AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Defeated, I snatch the schedule off the counter and turn away. It’s a ridiculous reaction, but I can’t stop the tears burning my eyes. I have to fight to keep them from falling.
Even though I have no idea how she got hold of my schedule, Olivia is obviously behind this. She wants to make being at St. Bart’s so uncomfortable for me that I finally throw in the towel and leave. It doesn’t matter that I only came here for her, to get the justice that I wrongfully assumed she would want. Now that she’s back, there isn’t a place for me here. Olivia seems determined to make sure that I understand that.
That realization is enough to turn my lingering guilt into anger.
My sister was in a fucking coma. I saw her laid out in her childhood bedroom like some macabre version of Sleeping Beauty. Whoever put her there is walking around without a care in the world, and Olivia only seems to care about torturing me.
What the actual fuck?
She owes me an explanation. I’m going to get it if I have to beat it out of her.
Almost as soon as the urge rises to find my sister and kick some sense into her, it fades away. There is no chance that Olivia isn’t surrounded by her new crowd of admirers. If I march up to her and start swinging, I’m just going to make myself look absolutely insane. I have to be smarter than that.
I’m not going to find out the truth from Olivia, so I need to start looking for it somewhere else.
Eventually, I’m going to figure out where.
* * *
My advisor is a petite woman with pinched features and a stack of paperwork in front of her on the desk. She barely glances at me as she asks for my last name.
“Pratt.”
She spares me a confused glance, still shuffling paperwork around on the table. “Weren’t you just here this morning?”
“Nope.”
“Pratt, did you say? I know I’ve seen that name already today.” The advisor finally gives me her full attention. “Do you have a brother?”
“Sister,” I correct lamely. “Her name is…”
“Oh, Evangeline. I remember now. Such a lovely girl and her placement scores were exceptionally high, particularly for someone with an equivalency diploma coming in for a spring start. I was very impressed with her.”
“There’s a lot of that going around,” I sigh.
“Pardon?”
“Never mind.” My gaze falls on my pants. There is a ketchup stain on the fabric in the shape of Idaho just above the knee. I can’t even remember the last time I had something with ketchup on it. Friday, maybe? “Can we talk about my schedule?”
She pulls out a file folder and makes a sound of triumph before placing it down on the desk in front of me. “Yes, of course. I’m Evelyn Henney, your academic advisor. We haven’t met yet because I just started this semester. I’ve been assigned several students who’ve fallen through the cracks a bit, so we have a lot to catch up on.”
“Okay.” I’m more than a little confused that she acts like I didn’t have to beg and plead to get an appointment with her. “About my schedule…”
“I see here that you planned to declare an English major. Is that right?”
I have absolutely no idea, but it isn’t like I can admit that. “I think so.”
“But it looks like you took business and accounting classes last semester and a…weightlifting elective? I think that’s what that is. These classes won’t help you with an English major. Are you thinking of making a switch?”
I took those classes because I was trying to get closer to the Havoc Boys, particularly the one currently rotting in a jail cell. That goal didn’t exactly have anything to do with my scholastic interests.
Another thing I can’t exactly admit to my new advisor.
The file is open between us, but I can’t make out much more than Olivia’s name on top of the first page. “I’m still exploring my options.”
“Looking over your schedule for this semester, it almost seems like you chose classes completely at random.”
I totally did, but she doesn’t need to know that. “Like I said, I’m still exploring.”
