Eden's Playground: Graystone Academy Book One, BE Kelly [good short books .TXT] 📗

For now, she had some time to kill and a nap sounded like a perfect way to do that. Eden made her bed, slipped out of her shoes and jeans, and slid into bed, moaning at just how comfortable it was. Yeah—a nap was going to be the perfect way to kill some time while her dorm mates moved into their rooms. Then, she’d venture out and try to meet some new people. Maybe.

Eden woke up to the sound of strange clicking and realized that someone was in her room with her. Her eyes popped open and she found a guy standing over her, smiling down at her. She jumped up out of bed, forgetting that she was only wearing a t-shirt. Click. Eden pulled the covers from her bed to wrap around her half-naked body.

“Stop that,” she insisted, holding her hands up to cover her face. “Who are you and why are you taking my picture?” she asked. Her voice sounded gravelly from sleep and the handsome stranger smiled again.

“Wouldn’t a better question be why am I in your dorm room?” he asked. Yeah, that was a good question, but her brain hadn’t quite woken up with the rest of her yet.

“Okay—we can start with your questions,” Eden said. “Then, we can get to mine.” She looked him over when he laughed at her, and then he sobered. He looked too old to be a new student, like her. She had waited a year between graduating high school and coming to Graystone. But at nineteen, she was probably older than most first-year students. Her mother insisted that she needed a “gap year,” as she called it, to find herself, much to her father’s horror. He all but begged and even stooped to bribing her to start at the academy right after high school. Maybe she did it to spite her father, but a year off sounded good after she finished high school, so she took her mother’s advice. What her year off, between high school and coming to the academy, really turned out to be was her mother’s way of keeping her around town for an extra year, to help her out. Eden was the person her mother called when she needed help. She cooked and cleaned her mom’s house for her, allowing her time to do whatever it was she did with her free time. Basically, Eden enabled her mother. She became her crutch.

“My name is Anson Kirkpatrick,” he said. Eden noted a hint of an accent and smiled at him.

“Irish or Scottish?” she asked, recognizing the lilt in his voice.

“Scottish,” he said. He looked at her as if she had offended him by implying that he might be Irish. Eden giggled again at the way he scrunched up his nose at her, as if disgusted. He was charming, she’d give him that, but she still didn’t have her answers.

“Why are you in my room, taking my picture?” Eden questioned.

“You left your door open,” he said. “I thought it was an invitation and well, I’m taking pictures for the school’s literary magazine and newsletter.”

“Oh God,” she grumbled. “So, my picture’s going out to the public?” Eden asked.

“Yeah,” he said and shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.

“I’m not wearing any makeup,” she challenged as if that would make him want to keep her out of his publication.

He shrugged again, “Don’t need it, really. You’re quite lovely—um, I’m sorry, but you never told me your name.” Eden blinked up at him as if she didn’t understand him at all. Did he just call her lovely? No, if she recalled correctly, he said, “Quite lovely”. She’d tell him he needed glasses, but he was already wearing them. No one had ever called her “quite” anything, especially lovely. Eden blended in; she was plain and was just fine with that. It was nice to go through life without standing out. It was one of the things she loved best about not having powers like either of her parents. She actually hoped that her powers would never come and she’d be able to slip through life not garnering any extra, unwanted attention. That would give her more time for her books, and less pressure to have to socialize or become the head of the Graystone family. Her father liked to point out that as his only child, she’d be the heir to the Graystone fortune and all of its holdings, including the school. The only good thing about any of that was the academy came with one of the best libraries in all the magical realms. Eden had spent hours fantasizing about being locked away in that old library forever—no people, no responsibilities, no pressure of someday having the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Eden realized that Anson was staring at her with his hand extended, and she had once again spaced out. “Um, sorry,” she said. “I guess I’m still a little groggy from my nap.” She let go of her blanket and placed her hand into his, forgetting about her lack of clothing again. Shit. Eden quickly pulled her hand free and grabbed the blanket before it hit the hardwood floor, pulling it back up her body. She didn’t miss the way Anson’s eyes followed the blanket’s movement up her body or the cute way his lips smirked into a half-smile when his eyes finally reached hers.

“I’m assuming you do have a name,” he said. Eden thought back over what she had just said and realized she still hadn’t given him her name.

“Yes,” she said. “I have a name.”

“Should I guess it then?” he challenged.

She didn’t want to play twenty questions with the guy, but she still needed some answers. Her name was a small price to pay for them. “My name is Eden Graystone,” she said. He smiled at her and Eden noticed it didn’t reach his eyes. Yeah, that was