“Mari, right?”
I turned again, my eyes meeting his. “Yeah, and you’re Alaric.”
He smiled, seemingly pleased that I remembered his name. “I saw you walk in and thought I would check in to see how you fared on your first day.”
I choked back a laugh and instead replied, “Oh, it was fine.”
“Yeah, but Mari and I were just talking about how she still feels behind in some classes,” Sara-Kate interceded. “Chemistry and pre-calc are the main issues, and I’m helping her with math, but I took chem last year and don’t remember a thing.”
I turned a dark glare on Sara-Kate, barely keeping my mouth closed as I bit back denial. Embarrassment burned deeply in my stomach. Sara-Kate was clearly trying to play wing-woman when that was the absolute last thing I needed right now. It was only my third full day in New York andmy first at this prestigious new school. I was still just trying to figure out how to survive.
“Really?” I could hear the smile in his voice, but my shocked expression remained glued to Sara-Kate. “Well, then, I suppose it’s lucky we ended up lab partners.”
“Oh, really?” Sara-Kate continued, ignoring me and smiling up at Alaric. “Well, isn’t that perfect! I can tutor her in math on Mondays and Wednesdays, and how about you help Mari out on Tuesdays and Thursdays?”
Before I could even get one word in, Alaric agreed instantly. “Perfect. I guess I’ll see you here after school tomorrow, Mari.”
“Oh!” I finally turned to respond, but Alaric was already walking away, waving one hand as he headed down the library stairs. “Okay . . .”
“Look how perfectly that worked out,” Sara-Kate whispered, a smug smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. “Now you’ve got a study date, and it’s only your first day.”
“You’re crazy,” I whispered, burying my face in my hands, willing the heat to disappear from my cheeks.
“No, I’m brilliant. You’ll learn to appreciate it soon enough.”
“What if he has a girlfriend or something?” I countered, remembering the group of girls he had been talking to before school started. The last thing I needed was more anger and attention from those girls who had effortlesslylabeled me the school weirdo before I had even walked through the front doors.
“He doesn’t,” she replied easily. “Well, not anymore. He and Celeste were dating for a while but apparently broke up over the summer. And since then he hasn’t shown interest in anyone else. He is free and clear and seems to have a thing for curly blondes.”
“Okay, no, we don’t know that,” I refuted, finally looking up from my hands. “You put him on the spot. He’s probably just too polite to refuse.”
“Trust me, Mari,” Sara-Kate reached over, taking my hands in hers. “If that boy didn’t want to tutor you, he would have said so.”
A few moments of silence passed before I asked my next question.
“Who’s Celeste?” I asked, glancing from my pre-calc homework to Sara-Kate’s smug grin.
“Dr. Duvall’s niece,” she whispered. “Alaric and her were pretty hot and heavy during their junior year, but since senior year has started, he has iced her out. She acts like it doesn’t bother her, but I don’t know. I see the way she still looks at him.”
I nodded, a stab of an unfamiliar emotion racing through my veins.
“Well, he might still be into her and is just being nice to the new girl,” I reasoned. I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince Sara-Kate or myself.
“Sure.” Sara-Kate winked.
I finally dropped the subject, realizing that nothing I was going to say was going to convince Sara-Kate that she might just be wrong. I figured Alaric would tell me something else came up when we had first period tomorrow, and I’d let him off without another word. The last thing he would want to do is give up his Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to help the new school weirdo catch up on chemistry.
We continued to work for another thirty minutes before we called it quits. As we were packing up, I glanced through my gym bag, annoyed to find I had forgotten my gym shoes.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “I forgot my shoes. I need to head back to the locker room.”
“You want me to come with you?” Sara-Kate offered as she shouldered her own bag.
“No, I know exactly where I left them. It won’t take me long,” I replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Sara-Kate and I walked out of the library, the two of us diverging onto separate paths as I headed back to the gym and she headed to the main entrance of the school. There were still a few students and teachers meandering about, some clearly coming from a practice or club meeting. I managed to find my way back to the gym where it looked like a boys’ basketball practice had just ended. I made myway into the girl’s locker room and headed straight for the locker I had stored my things in while I had changed earlier.
I sighed relieved as I grabbed my sneakers and stuffed them back into my gym bag. I turned to leave when a chilling voice echoed through my head.
