The last thing I’m expecting is Octavia sitting down across from me, a strange look in her blue eyes. I jump from the suddenness of her presence, my rounded eyes snapping up to her, heart racing and mouth parted in shock.
I’ve been sitting in the cafeteria, picking at my eggplant Parmesan pasta and scrolling mindlessly through my phone. Severen is finishing up his midterm, so I was instructed to wait here until he’s done.
“Uh… hi,” I say slowly, blinking at her.
I haven’t really seen her since I broke them up. We don’t have the same classes, and considering I have no friends on campus, we definitely don’t share those. So the few times I’ve seen her in passing, they always preoccupied her attention.
Truthfully, I’m unsure how I’m supposed to feel about Octavia. It’s great that she clearly doesn’t support bullying, but I know almost nothing about her except that she won’t take Severen back.
Which I do feel a little bad about, now that Severen and I are kind of friends.
“Hi,” she says with a sigh, her eyes repeatedly bouncing over my shoulder.
I resist the urge to turn and check over it, but I’m guessing she’s just watching out for Severen, since the doors are behind me.
She clears her throat and shifts awkwardly. “Sorry for the, uh—” She waves her hand around airily. “—rude intrusion. I saw you and noticed it was a rare moment you didn’t have a man breathing down your neck, especially the redheaded one, so I thought I’d seize the moment.”
I offer a tight-lipped smile. There’s definitely an undercover agent sitting nearby, watching my every micromovement. If I fart, he’d know, which is quite daunting. But I can’t tell her any of that, so I don’t correcther.
He arrived earlier this morning. As soon as Dread and Rogue left yesterday, I called Barry to ask if he could spare a highly trained killer or two.
So, he sent Creed, who’s currently dressed in blue jeans and a Nike sweatshirt, posing as a grad student.
Well, kind of.
It’s not the hidden gun he has strapped to him somewhere that alerts people, but his rather intense, intimidating energy. He’s honestly pretty hot, too, so I think most people can sense he’s dangerous, even if they don’t necessarily understand why.
I also get the feeling he’s not an FBI agent, so I’m not sure what corner of the world Barry found him in, but I would bet my left nipple he doesn’t always operate legally.
But at least he’s hot, I guess.
Even if my vagina has been compromised and doesn’t feel even a tiny flutter for anyone outside of Dread. Which is honestly bullshit, but whatever. I’m already in love with the psychopath. It wasn’t necessary for him to train my genitals, too, but here we are—thoroughly whipped.
“It’s okay,” I say, shrugging my shoulders casually.
“I wanted to ask how you’re doing.” My brows rise in surprise. “I’m sorry we haven’t gotten a chance to speak much. After breaking up with Severen, it’s been a bit of an emotional roller coaster, and I just got in a really weird headspace for a bit there.”
My mouth flops for a second, and then my brow furrows. “Why are you sorry? You don’t owe me anything.”
She frowns. “Well, it’s not about owing you anything. It’s about being a decent person. You were distressed over Dread and Severen, and I got so caught up in my own bullshit, I didn’t even check on you to see if you’ve been okay.”
I blink, and her frown deepens.
“Jesus, they did a number on you. You don’t have anyone else in this school who treats you like a person, do you?”
“No…” My voice wobbles with uncertainty before trailing off because, frankly, I’ve gotten so used to the isolation, I hardly think about it.
“Are you okay being friends? I’ve noticed you and Severen seem to be on better terms now, which is honestly great if that’s the case. But I don’t want to make anything weird.”
For several beats, all I’m capable of is staring at her in stunned silence.
“I, uh, I mean, y-yeah?” I stammer. “Sorry, I’m being weird. I guess I just didn’t expect you to, like, care?” It sounds more like a question, but I’m entirely out of my element here.
Even in high school, I never had a complete stranger show so much genuine concern or care for my well-being outside of Barry. For a long time, my mom and I were merely blips in people’s worlds. They cared for the period of time my family was in the news, but as soon as the next world event took over, they eventually moved on with their lives and never made another effort to check in or see if we were okay.
And I suppose that’s truly what it is—effort. My friendship with Sable was always easy and natural, partly because we work together and see each other several times a week, but also because she doesn’t attend HCU. Our relationship developed outside of Dread and Lionel, so my past had no bearing on it. She didn’t know who Dread or Lionel were, really, except for hearing their names here and there in the news. Like her parents, she never paid much attention to any of it, so she never bothered learning anything about them and, subsequently, me.
To her, I was just any other person in the world.
