The sun is now low in the sky, about to set at any minute. Little clouds drift across the darkening sky, the air is clear and fresh, and I shiver in my thin dress. I should have brought a jacket.
Lia and the others lead us back to the dormitory. We walk up the stairs to the fourth floor, past Mae’s room first and then mine, and climb the three steps that lead to the common room.
Four sofas and three armchairs are grouped around a lowround table in the spacious room. Light gray curtains hang at the windows, and there are portraits of various dancers on the walls. Between the sofas are little side tables that hold vases of fresh flowers.
Then we step over a wide windowsill onto a roof terrace.
“Wow,” Mae says, her eyes wide. “Amazing.”
I can only nod in agreement as I look around in surprise. Sofas made of wooden pallets with thick, colorful cushions on them have been set up. It’s the perfect place to spend a warm summer evening. A net of fairy lights hangs over the terrace, and lush green ivy twines around the railings.
“Surprise!” Lia says with a wide smile, and all at once I freeze, realizing why her smile is familiar. I remember now where I’ve heard her name before. Or rather, read it.
Jase’s secrets. His notes. His blond hair. His smile. Lia is his older sister.
I don’t know much about her. Actually, I don’t know anything except that she and Jase don’t get along so well, even though they seem to be so similar. Even though they’re both here to dance.
“It’s a tradition that we all meet here on the first evening and get to know each other better, without being watched by Pearson and the other teachers the whole time,” Lia says.
“And because there’s booze,” Susannah adds with a smile, tossing her blond hair over her shoulders.
Lia rolls her eyes. “Strictly speaking, it’s not allowed here at all because most of us aren’t twenty-one yet. But on the first evening, they turn a blind eye as long as we don’t overdo it. And as long as the younger ones don’t notice.” She nods in the direction of the otherdorm on the opposite side of the theater, where the high school students live.
“Oh, he shouldn’t make such a fuss about it. Most of us are much too well-behaved. In the summer, sometimes we put up a screen and have movie nights up here,” Katie says proudly, guiding us toward a group of girls who are already sitting on one of the pallets with their feet up, talking and laughing. We sit down with them, and even though they each introduce themselves, I forget their names almost immediately.
A group of boys brings cans of beer and a box of wine, and the terrace slowly fills up.
“I’m going to get a sweater,” I whisper to Mae, because it’s not only getting dark, but it’s also quite cool.
“Good idea, me too.” She gets up, and together we weave our way through the crowd and back through the open window in the common room.
We enter the hall just as the door of the last room, the one next to mine, opens. Skye steps out, and I’m just about to greet her when I spot Jase behind her and freeze, rooted to the spot. He leans against the doorframe and doesn’t even look at me.
Great.
The back of my neck prickles uncomfortably, and I feel the urge to turn and run away, but I can’t move. Either Mae hasn’t noticed the strange atmosphere between us or she’s ignoring it. She takes a step toward Jase and Skye and gives them a friendly smile. “Hi, I’m Mae. Looks like we’re neighbors. My room is right over there, and Zoe’s is next to yours.”
“Hi, nice to—Hey Jase, wait a sec!” Skye laughs in confusion asJase pushes past her and disappears without a word. Skye gives us an apologetic shrug and follows him.
“What was that about?” Mae asks indignantly, staring after them in disbelief.
I answer before I can stop myself. “That was Jase.”
And he obviously lives right next door to me.
Shit.
Chapter 4
Jase
Why are you telling me all your secrets?
Because you’re real. And somehow, you’re able to make me feel something.
—J
Fuck. This.
