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“Charlotte,” I whisper as if it’s our naughty little secret.
His smile broadens. “Antony. Are you in Wingate too?”
I bite my lip. “We’ll see you later. We have to talk girl stuff for a sec.” Wren glares at me, and if murder were legal, she’d have me by the throat. “Come on,” I tell her. “Let’s talk outside.”
Wren walks quickly behind me as we head out the front door. I can feel her anger slamming into my back. I should be careful around her, but I only have one concern right now and that’s leaving. We walk all the way to the sidewalk in front of the house before I turn all my fury on her.
“Don’t ignore me, Wren.” My mouth is fixed in a scowl. “Don’t you ever blow me off again.”
Wren scoffs loudly. “High school is over, Charlotte. What is wrong with your attitude?”
“I want to leave. Now.”
She gives me a dirty look. “I’m not ready to go.”
We stand there on the sidewalk in a stalemate, facing off. It’s already dark outside as I glance down the street at the lit houses and porches filled with rowdy people. Only one house isn’t lit. And for some weird reason, that one really creeps me out. Something makes me feel walking down that street alone would be the worst walk of shame. I have to get out of here, and I need her to come with me.
“Wren, you promised,” I add some bite to my tone, hoping it won’t reveal my shaking nerves. “I said I’d only come if you left with me.”
She folds her arms and looks at the guys messing around on the porch. “Can’t you find someone else to walk with?”
“No.” We stand staring at each other until she finally lets out a sigh and marches past me. I hurry to catch up, and we walk down the sidewalk past the houses in silence. A few catcalls but nothing terrible. Nothing like the shit I had to endure at Monarch.
We pass the dark house quickly, and I keep my gaze straight ahead. But something has eyes on us. Maybe it’s my imagination, but then something moves in the shadows and slips back into the house.
“That was creepy,” Wren replies as if she’s read my thoughts.
“Yeah,” I reply, “Thanks for walking with me.” I pause. “Do you like that guy back there?”
Wren shrugs. “I was only flirting. I’m not going to go and suck tongues with the first guy who hits on me.”
The conversation nose dives back into silence, and I wonder if she saw me with Asher. People at the dorm are going to link us together if I don’t start ignoring him. I want to know if Wren saw us, but I don’t dare ask. Not directly.
“So, what do you think about the guys on our floor? Hudson, Jaxon, Asher.”
She perks up when I ask for her opinion, forgetting that we’re temporarily not getting along. “I think I’ve seen Hudson before, but I can’t remember where exactly. He looks familiar, but maybe it’s because he looks like someone we should know.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s bothering me too,” I agree eagerly, “because he acts like we should know him. Jaxon is cute though.”
Wren purses her lips. “I guess if you like that sort of thing. If you tossed a magnet at him, it would stick to his face.”
I forgot how straight-laced Wren is. I want to say Asher’s name, and it’s hanging off the tip of my tongue, but luckily, she says it first.
“What do you think of Asher?” she asks. “Do you like him?”
The hair on my neck rises. “No, why do you think that?”
“You seem to know one another, and you were together in the kitchen. But you both looked pissed, so I didn’t go in. Was something wrong?”
“Drinking to puke doesn’t impress him or me,” I reply, “What do you think of him?”
Wren shrugs her shoulders slightly with her nose in the air. “He looks out of place, and he knows it. I thought he was hanging with you for cred.”
I laugh with relief. “He knows Astrid…from the gym.” Why am I still covering for Asher? I could rip him up with a single sentence and expose him. And then he could do the same to me. But what difference does status make at Ivymore? For every person that cares, another person could give a fuck.
“Where did you disappear to?” she asks.
“What do you mean? You saw me in the kitchen.”
