House.
Madame Elpis
wants
us to
meet the new arrivals.
I think she said
they’ll be getting in
before
lunch.”
She turned to
Devon
. “Do you guys want to watc
h a movie tonight?
I can drive.
” She clapped her hands, little sparks flying out. “
Did you hear? Now that’s Carter’s headmaster, he’s
relented and is
letting
the senior girls have vehicles here.
He’s probably trying to make up for being such a miserable
git last year
.”

“A movie sounds like a great idea.” His eyes flitted over to Rae and back to Molly.
“I
’ll drive a
lso
. I’ve
got a new car.”

“
The Lotus?
That’s
your
car?
” Molly nodded in approval. “
Looks like Dean Wardell
wants his son to look the part.
”

Devon
laughed.
“I highly doubt my father thought that.
He’s more inclined to think the other way around.
I bought
it
,
myself.”

“
Trust me,
I know cars
and t
hat one’s
fast
,
and a
babe
magnet
.
You could wear a paper bag
on your head
,
and you
’d still
pick up chicks
,
no prob
s
.
”
Molly patted
Devon
’s
cheek
teasingly
. “Don’t worry. You’re handsome
,
but the car won’t hurt the hunt.”