Chapter 146: _ Fighting The Mean Girls
Ivy stands in front of Heidi like she’s sculpted from contempt and high society. Her hair is perfect. She’s wearing a pencil-pressed skirt and an expression designed to be perfectly dismissive.
Heidi clocks the NAY boys walking away, two dark birds gone... which means she can deal with this pest in front of her however she deems fit. She wouldn’t want to be sassy in the presence of her sweet brother.
She looks at Ivy with a calm that fools no one. "Why? What’s it to you if I’m hiding?"
Ivy’s laugh is a chisel as she shrugs. "Because, darling, how about ’cause I can?"
"How about: No, you don’t own the school or its grounds, so you CAN NOT?" Heidi counters, eyes blazing.
Oh, she’s bloody ready for these damn bitches today. If there’s one thing she’s learned in the labyrinth, it’s that she’s not as weak as everyone in the school makes her feel.
Ivy claps cynically. "Oh, wow. Don’t tell me you’ve grown wings just ’cause you survived the labyrinth? You should be oh-so-grateful the demons didn’t bash your silly skull out. I mean, if my sweet Grayson hadn’t gone to the labyrinth like the hero that he is..."
She blows herself with her hand. "None of y’all Moon Blessed wouldn’t have made it out had it not been for him. So girl, don’t get cocky. You might have survived the labyrinth. But that doesn’t give you any rights. You aren’t invincible."
Hold on a second, her Grayson? Oh, God. These delusional dummies are still clinging on to their fantasy of each of the Alphas being theirs? Heidi gives a sharp nasal exhale, anger winning over her.
Those boys belong to her and no one else. She’d take it if anyone else claims Grayson, but not this dumb pompous bitch. Heidi rests one hip against the pillar like someone who has rehearsed telling people to go to hell. "I don’t think I’m invincible," she squints and takes on a low honeyed tone. "Just... Better. Than. You."
Ivy takes that like a slap. "Oh, you arrogant little..." She steps forward, voice pitching higher. "Do you know who sleeps three doors down from here? Sierra? Maribel? Ginny..." She waves her hand like she’s tossing out names as if they were garbage to be trampled. "We don’t take kindly to someone from..." she sneers the rest, meaning the Moon Blessed, "...pretending they belong. You should be careful. By the time we’re done with you, you’ll be a cautionary tale."
Of course, the pompous bitches can’t independently fight their battles. They hide behind one another.
That’s when Heidi’s wolf growls. "They are no match for us, no matter how many there are, Heidi. Let’s kick their asses!"
YES!
Heidi’s face tries not to contort with everything she wants to do to that perfect, glossy head. She lets a humorless smile slip. "Why don’t you go call your crew then? Pull them all out here. I’ll teach you my lesson one by one." The sarcasm is serrated, and it lands better than she expects.
Ivy’s cheeks flare red under the makeup.
"You’ll regret that." Ivy’s fingers make a little cutting motion at Heidi’s throat the way kids mimic throat-slitting on playgrounds to get a rise. "Wait here. I’ll go get Sierra and the rest. It’s all going down today."
And with that, she storms back through the heavy doors — heels clacking like code in the quiet. Heidi watches her go, and the part of her that remembers all the times she used to look down and leave quietly because it was easier, that little animal — twitches. But the other part, the big, blistered part that learned how to bite back in the labyrinth, tightens into preparedness.
Not only would she destroy that shiny phone of Sierra, but she’ll beat their asses and make all the students they think they lord over watch. The moon be her witness.
She doesn’t have to wait long. The doors throw open and Sierra sweeps out like a shadow of perfume and menace, Ivy, Mirabel, and Ginny follow behind. Ivy is pointing towards the spot where Heidi is no longer hiding but standing with her chin up.
Sierra’s gaze finds Heidi with physics-defying speed. The girl’s voice is sweet. "Well, well," Sierra purrs. "If it isn’t our favorite little Moon Blessed or should I say..." She turns to her friends. "... Pornstar."
The other three idiots burst into a mocking laughter that makes Heidi’s balled fists tighten further. "Heard you had a lovely trip. So many stories."
Heidi straightens. The bones in her jaw ache. "Sierra, the delusion queen. Why, good morning to you too."
Sierra can’t believe it. Did that... did that scrappy little Moon Blessed girl just call her delusional?
For a second, her glossed lips part in astonishment. She blinks twice, as though reality itself has tripped over a crack in the courtyard stone. Then, slowly, she pivots to her crew, because witnesses are everything and Sierra has always been good at stagecraft.
"Did I... did I hear that right?" Her voice is sweet poison, a literal caramelized sugar dipped in arsenic.
Ivy nods with all the enthusiasm of a politician catching a bribe. "That’s exactly what I’ve been telling you. She thinks she’s mainstream now just because she survived the labyrinth." Ivy flicks her hair over her shoulder and narrows her eyes at Heidi like she’s trying to laser-scorch holes through her jumper.
Maribel, who is taller than the rest and is wearing earrings that glitter like tiny knives in the sunlight, lets out a laugh that is two parts amusement, one part cruelty. "In that case, we should probably remind her of her place."
And then Ginny, the smallest but the loudest, who is always buzzing with the kind of manic energy that makes teachers pray for early retirement, pipes up with a grin. "And what better place to do it than right here? Look around, darlings... students are already passing by. We’ve got spectators. What better way to remind the Moon Blessed what happens when they grow wings and dare to dream?"