Darksoul by Eveline Hunt Page B

worry about any—ah—condoms. Right. Yeah. Hunter, let’s talk.”
    I grabbed Hunter’s arm and dragged him down the hall, tugging him around the corner. After giving him a pointed look and holding a finger to my lips, I slid up the wall and glanced at the spot where we had been, blinking when I saw that Ash wasn’t there. He must’ve gone back to Bumblebee girl. I suppressed a stab of jealousy. Barely succeeded at it.
    “Okay,” I said, turning toward Hunter, “promise me—”
    I cut off. Ash stood beside him, holding their shared cigarette and taking a drag.
    “Ash?” My voice was tight. How the hell had he gotten here so quickly? “I thought I told you to go back to your girl?”
    “Nicotine,” he said, regarding me through hooded eyes. “It calls to me.”
    “Then take the damn cigarette.” I went over and got behind him, pushing against his bare back. I tried not to stare at his tattoo. “Go away. Go now.”
    “So eager to get rid of me.”
    “Yeah, well, you’re annoying and you need to put on a damn shirt. Go on. Go now.” I gave him a final push, shoving him around the corner, and turned back toward Hunter. I took a good look around before edging closer and curling an index finger at him. He leaned down. I kept beckoning him until I felt he was close enough to hear me over the pounding music.
    “Okay, promise me, promise me, promise me you won’t tell him,” I said, clapping my hands together as if in prayer. “Please.”
    “Tell him what?”
    “That I…” Like him, I mouthed.
    Hunter looked amused. “Ah.”
    “Listen, thanks for trying. With the jealousy-sex stunt thing. But Ash is—he doesn’t—” I cut off and tried to get myself together. “Don’t worry about it. Okay?”
    He said nothing.
    “My problem. Not yours. Okay?”
    Nothing.
    “I just realized you were trying to be nice, however sick and twisted that was.” I reached up and clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Plus twenty points.”
    He straightened . “So that puts me at…?”
    “Negative ten.”
    “Negative ten,” he echoed.
    “You scared the shit out of me when you threw me on the bed and pretended you wanted to do me. Minus fifty points.” I backed away. “Keep going. You might get to plus one thousand.”
    “One thousand? Is that my goal?”
    “Correct.”
    “Are you trying to fucking kill me?”
    I looked him up and down. “Nice stomach,” I said, and smiled. “Plus fifteen points.”
    “That puts me at five.”
    “Wow. Terrific math skills you’ve got there.” I was at the corner now, and I lifted my hand in a slight wave. “See you on Monday.”
    “Sounds like you think we’re friends.”
    I flipped him off and turned to walk away without looking back.

 
    Chapter 10
     
    For the next two weeks, Hunter and I met up after school so I could draw his, eh…likeness to the best of my abilities. Every day, he sat on a stool and I fixed a floodlight on him, wanting to get the best lighting possible. My sketches were, to put it in mild terms, a mess. So I almost always walked away with nothing done.
    On the Friday that marked the end of the two-week nightmare, I flung down my charcoal stick and crushed it under my shoe. “Screw this,” I said, wanting to throw the easel across the room. Io sat on my shoulder, unnoticed by Hunter so far, and she stroked a paw against my jawline. “Screw this. I’ll go minimalist and draw your nose. That’s all I’m going to draw. Your damn nose.”
    The warm lighting brought out the hazel flecks in his eyes—eyes that right now twinkled with amusement. “My nose.”
    “It’s a nice nose, so shut up.” I flipped to the next page and took out my pencil. “Ha. I just have to focus on the holes. Make them nice and dark—no.” I erased it. “I’ll draw your mouth. It’s a nice pink mouth. Bam. All I have to focus on is the color. And the bow at the top. And…”
    I ran an anxious finger along my bottom lip, looking from him to my paper and