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Embarrassing Memories

  Luna and I began walking toward our next class, weaving through the hallway traffic. She had to stop by her locker first to grab her books. The corridor was loud—lockers slamming, sneakers squeaking, voices overlapping—but the moment we reached hers, she spun the combination with practiced ease and glanced sideways at me.

  “So,” she said, voice casual but pointed, “have you met any girls you like yet?”

  I laughed, caught off guard, and let my gaze drift over the passing students—girls in uniforms, guys laughing in clusters, everyone moving with that easy high-school rhythm I was still trying to learn. “It’s literally my first day. Isn’t it a little early to be thinking about that? Besides, I’m an elf, I’m—”

  Her hand shot out, fisting the front of my shirt and yanking me forward. Her other fist rose, hovering inches from my face, eyes narrowed in warning.

  “If the next words out of your mouth are ‘girls wouldn’t want to date me because I’m an elf,’ I swear I will punch you.”

  I flinched instinctively, arms coming up to protect my face. Around us, several students slowed to watch, half-expecting the impact. A couple even pulled out their phones, ready to capture the drama.

  Luna held the pose for a beat, then smirked and released my shirt. “Nope. Still got it.”

  I rubbed my chest where she’d grabbed me, laughing despite myself. “Wow. I see you didn’t lose your violent side.”

  She smoothed the wrinkles she’d made in my tie with surprising gentleness, fingers lingering just a second too long. “Never. And I didn’t ask if you wanted to date anyone. I just asked if you’d seen any you thought were attractive.”

  Her tone was light, but there was something else underneath—curiosity, maybe even a challenge. Like she was fishing for something specific. Like she wanted to hear what I thought of her now, after all these years.

  I opened my mouth to answer—honestly, teasingly, I wasn’t sure which—but movement caught my eye.

  Dani was walking toward us with a couple of her friends. She spotted us and her face lit up with that bright, mischievous smile I already recognized.

  I leaned closer to Luna and nodded in Dani’s direction. “Maybe her,” I whispered.

  Luna turned to look, then burst out laughing. “You’re not talking about Dani, are you? Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

  Dani reached us, bypassed me entirely, and went straight to Luna. She wrapped her arms around Luna in a quick hug, then—without hesitation—pressed a soft, casual kiss to her lips.

  I stood there, mouth half-open, brain short-circuiting.

  Dani turned to me, still smiling. “Hello again, Meleek. How’s your first day at a real school?”

  Luna touched her lips with her fingertips, glancing between me and Dani with a flicker of confusion, like she wasn’t sure how to read the moment.

  I pointed back and forth between them, voice cracking slightly. “Wait… you two know each other? How?”

  Luna ignored my question and crossed her arms, eyes narrowing at Dani. “No, the real question is how do you two know each other?”

  Dani tilted her head, looking me over now that she was closer. “I used to be good friends with his sister. Kind of messed that up. Now I have him in my first-period class.”

  I was still stuck on the kiss. My brain hadn’t caught up. “So… are you two together?”

  “Yeah,” Dani said without hesitation. “We are.”

  Luna glanced at Dani with a small, private smirk.

  I rubbed the back of my neck, words failing me. “Wow… um…”

  Luna slammed her locker shut, turned back to us, and grinned. “Dani, I think we broke his heart. He said he liked you.”

  My mouth fell open. “I—what? No, I—”

  My face burned. Dani stepped right up to me, placed her hand flat on my chest, and looked up with a flirty smile. “Well, he did say in first period that he had a thing for redheads.”

  She turned smoothly and took Luna’s hand. “But sorry if my whispers gave you the wrong idea. I’m with Luna.”

  Luna immediately pulled her hand free, looking offended. “What whispers? And stop flirting with Meleek. What did you say?”

  Dani laughed, holding up her hands in mock surrender. “It was harmless. I was just messing with him.” She reached up and caressed the side of Luna’s face. “Come on, baby. You know you’re the only one for me.”

  Luna narrowed her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched. Dani chuckled and stepped back. “So, tell me—why are you walking Meleek to class?”

  Luna cleared her throat, suddenly self-conscious. She hugged her books to her chest and jerked her head down the hall. “He’s in our next class. I’m showing him how to get there.”

  Dani’s face lit up. “Nice! Maybe we can all sit together. What do you think, Meleek? Wouldn’t that be fun?”

  Still reeling from the fact that they were together, I managed a dazed, “Um… sure, I guess.”

  They both laughed at my obvious awkwardness, and we started walking.

  Dani touched my forearm lightly to get my attention. “So, you never answered me earlier. How do you like school so far?”

  I glanced at her hand on my arm, then back at the crowded hallway ahead. “It’s okay. Everyone’s been really friendly. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Plus, Luna and Lucian are here, so at least I know someone besides Kylie.”

  “What electives are you taking?” she asked, her gaze drifting up to my hair like she was seeing it for the first time.

  Before I could answer, she reached up and ran her fingers through it. I froze, caught completely off guard. The touch was light, almost playful, but it sent a shiver down my spine.

  I looked at Luna, half-expecting her to get upset. She just rolled her eyes with a scoff and looked away.

  I cleared my throat, voice cracking slightly. “W-well… um… I’m taking swimming, and Lucian’s going to try to get me on the track team.”

  Dani ignored the answer completely. “Your hair is really soft. It’s like petting a rabbit. Is it naturally this soft?” She turned to Luna. “Luna, you have to feel this.”

  Luna chuckled and pulled Dani’s hand away. “Girl, you need to stop before he starts humping your leg or something.”

  I looked at Luna in shock. Dani laughed harder. “Oh, did he like that too much?” She teased, then slid her fingers down the back of my head, caressing the nape of my neck.

  A shockwave of pleasure ran straight down my spine. I sucked in a breath before I could stop it.

  Luna rolled her eyes again and looked at me. “You have to forgive Dani. She’ll flirt with anything that has a pulse.”

  Dani gasped, mock-offended. “Whatever! Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”

  “Of Meleek? No way.” Luna looked up at me. “He’s like a brother to me. I’ve known him since we were babies.”

  I hadn’t noticed before, but Luna was much shorter than me now. She used to tower over me as a kid. Now she barely came up to my neck.

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  Dani’s eyes widened as something clicked. She leaned close to Luna, apparently forgetting how good my hearing was. “Oh crap—is he the one you told me about from the party?”

  My eyes narrowed skeptically as I looked at Luna with a grin. I immediately knew what party Dani was talking about. Kylie’s thirteenth birthday. The day we kissed.

  Luna’s face flushed bright red. She shoved Dani hard enough to make her stumble backward. “What? Shut up! It was a stupid game!”

  Dani chuckled and looked at me too.

  I tilted my head, pretending I didn’t know. “What party are you talking about?” I asked, even though I knew exactly. I just wanted to hear her say it.

  Luna sighed in annoyance as we finally reached our classroom. “Nothing. Just—”

  “Meleek!”

  Kylie’s shout interrupted her as we walked into the room.

  The classroom was full of large lab table-like desks that seated four people each. Kylie sat next to Mia and two other people across from her. She waved me over excitedly. “Meleek, come here!”

  I walked over with Luna and Dani trailing behind. Kylie didn’t seem to recognize Luna and didn’t acknowledge Dani at all. She just motioned to Mia. “I wanted you to meet my friends. You already know Mia.” Then she gestured to the two in front of her. “But this is Rachel and her boyfriend Stephen.”

  I smiled at Mia and then at the other two. “Yeah, I have Mia in one of my other classes, but it’s really nice meeting you two.” Rachel and Stephen must be newer friends because I didn’t recognize them. Kylie had brought most of her friends to our house at least once.

  Mia’s soft voice cut in. “Meleek sits next to me in second period. He’s been very sweet and very helpful to me.” She turned her face in my direction with a meek smile.

  Kylie looked at her skeptically. Somehow Mia must have felt Kylie’s gaze because her smile faded and she looked down at the desk. Then I noticed Mia tense up, her hands clenching into fists in her lap as Luna and Dani walked up. Kylie noticed Mia’s discomfort as well and looked at Luna—who was glaring daggers at Mia as she passed by.

  Dani grabbed my hand and pulled me away. “Come on, you can sit with us.”

  Kylie watched us go with uncertainty. We sat at one of the middle tables. Luna sat across from me and kept glaring over at Mia while Dani sat beside her.

  I kicked Luna’s shin under the table. “Are you okay?” I asked, seeing the intensity of her glare.

  “Ow! What the fuck?” Her attention snapped to me. I just stared back. Another low growl rumbled from her throat—she seemed to do that a lot now. “I just don’t trust her,” she muttered, looking away with a huff through her nose.

  Dani chimed in, “Who—Kylie or the blind girl?” She asked, glancing over at Kylie’s table curiously.

  Luna slapped her notebook on the table. “Does it matter?” She opened it to start taking notes.

  I kept looking at Luna, still confused. “I know you’re not talking about Kylie. And I still don’t understand what your problem is with Mia. Are you going to tell me now?”

  Luna looked back up at me. “You won’t understand. Like I told you—she isn’t a good person.”

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Whatever,” I said sarcastically, already a bit annoyed by her refusal to explain.

  She gave me a disapproving glare, clearly not liking my tone.

  Just then my phone buzzed with a text from Kylie.

  [Are u friends with her?]

  I immediately thought she meant Dani—they’d had a bad falling out years ago. [Who Dani?] I texted back.

  Another buzz almost instantly: [No, the girl in front of you.]

  I smirked, realizing she still didn’t recognize Luna. [Um yeah, it’s Luna.]

  I heard Kylie’s chair scrape across the floor as she quickly turned to look back at us. She stared at Luna, trying to place her. I watched as she texted me back.

  [Wow she has changed a lot! She looks nothing like she did.]

  [I know right! She actually looks like a girl.] I texted back as I looked at Luna again, taking in her differences once more. Then I noticed both she and Dani were watching me curiously, probably wondering who I was texting.

  My phone buzzed again: [Does she not like Mia?]

  I looked back down at my phone, ignoring their stares. [I don’t know why. But for some reason, she doesn’t trust Mia.]

  [Why?? Mia is sweet how can she not like her?]

  Just as I was about to reply, the teacher cut in. “Kylie, is something important happening that you have to keep looking at your phone?”

  We both quickly put our phones away. “No ma’am, I’m sorry,” Kylie said with a smile.

  The class finally began, and I started taking notes. I looked up from my work and noticed Dani and Luna passing notes to each other on a piece of paper, both smiling. I figured it had to be about me because they kept glancing my way.

  I leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of me. “What are you two writing?”

  Luna looked up at me, grinning about whatever the last note said. “It’s nothing,” she said, then crumpled the paper and set it beside her.

  Dani slid her Biology book over, showing me a diagram of a naked man. “Is your anatomy like this?”

  I looked at her, shocked by her boldness, but also a little curious why she’d want to know. I glanced at Luna—she was holding back a laugh. I motioned to Luna and whispered, “Luna should know. She’s seen me naked.”

  Luna gasped, her eyes shooting to mine in shock. “That was a long time ago!” she exclaimed in a whisper, her face beginning to redden.

  Dani’s eyes widened as she looked at Luna. “You’ve seen him naked?”

  I answered before Luna could. “We used to bathe together,” I said with a smirk. This was fun—making her embarrassed like this.

  Dani laughed as Luna looked at me in shock. The teacher overheard our not-so-quiet whispers.

  “Meleek, are those two ladies bothering you?”

  To add even more fuel to the embarrassment fire I’d started, I held up the textbook showing the naked man. “Sorry, ma’am, they were just asking if my anatomy looked like this. They wanted to know if it’s like a normal human’s.”

  People in the class chuckled—except Kylie, who didn’t seem thrilled at all. She just turned and glared at Dani. Both Luna and Dani looked at me in disbelief that I’d ratted them out.

  The teacher looked at them with a stern, unamused expression. “Ladies, you do know that is considered sexual harassment?”

  I chuckled and held up my hand to stop her before she tried writing them up or whatever schools do. “It’s fine, ma’am. They were only curious.” I looked back at Dani with a smile. “Yes, my anatomy is the same.”

  The teacher clearly didn’t care to hear that. “Well… that is good to know… I guess. Now, would you ladies stop bothering Meleek and pay attention?”

  “It’s not completely the same,” Luna blurted out, clearly trying to embarrass me now and get revenge. “His body can’t digest meat without getting sick.”

  Dani jumped in, adding what she’d learned about me. “Also, the glow of his eyes allows him to see in the dark.”

  I narrowed my eyes at them. After that, the class got sidetracked into another round of elf twenty questions. They both looked at me with smiles like they’d just won something.

  The class finally ended, and I was relieved. As we were walking out, both of them had grins on their faces.

  I looked between them with a bit of annoyance, but no real heat behind it. They were just getting back at me. “What’s so funny?”

  Dani chuckled and bumped her shoulder against me. “So are you tired of those questions yet?”

  I shook my head with a smile. “I’m so glad you both find pleasure in my torment,” I replied, and they both laughed.

  Luna pushed me, causing me to stumble forward a couple of steps. She’d never been able to hold back her tomboy strength. “Oh, I do, and that’s for trying to embarrass us, asshole.”

  Just then Kylie walked up, blocking us from leaving the room, and crossed her arms. She glared at Dani as her friends lined up behind her, trying to look intimidating. “You need to stay away from my brother. He isn’t going to be your next conquest.”

  I chuckled at Kylie’s attitude and stepped forward, touching her shoulder. “Kylie, stop. This isn’t what’s going on.”

  Luna looked at us confused, then at Dani. “What happened between you two? Did you have a fight?”

  Dani looked to me, then to Kylie with a remorseful expression. “It’s a long story, but I did something stupid and messed up a good friendship. Again, I’m sorry, Kylie. How many times do you want me to apologize?”

  “I don’t care. Meleek, you need to stay away from her.” Kylie stepped forward, getting in Dani’s face and glaring. “Dani, stay away from my brother,” she repeated.

  Luna stepped forward, putting herself between Kylie and Dani. “Kylie, I’m not sure what really happened, but Dani is my friend. If she’s with me, and I’m hanging around Meleek, she can too.”

  Kylie turned her anger to Luna. “Luna, you—”

  Then a guy walked up. Kylie glared at him, making him hesitate as he sensed the tension between us all. She looked back to Luna. “We’ll talk about this later. You’re coming over after school, right? My mom would want to see you and Lucian.”

  Luna nodded. Kylie glared at Dani once more, then walked off with her friends following her.

  The guy reluctantly looked at us, then turned to Luna. “Hey Luna, can I ask you a question?”

  Luna—still a bit confused and slightly annoyed from the previous conversation—looked at him. “You just did… What?”

  He scratched the back of his head and looked down the hall, then back to her. “Uh, yeah, well… do you know Andrew Benson?”

  “No Am I supposed to?” Luna bluntly answered, crossing her arms.

  Dani leaned forward with a smile. “He’s pretty hot.”

  Luna rolled her eyes at her. I looked at Dani curiously and leaned closer. “Are you bi?” I whispered.

  She just smiled at me without saying anything. The guy smirked at Dani’s response, then looked back to Luna. “Well, he likes you but is too afraid to ask. Would—”

  “No,” Luna cut him off without hesitation. Dani and I both smirked at her. He looked at me with uncertainty, then back to her.

  “May I ask why?” he asked, stepping a bit closer.

  “I don’t like him, and I would never date someone too scared to ask me out themselves.” She said plainly, then turned to us, clearly wanting to end this conversation. “This is stupid. Let’s go.”

  I chuckled under my breath at how blunt she could be. I stepped forward and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Listen, tell your friend Luna only dates people with breasts.” I motioned to Dani. “Right now, these two are together. Plus, she once told me that kissing guys was disgusting.” I finished, looking at Luna with a smirk.

  Luna gasped. The guy just looked back and forth between Luna and Dani. “Oh, I just thought that was a rumor.”

  He gave up and turned to walk off.

  Luna was still looking at me in shock that I remembered that. Of course I remembered—it had happened the day after our kiss at the party.

  “I never told you kissing guys was disgusting,” Luna said quickly.

  I smiled as I looked at Dani. “The day after our kiss at the party, Luna told me that kissing me was disgusting.”

  Dani looked at Luna with a bit of confusion. “That’s not what you told me?” Luna gasped, looking at her in disbelief now.

  I laughed. “She told you about us kissing?”

  Dani looked back at me. “You were her—”

  Luna quickly turned and covered her mouth. “Oh god, you need to stop talking.” She pointed at me, then down the hall. “Go to your class. Stop being an idiot. Come on, Dani!”

  Dani chuckled as Luna pulled her hand away and began dragging her off.

  I stood there, grinning, heart racing from the chaos—and from the memory of that long-ago kiss still lingering in the back of my mind.

  The day was only half over, and already it felt like everything was changing.

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