Ugh, all the nicknames.
"The very same." I take a sip of water to wash down the lump in my throat. "Surprise!"
"How?" Sage looks genuinely baffled. "How does that even happen? What kind of cosmic joke is this?"
"The universe's favorite kind, apparently. The kind where it kicks you while you're down and then laughs about it."
Jace is leaning back in his chair now, studying me with renewed interest.
"Wait. When you say your bullies from sixth grade..." He tilts his head. "You're talking about Calder, Knox, and Laurent, right?"
I blink at him.
"You know them?"
"Everyone knows them." He makes a vague gesture at the cafeteria around us. "They're literally the talk of the school. Have been since they showed up last week."
Sage nods vigorously.
"Especially Laurent. The amount of Omegas fawning over that boy is borderline obscene. He's got this whole 'mysterious French-Canadian with sad eyes' thing going on, and everyone eats it up."
I frown, processing this information.
"What's so great about Laurent?"
It comes out more petulant than I intended, and Sage's lips twitch.
"Jealous?"
"What? No! I'm just..." I huff, crossing my arms. "Actually, now that I think about it, I remember Rafe and Cal being part of the whole 'make MaeBell's life miserable' parade. But Étienne?"
I search my memories, trying to place him among the faces that haunted my childhood.
"I can't remember him being part of it. Like, at all."
Sage and Jace exchange another one of those loaded looks.
"What?" I demand. "Why are you doing the eye thing? What am I missing?"
"Mae..." Sage's voice is careful, the way people get when they're about to deliver news they think might break you. "Wasn't it his older brother?"
I stare at her.
"His what now?"
"Older brother." Jace picks up the explanation. "Étienne has an older brother. He was in our grade back then because he got held back. Twice."
My brain stutters, trying to recalibrate.
Older brother. Held back twice. In our grade...
"Wait." I hold up a hand. "Are you telling me that the Laurent who bullied me wasn't Étienne?"
"Pretty sure it was Bastien." Sage nods. "Bastien Laurent. The older one. He had those same eyes, remember? That icy blue? But he was... meaner. Louder. Étienne was always the quiet one who hung back."
The pieces start clicking into place like a puzzle I didn't know I was solving wrong.
Étienne wasn't part of the bullying.
