Tilly is right. Professor Kroff is not only strict, but he’s also a bit of an asshole.
He sent one student packing not ten minutes into the class. He tossed the book the student had been reading during the lecture out of the window with a gust of air, then toppled the student out of his seat with a second gust.
‘You’re in my class to pay attention and learn. Not to sit at the back and read a fucking book. This ismytime, respect it or get out!’ he chided the lot of us before he turned back around and continued with the lesson.
Tilly and I were seated near the middle of the room. I would have preferred to find a seat near the back, but unfortunately, they were all taken, one of them by a certain redhead who I’ve felt staring loathingly at my back ever since I sat down.
Tilly squeezed my forearm in encouragement when the whispers began. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before, but because it came from Moira – well, I’m just surprised my teeth haven’t been ground to dust by now. Not just for the vitriol she threw at me, but for the guy next to me.
Xavier Davis.
I didn’t recognise who he was at first. I kept my head down and refrained from making eye contact, only leaning over toward Tilly every so often to ask her a question. But it seemed when I didn’t give Moira the reaction she wanted, she got bored and moved onto her cousin beside me.
He’s been gripping his pencil with white-knuckled force for the past ten minutes. I’ve no clue how it’s not snapped in two.
I can’t help but wonder what happened to make Moira so cruel and bitter, toward her family no less. Where is her loyalty? And how long has he had her breathing down his neck like this? His whole life?
I take a curious peek at him from the corner of my eye. My gaze trails from his clenched jaw to the vein pulsing erratically beneath the tan skin of his neck. He’s obviously affected by the shit she’s saying, but why isn’t he saying anything back? He’s not standing up for himself andbased on the way his long legs stick out on the other side of the desk, he has to be pushing over six feet tall. He can’t be afraid of her … can he?
‘Look at you writing notes for class. What agood boy,’ Moira taunts. ‘Maybe if you pulled your head out of your books you wouldn’t be such a disappointment to the family.’ The sound of her haughty laugh grates at my ears.
Xavier stiffens, his cheeks flaming red but still he remains silent. I swear, I am seconds from turning to Moira and giving her an earful. I’m sick of listening to her voice. Sick of the way she belittles him and the way she belittlesme. Who does she think she is? I’ve had enough.
But it’s as if Xavier can sense what I’m about to do because he shifts beside me and whispers in a low voice, ‘Don’t.’
His head turns just a fraction in my direction, but it’s enough for our eyes to meet. ‘It’s not worth it,’ he tells me.
My mouth opens, then closes.
The hell it’s not.Did he not just hear what she said? I want to protest, but then I remind myself that I don’t know this person. I don’t know what he’s been through or if he’s already gone down that route, only for it to get worse. So instead, I reluctantly nod, understanding that his battle with her ishisand my battle with her ismine.
‘She shouldn’t be allowed to talk to you like this,’ I mutter, unable to help myself.
He shrugs, rolling his pencil between his fingers. ‘She just likes to hear herself speak. Honestly, after a while it gets easy to drown out.’
Based on the way his jaw clenched as she spoke, I’m not quite sure I believe him. But I nod anyway.
‘Well, it seems we have something in common, Xavier Davis. Because I can’t tell who she hates more. You or me.’
‘Probably you,’ he states, tapping his pencil against his desk a few times. ‘Your brother killed hers, so …’
Her brother was one of the students who died? Stars. No wonder she loathes me so much. Just when I thought this conversation was going well, he drops that bombshell on me.
‘You lost a cousin, then?’ I ask tentatively.
Xavier shakes his head, causing his floppy mop of auburn hair to fall into his eyes. ‘Don’t feel bad about it. I don’t. He was no family of mine.’
My expression must betray my thoughts because Xavier takes one look at me and winces. ‘I don’t mean to sound heartless. Don’t get me wrong, a life is a life. People died and I understand that. But if anyone was to leave this plane, I’m relieved it was him.’
‘You didn’t get along with him either?’ I take a guess.
He stares at me for a long moment, like he’s contemplating something, then places his pencil down on top of his notebook. He begins to scan the room. Kroff is currently facing the blackboard, sketching the lunar moon cycle. Students are copying the definitions of each phase down into their black notebooks; even Tilly has her head down, utterly focused. Her pencil scratches along her page in quick strikes.
I watch, a little confused at first, as Xavier starts to roll up the cuff of his jumper. He pulls it back a few inches to reveal skin that is littered with scars. No, wait –burns.
My jaw drops as I take in the raised flesh. Some areas are darker than others where the skin has mended itself.
‘Xavier,’ I breathe his name. ‘Didhedo that to you?’
