NO. God no. I can’t do this. Please Lord. NOOOOOOO. This is NOT the friend I wanted. I take it all back.
Maximum smiled down at me like we were best friends (we weren’t).
“Not him again,” Nyx groaned around my neck.
He was the type of person who woke up with a smile and journaled every day what he was grateful for. Someone needed to tell him anapocalypsehad happened.
People needed to learn how to act appropriately.
“This is actually perfect,” Maximum said as he sat down on my left, forcing me to shift over my textbooks so there was room. “Iwanted to move back a row and sit next to you—now that we’ve been studying together for months.”
He wiggled his brows and winked.
What he forgot to mention was that we studied together for monthsagainstmy will.
I tutored Drex because of our alliance, and Maximum sat there being annoying the entire time because he was uncomfortable sitting with his own thoughts and wanted to tell everyone how happy he was twenty-four seven.
He needed a shovel to the head.
My neck ached as I turned my head so I could keep Maximum in my field of vision.
“Uh, are you sure?” I asked skeptically.
They never said we had assigned seating, but it was kind of inferred.
“Of course it’s fine,” Maximum said as he made a show of stacking his books next to mine. “So how was your time off? I saw there was a whole exposé on you in theFalcon Chronicles—did you see it?”
Sighing heavily, I nodded.
Yes, I saw the picture where I looked like a swamp monster. Yay.
“It’s so cool. You have no idea how much everyone in Sparta is talking about you. People in my House keep asking me about you. They freak out when I tell them we’re close friends. Isn’t that so awesome?”
I grunted noncommittally.
Drex entered the classroom. “Did you move seats?” he asked Maximum with a furrowed brow.
I slumped back with relief as their attention turned away from me.
A few minutes later, all seven of us were seated, and Augustus started lecturing about Cyclopes.
Focusing on my posture, I wrote neat notes in Latin. They’d beillegible by the end of the two weeks, but for now it gave me something to do.
An elbow nudged my ribs.
“I met a Cyclops once,” Maximum whispered, his voice barely audible in my left ear.
Don’t talk to me. I nodded, but said nothing.
He nudged me again. “Have you met one?” he asked.
Don’t touch me.
Eye twitching, I shook my head and kept taking notes.
A few minutes later, he nudged me again. This time, his breath was hot on the side of my face as he leaned close. “Did you know that the?—”
“Maximum and Alexis.” Augustus slammed shut the textbook he was reading from. “Get thefuckaway from each other. This is a classroom, not a symposium.”
