Free EVREN: Enter the Dragonette by Marian Tee

if you have your Chevaliers beat the hell out of Matthew,” Audrey quipped right away.
    The tension between us broke and I giggled just as Audrey’s lips formed a tiny smile.  “Just you point me in the right direction and I’ll have them kick his ass.”
    The school bell rang then, and thanks to The Voice’s training and Audrey’s company, the sound barely hurt my ears.  Audrey and I had the second period after lunch together so we decided to meet up in the hallway in an hour.  Audrey headed to her history class while I proceeded to the music room.
    It was a relief to see that neither the Queen nor her ladies were present.  Music was tolerable as long as I exerted enough effort not to let the shrill notes from string instruments get to me.  Trigonometry with Audrey was a blast.  The rest of the afternoon was fine.  But just when I started to think everything was going to be all right, the Queen came back to ruin my mood.
    Someone had slashed my tires and was thoughtful enough to stick a note under my wiper.
    Welcome to Sanger High, bitch.
    “Back atcha,” I mumbled, still a bit shell-shocked that someone would go this far just to let me know they didn’t like me.  Couldn’t a text message do for them?
    Footsteps from behind made me whirl around, surprising the guy walking toward me from the edge of the parking lot and disconcerting even me because I still wasn’t used to how good my hearing was these days.  When I paid attention, that was.
    “Problems?”
    I gazed at him warily, the varsity jacket making him a potential RS boy.  He could even be the detested Matthew, for all I knew.
    He whistled when he caught sight of the tires.  “That’s bad.”
    “You think?”
    His sheepish smile just made his attractive face cuter.  “Do you need help?”
    I debated with myself and for once, I decided to listen to my head.  “It’s okay, I can take care of this.”  I couldn’t let myself trust him.  Well, at least not yet and not so soon.
    He gave me a doubtful look.  “Sure?”
    I made my smile more reassuring.  “Yes, but thanks for the offer.”
    He dug his hands in his pockets, not seemingly inclined to leave.  “You’re the new girl in school, right?”
    I found myself smiling again.  “You really don’t know?”
    He laughed.  “All right, I know.  You’re Deli, right?”
    “Yup.”  I gave him a questioning look.
    “Wesley.”  He hesitated, shifting on his feet.  “I guess I better go.”
    It was then I realized in absolute surprise that he liked me.  Or maybe the better word was that he was attracted to me.  And he didn’t know what to do about it—either because of my run-in with Melissa or the fact that I was supposed to be Lucian’s girlfriend.
    “You got that right,” The Voice said grimly.
    I ignored that and smiled at Wesley.  “See you tomorrow.”
    “Really?”  Wesley coughed.  “I mean, right.  See you tomorrow in school.”  He began walking away backward.  “Sorry about your tires.  Are you sure—”
    “It’s being taken care of,” I lied even though I still had no idea how to get home.  When Wesley left, my despondency returned and I stared at the tires in frustration.  It was only half past five, but the school’s parking lot was nearly deserted.
    “I’m curious.  How are you going to take care of it?”
    I spun around in a gasp.
    Dyvian grinned while Lucian simply gazed at me quizzically upon asking the question.
    And without knowing why, I burst into tears.
    “Deli .”  Dyvian was quick to panic.
    I cried harder.  “What are you guys doing here?”
    “We were worried about you,” Dyvian answered.
    A pair of arms slowly came around me.  I looked up and met Lucian’s wry smile.  “Bad day?”  His tone was still clinical, but this time, I knew him well enough to hear the slight thread of concern in it.
    A teary laugh escaped me.  “Not very, but it could have been better…and I like to cry.  You know that.”
    “I