I round the corner toward my locker and stop.
Ajax Ambrose is leaning against the opposite wall, laughing with two of his friends. I freeze. My fingers go cold.
Before he can see me, I duck slightly and move fast, keeping to the lockers, willing myself invisible. I’m almost there—three steps from making it—when:
“Addie!”
His voice is loud, too loud in the stillness, and my stomach drops.
I turn slowly, pushing the brightest smile I can manage onto my face.
“Hi!” I say, a little too chirpy.
Ajax frowns immediately, stepping away from the wall. “Are you okay?”
I force a laugh. “Yeah. Just tired.”
His brows stay drawn. “I heard what people are saying. I wanted to check on you. To make sure—”
I tighten my grip on my books. “It’s not true.”
“I know,” he says, and his smile is so genuine it almost hurts. “People are just… mean. They’ll get what’s coming for them.”
I want to believe him, I do. For a moment, I feel the tight cage in my chest loosen.
He glances at my locker. “Going home?” he asks.
I nod, jerkily. “Yeah.”
“I’ll walk you,” he says.
“Okay,” I say, softly. Mechanically, I turn back to my locker and start pulling books out. My hand closes around my English folder when I notice Ajax has gone still beside me.
He’s no longer looking at me.
His gaze is fixed on something behind me, a flicker of discomfort crossing his face.
“What is it?” I ask quietly, turning.
“Good afternoon,” Kai says politely, and I stop breathing for a moment. Kai’s coat is a tailored trench in deep charcoal, the collar turned up just slightly. A soft grey scarf is wrapped loosely around his neck.
“Kai,” I say, my voice smaller than I mean it to be.
He’s already moving toward us, unhurried. He leans against the locker next to mine, hands tucked casually into his pockets, posture loose.
“Adeline,” he murmurs, and there’s a faint curve to his mouth—not quite a smile, not quite not.
His gaze slides past me to Ajax. He studies him for a heartbeat too long, looking him up and down, which is intimidating tome,and I’m not even the one being looked at.
“Ajax, was it?”
Ajax nods once, curt. “Yeah.”
Kai’s expression doesn’t change, but something about the moment makes the corridor feel narrower.
“You weren’t in class,” I point out, forcing my voice steady.
“No,” he says softly. “I wasn’t. I came back to collect my
