Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella – Chapter 36
It happened so fast that even in a gossip-heavy place like Scarlet University, no one was really certain what had happened that morning. There had been next to no witnesses except the couple dozen confused passersby who had been straining to see what was happening between the cars and over everyone else’s shoulders, and Flicka’s friends certainly weren’t going to tell anyone the truth.
By the end of the day, the general consensus was that there hadn’t actually been a fight, but that I had shouted Flicka down and reduced her to pitiful tears. Somehow, she had also ended up naked, caught by one phone camera that had managed to film about two haphazard seconds of the incident. But that too was written off as a wardrobe malfunction. Certainly the tiny hybrid girl couldn’t have actually beaten Flicka in a real fight.
In some ways, it was even better than the truth. The sheer humiliation of the rumors must have been the reason Flicka never showed up to the afternoon class we shared. After all, the high and mighty princess of her family couldn’t hold her head high when rumors said that a mere half-breed half her size had reduced her to a blubbering mess in the parking lot.
had no such inhibitions. Leon’s best attempts at containing her had been futile.
rdly fault Leon for being steamrolled by her enthusiasm.
have been up in her face and singing it like I was in a musical! Everyone from here to the coast would know about it!”
“You were going off all day to anyone who would listen. If I hadn’t been there, you would have been in a fight yourself with Flicka’s friends.”
with people! Ha! Wasn’t true this morning when you were laying into her like she chewed on your ankles.”
p for classes apparently, so I’m assuming she learne
does come after you again! I wanna see it.”
the same time.
e cac
***
ratty attitude. I rode the adrenaline clear into the next day when Ken Joseph sent me a string of texts around lunchtime, which culminated into his inviting me over to dinner. Raf
I don’t want him to think I’ve been playing games with him.”
ed. “I didn’t say anything.”
ow you do that, though. How did you know it was him texting me?”
n, so her next reply was proof she had guessed correctly with her fearsome intuition: “Ken has been nonstop coming after you for weeks now. It would be weird if he didn’t text you all of a sudden. And you looked like you just got punched in the stomach when you saw the text, so it was either Evan playing another dirty trick on you or it was guilt, o
e… Even today he had made no promises about it. Yet. But he would come around. I believed it with all my heart.
o were going after him hard. You’re going to have to make this a good one, letting him down easy.”
ble.”
***
ded me blew me away day by day still, even if there were plenty who had no idea what to make of my hybrid nature. It was a far cry from Dark Moon prejudice against my kind.
had always been brave about pursuing me, never forceful but never so timid that I didn’t know where he stood. That I was half-human never changed how he treated me except perhaps in the way he intervened if
ad made my decision.
en, how are yo
ting up early. Going strong.”
nly made me feel worse. But I slid into the booth to join him and took a deep breath, steadying myself for what came next. He saw it, too. Maybe that was why he took it so calmly, because he had seen it coming.
at I’m about to say.” But of course I wasn’t. I could hear his thought and had always been able to. “I think you were looking for something serious between us, and for a while, I was thinking maybe I was, too. But… I haven’t been totally honest with you, and if you hold it against me, I understand. The truth is that I have feelings for Evan and have for a long time. And until recently, I was trying to get over him. But something happened that makes me want to try again.”
my coffee and held his gaze, willing myself to stay brave. I hated it, t
o try,” I continued. “And… Evan might be trying too. So I want to take this as far as it can go. And that means I have to be honest with you and tell you that. I’m sorry if I’ve tread on your feelings.”
are about you?”
lieve he does.”
take care of you, and protect you
has been.”
ake you happy. You first, then everyone else. Okay?”
aching for him but glad that he didn’t resent me. “Okay.”
on’t we? I wanna talk, just you and me. Like… while we’re on the topic, you never told me about what it was like for you in Da
s not a happy story.”
As long as it’s yours
”