I watch them, Mildred and Landon and Asta, the first two howling at whatever Asta said—and whatever she said wasn’t meant to be funny.
Her crimson face is cut from glass, and she folds her arms over her slender chest.
“What are your plans for tonight?” I turn back to Courtney. “Want to do something?”
The first official night back at the academy is usually a party night.
Tomorrow, I expect to see a lot of dark circles around bloodshot eyes, and to hear some retching in the bathrooms.
A dubious expression slackens her face. “Study?”
I mumble, “I was thinking more like get wasted.”
Courtney and I have never partied before. Not together, at least. She’s not the type.
So the oddity of the question understandably furrows her brow.
Even James glances up at me, half-crumpled over his soggy cereal and lightly buttered toast.
I spare them each a withering look. “You have any better ideas?”
James lifts his stare to the ceiling. “I should go to bed early. I haven’t been sleeping much.”
I wonder if that’s true—or he’s got plans to hook up with Landon somewhere around the school.
Courtney shakes her head. Doesn’t give me an outright answer or reason not to have fun and let loose for once, or—in my case—fall down a self-destructive hole.
I wipe my hands on a napkin, then push up from the table. “Alright, see you later, then.”
Abandoning the dull twins, I grab my bag and stalk out of the mess hall.
In the atrium, I swivel for the staircase on the right—and falter.
Serena pauses, too.
Her slender hand is delicately rested on the smooth banister, but her silvery eyes are swords striking at me.
“Olivia—” she starts, but before she can speak more than my name, I charge for the steps.
I jump two at a time, passing her in a whirl, and my shout is breathless, “Can’t talk, gotta go!”
Her jaw clicks, slight, almost unnoticeable, and then she’s out of sight.
I keep my rushing pace all the way to the library, and only then do I stop to let my breaths settle.
I don’t know why I ran at the sight of her, why I made the excuse to flee when, in fact, Serena is the best person to go to for a night of partying, of the distraction I crave.
But just seeing her there on the staircase, first time since the ball, the fright lunged through me.
I don’t trust them, any of them, and Serena least of all. She’s more like my brother than I ever knew.
I leave her and the temptation of partying behind, and on my way to the library, I stop off at the bathrooms.
I brush my teeth with what little paste is left in my bag, then wrangle my hair into a ponytail before splashing water on my face.
It’s no shower, but it’s refreshing enough, and I feel that bit better as I head to the krum section of the library.
Those shelves have some good books, little fantasy pockets to fall into, worlds to steal me away from my own.
