Shame flushed his cheeks. He’d been staring at it upside down.
He was losing it.
He needed Thomas, needed their lungs sewn inside each other so he could remember how to breathe. He needed to takewords from Thomas’s mouth and put them in his own so he had something to say.
Laughter burst from around a row of shelves and he stiffened as a group of seniors strolled into view. Of course it had to be Bryce Kane, flocked by his vultures. Andrew squeezed the edge of the table so hard his knuckles went bloodless, hoping they’d walk past, but their exaggerated whispers were hard to ignore.
Thomas Rye killed his parents.
He has a temper, have you seen it?
Did you know he hated Clemens?
Suspicious, right?
Especially after what happened with him and Dove Perrault.
Bryce’s eyes lit on Andrew’s table, and it was like he could taste vulnerable meat, ready for mincing. A wide grin spread across his face as he sauntered over, his shirtsleeves cuffed and hair swooped back at a rakish angle.
“Hello, girlies.” He grabbed the back of Andrew’s chair and leaned in, his weight heavy and suffocating as he hovered way too close. “Getting in some hard work before the next attack?”
Andrew could feel himself being squeezed thin as paper, panic tapping the insides of his teeth as Bryce kept getting closer and closer.
“What ‘attack’ are you talking about?” Lana snapped. “Get a life and get out, Bryce.”
Chloe gave Andrew a sympathetic look of misery, but even she was shrinking beside Lana. Apparently only one of them had any guts, and they were both going to leave Lana to do the dirty work.
Until Thomas chose that moment to show up.
He materialized like flame struck from a match, his scowl already monstrous as he adjusted his grip on his notebooks, as if he was considering using them to rearrange Bryce Kane’s face.
Lana rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Here we go.”
“Hey, President Asshole,” Thomas said, all teeth, “how about you get off Andrew before I throw you off.”
Bryce straightened with a magnanimous smile, spreading his arms wide as if about to greet an incoming friend. His vultures sidled closer and Andrew was suddenly aware of how few teachers were in this room.
“Tommy,” Bryce said. “Want me to get off him so you can get on? We were just talking about you. Wanted to check in and see if you’re all cut up about Professor Clemens… unless you were the one who cut him up in the first place.”
Lana smacked her palm on the table. “That’s so inappropriate. Clemens’s death was an accident.”
Bryce gave a dramatic shrug, clearly playing it up for his audience. “Was it, though? I saw Perrault with Clemens that day. Looked like they were headed to the principal’s office. So like, it makes sense.” He swept a hand through his perfect hair and shrugged. “Perrault gets in trouble, Rye takes revenge. But I mean, what did you even do, Andy? Offer to blow the professor for better grades now that Dove’s not doing your homework? Poor Rye was getting jealous about being left out.”
His vultures smirked, a few holding back laughs, feeling safe behind their leader with his dashing smile and his rich boy family name. He was as tall as he was untouchable, and they thrived under his daring.
“You know what?” Thomas’s face burned. “Shut the fuck up.”
Bryce whistled. “There’s that temper. Keep it up, Rye. Confirm what we know you’re capable of… Murderer.”
Thomas moved.
Panic seared Andrew’s vision, and he thought the world would invert and he’d fall over the edge of oblivion. He tried to get out of his chair, fumbled, his limbs suddenly too long and slick and unwieldy as he grappled against gravity. Chloe made a small noise of distress, but it was Lana who rose like a phoenix lit in bold flame. She must’ve started moving before Thomas did, and she grabbed the back of his shirt and dug her heels in, holding on like she’d just wrapped her fists around a hurricane.
“This is for Dove,” she muttered. “You’re not getting your ass expelled for fighting on my watch.”
It gave Andrew time to stumble out of his chair and slide between Thomas and Bryce.
“Kinda surprised with this threesome.” Bryce waggled his eyebrows. “But I guess if Lang only does girls and Andy’s pretty much one—”
