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I tried to stay quiet, to keep my cool.

“Then let me put it another way.” She stepped even closer. “Whatever you think you can claim for yourself...” Her gaze grew colder, dropping three degrees with every second. “The title of student representative, the scholarship...” She fixed her eyes on me. “None of it is yours. So get the hell out of this neighborhood and go back to the bush you crawled out of.”

I clenched my hands into fists.

“Don't provoke me!” I hissed, but Vivienna just smiled. “Or have you forgotten what happened last time?”

“What can I do...” She lifted her coffee cup and... poured the steaming contents over my chest. “...if you're so easily provoked?”

Gasping, I jumped back as students around us began to murmur and whisper.

“What the...” I exclaimed, looking down at myself as the warm, sweet liquid soaked through my clothes and ran down my body.

Nearby, I heard someone taking photos... several people…

“Whoopsi,” Vivienna chirped, stepping past me. “See you around, Cinderella.”

She disappeared so quickly that I didn't even have time to get angry. Although veins stood out on my wrists and I hurried to pull my sleeves down further, it was more shame and bewilderment that flooded through me.

What was wrong with that bitch?!

I felt the anger setting in belatedly and turned away from the guests toward the bar so they couldn't see my yellow eyes.

“Do you need some tissues?”

I looked up at Lola, who was looking at me sympathetically, and shook my head, but regretted it the next moment when the wetness reached my stomach.

“No, thanks...” I said anyway, because I just wanted to go home.

A flash blinded me and I spun around.

“Stop taking pictures!” I snapped at the tall student with the camera. “Damn it!”

Laughing, he ran back to his friends.

He would definitely get in trouble with Noah and Kieran if he posted anything online, so I tried to relax.

“Here, your double espresso.” Lola pressed a warm cup of coffee into my hand, an apologetic smile on her lips. “On the house.”

“Thanks...” I said, overwhelmed, forcing myself to smile before turning around too quickly... and bumping into someone.

The coffee cup in my hand spilled, and hot coffee dripped onto my pants.

I quickly stepped back so that no coffee could get on the black suit pants of the person in front of me, and cursed quietly because the coffee burned hot on my skin.

“Shit,” I blurted out and heard even more cell phone cameras clicking around me. “Oh my God!” I looked up, and my eyes widened. “Miles!”

I backed away while Miles stared at me as if he were also startled. He seemed different than usual. Thrown off balance, irritated. His eyes scanned mine, and there was something rough, unpolished about them.

The moment of surprise had caught us both off guard.

“Are you following me?!”

I realized how loud I was and my cheeks instantly grew warmer.

“Camille wanted a coffee,” he murmured. “So, no.” He returned to his annoying smirk while lifting both eyebrows for a second. “This time, I wasn’t following you.”

Miles walked past me, and I cursed again before setting off to leave the diner.