Cold, Valkyrie jumped up and down, contemplating the pros and cons of asking if she could share Saracen's jumper. The least active Dead Man was wrapped in a rugby jumper over his polo shirt and shorts and he was triumphantly stood next to his friends. It was abnormally cold for a Thursday morning in September. The Dead Men weren't shivering, they were talking in low voices, Tanith and the Monster Hunters were yelling about something and Fletcher and Valkyrie were freezing.
"God, do you think Saracen would lend us his jumper?" Fletcher voiced her thoughts and she grinned.
"No." Valkyrie told him. "Well, maybe he would but he'd gloat about he's superior because he has a jumper."
"True." He laughed as China appeared, hair in an immaculate ponytail, lean body encased in tight shorts and a polo shirt and her eyes cold on Valkyrie.
"What are you laughing at?"
"The way China looks at you. Why does she hate you so much?"
"She doesn't hate me. Skulduggery says she mistrusts me because I'm the new woman in Skulduggery's life. Not that we're dating, I'm his friend."
"Right." Fletcher rolled his eyes. "When a girl that beautiful glares at you, it's because she mistrusts you. It's a classic high school movie story. New girl at school, cheerleader hates her, battle of epic pranks and parties while new girl tries to get the guy and then ends up with the goofy sidekick with awesome hair."
"I'm not going to end up with Gracious." Valkyrie said, struggling to keep a straight face. Fletcher stared.
"Whu?"
"Goofy sidekick with awesome hair? Gracious, right?"
"No..."
"Who then? Oh I know!"
Fletcher brightened up.
"Ghastly!"
His face fell. "Ghastly doesn't have hair."
"That's the point. He has awesome hair because it's not there." Valkyrie said then smirked. "Oh my God, Fletch, I know the goofy sidekick is you, you imbecile."
"Oh. And?"
"And what?"
"What do you think about me being the goofy sidekick with awesome hair?"
"Meh. Not all movies end like that." Valkyrie said and glanced at Skulduggery. He was listening to Ghastly but he must have sensed her looking because he looked at her and she could have sworn his skeleton grin grew bigger. As she was wondering how Skulduggery was alive, someone put an arm around her shoulders.
"Mornin', darlin', I didn't see ya in English first period." Sanguine said and she wriggled out of his grip, disgusted.
"Get off me, Sanguine."
"Why? You love me really, li'l darlin'."
Valkyrie glared at him and then saw Fletcher walking off. She was going to call to him when Sanguine tapped her arm. "What?" She snapped at him and then froze as he took his sunglasses off and started cleaning them on his polo shirt.
"Now, darlin', your friend there, Tanith Low, is she called? Ain't she pretty? Is she devoted to Scar-face?"
"Call him Ghastly. And yeah she is devoted. Why?" Valkyrie frowned at him, ignoring the eye thing for now. "You fancy her, don't you? You fancy her!"
Sanguine growled. "Shut up, darlin'. Don't go yellin' it all out now. And I don't not fancy her. She's a very special li'l lady."
"She's got a boyfriend, Sanguine, so don't even go there."
"I ain't going there. Calm down, darlin'. I was just inquisitive."
"Inquisitive my arse."
"Hm. Well I'd love to chat some more but my friend's being interrogated by your friend an' it'd be helpful if you went over there with me and sorted all this out. He's not good at being interrogated." Sanguine and Valkyrie walked over to Saracen and Dusk. Saracen looked up and a flash of jealousy showed on his face as he surveyed his friend with the bad boy. Valkyrie just smiled warmly at him.
"Why are you interrogatin' my boy?" Sanguine dived in with a frown.
"We're Monster Hunters. That's what we do." Donegan suddenly cut in, eyes cold. "Dusk here, is a suspect in a murder."
"Another one?" Valkyrie interrupted. "Does Skulduggery know?"
"I presume so. If I know Skulduggery." Donegan said.
"He didn't tell me."
"Why would he?" Saracen said and Valkyrie felt hurt. The boys were all oblivious however so she let it pass. Why would he? She was with him for one detecting thing. It's not like they were real detectives now. Well, Valkyrie wasn't. "So, Sanguine, we suspect your vamp friend here is guilty. and so we're interrogating him. Problem?"
"One, the vamp is innocent, ain't ya, vamp?" Sanguine grinned. "Two, I know who did the murder. Ya know I once tried to be a detective. Didn't go well."
"Why?" Valkyrie asked.
"Kept beatin' up the people who asked me to solve the murders. Also I'm sixteen, keep up, darlin'." Sanguine smirked at her and she scowled back.
"Who did the murder then?"
"A certain Mr...ah, lesson's starting." Sanguine drew their attention to the golden-eyed boy looking at them.
Erskine coughed nervously. "Uh, I'm leading the lesson today. And uh Myosotis told me that...wait who is she? Myosotis...um." he frowned.
"Myosotis Terra is the gym and sports teacher. You forget her when you don't see her." Skulduggery told him.
Erskine nodded then cleared his throat. "Thanks, Skul. Anyway I'm leading the lesson for some reason. So, guys, let's go. Dead Men and Monster Hunters, you lot are a team. We're playing basketball. Magic is allowed. Fletcher, Valkyrie, Sanguine, Dusk, China, Clarabelle and Tanith, you guys are a team. I'm referee. And play!"
Valkyrie sighed as China snatched the ball again from Gracious and darted off, a tattoo on her hand glowing. Gracious gazed after her, eyes wide and affectionate. Donegan nudged him and they ran on. The basketball court was huge and it was more like a fight than a game of basketball. She was next to Skulduggery and Dusk was hovering behind her. Skulduggery was marking her, she thought, and she had no clue what Dusk was doing. Eventually the ball came back her way and Skulduggery used the air to propel himself near it. She followed and saw Dexter shoot energy at China. China easily deflected it but it cost her time and Skulduggery scored a goal.
Clarabelle leaped and missed the ball by miles and fell to the ground. The game was temporarily stopped by Erskine. "What's up, Clarabelle?" He asked.
She looked up at him. "Erskine? Since when did you have antlers?"
Valkyrie frowned. "I think she has a concussion."
"Reasonable assumption." China said coldly. "Shall we carry on playing?"
"Shouldn't we take her to the office or something for a lie down?"
"Valkyrie, if you are volunteering to forfeit the game and take her, go. But it means we are down two players. Guaranteed, you didn't do much but the morale was certainly boosted by you two."
Valkyrie glared but before she could say anything, Sanguine cut in and made it worse. "Now, Miss Sorrows, you may be pretty an' all but li'l darlin' here is better than y'all of you. She was a mortal first which means she values that some people aren't immortal and she thinks about injuries in a more concise and carin' way than us all."
China smiled briefly at that but it was a menacing smile. Sanguine looked like he was regretting that and Valkyrie was fuming. Fletcher helped Clarabelle up. "I don't know what I was expecting of this school." He said. "But I'm in two weeks in and you're all crazy and tough and powerful."
Then Erskine bit his lip and quickly stopped the lesson, saying they drew. "Actually it was 6-5 to us." Dexter interrupted but was shushed by Skulduggery. "Sorry."
"Valkyrie, if you'd care to accompany Clarabelle to the office? I need a word with China and I'm sure the rest of them are very busy." Skulduggery suggested. Valkyrie sighed and nodded. She had always hated sports anyway.