“You didn’t have to ride with me,” Luc said as she pulled into the school parking lot, bringing an end to his complaining.

  “There’s no point in the two of us driving separately.”

  “Then why complain?” Luc asked. She parked near the back of the parking lot and stopped her flow of magic, outfit transforming back to normal.

  “Because we could have taken my truck,” Tobias said. He climbed out of the car after her, swinging his bag over his shoulder as the car settled. “It has to be safer than this.”

  “My car is safe,” Luc said, shooting him a glare. It may not look like it, but the car was as safe as it could be. It probably wouldn’t even run without magic, but so long as her magic was turned on, it would run like any other car.

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I am.” Luc grabbed her backpack from the backseat of the car. For once, all her homework was done ahead of time and ready to be turned in, rather than having to scramble during class to complete it. She hadn’t taken a single job over the weekend, though she probably should have, but she wasn’t mad about it.

  She’d have to start taking jobs again soon so she could get out of Tobias’s house, but getting a few days to just breathe had been good.

  Luc pointedly didn’t turn her head as they passed Marie’s bright pink car, but Tobias did. “Have you spoken to her?”

  “No. Why should I?”

  “Because she’s your friend?”

  Friends didn’t pay you to hang out with them, but Luc didn’t say that much. “She’s not.”

  “Right, because she’s your rival,” Tobias said with a roll of her eyes. “And you’re just going to sit here and pretend you’re not into her?”

  Luc whipped around, shooting him a glare. “I’m not into her.”

  “Oh, right. That completely explains why you agreed to go on a date with her.”

  Luc looked away, shutting her mouth. He did have a point. The point being, she’d been stupid. Agreeing to go to the harvest festival with Marie on a date was just idiotic. She was probably just doing it for views or something, not out of any actual interest in Luc.

  “I’m just saying.”

  “I’m just saying you should shut up,” Luc said. “I have class to go to.”

  “Say hi to Marie for me!”

  “No thanks.”

  Luc shook her head at him as she walked away, heading first to her locker to drop off her backpack, then to class.

  Marie, of course, was already there, sitting at the front with her back so straight it had to be uncomfortable. She’d changed her hair since the last time Luc had seen her, cascading down her back in curls. She leaned forward, chatting amiably to their teacher, talking as though they were the best of friends.

  Luc fought against herself as she walked to the front of the classroom, dropped off her homework, then turned and found her seat. Marie’s eyes followed her, heavy against her back.

  By the time she sat down and faced the front once again, they were gone, and Marie was silent.

  Class started and Marie kept her full attention on their teacher, whereas Luc’s landed on Marie. When she’d agreed to go on a date with her, she hadn’t been thinking about getting paid to be her rival and make her look good. She’d agreed because, despite her best efforts, she enjoyed being around Marie. Sometimes. When Marie wasn’t being annoying.

  Class ended, and Luc expected Marie to walk up to her and demand to talk. She braced herself for it, and felt the rug get pulled out from beneath her as Marie walked straight past her without a second look.

  Luc watched the girl go with a frown? Was Marie really not going to talk to her?

  She needed to start taking jobs again today, and those jobs went better and paid better with Marie around. She hadn’t expected Marie to actually be mad at her. She hadn’t even been thinking about their date or the harvest festival at all before Tobias reminded her of it.

  Grabbing her things, Luc stalked after Marie, catching up to her at the girl’s locker.

  “Are you ignoring me?”

  Marie didn’t look away from her locker, expression carefully schooled into a neutral look. Luc hated that she could do that, controlling her body down to minute facial expressions.

  “Because if you’re ignoring me, that’s really childish,” Luc said, continuing when Marie didn’t respond. “I’m sorry I stood you up. Is that what you want to hear?”

  Marie exchanged her math textbook for her French book before turning to Luc, neutral expression turning pinched. “Every time I open my mouth I seem to hurt you or make you mad,” Marie said. “And considering you obviously didn’t want to talk to me, I thought I’d give you space. Apparently that was the wrong decision too.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “Why don’t you let me make decisions about who I want or don’t want in my life?” Luc demanded.

  “You already told me you didn’t need me in your life,” Marie said, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t need you. That’s what you said. Are you taking that back now?”

  Luc opened her mouth, then shut it again, searching for words and coming up short. She had said that, hadn’t she? Because Marie was always trying to insert herself into Luc’s life, throwing her weight and her money around like it could solve every problem. And the worst part was, it probably could, and Luc hated her for that.

  She hated Marie for it, but she didn’t hate Marie.

  Marie rolled her eyes at Luc’s silence and turned away.

  “Yes,” Luc blurted out. Marie stopped walking, turning back to face her, eyes so earnest their gaze hurt. “I’m taking it back. Happy now?”

  Marie let out a huff and rolled her eyes. “I guess.”

  “See you at lunch, then?”

  A self satisfied smile crossed Luc’s face as Marie left her to head to class. There. Tobias could shove it. She’d made up with Marie, and now everything could go back to normal. Taking jobs, being rivals, spending time together. Everything back to normal.

  Luc’s next two classes passed in a blur, and she went to retrieve her lunch with a smile on her face. Mama Barnes’ cooking was to die for.

  Tobias caught up with her as she closed her locker. “How was your class with Marie? I heard you two were arguing with each other in the hallway.”

  Luc smirked as she looked up at the taller boy. He thought she’d fought with Marie again, and while that might be partially the truth, it wasn’t the whole truth.

  “We made up,” Luc said, planting a hand on her hip.

  “Does that mean you rescheduled your date?”

  Luc stumbled, foot catching on a nonexistent bump on the tile floor. The date. The goddamn date. How had she forgotten about the date?

  “Fuck.”

  Tobias’s laughter filled the halls as they walked toward the cafeteria, the plan for once to eat inside. It was getting too cold to eat outside comfortably. “You’re stupid.”

  “Maybe she’ll forget about it.”

  “She won’t,” Tobias said. “Have you ever met a girl?”

  Luc paused as he stared at her and gave an exaggerated look down at her own chest, then back up at him. “No.”

  He rolled his eyes at her antics and ignored her the rest of the way to their table, where Maisey, Mason, and Marie were already waiting. Heat flushed across Luc’s face as Marie looked up, a huge smile dashing across her face in wild contrast to her usual, highly controlled facial expressions.

  “I heard you two kissed and made up,” Maisey said, not one to be quiet. She leaned across the table, as though Luc and Maisey were the only two people in the room. “Tell me everything.”

  “There was no kissing,” Luc sputtered out, pushing Maisey back into her seat and doing her best not to look at Marie. How could Maisey say these things without any sense of shame?

  “Aww,” Maisey whined. “And here I was hoping for Gadget, Limit, Fold power couple.”

  Luc stared at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, obviously I’m dating Tobias, but Fold is dating Gadget and Limit.” Maisey settled back into her seat, supremely proud of herself and her assertion.

  Luc’s eyebrows inched upward as she shot a glance at Marie, the girl just as confused as she was. Maisey clearly hadn’t talked this over with anyone.

  “That makes no sense,” Luc said finally.

  “It makes perfect sense.”

  She glanced at Tobias, who just shrugged. “Makes sense to me.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Luc snapped at him. “Don’t lie.”

  “It makes sense,” Maisey insisted, and took a bite of her apple. Mouth still full, she started talking again. “We should look for a job. Marie helped me design my magical girl outfit yesterday and I’m itching to take it for a whirl.”

  “It’s pretty hot,” Tobias said. “Gadget really wouldn’t do bad dating Fold.”

  “Why are you encouraging this?” Luc demanded. “Gadget isn’t dating anyone. Gadget is a persona.”

  “Guess it’s just Fold and Limit then,” Maisey said, turning to Marie.

  “I’m pretty sure Limit is already taken by Gadget,” Marie said with a shake of her head. “If you want a piece of me, you’re going to have to get her permission.”

  “What do you say?” Maisey said, her attention back on Luc as she tried to open up the commission app and start looking for jobs. “Share her with me?”

  Luc raised an eyebrow, eyes darting between the two and then over to Tobias. Finally, she let out a sigh. “Sure,” she said. “You can have her.”

  Marie pouted as Luc looked down at her phone, doing her best to ignore them as the conversation continued.

  “I’m with Luc on this one,” Mason said, speaking up for the first time. “Why do your magical girl personas have to date anyone?”

  “It’s apparently a pretty common thing,” Maisey said. “I just thought it would be funny. If you’re really so opposed, I can drop it.”

  Luc glanced up at her and shrugged. “I just don’t see the point. And you’re not my type.”

  “So if I was your type, you’d be fine with it?”

  Luc ignored her as she continued to scroll through the commission app, searching for a job. She looked almost idly, not paying much attention to any one listing. Most at this level were the same, and it wouldn’t matter which one she took as long as she took one, though if she could find one all three of them could do it would probably be nice.

  Her attention snagged on one job listing the moment it popped up on screen, her stomach dropping to her feet.

  The job didn’t offer any pay, not like the others, it offered something else: an apartment.

  An apartment in exchange for magical maintenance, at a dorm here in town.

  It was just too good to be true.

  Her head snapped up, gaze locking on Marie. “You did this, didn’t you?”

  “Do what?” she asked with a faint shake of her head.

  She flipped the phone around, showing off the job listing. “You did this, didn’t you?”

  “How would I do that?” Marie asked.

  “Your father is head of the local commission.”

  “That doesn’t mean he approves every job personally,” Marie said. “If he had to do that, he’d be working all day every day.”

  “What’s the job?” Tobias asked as Luc turned the phone back around, reluctant to accept Marie’s words, no matter how logical they sounded.

  “An ongoing maintenance position at the mage dorm,” Luc said. “It comes with an apartment.”

  “You’re going to take it, right?” Tobias asked. “You don’t have to, you can stay with me as long as you want, but—”

  Luc didn’t wait for him to finish before taking the job. Even if it was suspicious, Marie didn’t seem to know anything about it, and it was an apartment. Luc would finally have her own place. “I’m taking it.”

  Discord! I finally got my act together and set it up!