I want to refuse his help, but I’m also cold and miserable and just want to go home.
“How come you didn’t announce yourself the first time I walked by?” I ask as he leads the way out of this labyrinth. “Or were you being a creepy stalker who enjoys watching me get lost?”
I really hope he didn’t see me cry. I’m pretty sure I was alone in that alcove when the real waterworks came flowing out of me, but maybe I wasn’t. As if I needed to be any more humiliated tonight, let’s add a hot boy seeing me cry like a loser.
“I come here to get some peace and quiet,” he says, ignoring my stalker comment. “Your annoying pacing back and forth ruined that.”
“You sit in the gardens in the middle of the night all by yourself?” I ask.
He holds up his phone, which has a pair of headphones wrapped around it. “I come out here and watch my favorite TV shows. It’s the only way to get away from my loud, obnoxious roommates.”
“Makes sense,” I say, shivering as a blast of cold air rips right through me.
“You’re not dressed for the outdoors,” he says, turning left in a place I didn’t realize could turn left. But sure enough, there’s a path between the shadowy hedges that are taller than we are.
“I was going to a party, but I decided not to.”
“Hmm,” is all he says.
We walk in silence for a few more minutes, and then he turns, and we’re out of the gardens. “Your dorm is that way,” he says, pointing toward the staff dorms.
“Thank you.” There’s a shiver in my voice because it’s gotten colder now that we’re out of the gardens.
Declan looks like wants to say something, but he doesn’t. We’re standing under a lamppost, and once again I see his necklace. “That’s pretty,” I say, pointing to the silver pendant. It’s circular, with some kind of design on it that looks meticulously carved.
“It was my grandfather’s,” he says, wrapping his hand around the pendant.
“Well… it’s cool.”
He nods once. I take that as my cue to leave. Clearly, he was just being nice by escorting me out of the gardens. Just like he was being nice in chemistry class. He probably didn’t even care that I made it out safely, he just wanted a place to watch his show without having me wandering around lost and annoying him. I turn and walk away, and with each step farther away, I’m secretly hoping he’ll call out my name and offer to hang out with me.
But he doesn’t. Declan is not my friend.
I’m not sure anyone is.
Chapter Nine
My second weekof classes at Shelfbrooke Academy are almost exactly like the first one. People don’t talk to me, and the work is too easy. I guess it could be worse, I tell myself, as I get dressed one Monday morning while my cousin lounges in her pajamas, half asleep in her bed.
The other students could go out of their way to be rude to me. But they don’t. They just ignore me. My Cali friends aren’t exactly ignoring me, but they don’t seem to care about me now that I’m gone. Out of sight, out of mind. I text Viv every so often but she’s not the kind of friend you want to text with. She’s more of a friend you hang out with in person. She’s there when you want to have a good time or share gossip. When you’re stuck at a boarding school all the way across the country? She’s not so available.
After that night in the gardens, I thought Declan might become something like a friend, but he’s also ignored me every day since then. In chemistry, we haven’t had to partner up again, but I also have him in English and history. Oh well. I’m fine without him. I am fine alone.
I leave the dorm bright and early and swing by the dining room to grab a coffee. Then, I take it to my favorite place—the gardens. Every morning I get a coffee and drink it here before it’s time to go to class. I know it sounds silly, but it energizes me. Walking through the gorgeous gardens and being surrounded by nature makes me feel like I can take on the day.
All of those happy, warm feelings go away the second first period starts.
“Everyone pair up,” the teacher says, waving his finger in a circle in the air. “This month we’re doing a group project. Two people only, no groups of threes.”
I don’t even want to glance around the classroom and try to make eye contact with someone, anyone, who might have pity on me. I know it’s useless. I prepare myself for a day of humiliation.
And then someone sits next to me. “Need a partner?”
He’s short for a guy, with dirty blonde hair and dark eyes that look like they’re hiding something. His uniform is wrinkled.
“I guess,” I say, not exactly thrilled at the way he’s looking at me, but happy that I’m not alone.
“Cool.” He leans back in his chair and chews on the end of his pen. “You’re the type who will do all the work, right?”
