The door creaked painfully loudly as I pulled it open. Lavi slipped through behind me before it slammed shut in its frame. Emma was nervous, standing against the wall opposite us, but Mary was standing right in front of me with a curious glint in her eyes. The black golem snuggled further into my hair as Mary's piercing gaze passed over it. Ignoring her gaze I held out my hand, praying the golem wouldn't take it as an invitation, but luckily it stayed hidden.
"Give me the camera. Now." Mary looked at me incredulously as though she didn't know what I was talking about. Emma stepped forward, rolling her eyes, and punched her in the arm.
"Ow!" She pouted and reluctantly held the camera out to me. I plastered a fake smile on my face as I took it from her, checking the content. There were hundreds of photos, which I ignored, seeing as the most recent ones were from a few weeks ago. Something that caught my eye though was a video. I almost dropped the camera when I clicked play and my own voice filtered out of the tinny speakers.
"Mary, why did you film me?" I whined, holding the camera precariously in my hands.
"You looked like you were having so much fun up there; I didn't think you would mind." I frowned, still not willing to give it back to her.
"What were you planning on doing with the video?" I asked suspiciously. She pouted again and kicked out at the wall.
"You really don't trust me at all. I was only going to show it to Matthew, since he was too busy to come tonight." I blushed a deep crimson and dropped the camera. Mary must have anticipated my reaction since she caught the camera with ease.
"Why would he care?" I asked curiously, trying to defend my reaction and retain my dignity. She put on an innocent expression and glanced up at me with puppy dog eyes.
"Well maybe my brother has a bit of a crush on you…" My ears burned red with embarrassment.
"He does not!" I protested loudly, just as one of the doors into the hall creaked open.
"Am I interrupting something?" It was Hannah, one of the presenters. She was in year 9, and she watched us with a show of mild interest.
"Nope, you're not interrupting anything, just having a little chat, aren't we guys?" Everyone nodded, not completely understanding why I was bothering to lie. She smiled cheerfully, her brown eyes sparkling in excitement as she held the door open for me.
"They're about to announce the winners, so you should probably come back in." Glancing nervously around my odd little group of friends I wandered slowly into the hall, absently stroking Lavi's golem as it cowered deeper into my hair against the noise of the crowd.
"All right all right, everyone calm down!" The other announcer seemed to be struggling to control the crowd as they started to get rowdy, impatiently waiting for the results. Hannah gave me an apologetic look as she ditched me to help out up on stage. Seeking out my bag I sat down in one of the hard red plastic chairs and stared up at the ceiling fans, waiting. A teacher breezed past me, heading up onto the stage. She grabbed the microphone and turned it on.
"Everyone, be quiet now so that we can announce the winners!" She hadn't shouted, but it had the same effect on the students as it would have if she had been screaming. Hannah smiled at her gratefully and I pulled my gaze down from the ceiling. I wasn't expecting anything, so I wasn't paying a lot of attention to what was being said until I saw the girls from the dance crew giving me the evils. They had gotten second place, when they had won every other year. The cheering and clapping died down and I leaned forward in my seat, intrigued to find out who had managed to beat the schools best dancers.
"And now what we've all been waiting for!" Hannah's voice rang out through the hall. "First place goes to… Jasmine Phantomhive!" With that sudden announcement everything started making sense. Those girls had been glaring at me because they somehow knew I was going to win. I could see Hannah gesturing wildly for me to come up on the stage and I obeyed. My feet barely felt like they were touching the stairs as I climbed them for the second time that evening. Something cold brushed up against the skin of my neck and I flinched, before remembering it was just the golem.
"Congratulations Jasmine!" The other presenter held out a certificate and a cheap plastic trophy. I took both of them and shook her hand numbly as I looked at out over the sea of colours. Someone screamed my name and I grinned, quietly asking Hannah if I could borrow her microphone.
"That was extremely unexpected." I admitted, waving the trophy to signify what I meant. "I wouldn't be up here right now if it wasn't for my mates signing me up. Emma and Mary, you guys better come up here!" They practically ran up the stairs and tackled me in another bone crushing hug. "You guys deserve this trophy more than I do, so you can fight over it amongst yourselves." The crowd laughed as I gave them the trophy and they posed as the librarian took photos for the school newsletter. Hannah was trying not to laugh as I handed her back the microphone and dragged my two friends back down the side stairs.
"First huh?" Lavi was grinning at me as I reached down to grab my bag. The poor black golem was shaking on my shoulder, and I wondered for a moment just how much of a mind the strange creatures actually had. Emma and Mary were busy fighting over who would get to keep my dollar shop trophy, so I decided it was probably my best chance to talk to the red headed exorcist.
"So, I guess you'd better go and find Bookman now." I stated as I slung my bag over my golem free shoulder. He nodded solemnly, green eye keeping watch over the others to make sure no-one was listening.
"Are you sure you don't want me to escort you home first?" Raising an eyebrow I looked at him curiously. Was he flirting with me? Unzipping my sports bag I moved the puffer jacket so I could show him that I was carrying my katana with me.
"Go find Bookman." I reiterated, making it a command instead of a suggestion. "This time I came prepared." He shrugged and I closed the bag again.
"It's your loss." Okay, he was definitely flirting with me. Does he not have an off switch? The little golem took flight and landed in Lavi's messy hair in preparation for his departure.
"Look, I'll see you once you talk to Bookman. Once everything's set I can ditch school and head to Greece instead." It was a lame thing to say, but I'd never been good at comebacks.
"Is school really that bad?" I glared up at the eighteen year old, refusing to answer his question.
"I'm going now!" I called, addressing Mary and Emma and ignoring Lavi. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." Without waiting for them to acknowledge me I shoved past Lavi and out into the hallway, resisting the urge to run away. Sebastian wasn't coming to pick me up for another 20 minutes and I didn't think I could cope with waiting for that long. In truth I could have texted him, since I had managed to teach him how to use a cell phone, but I needed some fresh air anyway.
The walk home, whilst not a long one, was a depressing one. I missed my little golem friend and my side protested with every step I took. Apparently it wasn't as healed as I had hoped, and I would be going into my first mission injured. It wasn't a very positive prospect. Frowning down at my feet as I walked I tried to imagine what Greece would be like. Sure I was going to be there to work, but it wasn't going to stop me from dreaming. Plus, according to what Allen's email said anyway, we were going to be working up at the palace. It would at least give me a chance to see my grandmother in person, even if just from a distance. I wasn't about to tell anyone over there I was related to their Queen, I'd be swamped with all sorts of strange things if I did that, not to mention they would probably frown upon me working.
Somehow or another I made it home in one piece. After grabbing something from the kitchen I wandered wearily upstairs to my room, where despite my mood I decided to pack my bag. The certificate lay forgotten on my bed as I sat on the floor in the middle of the room, grabbing clothes at random and shoving them into my duffel bag. Warm summery clothes were a must, considering it would indeed be summer over in Greece. Glancing over at her uniform on the couch she wondered if they had a summer uniform. They probably did, but there was no point in side-tracking and going back to HQ just to pick one up. Sighing overdramatically I turned back to my packing. I didn't have to do it yet, since I had no idea when we would be leaving, but that was exactly why I had decided to pack now instead of leaving it till later. Having done all the packing I felt was necessary, I picked myself up off the ground and collapsed on my bed.
Morning arrived sooner than I would have liked, with the sunlight forcing me out of a rather nice dream I had been having, although once I woke up it all disappeared so it didn't really matter after all. I was in a very disgruntled mood considering my achievement the night before. School was just somewhere I didn't feel like being, not after spending so much time there yesterday. Erika practically had to drag me out of bed, and when I refused to move Sebastian carried me downstairs. I hadn't been expecting that, I wouldn't have thought he cared whether I went to school or not. When I questioned his intentions he just smiled.
"You're making trouble for Erika young mistress." He stated calmly while packing my school bag. I almost wanted to hit him, but I knew it would be pointless and it wouldn't hurt him, even if I punched as hard as I could. Finally giving in to the will of my maid and demon I dragged myself to the car and let the raven drive me to school.
Later that day…
Lunchtime was a sorry affair. Mary and Emma were still hyped up from the show, not to mention they were probably wondering where Lavi had come from. Surprisingly they had yet to ask me anything about him today. I had expected a barrage of questions ranging from where I met him to whether we were dating. Eating my sandwich I was secretly glad that they were too hyper to ask me any questions, since I didn't have any non-confidential answers to them.
They had brought the trophy to school with them, since they apparently hadn't settled the question of ownership last night and they wanted me to choose. The fates were shining on my demon cursed soul today though, because I was saved by having to make a decision by the unexpected arrival of Lavi at the school gates. I had been the first person to notice him, and I had run over to the gates to find out what he was doing there. I didn't need him getting lumped into the rapist category along with Grell. Not that anyone from school would complain if Lavi hung around for a while.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him curiously. I should have been mad, but I couldn't be bothered.
"I'm here to pick you up." My eyebrows shot up at his carefree response.
"Pick me up? In the middle of the school day? What for?" All I could do was spout partial questions.
"For work. You told me to come get you once I had talked to Bookman."
"Hold on, so Bookman is already ready for us to go?" Lavi nodded and I noticed a little flash of black, bringing a smile to my face at the sight of the hiding golem.
"So are you ready?" I glanced over my shoulder at everyone eating lunch and then back up into his cheerful face.
"Sure. My stuffs at home though." Without waiting for his response I ran over to Emma and Mary, grabbed my bag, and ran back to the gate, waving at the teacher on duty before dashing past Lavi and coming face to face with my car. "What the heck?"
"I went to your place first, and that Sebastian fellow insisted on coming too." He sounded vaguely irritated by that fact, but it saved me a trip back home. Climbing into the car I knew I had a ridiculous grin on my face, but I just couldn't stop smiling. It was finally time to go to Greece.
A/N: Oh my gosh I am SOOOO sorry that it took so long to update this. I didn't even have writers block, how shameful. It was partially exams, then school projects, and after than it was pottersworld. That's right, blame the website. I'll try and work harder this time!
Oh, and I was wanting to name the katana, but I can't think of anything cool or original, so if you have any ideas feel free to PM me with them :)