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Rory comes to a stop beside me. Part of me notes that it’s rare for him to actually interact with me in public — usually he gets one of his gremlins to ruin my day on his behalf, but Danny’s existence seems to have thrown a wrench in Rory’s plans.
“Cute,” he says, sliding next to me on the bench. I stuff porridge into my mouth, deliberately ignoring him. He glances over at Danny, appraising him in a way that makes Danny’s legs twitch beside mine. “You finally got in there, Danny-boy. The easiest girl in the whole world came over here and you thought you were in with a chance.” He smiles brightly at Danny and then casts his cold gaze over at me. I’ve stuffed so much porridge into my mouth, I feel like I’m about to choke. Rory watches me fail to eat. “You could do so much better than a Yank.”
His eyes are on me for a disconcertingly long time. When I finally swallow, I manage to mutter, “Go to hell.”
This only seems to amuse Rory more. “Sassenach, I alreadyamin hell with you at our school. Seeing you fail at life every day, taking the place of a hardworkingmalestudent, is a new hell. But don’t worry.” His eyes flash over to Danny. “I could say the same about your new boyfriend.”
“We’re not—”
“I’m disappointed, Hamilton. Lochkelvin boys are taught to have higher standards. Maybe if you actually engaged with those standards, you might not have to go scrabbling around in the dirt for American scraps.”
It takes every frayed piece of willpower not to kick Rory in the shin. His leg almost brushes mine, which would make it so easy to do, but his proximity has also frozen me to the spot.
“Leave us alone.” There’s something unexpectedly steely in Danny’s voice. “If you can’t live up to your own precious Lochkelvin standards, maybe you should clear off in the presence of people whodo.”
I stare at Danny in astonishment. Rory blinks at him, unnerved.
Danny’s words were sweet, but all I can see is the ever-shifting gray of Rory’s eyes, changing like passing thunderclouds.We’re in for it now. Rory doesn’t like it when people stand up to him, and certainly not in public.
“Isn’t breakfast justsmashin’today?” Finlay’s voice startles me out of the heavy atmosphere suffocating us. I glance over my shoulder, watching as he squashes himself between me and Rory. “How’s it hangin’, sassenach? Got all that trashin’ oot yer system or dae we need tae triple-lock the doors for oor own protection?”
Before I can say anything to this apparently rhetorical question, Finlay turns his head around to Rory. “Will youquitbeing such an eejit?” Finlay mutters in a low voice next to Rory’s cheek, more curt than I’ve heard before. “The whole damn school is watching you.”
Rory stands suddenly, glowering at me, DannyandFinlay. He stalks toward his favorite little gremlin and declares loudly, still gazing at us, “Give them hell.”
