A Kiss at Midnight (Delilah and Caelum) novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1

DELILAH QUINN

A D-minus stared right back at me from the top of the page.

And no, it wasn’t the cute type of D. But a vicious, judgemental, bleeding red D that was splashed across my Economic paper like the teacher personally hated my existence.

I stared at it and then at the woman standing in front of me. Mrs Hughes. Unlike most teacher at Crestmont Prep, Mrs Hughes didn’t believe in being fun.

Heck, I doubt this woman knew what fun even was.

She had no coloured charts or icebreaker games, there was no inspirational quotes about chasing dreams taped to the wall. She only believed in exactly one thing, and that was humbling people. Well, mostly students.

Which apparently meant publicly destroying my GPA.

“Delilah Quinn.”

There it was.

Full name.

Never a good sign.

“Yes?” I asked, twirling my long, honey-blonde hair lazily between my fingers, already bored out of my mind.

Mrs Hughes held up my paper between two manicured fingers like it was contaminated. “Delilah,” she repeats slowly, tapping the edge of the page, “care to explain this?”

I leaned back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other. “We both got eyes, Mrs Hughes.” I say in a duh tone as I point to the paper, but clearly Mrs Hughes didn’t seems to find that funny and instead glared at me.

Rolling my eyes, I add sweetly, “besides, If I could explain it, it probably wouldn’t be a D.” A few snickers rippled through the classroom.

The glare on her face intensifies. “This..” she says coolly, “is the third failed assessment you’ve submitted in this course.”

Third…wow.

I was doing worse than I thought.

She flips open a folder on her desk. “I also notice you haven’t submitted a single assignment in the past two weeks.”

Okay…what. Two weeks.

I mean, okay, maybe, just maybe that part might technically be true. But in my defense, the last two weeks included. A beach party, Kaia’s birthday, cheer competition. Maybe a couple of hangover and…my breakup with Landon Pierce.

So, yeah. Priorities matter.

“I’ve been busy,” I said lightly.

Mrs Hughes pressed her lips together. ” Busy doing what exactly, Delilah?”

I shrugged, “Life.” My response gets another snort from behind me.

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Chapter 1

Um don’t this people know anything about privacy.

Mrs Hughes exhaled slowly through her nose. “Miss Quinn.”

I see we are back to being formal.

“Crestmont is a preparatory academy, this means student here are expected to maintain a certain academic standard. Do you understand that?”

“Which would you prefer,” I squinted one eye, loving the way she tries to maintain a calm exterior.

“Miss Quinn, this isn’t the time for jest. You do realise that, right” she asks again.

“Yeah…I do maintain other standard.” I said instead, gesturing vaguely to myself. Perfect hair, flawless makeup, designer’ jacket. What else mattered.

Mrs Hughes stares at me for a long moment and then she sighed like she was reconsidering every career decision that had led her here.

“Delilah,” she said, her voice tightening slightly, “this is your senior year, and as much as you try to joke about it, these grades matter.”

I tapped the edge of the paper with my fingernails. “Not everyone needs perfect grades.”

“I’m not asking for perfect.” Her tone softened just a little bit, “I’m asking you to make an effort.” Silence stretched across the room and finally she folded her arms. “I run an academic support workshop after school…”

“Absolutely not,” I sat up immediately.

She blinks slowly. “It runs for three days a week, Delilah.”

“No. I’ve got cheer practice,” that wasn’t technically true, “I don’t have time for an after school program.” Afternoons belonged to social events and emotional recovery from being this fabulous, not to be trapped in another school work.

“How about coming before school.” She said.

“Um…I sleep.”

“Miss Quinn….

“Have you seen me in the morning. I’m so not a morning person, trust me. I need my morning rest.”

Mrs Hughes’s patient cracked just slightly. “This, this attitude is precisely the reason why you are failing.”

“Aww, thank you. Now I know I’m thriving somewhere.”

She slid the paper toward me across the desk.” Let’s see how you continue to act like this when the university begins reviewing your transcript.”

That part almost made me pause. Almost.

Instead I grabbed the paper and stood. “Thanks for the feedback, Mrs Hughes. Won’t say it was worth it though.”

“Delilah.” I turned toward the door. “If this continues,” she said firmly, “you will be meeting with the guidance counsellor.”

I gave her a lazy salute. “Can’t wait.” And I was out, walking into the hallway that was buzzing with lunch time chaos.

Lockers slammed, music leaked from someone’s phone while half the school pretend they didn’t care about anything.

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Chapter 1

5/voucher’s

Which, honestly, was my personal brand.

I pulled my sunglasses from my bag and slid them on. Two juniors immediately stopped talking as I passed by, one of them whispering something, and the other glared.

Oh….cute.

By the time I reached the cafeteria, Kaia Hartley was already sitting at our usual table. She waves when she sees me, her being a human equivalent to sunshine.

Which was hilarious considering she voluntarily hung out with me.

Blond curls, check. Bright blue eyes, checked. And a perfect smile that could melt anyone’s heart, double check.

“Well…” she asked as I dropped into the seat across from her.

“A total disappointment, apparently.”

Kaia smirked. “That narrows it down to every class you’re taking.”

“Wow…thanks a lot for the support.”

She pushed a drink toward me. “So what happened this time?”

“Economics.”

Kaia blinked. “How are you failing Economics?”

“I preferred the term economically misunderstood.” She laughed.

Kaia and I have been friends since our fourth grade, nobody ever understood how that happened. She was organized, brilliant, the kind of person teacher trusted to collect assignments.

And then there was me. Chaos in designer boots.

“Second of all,” Kaia continued, “college applications are in a few months.” I shrugged. “Deli.”

I stabbed a strawberry from my fruit bowl. ” Relax, I’ll fix it eventually.”

“You said that last semester.” She frowns. “And now you’ve gotten worse.”

I grinned. “Progress was subjective.”

Before Kaia could start lecturing again, someone spun around in a seat beside us.

“Did you see Landon?”

Of course it was Amelia Bell, a walking gossip column.

“What about him?” I asked

Amelia smirked. “He’s been hanging out with Lindsey Torres all morning.”

Ah

My ex. Landon Pierce, star quarterback and professional heartbreaker. Recently got downgraded to someone else’s problem.

Kaia shots Amelia a warning look, but I just laughed. “So?”

Mon,

Chapter 1

5 Voutber

Amelia leaned forward dramatically. “Saw them on my way to the cafeteria, and they looked really close. Like way too close.” She emphasized on the closeness. “Didn’t you guys break up like yesterday.”

‘It’s been a month. Amelia.”

“Exactly, barely even a day and he is already getting all cosy with Lindsey Torres.” She says, all too excited about the whole thing. “Mind you, he knows fully well Lindsey is in a sick twisted competition with you.”

“Amelia… I think that’s enough.” Kaia says, turning to give me a look, as if to check if I was okay.

Like why won’t I be. I couldn’t give two shit who he wanted to be with, and if it was Lindsey, then good for them. Besides Landon and I broke up a month ago, mainly because he said I was, and I quote, too intense for him. Whatever that meant.

Which, honestly, was hilarious, coming from him. Considering he had cried the first time I took control in bed.

High school boys were fragile creatures, I scoff inwardly at this, my eyes wandering across the cafeteria, spotting him immediately.

Landon sat exactly where he always did, at the centre of the football table, like a king of a kingdom. And yes, Lindsey Torres was practically in his lap, her manicured hand on his chest.

He looked up and I waited for our eyes to meet, before giving him a slow smile. The one that used to make him forget his own name, and his jaw tightened instantly

See Still worked.

I looked away first, because unlike him, I had standards

Lunch carried on smoothly, the conversation drifting away from anything that wasn’t entertaining.

Soon after we left the cafeteria, I received a message from the front office. Guidance counsellor, immediately

Fantastic. There goes the rest of my day.

I slid my sunglasses back on as I walked down the hallway, not because they helped, but because walking into the counselling office without them, feels like announcing to the entire school that your life was falling apart,

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