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She chuckles, running her fingers through her hair. “You’re right. It sucks it happened, but as far as we know, it was a one-time incident. We do have protocols here to keep us safe, and they are encouraging students to abide by them.”
“What, like the buddy system?” I ask, remembering how my friend, Lake, and I would go to the toilet together at parties.
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I’m not really doing a good job, am I—to help make you feel safe?”
I’m startled by her comment, not knowing what she means. The thought of her knowing about my past is enough to send bile to the back of my throat. “It’s fine. You’re only telling me the truth, and I appreciate that. I know now to be more vigilant.”
She gives me a warm smile and I relax. “Thank you. If you do ever need someone to come with you somewhere, you have my email and phone number. Just message or call me.”
“I will, thank you.”
“Okay, this is the English building,” she says, gesturing to the huge, old, stone building in front of us. We’re in a courtyard, wooden benches scattered here and there, and tall, neatly trimmed hornbeam trees travelling the circumference. “That entrance will take you to Mr. Hanna’s classroom, and this one leads you to Mr. Flint’s,” she tells me, leading me over to the door she explained Mr. Flint’s classroom would be at.
There’s a few cleaners in the halls, polishing the floor, but other than that, it’s quiet. It’s kind of creepy. I shiver, running my hands up and down my arms.
“This place is giving me chills,” I whisper.
She laughs, and the sound echoes down the hall. “It is. I’ve never liked this building. It’s one of the older ones. The library, if you ever need to use it, is just on the other side of this one. If you turn left at the path instead of walking straight ahead to come here, it will lead you right to it.”
“I’ll have to remember that. I want to check it out. My cousin said they have a really good collection of classics.”
“They do. My friend works there. There’s also a section of books you can’t check out due to them being first editions, but she’s cool and lets me sneak them out. I read The Great Gatsby before moving on to some Jane Austen. I’m still going through them.”
“I’m definitely going to have to check it out.” I smile, excited now about going. “Can we read them in the library?”
“Yeah, you just can’t check some of them out. If you want, I can introduce you to Allie. She’s one of the librarians. She won’t mind you taking one home as long as you promise to bring it back.”
“You’d do that for me?” I ask, more excited than ever. Some of the books in the library are legendary. I looked up the history of the library, finding out it has some rare treasures inside that are locked in cases at the back.
“Yeah, of course. I know they’re closed for another two days—someone broke in and made a mess of the place—but it will be open after that.”
I gasp, horrified. “None of the book were ruined, were they?”
She giggles, gazing at me with amusement. “A few, but most are tech books or something boring.”
“Good.” I sigh, relaxing, but immediately come alert when she taps on a door with her knuckles.
A deep voice echoes from the other side. “Come in.”
She pushes the door open, sticking her head through first. “Hi, Mr. Flint, I’m Jordan. I’m here to show your new student, Emma Burton, around.”
“Come in, come in.”
I don’t know what I expected when I thought of my teacher, but it wasn’t someone so young. He must be in his late twenties at the most.
He stands when we enter, a smile lighting his face as he reaches out to shake my hand. I smile, taking his hand politely, trying to slow my breathing at the contact.
I hate being touched by people I don’t know. It’s something I’ve not been able to overcome since Darren attacked me all those years ago.
“Hi, I’m Emma. I’ll be starting in a week.”
He doesn’t let go of my hand, and my palms sweat. “It’s always great to meet new students.”
I pull my hand out of his grasp, using more force than I should have had to. When I look up, something in his eyes has me stepping back, nearly bumping into Jordan.
“Do you have a list of materials she’ll need, and her curriculum?” Jordan asks when I’m too tongue-tied to speak.
He glances away, still smiling as he addresses her. “Of course. One moment.”
