She’d never think it was anyone else, anyway. Just the universe being kind to her, protecting her. But it’s more than that. She’d never understand how far theuniversewould go for her. He’d do anything, even if it got overlooked. He’d do it even if it doesn’t benefit him at all.
The others ran past me, heading inside, as I just slowly followed behind. From the corner of my eyes, I could see her jogging to catch up, hand raised in a small wave, pathetic and soft, like she couldn’t bring herself to shout. Like always.
I didn’t stop walking until we reached inside, and the warmth hit, until the glass doors closed behind us. Only then did I turn.
She was already flipping open her folder, sliding a paper free. She held it out to me with both hands, her eyes darting up then away, like she was handing me something forbidden.
I took it, my gaze skimming. A clean copy of the schedule. Shadowing from today, November 3rd, straight through until December 15th. Almost every day. Weeks. She was mine forweeks.Then I saw it. Every Friday neatly highlighted.Partner Work.
I lifted my head. “Partner work?”
She nodded immediately, pointing between us, then pressing her fingers together, slow and deliberate, close.
Something hot and ugly lit in my chest, curling through me like smoke. She didn’t even realise what she’d just handed me. She thought this was normal, harmless. To me, it was a fucking gift.
I didn’t question it. Didn’t need to. I just folded the paper, slipped it into my pocket, and nodded like it meant nothing. But inside? I was already burning with the thought of Friday.
I walked away before she could look at me again, fists balled in my pockets, nails biting into my palms. My strideswere steady, casual on the outside, but inside, I was clawing at anything to drag my mind offher.
Partner work. Sitting next to her. Close. Closer than we’d ever been.
My jaw tightened.
After Monday, when I humiliated her, making her crawl through the mud in front of the campus just for a stupid key I never actually threw in there, she still chose to stick around. No survival instinct whatsoever.
Pathetic. A girl like her should’ve been eaten alive by now.
But not here. Not with me.
Good on her, really. That lack of instinct means she’d stay exactly where I wanted her.Right by my side when Friday comes.
Chapter Eight
Aurora
I leaned back, eyes closed, on the same bench I sat on with Aly yesterday, letting the wind brush over me. It was cold, but not enough for me to care since Aly said to meet her here.
“Hey, Aurora.” A soft voice came, making my eyes shoot open. “Right?”
I looked up and saw a girl.Familiar…
She’s the little blond one with blue eyes. I call her little because she’s shorter than me but taller than you.
Jennie,I think.
My fingers curled tighter around my jeans as I nodded, slow, cautious. Guarded. I knew she was Aly’s friend. I knew they walked the halls together, laughed together, shared brief looks that only real friends could understand.
But I also knew that just because people were friends, it didn’t mean they were the same. They may say they wanted to be my friends, but they didn’t know me. Not the way Aly did.
Aly knew the silence, the pauses, the way I froze up when words scraped against my throat like glass. Aly had sat through my silence and didn’t care, carried on a whole conversation and never thought I was rude.
Jennie hadn’t.
So maybe when she did, when she got close enough to see the cracks, the pieces of me that never fit right, maybe then she’d change her mind. Maybe worse, she’d change Aly’s mind, too. Because people always do.
I bit the inside of my cheek as I watched her rest her bag on the bench beside me before unzipping it. She then pulled out a paper bag and held it out towards me. I looked down at it before shifting my gaze back to her face.
Her usual confident self was now switched with a shy one, as if she wasn’t sure if she could be in my presence.
