“What?” she asks, glancing up at me. “Ares? For one, I’m not into him. And two, he’s not into anyone of the female persuasion.” She pauses, then says, “You did know that, right?”
“No, Ares is bi, not gay,” I say. “Like, he’s not intoyou, because if he were Kratos would beat him up and then Ares would start a fire and it’d be a whole thing. But I’ve seen him with other girls.” I give her a crooked grin. “You know bisexuals are real, right? Don’t erase us just because we’re only dating one set of genitals at a time.”
Anastasia rolls her eyes. “Yes, I know bisexual people exist. You’re not the only one with a creative living arrangement. I just thought he was only into the one guy. Anyway, has anyone told you you’re seriously distracting, Pandora?”
“All the time, actually,” I respond.
Samantha’s email pings with a reply from Hank.
I’m contacting the administration and stopping all payments. Book yourself a flight home.
Well, fuck him too.
I scroll down farther. No emails to or from Zayden. Mostly, she’s on religious mailing lists, with daily affirmations and asking people to think of Jesus. I go in and unsubscribe her from all of those lists.
I open up the messages app next. There are two from worried classmates or religious study buddies — whatever — and then I finally find her text chain with Zayden.
I scroll up, skimming the convo, until my eyes land on a familiar name.
Samantha
That guy came over again. River. Isn’t he in your fraternity now?
Zayden
Yeah. He’s okay. Kind of quiet. Probably won’t last the pledge season.
How fucking dare he. With Blaze vouching for him, there’s no way River can fail.
Zayden
JFC PANDORA STABBED DECLAN
Samantha
What?
Zayden
In the thigh! He’s in the hospital. Needs four stitches
Samantha
I always knew she was insane.
“Well, this insane bitch is going to save you,” I mutter at the tablet.
Anastasia looks up at me. “What?” she asks. “Save her?” She sits back in her chair. “Okay, I need context.”
“You don’tneedcontext,” I correct her. “Youwantcontext.”
“Guilty,” she replies without batting an eye.
“My roommate got kidnapped by a frat guy, and I’m trying to figure out where he took her.” I scroll back down to the newest messages.
Samantha
I heard what happened. I’m so sorry.
