AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Seriously, how fast does news travel in this place?
Too fucking fast, obviously.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Hm, if you say so,” she murmurs under her breath, laughing softly to herself. Before I can say anything in response, the lesson starts up again, and I do my best to follow along this time. Although, all I really want to do is lock myself away in my bedroom and pretend this shitshow of a day never happened.
“Everyone is looking at you,” Noah comments, pointing out the obvious when he joins our dinner table. He slides a plate of pasta over to me, along with a can of coke, and I could kiss him for saving me from the awkwardness of standing in a queue of people who refuse to take their eyes off me.
“Tell me something I don’t know, dude.”
“I’m guessing it’s to do with Theo?”
I lower my head to the table, banging it against the glass top a couple of times for good measure. If people could stop saying that name today, I may actually make it through to the end without having a minor breakdown.
“We can’t speak that name,” Betty says for me, already having received the brunt of my annoyance when we walked from economics to the dining hall after she finally pushed enough of my buttons that I caved and told her everything that had been said between us.
I stick my thumb up at her, agreeing that they can’t say his name. Noah chuckles, patting me lightly on the head.
His fingers linger, massaging the base of my skull. I’m half tempted to shove him away for bringing Theodore to the forefront of my mind again, but his touch is too soothing as it slowly relieves the light throbbing that’s taken up residence in my head.
“Well, we might not be able to speak his name, but does someone want to fill me in on this rules business?”
Betty does the honours, relaying the words I vomited out at her after class. Noah, being the shitty friend he is, laughs at the whole thing. “Damn.”
“It’s not funny,” I tell him, without lifting my head from the table. My words are muffled, but the sentiment is still the same. “He’s a dick.”
“No denying that, baby girl. But you’ve got to admit it’s pretty hot.”
I lift my head up, wrinkling my nose. “I’m sorry, what? You did not just say that.”
“Come on, Theo is a pure fucking alpha and he’s listing rules off to you one by one. Girl, I’d be all over that if he swung my way.” He shrugs, lifting his sandwich to his mouth.
“You can take him off my hands if you want,” I comment, lying back down.
“If only,” Noah mutters, returning to massage my head. “Though, you know I could never do that to you. You’ve been in love with that guy for as long as I’ve known you.”
“Longer,” Betty pipes up, talking to him as if I’m not sitting right here. “I’m pretty sure she’s loved him from the moment she was born.”
Snapping my head up, I scowl at her before shoving my bag over my shoulder and lifting out of my seat.
“I can’t with you two,” I say, shaking my head. “I am not now, nor have I ever been in love with Theodore Thomas. He’s a bloody menace to society and a pain in my arse. That’s all.”
“Do we get to be maid of honours at your wedding?” Noah asks, his eyes twinkling with unspent humour while Betty openly laughs, slapping a palm against his already raised, waiting one.
“I hate you both.”
NINE
Iskiptherestof Tuesday’s classes, and I’m half tempted to skip again when my alarm rings for the fifth time, reminding me I need to get out of bed. Slapping the clock to shut it up before I roll over and burrow myself under my pillow, I can’t think of anything worse than facing university today. I feel like I’m in a petting zoo, just put on display for everyone’s entertainment.
When I step out of my bedroom half an hour later, dressed in a pair of leggings and an oversized hoodie, the dorm is empty, and I take solace in the quiet. Betty and Noah must have gone down to the dining hall for breakfast, so I make the most of being alone and grab some toast and a cuppa and read for the next hour, instead of spending a morning listening to the rumour mill talk about me.
I feel marginally better by the time I’m walking the hallways towards my first glass of the day, though, that’s probably the ample amount of caffeine I drank in the last hour giving me a false sense of joy.
“Hey, Fal,” Kyle says when I bump into him in the hallway on my way to accounting and finance. “How’ve you been?”
He tucks his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans, rocking back and forth on his heels. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume he was nervous to be talking to me, but that can’t be it. He runs a hand over his slicked-back blond hair, smiling at me wryly.
