That night Avery laid in her bed alone, she had ordered Azrael away just as she had gotten back home and she hadn’t seen him since. By tomorrow, she was sure that news would have spread about her ‘boyfriend’ thanks to Paige and her network. If everybody at school was to know about him, she hoped that she could at least stop her mum and sister from finding out.

She couldn’t help but let her thoughts drift to Aiden. The way he gripped her arm in the parking lot, the way it reminded her of the moment he had attacked her in the changing rooms. She hoped that tonight she wouldn’t dream of his unwanted touch burning her skin and the actions that could have followed had Azrael not shown up.

Ding!

Avery was snapped from her thoughts as her phone’s small screen illuminated the white ceiling above and she reached to grab the phone. The name ‘Sadie Miller’ brought a smile to Avery’s face as she opened the message.

‘Hey! Sorry that it’s so late. On Saturday the party starts at 7 pm and the address is 23 Hedgeview Drive. I’m looking forward to seeing you there!’

Avery’s smile was unwavering as she read the message two or three times before tapping at the keyboard to type her response.

‘It’s fine! Thank you. I’m looking forward to it too’

The text bubbles appeared and Avery awaited the response from her new friend.

‘I’m off to bed now but I’ll see you in English tomorrow! Save me a seat!’

Avery felt as though she was about to cry. This had been the first text message in a month that she had received that made her smile. It was a welcome change and she wished that the brief exchange of words could have lasted a little longer.

‘Goodnight’ Avery responded.

_____

The next morning Avery had gotten ready, eaten her cereal and drank her orange juice before standing at the curb waiting for the bus. She hadn’t seen Azrael at all this morning, though she blamed herself having yelled at him the previous morning after he appeared on her bed.

She didn’t want to admit the way she had looked around her room each time she had turned her back for a few moments too long, wondering if he would appear there again. He didn’t.

Fortunately, her dream last night didn’t involve Aiden, and for that she was grateful. However, the images of Azrael shirtless seemed to have seeped deep into her mind because she had seen him there. Felt his whispered words against her ear as his fingers gently- No, I’m not going to think about it.

Avery felt her cheeks begin to warm as the bus slowed to a stop in front of her. She was quick to find herself a seat somewhere in the middle, pulling her bag onto her lap before turning to look out of the window.

'Don’t you remember what was going through your head when I caught you eyeing me while I was shirtless'

The demon's words racked through her like a wave of electricity. No! I won't think about it anymore! But it was too late.

Avery felt her heart began to pound in her chest as she pictured his silhouette outlined by the glow of the moon through the window. The sharp lines of his hip bones protruding in a narrow V before disappearing into the sliver of black underwear seen under his jeans. How the wire tattoo seemed to glide like water over his collarbone with each movement he made, the moonlight accentuating and highlighting every dip and curve of his muscles.

He really was a picture of perfection, and Avery had to wonder, was this how he looked when he was a human. Or did he choose this form just for her?

Avery was so captivated by her own imagination that she hadn't noticed the pair that had stopped at her seat.

“Good morning” Ethan chimed.

Avery raised her head, light pink warming her cheeks as she struggled to find the words to respond normally.

“G-good morning” Avery mumbled shyly. The look that Paige was giving Avery could have shattered glass.

“I thought I had seen you on this bus before. Did your boyfriend take you home yesterday?” He inquired, leaning his arm on the seat in front of Avery’s.

My ‘boyfriend’. Avery gave her best smile, choosing to ignore the daggers that Paige was throwing her.

“Yeah” She answered simply.

At this Ethan gave her nod of the head, “Cool. Well, see you later”.

With this, he walked towards the back of the bus. Paige lingers for a moment, looking Avery up and down with venom eyes, biting her lower lip in frustration before following him to the back of the bus.

The exchange of words was only short but Avery couldn’t help but smile. Someone had told her good morning, and that someone happened to be Ethan Wilson.

Every embarrassing thought about Azrael in the pale moonlight had faded from her mind, replaced with thoughts of seeing Ethan in the hallway later today and having him greet her again.

She was beginning to feel as though nothing could go wrong today, although, something always did.

_____

As Avery sauntered through the front entrance of the school, the smile that she had carried all the way from the bus was still unwavering. She was quick to remember her meeting with Sadie at the cafeteria and she looked forward to being able to get to know her new friend a little better in English this morning.

Avery walked through the halls towards her locker, and it was when it came into view that her smile slowly faded. A pang of confusion and disappointment hit her like an arrow to her heart and her feet slowed to a stop, staring at the scene before her.

Paige leant against her locker door, Addison laughed at something she had said, a cruel smile crossing her lips.

However, it wasn’t the sight of those two that had Avery suddenly feeling so frustrated, no. It was Sadie who stood with Addison's arm wrapped around her shoulders, laughing along.

Another pang hit Avery as she felt her heart begin to weight in her chest, this time of stupidity. She hadn’t even considered that Sadie was a part of Paige and Addison’s posse.

Sadie came off so sincere and genuine the previous day at lunch but was it all just an act to try and lure Avery into some kind of trap.

Is that why I was invited to the party? Is my first friend at this school just a bully disguised as an ally?

As though answering Avery’s thoughts Paige’s eyes flicker to Avery, green eyes looking the blonde up and down before a wicked grin made another pang puncture her chest.

After a moment Paige glanced back at the pair, giving them a nod towards the hall before beginning to walk away from the locker, Addison and Sadie following after her.

I can’t believe it. Did Sadie only approach me yesterday because Paige had told her too? Did she only ask to be my friend so that she could hurt me? Was that smile and those messages just a fake to lure me into a false sense of security?

Avery couldn’t fathom someone going that far just to hurt her, to put that much effort into deceiving her. She would much prefer dealing with bullies like Paige and Addison who didn’t bother to act nice, than someone who pretended to be her friend.

_____

The walk to class was filled with conflicted thoughts.

On one hand, Sadie could be just what Avery feared. One of Paige's pawns that had been asked to become her friend only to betray her.

On the other hand, Paige could have just set that up so that Avery began to doubt Sadie. Why would she want Avery to see that? It would blow Sadie's cover.

Either way, Avery needed to decide whether she would trust Sadie or not. That decision could have big consequences.

As Avery entered the English classroom, she was so preoccupied with thoughts that she had forgotten about the fact that Sadie would be waiting for her in first period. It wasn’t until a shrill voice called her name that she remembered.

“Avery! Over here! I saved you a seat” She called, gesturing towards the seat beside her in the last row of the classroom.

Avery stopped, her eyes flickering to the curly-haired girl who she had been in deep thought about not a second earlier. With a half-smile, Avery gave her a little wave and wandered over to her, taking a seat at the desk she had been saved.

“Sorry again about messaging you so late!” Sadie began, turning in her chair and leaning against the desk as she smiled at Avery.

“It’s okay” was all Avery was able to respond with. She felt weary of Sadie after what she had seen in the hall. She couldn’t shake the idea that Sadie’s bubbly persona was just a show; the way Paige’s nice-girl persona was.

“So tell me about your boyfriend!” Sadie grinned with curiosity in her eyes, “I heard from Paige that he’s pretty hot”.

Avery’s eyes snapped towards Sadie with shock as she heard the word ‘boyfriend’. It wasn’t long until Avery remembered that Paige wouldn’t keep this information to herself. So the word got out already?

“Y-Yeah...” Avery answered, now remembering the awkward exchange of words between Azrael and Ethan the previous afternoon.

“So...” Sadie encourages with interested eyes, “Tell me about him. What does he look like? How did you guys meet?”.

Avery hadn’t come to class ready to discuss Azrael anyone, let alone a girl she was now nervous about talking too.

"He’s tall with dark hair and- ” Avery began, quickly realising that she couldn’t say that his eyes were red and thought back on what Azrael had said about his eyes the previous day, “brown eyes”.

Sadie gave the blonde an enthusiastic nod, encouraging her to continue.

“We met… last year before I moved here… at school” Avery lied, trying to meet the enthusiastic brown eyes of Sadie to appear more convincing.

“Oh, so he doesn’t go to school here?” Sadie questioned, now looking a little disappointed since this meant she probably couldn’t meet him.

“He’s transferring here starting next week...” Avery admitted. He’s going to cause so much drama.

Sadie perked up, “Oh! So I will get to meet him then! That makes me so excited!”.

Sadie’s high-pitched tone was quick to garner the attention of half of the classroom who turned to her with annoyance. It was lucky that the class hadn't started yet because Avery was sure Mr. Brauner would have given both of them detention.

Avery gives the blonde a nod as Sadie grinned ear-to-ear at this information. It was this moment, seeing how genuinely excited Sadie seemed to be able to meet her ‘boyfriend’ that Avery began to think that she couldn’t possibly be faking this.

She wanted to believe that Sadie did sincerely want to be her friend and that there wasn’t some kind of malicious ulterior motive.

It was then that Mr. Brauner entered the classroom, quickly beginning his lesson, leaving off where the discussion had ended in the previous class about Pride and Prejudice.

Less than ten minutes had passed when Sadie slipped a note onto Avery’s desk, earning a look of panic from Avery as she looked up at Mr. Brauner for fear of being caught.

Luckily, the dark-haired man was facing the board, drawing up a brainstorm of key concepts. Sadie gave the blonde a smile as Avery smuggled the small paper under the desk, unfolding it to read the inscription.

‘Can I sit with you at lunch?’

Avery glanced over to Sadie, but she was staring straight ahead at the whiteboard pretending to pay attention to the ramblings of the teacher. Avery thought about this, and she figured this was the perfect opportunity to ask about her relation to Paige and Addison.

When Mr. Brauner wasn’t looking Avery scribbled her response and quickly placed the paper on the edge of Sadie’s desk.

‘What about your friends Paige and Addison?’

Avery watched for Sadie’s reaction to her question but Sadie’s smile hadn’t wavered as she picked up her pink pen and wrote her answer. As soon as the paper landed on Avery’s desk she had pulled it under and opened it.

‘I don’t think they like me that much’

Avery was taken aback by this message and turned to Sadie who was looking at her this time. Sadie dropped her shoulders in a shrug, an indifferent look in her eyes. Maybe Sadie feels the same way about Paige and Addison that I do. Avery was quick to respond.

‘I don’t think they like me that much either’

When Sadie read the response she turned to her friend with a knowing smile, stuffing the piece of paper in her pencil case. Avery had assumed that her response must have been enough of an answer to Sadie’s question about sitting together at lunch.

For the rest of class, Avery giggled each time Sadie would turn to her, mimicking Mr. Brauner’s monotone voice under her breath and pulling faces at him whenever he turned his back.

By the end of the class, Avery was convinced that Sadie wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. There was no way that someone could act so genuinely friendly and nice to her if they were just faking it. At least, she hoped that was the case.