Page 30 of Speak No Claim

He was the only one who wasn’t wearing a uniform. Instead, he was dressed in a dark gray hoodie, jeans, and boots. Similar to what he was wearing the other night. The hoodie sat firmly on his head. I could barely see his face. Something told me this was his signature attire, hiding himself from the world and maybe his own family.

His intense stare remained fixated ahead. He didn’t acknowledge any of the students moving aside for them. Not one. He didn’t need to. The way the students treated them didn’t seem respectful. It felt more like obedience.

Every instinct inside me screamed at the top of its lungs to step out of the way like everyone else had.

I didn’t.

Not even when Luna grabbed my arm, trying to take me with them. Instead, I stood perfectly still until the distance between us started to diminish.

Twenty feet.

Ten.

Five.

My eyes lifted, locking onto Onyx’s.

They were cold, detached, and unreadable despite the honey color blazing down at me. For a second, I thought he might stop.

He didn’t.

His shoulder clipped mine with deliberate precision. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to get his point across. Since I wasn’t expecting it, my books exploded across the polished marble floors, papers scattering everywhere.

The hallway froze. Silence swallowed the whole corridor. I glanced down at my notebook, lying open several feet away, before peering back at Onyx. He never looked over his shoulder. He never slowed down either. He didn’t acknowledge what he’d done as if I were nothing but a peasant walking among them.

One of the guys beside him did glance back at me, though, displaying the faintest smirk across his face before disappearing around the corner. Only after they were gone did the hallway breathe again. Students resumed walking like nothing had ever happened to begin with.

“Asshole,” Deja muttered, already kneeling beside me.

The others followed, gathering papers before they could drift away.

“Ignore him,” Deja suggested. “He’s testing you. He just wants to see if you’ll break.”

I bent to pick up the last notebook myself. My fingers brushed the worn leather cover. Slowly, I stood, looking toward the hallway where Onyx had vanished.

I cocked my head to the side. “He’s going to have to do better than that.”

Deja stared at me for a moment, then giggled. “Oh…” She shook her head.

* * *

“I think you’re going to fit right in.”

Chapter

Nine

Hennessy: People are more what they hide than what they show.

The rest of the day flew by in a blur of what felt like everyone talking behind my back with stolen glances hitting me in all directions. It was actually pretty impressive how easily they were able to make me feel as if all eyes were following me through the halls, like they were ghosts that were merely haunting me.

Onyx’s shoulder check had lasted all of two seconds, but the humiliation lingered for hours on end. I kept reminding myself that I didn’t care, that he couldn’t get to me and I had bigger fish to fry. I thought a lot about the fact that once upon a time, my father was a student at this university.

I resisted the urge to call my mom and ask her a million questions, though I couldn’t bring myself to do it, not wanting to bring up bad memories for her. Something bad had happened. I felt it in the pit of my stomach. If she hadn’t said a word to me, knowing I’d find out the truth one way or another, she wouldn’t have allowed me to attend this Academy.

Right? Why would she want me to find out this way and not from her?

I had a hard inkling she didn’t know about anything either, which only left my uncle with the truth.