The Thousand Year Curse (The Curse Books) (36 page)

Cristos walks away and I follow his trail with my eyes. He stops when he gets to Ari and they start talking to each other. I don't know what they're saying but it's light by the way Ari laughs. I turn back to the fireman in front of me.
 

"What's up?" Junior asks, high five-ing him.
 

"Nothing. You guys look great." He says, sending a flirty smile my way. I haven't seen him this open since before Hell. He's being so friendly it makes me think something is up.
 

"Really great." Dimitri says, sending me a sultry look. Gag. I feel like everything he says has sexual innuendo. He licks his lips and I focus on Ollie in an attempt to ignore Dimitri.
 

"Thanks." I say to Ollie only. He wraps me up in a big hug and my eyes widen towards Junior, questioning what's up with him. He just shrugs it off.
 

I sniff in and realize why he is being so friendly. He's drunk. He reeks of beer and something else harder. He smells kind of smokey, too. "You're drunk." I utter to him shooting a glare towards Dimitri, guessing he's the bad influence.

"Nahh. J-Just a little tiiipsy, Ryder." He stutters out, slurring every other word. I can't even look at him. He is so annoying. Ollie is screwing everything up. I want to be with him. He's my soul mate. Why does he have to be such a jerk?
 

"Whatever." I say, pushing past him. I walk right up to Ari and stand next to him. He doesn't question me. He just glances back towards Ollie before putting his arm around my shoulder as he buys my ticket in.
 

Cristos stands on my other side and sends me a small grin—that's like the warmest thing he's ever done to me. I smile back at him and he follows us in. Ari just holds on to me protectively as we enter the gym.
 

It really is beautiful. Whoever did the decorations did an amazing job. The room is truly magical. There are pumpkins all over the place carved in intricate designs. Some have scary faces, while others have pictures carved into them. There are paper machete ghosts and bats hanging from the rafters. The room is stunning, perfect for a school dance.

"Wow." I remark when we walk in. Ari looks down and smiles at me. The music is already bumping, the bass high. I can barely hear myself think in this crowded room. People scatter across the dance floor. There is a refreshments table and food against the far wall. People are hanging around there. I'm sure by now someone has already spiked the drinks.

We walk over to the drinks and I grab one. I might as well live up my last weeks as a normal human. I take one sip and spit it out onto the floor. It's straight vodka with maybe a teaspoon of punch. I was hoping it would be fruity at least, but it's not. I look over at Cristos and he shrugs, smiling inwardly at me.

I chug the rest of it. It burns its way down my throat as my eyes water. Ari and Cristos laugh at me together before each grabbing a cup themselves.

"Count to three, Eury." Ari tells me staring down Cristos.

"One." They lift their cups up to their mouths. "Two." Ari winks in Cristos's direction. "Three." They both tilt their nearly full cups back and chug. Just knowing what's in that cup makes me gag remembering the taste.
 

Ari puts his cup down first, flashing us both a huge smile. Cristos still finishes and throws his cup on the ground in defeat.

"Damn-it, Dude. That was strong!" Cristos says grabbing a handful of Doritos from the bowl. He chews them swishing the crumbs around his mouth. "Much better." He moans. "Later guys." He says before walking towards the dance floor. I don't see him as a player but he's hot so girls fawn over him.
 

"That was disgusting." Ari leans into my side breathing into my ear.

"Tell me about it." I yell back into him, feeling the effects of the alcohol already. "Do you want to dance?" I ask him. He nods in response, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the center of the room.
Get Low
is playing so I back up into him and start swaying to the music. He places both of his hands on my hips and follows my lead. We dance to five more songs and then he moves us away.

"I am sweating. Wanna take a break?" He asks me panting, sweat dripping down his forehead.
 

"Sure." I smile. My brain is a little fuzzy and I stumble on the door jam. I actually kind of like the feeling. I feel weightless. I start to giggle under my breath and Ari looks down at me.

"Eury, are you drunk?" He asks, smiling. He is so freaking cute. I just want to kiss him all over. He is being the boy I like! I can't take it.
 

"Yes." I admit, giggling some more. For some reason, the word yes is hilarious to me right now. I can't stop laughing. Ari joins in and puts me into a full crying, laughing spree. Finally my sides hurt and I have to stop. "Stop laughing." I tell Ari. He refuses so I put my hand over his mouth to make him stop.
 

We end up walking outside by the football field. We sit on the bleachers and huddle close together. There are some other kids sitting and making out in the corners out here so we're not completely alone.
 

"What?" I ask him, when I notice him staring. I smile but am curious what he's so busy looking at. He looks to be deep in thought.
 

"Nothing. You're beautiful, you know. My pretty girl." He flirts with me, reaching towards me, and pushing my hair away from my face before tucking it behind my ear. I get a flashback of when we would ride on his motorcycle and he'd take my helmet off. I grab his hand on my face and hold it there, tilting my head into it like a purring kitty.

"You're drunk." I state and start to laugh again.

"No, I'm not!" He yells to me. I laugh again. "Unlike you, I can hold my liquor." He defends himself smiling down at me playfully.
 

"I love you." I state very honestly to him having a moment of seriousness. I really, really love Ari. I love everything about him. Mostly, I love him like this. I love him being carefree and honest. He has never once betrayed me or lied.

"I love you, too, Eury." He responds back. I giggle a little but he stops me by putting his mouth over mine. He laughs into the kiss. It isn't passionate, it's just a simple kiss—goofy even. I love it though.
 

I break my gaze with Ari and look next to us. Three new figures stand in the doorway. I recognize one as my counterpart in crime tonight. My batman. "Junior!" I squeal waving him over.
 

He doesn't budge though. I look to Ari and his eyebrows are raised in question. It looks funny on his face so I start giggling, again.
 

Junior, fireman Ollie and a bottle of ketchup start walking over. I realize we are in deep trouble. This only makes me giggle more. Ari chimes in for a second but suppresses the need to continue laughing and urges me to shut up by shoving my shoulder.
 

"Ryder, are you drunk?" Junior asks me. I look at him and try to make my face serious. I can't hide the dimples on my face. I try to make my face look angry. I don't want him to think I am making a joke out of this. I think about cold showers and a dislocated shoulder and Becca—all bad thoughts welcome right now.
 

"No." I say. I wait a couple seconds but can't hold it in any longer. I laugh out loud.
 

"Unbelievable." Ollie mutters under his breath. That sobers me up real quick. Dimitri must see the look on my face because he snickers, leaning back to cross his arms.
 

"Dude, you're drunk! And you reek of smoke." I state crossing my arms over my chest defensively.

"What's your point?" He asks me dead on.

"You're a hypocrite and
unbelievable
." I mimic him, putting air quotes around the word, unbelievable.

"Let's just go, Ollie." Junior cuts in when Dimitri grabs his arm. Ollie refuses to budge, though.

"No, I feel like hanging out here with Ari. He's my best bud." Ollie says. I put myself between the two like I am protecting Ari. I don't want Ollie near him.

"No, you aren't." I sternly say to him.

"What are you going to do?" He asks, challenging me. I am getting heated up now. I will not be told what to do. I will not be told who I can and cannot see. Dimitri tenses and walks over to Ollie's side like he's freaking back up or something. Ollie has no power over me. I walk up to him, look him dead in the eyes and push him.
 

He flies back ten feet before landing on a metal bleacher. I cover my mouth with my hand and gasp. "Oh my god!" I rush over to Ollie's side. Thankfully nobody else is around to see that. Junior, Dimitri and Ari follow behind and try to figure out what just happened.

I kneel down next to Ollie. "Are you okay?" I ask him. He looks fine, just livid with a scowl across his face. I don't really feel drunk anymore. I look at my hands thinking they might look different. I just threw a two hundred pound guy ten feet through the air.
 

"I'm fine. Back up." He pushes past me getting to his feet while shooting daggers at Ari. "We had a deal." He states while Ari just stands there.

"I know." He responds. I am not sure what is going on. Ollie and Ari look like they are having a staring contest or something.
 

Finally Ollie breaks eye contact. He and Dimitri walk away with Junior following silently behind. Since when was Junior his wing man. He is supposed to be my best friend! This is a betrayal if I've ever seen one.

"You're gaining more powers." Ari says, softly rubbing my back.

"Clearly." I retort back. I want to get out of here. I didn't want to come to this stupid dance in the first place. "I want to go home." I tell Ari. He just nods and takes my hand in his. I don't think he cares who sees us holding hands anymore.
 

We walk back into the dance and it's still packed with bodies. Everyone looks drunk and on cloud nine. People grind up on each other half naked. With Ari still holding my hand, we push through the crowd trying to get to the door as fast as possible.
 

"We have an announcement to make." The DJ announces over the microphone. A few seconds go by while everyone stands, frozen, waiting on the message.
 

"Hello, this is Mrs. Lavensol. I've been informed that the refreshments have been tampered with. I need the children responsible to come forward or winter formal will be canceled." She announces, garnering groans from the entire school body. Nobody moves though. "This is not a bluff, the culprit will be found out. If you have any information regarding the student please find me. Thanks." She says handing the mic back to the DJ.
 

Immediately the room erupts in whispers and accusations. Ari grabs my hand again and we start making our way to the door. I catch a few people accusing Kevin, a big football douche and I smile, hoping he gets in trouble. Near the door, there is a group of girls hovering around an easel.
 

I immediately recognize Becca and tense. Ari leans down to my ears and whispers to me, "she won't recognize you looking like that."
 

I feel better, realizing he's right. We start to walk by them and I hear my name come out of her mouth. I don't know in what context but I am the only Ryder in the school. I look over and see a picture of me kissing Ollie in the library—our first kiss.
 

They have a bunch of markers out and are drawing things all around me. They write sayings on it and draw on my face. Tears prick the edges of my eyes seeing the comments quoted by Ollie.
 

Apparently he says that I refused to have sex with him since I was gay. They write how I am such a faggot. They write how Becca punched me in the face. It's all lies. I want to go up there and really punch her in the face. Screw the hair pulling, I will get violent.

Ari tugs on my hand and moves us out of the school wanting to put as much distance between myself and the girls as possible. I am full on crying now. I hate the torment I am forced to go through. I hate everything. I hate the curse. I hate Ollie and right now I even hate Junior. I can't stand the way that my life is going.
 

Ari walks me to my car and has me sit in the passenger side. He gets in the driver seat grabs the keys from the wheel and starts it up.

He drives me home—my safe haven. Dad's car is in the driveway but the house is dark so he must be in bed already. I check the dashboard that reveals it's eleven pm. Ari turns the ignition off as we sit in silence, reflecting.
 

"I'm sorry." I apologize, knowing I acted like an idiot.
 

"For what, Eury?" He asks me, truly confused.

"Being so dumb." I admit, the tears starting up again.
 

"You aren't dumb. You're beautiful." He says, pulling me onto his lap so I lay on his chest. "We need to talk though." He adds in sullenly.

"What?" I ask. As if this night could get any worse.

"We can't be together right now." He holds me tighter, knowing I'll object. He can't mean what he is saying. Why is he doing this to me?

"Why not? We love each other." I say, trying to understand.