How Not To Fall For A Dragon Chapter 13

**LEXI**

I make a split-second decision.

“Huh? Oh… Yes. I’m fine. Why do you ask?” I answer. The lie tastes small and uncomfortable. Not a real lie, exactly. I AM fine now. Annoyed earlier, humiliated earlier, furious earlier, but fine now. Because as soon as I got here and Blake greeted me I knew that I had made the right choice. And if I tell him the truth, he’ll either stop wanting to hang out with me for my own sake or something OR go commit murder by dragonfire. Neither option is great for my first day.

“You were running late.” Blake says, his brows drawing together in quiet concern. 

“You don’t seem like the type to be late. And you’re being kind of quiet, which we already established is my role.” His deadpan tone pulls a laugh out of me, and just like that, the tension inside me loosens. Blake is nice. Genuinely nice. I can deal with a few idiots who don’t understand that.

“Right now, I’m just hungry.” I say truthfully, gesturing at my almost-empty bowl. Stress eating for the win. I perk up a little. 

“Hey, random question. And feel free to tell me to shut up if I’m bothering you. How good is your hearing?” I ask. I TRY to sound casual, but what I REALLY want to know is how much whispering he hears. How many comments. How many insults. How much of the constant background noise of people thinking they know what dragons are. Not that I’m claiming to know anything, but at least I’m open to finding out! 

“It’s decent. Better than a wolf’s if I pay attention.” Blake answers with a shrug, looking faintly smug. Translation- he hears everything.

“You said your hearing is average.” He adds, leaning back a little. 

“Another clue for me.” He points out with a sly smile and I laugh. 

“Ah yes, the grand mystery of me. I’m probably going to turn out to be something super common and boring and you’ll be wildly disappointed.” I warn him. He shakes his head immediately.

“I doubt it. I’ve already eliminated most of the REALLY common shifter types. Besides, I like mysteries. The fun is figuring out the answer. It doesn’t matter what the answer actually is.” He informs me. Wait… How many things has he eliminated already? Maybe I need a list or something…

“It might not matter to you, but I’m fairly sure the answer is going to matter a lot to me.” I point out. He considers that for a moment, then shrugs.

“Fair. I still think you’ll be something interesting either way.” He insists. 

“Really? Why’s that?” I ask. 

“Because you’re not like anyone else here.” He answers without hesitation. I stare at him. Should I be offended? Complimented? Concerned? 

“I meant that in a good way.” He adds quickly.

“I should hope so. Now I-” I start. My phone starts ringing. I fumble it out of my pocket.

“Oh! Just a sec, it’s my mum.” I tell him, before answering. 

“Hey, Mum!” I greet her enthusiastically. 

“Hi sweetie. How goes your first day?” She chirps.

“Pretty good! I like my classes so far. Medicinal Magic in particular seems really cool.” I tell her happily. Mum laughs, warm and pleased.

“I’m glad to hear it. If you get into magical medicine, I can brag to my friends that I have a doctor in the family. A magical one would be even better. Have… Have you made any friends?” Her tone softens. She knows how historically difficult that has been for me.

“Yup!” I say brightly. I can practically hear her sigh of relief. 

“I’ve been hanging out with this guy named Blake. He’s pretty cool.” I add. Blake grins at me across the table, and I stick my tongue out at him before grinning back.

“That’s nice.” Mum says, relief clear in her voice. 

“Tell me about him. Is he handsome?” She asks teasingly. 

“Mum…” I groan. 

“Why should that matter? He’s a shifter like me, although HE at least knows what kind. He’s a dragon, which I think is kind of epic. We’re actually having dinner right now.” I tell her. Then, just for fun, I hold the phone out to Blake. 

“Say hi, Blake!” I say cheerfully. Blake looks like I just asked him to perform an interpretive dance routine in front of an arena crowd with no rehearsal.

“Oh… Hi Lexi’s mum… Mrs. Elle?” He manages awkwardly. He clearly has no idea how to speak to respectfully speak to a parent or anything. He shoots me a desperate help-me expression, and I burst out laughing. Mum laughs too, loud enough that Blake can hear it even from across the table. I bring the phone back to my ear.

“Oh, that was great, honey. Tell your friend he can call me Sharon. I’ll let you get back to dinner.” She says warmly. In the background, Dad yells something I can’t make out.

“Alright, alright!” Mum huffs fondly. 

“Your father says he wants a picture of you as proof of life. He hasn’t adjusted to the idea of his baby girl living away from home yet.” She teases. I laugh. Loudly.

“Sure thing, Mum. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.” I tell her.

“Love you too, sweetie. Night.” She finishes then hangs up. Blake looks… Embarrassed. It’s subtle, just a faint flush across his cheeks and the way his eyes flick away, but it’s there. I don’t think he’s often put in situations where he doesn’t know what to say, and being ambushed by a mum over speakerphone probably isn’t in his usual repertoire.

“If you have hearing better than a wolf, I’m sure you heard, but Mum said you can call her Sharon. Now come here, we need to take a selfie.” I say lightly. Blake blinks. 

“A selfie?” He echoes, confused. 

“Yes, Blake. A selfie. Come on.” I lean over the table and open the camera on my phone. He leans in too, but carefully.

“Smile!” I say in a singsong tone. He does, kind of. There’s a hint of reluctance, but also effort. And honestly? It’s adorable that he’s going along with it like this. Click. I take the photo. 

“Perfect.” I announce, satisfied with the picture. We look… Good. Normal. Like two friends having dinner instead of a dragon and a girl who fell into a fountain. I send it to Mum. A few seconds later she answers. 

Mum: Cute pic.

Mum: And that boy is DEFINITELY handsome.

I laugh under my breath. Well, yes. Blake is stupid hot. Anyone with functioning eyes can see that. In any normal school, he’d probably have people lining up to date him. He would be instantly popular. But not here in this backwards place, apparently. Here, everyone’s too busy hyperventilating about ‘dangerous dragons’ to appreciate the view. Oh well. Their loss. At least HE isn’t stuck up. When we finish eating and stand to leave, Blake suddenly looks uncomfortable. Shoulders tense. Brows pinched.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, genuinely confused. He hesitates

“Your parents… You told them I’m a dragon. They don’t mind? I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything.” He points out. I laugh outright.

“They don’t mind at all. They’re totally human, they haven’t heard any of those dramatic dragon stories. Even if they had, it wouldn’t be a problem. They trust my judgment enough to know I’m not running around with some serial killer.” I explain. Blake tilts his head. 

“How do you know I’m not a serial killer?” He asks. I gasp dramatically. 

“Because I know you can hear half the things people here say about you. If you were the murderous type, we’d have significantly fewer classmates by now. Who knows, maybe I’M the serial killer and YOU’RE the one making bad choices.” I point out. Blake snorts, an honest, startled laugh.

“Yeah, right.” He responds. 

“Hey, I could be scary!” I argue, poking him lightly in the arm. 

“I doubt it.” He says immediately. 

 “But even if you COULD pull off scary, you’re WAY too nice to be a serial killer. As demonstrated by your decision to talk to the guy with motive to murder all his classmates.” He points out. His lips twitching 

“Well… All his classmates except one.” He adds. Warmth blooms in my chest. He doesn’t say it like a joke. Not fully. More like a truth wrapped in humor.

“Hey, if you ever DO go on a murder spree, I want to be on the winning team.” I fire back. 

“Pretty sure a dragon can take on the whole class. Even if his sidekick is a totally useless shifter who doesn’t even know how to shift.” I clarify. 

“I think that was a compliment, but I’m not entirely sure. You’re right though. I definitely can.” He says smugly. I grin.

“As for you, we’re going to figure out what you shift into. I have a plan.” He continues, his eyes gleam, bright gold catching the lights. That is a dangerous expression.

“Oh? And what exactly is this plan of yours?” I question. 

“It's a simple process of elimination.” He says, sounding far too satisfied. 

“I have that book listing most shifter types. I’ll go through the traits and eliminate options until we figure it out.” He explains. I blink. He’s serious. He’s also way too invested in this mystery.

“What if I’m not in the book?” I ask. He shrugs. 

“Then we start researching types of shifters that don’t show up in the book.” He answers with zero hesitation. Of course he already has a phase two plan. 

“Now, I have some questions to start the elimination process.” He says, turning toward me fully.

“Already? Alright, go for it.” I laugh. And the way he brightens, just slightly, just enough to notice, tells me this is going to be… Interesting.