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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE – ANORA & THE STAND-OFF
Lennon convinces me I should eat lunch in the cafeteria. She says running makes me look guilty and is useless since the Order will find me. I guess she’s right, but then again, no one’s looking at her.
Except me.
I can’t quite wrap my mind around her admission. Before today, she had spoken so highly of Shy. She had included Lily in our circle, gone to her funeral, and mourned that we would never be close friends, and she had known the whole time they were Valryn. Was all of that a ruse? A way of protecting herself?
She’s watching the room. My first day I assumed she was looking for someone, but now I know she’s just watching people. She warned me: learn their secrets so when they come after you, you're untouchable.
The words make me shiver and I want to know: what does she do with those secrets? How has she made herself untouchabl
e? But I think I know the answer to that—she doesn’t share her secrets.
Today is rare.
I wonder how soon before she regrets sharing.
“What was your mother like?” I ask. It’s a question I like to answer about my poppa, but Lennon looks surprised. Like no one has ever asked.
“I don’t remember,” she admits. “She died shortly after I was born.”
That answer makes me hate the Order more. I know they have ridiculous rules and expectations, but taking a mother away from her child? Unforgivable.
We move through the line quickly. With our trays in hand, Lennon and I start looking for a place to sit in the packed cafeteria when I'm hit hard from behind.
“Oops,” a girl mocks.
My tray flies from my hands and I stumble, but before I hit the ground, I'm caught by the waist and pulled against a hard body. When I look up, I’m staring into Shy's bright, angry eyes. My heart moves into my throat.
The whole cafeteria has gone quiet. I twist to look at the person who pushed me when Natalie says, “Don't be a bitch, Jasmine.”
Jasmine looks just as shocked as me that her move didn’t win praise from Natalie.
Then Lennon says, “Really Jasmine, you could easily be in Anora’s place.”
What’s that supposed to mean? Did Lennon know something about Jasmine the rest of us didn’t? Is she threatening to post it on Roundtable? After all the damage she’s seen that stupid app do? An uneasy feeling creeps over me.
“You should probably say sorry,” Shy says.
“S-sorry,” Jasmine manages, her face is turning pink. She backs away, fleeing the cafeteria. I can’t help feeling bad for her. She hasn’t been very nice, but she was just shamed in front of everyone.
Natalie looks around, noticing we have the attention of the whole school. “What are you all staring at?” she barks. “Nothing to see here.”
Is that true? I wonder. After Queen’s Ransom and Roundtable, this is probably like a reality television show. Anyone within a one-mile radius can feel the tension coming off us. They’re probably waiting for a fight to break out.
Speaking of tension, I feel Shy against my back. His arm is wrapped around my waist like the hook of a scythe. There’s a brief moment where I want to reach behind me, snake my hand around his neck, and kiss him, but that yearning feels like a distant memory. Reality is, someone posted my past on Roundtable, and these are two of the four people I haven’t ruled out. Besides, I’m having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the Order killed Lennon’s mother.
I place my hands on Shy’s arm and pry it loose, stepping out of his embrace. When I turn to face him and Natalie, his jaw tightens.
“You didn’t have to embarrass her,” I say.
“She embarrassed you,” Natalie says, defensively.
“That’s low, even for you.”
Natalie’s brows shoot up, but her surprise at my words doesn’t last long before she decides she’s angry with me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
