“Yeah,” Niffy perked up, “I’ve heard that recently.”
“I think it’s a popular surname,” I tried.
“I don’t think so.” She shot me down. Her up and down glance cut me to the quick. No longer curious but dangerously keen. “Isn’t that the name of the CEO who got caught publicly having an affair?”
Fucking shit.
My skin constricted around my bones, and my heart leapt into the base of my throat. I tried to swallow it down before it choked me, but their stares only aided in the suffocation. My homecoming to Kilbride had been nothing like I’d imagined. Nothing like what I, naively, might have wished for. An uncontrollable and unrestrained wave of anxiety washed over me. Now, part of me wished I had a bell tower to jump from.
I braced for the incoming questions as they put the puzzle pieces together.
“Oh, shit. Was he your dad?” Talon chirped.
If I could disown my father, I would have a more satisfying answer.
Niffy gasped, using her hand to poorly hide a smirk. “Rumor has it that his wife took him for millions then ran off with the gardener.”
“Pool boy,” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “If the news outlets are going to report on it, they should at least be accurate.”
Moth’s barking laughter startled me. Head thrown back, body shaking with mirth. I hadn’t meant to be funny, but I’d takethe victory of a laugh. And it felt like he hadn’t meant to, like I had stolen it from him. He pretended to wipe tears from his eyes.
“No, that’s not what I recognize the name from,” Talon grumbled. “There was an Ashcroft who worked here years ago. Some super smart professor who knew like a dozen languages.”
“Not as exciting as an affair.” Niffy shrugged as if meeting university legacies was old news. Though with a town full of important posh people and their spoiled rotten children, I wouldn’t be surprised.
“My grandfather,” I confirmed, smiling tightly. “Yeah, he was a language professor here a long time ago. That's why we have a house in town.”
“Is that where you’re staying?” Moth asked. And I didn’t know why, but it made me shift from foot to foot. His gaze was penetrating, increasing the sense of nervousness gripping my throat and throttling me.
They were being kind and friendly, I assured myself. These were normal questions people asked when getting to know one another. Polite conversation that could potentially lead to building true connections. Friendships, or at the very least cordial acquaintances, for my final year of university. It wasn’t a situation that required my flight or fight to kick in, but no one told my skipping heart that.
“For now. I don’t plan on sticking around after graduation.” I dared a glance toward the West Belltower jutting up from the fog like a ghoul towering over us, watching us. Coils of mist twisted around the peak, curling as ghostly as a spirit’s caress. The proximity of death mingled with my rising social anxiety, rapidly brewing a noxious concoction that seeped like poison into my veins.
Niffy caught the direction of my stare. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Students don’t get pushed off the roof frequently around here.”
“Pushed?” My voice eked out as a squeak, eyes going as wide as dinner plates. I hadn’tdiligentlyread the articles, but nothing about potential foul play stood out. The thought made my heart sink into the nauseating stew bubbling in my stomach.
Talon rolled their neck and groaned. “Oh my god Niffy, you know that’s just a rumor. No one here would do that.”
Moth shook his head with exasperation as Niffy and Talon fell into a silent, fast-paced squabble, like long-time friends arguing the same way siblings did. Then he acknowledged me again. “Ignore those two. Gossip hounds, the both of them.”
I shrugged. “Gossip is often frowned upon by society, but it’s actually an important way to share news between groups and communities. It’s usually demonized by men since women would use it as an opportunity to inform one another about dangerous men and places to stay away from. orally exchanging stories has also been a part of human nature for centuries”
“Huh.” Moth blinked, sticking his tongue in his cheek as he assessed me. Then he nodded as if coming to a decision. “I like you, Blondie. You should hang with us.”
“Like, right now?”
Moth cough-laughed at that, seemingly caught off guard by the seriousness of my question. “No, uh,” he glanced at his friends. “Personally, we’re more night owls ourselves. We generally go out after studying.”
At that, Niffy and Talon looked up again, watching the interaction. I felt vulnerable and exposed under the scalpel-sharp edge of their interest. It was closing in on too much people interaction for my embarrassingly low social battery to handle. I still had hours of classes to endure, and I was still partially lost.
“Show me where my first class is, and I’ll consider it,” I offered, willing to bargain during the conception of a possible new friendship.
“Done and done.” Moth grinned like the cat who got the cream. “Welcome to Kilbride, Blondie.”
4
Classes trickled by as syrupy slow as the fog outside. An incessant deluge followed me from lecture to lecture as if also intent on teaching me a lesson. The old-world, gothic charm of the buildings impressed me at every corner; the weather did not. Even if I usually enjoyed a rainy day, those came with the stipulation of being snuggled up under a blanket with a hot drink and a new book in hand; not traipsing through the cold in search of my last class of the day.
