Under the Magnolia: Daughter of Fire Prequel Novella by Fleur Smith

Author:Fleur Smith
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Fleur Smith
Published: 2017-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

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AFTER THE day she first joined Clay and me, Louise was ever-present at school. It was almost as if she was intent on crashing every conversation we had. She sat uninvited at our lunch table and joked about me relentlessly. Any topic could be the subject of her scorn: my clothes, my schoolwork, even my continued resistance to Clay’s advances.

Twice more in the next week, she seemed to find excuses to touch my skin. First, it was my shoulder as she whispered something to Clay. Then it was with her arm brushing against mine when we were both leaving the classroom.

For the most part, Clay seemed determined to ignore her odd behavior. At least, he didn’t raise it with her and once the dust had settled, and his black eye had faded to a series of pale yellow and brown bruises.

As Louise’s constant nearness grated on my nerves, I daydreamed about spending time with Clay away from school.

“I guess Louise will be joining us again?” I asked as he walked me to lunch a few weeks later.

“No doubt.” He flexed his jaw. “It’s just a shame you can’t go out after school one day. I’d love to hang out with you away from all these mooks.”

“I can’t imagine why you’d actually want to spend more time with her.” Louise’s nasally voice broke into our private conversation. “We’ve already established she’s basically trailer trash, Clay. She’s obviously not worth your time.”

Clay turned his attention to his sister, chewing her out once again for her attitude, all while scribbling down a note. He asked Louise about something on the other side of the room and surreptitiously slid me the piece of paper while her head was turned.

Please say yes, if only to get me away from her for an afternoon.

I smirked to myself and tuned out the rest of their conversation. The more I thought about it, the more the idea of spending some time completely alone with Clay sounded not at all terrible.

After almost two months of his constant requests—week after week spent together in class nearly every day—and all the new presence of his sister, I was beyond the point of resistance.

I’d already started dreaming up plausible excuses to give my father to convince him to let me free for a few hours, all involving study groups or private tuition. Something that would play on his desire for me to have the best education I could despite it being so fractured. Most importantly, something that wouldn’t leave me sneaking out of the house and hurting Dad again.

Once Clay and I were in our next class together—safely away from Louise’s eavesdropping and judgmental attitude—I raised the subject with him in quiet whispers while the teacher’s back was turned. I kept my voice low because Mr. Sterling was already on the warpath. It wouldn’t take much to tip him over the edge.

“Let’s say I can figure out a way to get a few hours to myself, what would an evening with you entail anyway?” I asked.

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