“Yeah, I’m really not sure what to think. We’ll see what happens when he gets back for the school year.”
My friendship with Alex had fizzled out after an awkward kind-of date at a Halloween party. It had been a surprise when he and Maci had begun to pick up a relationship, but my feelings for him—whatever they’d been—were long over.
“Well, you’re smart. Trust your intuition, and go from there. And if you need me to play detective, I’m in.” I let my hand glaze along the surface of the water as we floated along a buoy line, trying to push the strange feeling about Alex out of my mind to examine later.
“How about you? Any word from your handsome tutor?”
I rolled my eyes but laughed. “We’re just friends, Maci.”
I was unable to explain the dynamics that seemed to be plaguing us to my nonmagical friend. Things had been so strange between me and Callan’s mom when she had shown up for my art gala at the end of the spring semester. It was clear that, if his parents had their way, he was destined to end up with another founder’s descendant as a romantic partner. But despite all that, he was in my head more often than not. And how had he seriously gottenmorehandsome these past few weeks?
“If you say so,” Maci said knowingly, flipping onto her back to float. “Is he going to tutor you again this year?”
I thought about it with a sinking sensation that felt like there was a stone in my stomach trying to drag me down to the bottom of the lake. Without the ability to do magic on campus, it seemed unlikely that our tutoring relationship could go on like it had last year.
But the thought of a school year without studies with Callan in the treehouses felt wrong. “I’m not sure. I hope so,” I said, deciding to be completely truthful.
“You could always tutor him with kissing lessons,” Maci said, throwing me a devilish smile.
I coughed out a laugh and splashed water at her. “Maci!”
“What? I’m sure you’d both enjoy it.”
No.Nope. I could not let thoughts of kissing Callan get into my head right now. I had enough things on my plate without letting that take over all my thoughts.
If I was going to be successful at Evergreen Academy this year, I would need a clear head to balance my courses and the field studies we’d be assigned as second-year students. Plus, Professor East wanted me to dig more into my heritage and the unusual way in which my magic had been passed to me.
Kissing anyone, let alone Callan, was a distraction I most definitely did not need. Still, there was a little bubble of warmth in my stomach at the idea, and instead of confrontingthatrevelation, I plugged my nose and ducked underneath the water, letting the awareness of the aquatic plants below draw my attention from a certain dark-haired boy with a tree affinity.
Chapter Five
As the weeks of summer rolled on, my aunt and I got deep into wedding planning. Today, we were stuffing wedding invitations into cream-colored envelopes. I was using it as a mental break from studying for my upcoming Calculus final.
“I wanted to keep the ceremony small,” Aunt Vera said, eyeing the large stack of filled envelopes.
“Too bad. A Belrose getting married? Everyone in town wants to be there,” I teased.
I was so happy for my aunt and Bryce, but I had begun to realize over the weeks since her announcement that my life was about to change. The wedding was set for this October, which would be here before I knew it.
We hadn’t discussed it yet, but their marriage meant that either my aunt was moving in with Bryce or Bryce was moving in with us. I didn’t want their first year as newlyweds to be spent awkwardly tiptoeing around my aunt’s college-aged niece.
As I put a floral postage stamp on the millionth envelope, an idea came to me. It was so obvious that I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. But proceeding with it would mean furtherdipping my toes into the world of Evergreen Academy—and out of the world of the rest of my life.
As if reading my thoughts, my aunt asked, “When is Yasmin coming back?”
“Next week. I’m so excited to see her.”
“Tell her she’s welcome to come over any time.”
“Thanks, I will. Which reminds me… I want to try to catch Professor East before he heads out for the day. Are you okay finishing this up on your own?”
Aunt Vera eyed the mound again and the much smaller pile of envelopes that still needed to be stuffed. “We’re almost done. Thanks for your help licking envelopes. Hope your tongue’s not too raw.”
I stuck my tongue out at her jokingly but dashed to the kitchen for a big drink of iced sun tea before leaving the apartment.
When I got to Professor East’s office on the SCC campus, the door was cracked. The campus was much quieter during the summer semester, with hardly anyone milling around. I knocked and poked my head inside.
“Ms. Whelan, come in, come in,” Professor East gestured to the seat across from his desk. “How has your summer been?”
