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From the passenger seat window, I observed a group of people pausing to gaze curiously at the car, while a few guys took pictures of it with their phones.
“Your car is way too flashy. You have a visitor’s pass with a D-grade investigation privilege added. Why the hell are you driving the latest Grimes car?” I complained, putting on my sunglasses.
“Well, my dear, it’s because you don’t like to be flashy that everyone thinks you’re a nobody trying to cling onto the Crawfords.” He said, staring at me pointedly.
I laughed sarcastically, pulled on my shoulder bag, and opened the door while saying in a sulky tone. “You seem to be forgetting that I’m supposed to be incognito. At least now, everyone will think I got a rich boyfriend to replace the Crawford boys. Once I get out of the car, don’t wait a single second. Drive your flashy car right out of Crawford University. I’m coming to school with Joel tomorrow.”
“I’ll watch you go in first.” He tried to insist.
I fixed him with a piercing gaze and a glare that prompted him to raise his hands in surrender. “Okay, fine. I’ll do as your royal highness commands.”
I ignored his sassy tone and got out of the passenger seat, pulling my gloves out of my bag because I’d forgotten to wear them while glaring at the tinted car window, knowing that Levi was staring at me.
Within a few minutes, he started the car and drove out of the parking lot, eliciting a tiny sigh of relief from me as I turned to walk into the school.
“Slut!” A girl’s voice rang across the parking lot but when I turned to look back, the group of girls standing at the spot the voice had come from were staring down at their phones, pretending that it wasn’t one of them who had cussed at me.
I wanted to find the person who had called me that and make an example of them. But that was behavior that would bring me under scrutiny or worse, get me in trouble, so I ignored them.
I didn’t blame them for this. I blamed Mateo and his ‘brothers’.
As I walked to my first class, I turned my phone back on and my inbox was flooded with messages from Aiden.
He’d been trying to call me since yesterday evening, and while I’d blocked his calls, I couldn’t bring myself to block his texts like I did with Mateo and Caden. After all, while his brothers had done all they could to humiliate me, he’d been on my side. Sort of. But I still didn’t want to see him or talk to him.
I went about my day ignoring the disdainful looks from several people, the whispers hinting at what had happened at Caden and Aiden’s birthday party, and the covert name calling aimed at me.
Other than clenching my fists, I kept calm by reminding myself that once I was done investigating Henry Baker’s death, I would be able to take my classes remotely from home.
Unfortunately, Nyra was absent from school, and despite my attempts to reach her by phone, she didn’t answer. Consequently, I had to sit alone in Chemistry class.
I’d decided to sneak into the school’s archive room during our lunch break to look for Henry Baker’s information. I was strategizing on how I’d get in there when the University’s Vice-Chancellor’s assistant walked into the class to whisper something into our lecturer’s ears while staring at me.
After a few minutes of a short, whispered conversation between the two of them, Professor Waylon turned to me and said, “Aurora Byrne, you’re needed by the Vice-Chancellor’s assistant. Please go with Mr. Webster.”
“Yes.” I agreed, feeling some trepidation as I wondered if my cover was blown.
Even though the Supernatural Council could now send agents into Mac Tire City and I had extra protection in case my identity was revealed, I didn’t really want that to happen.
If the members of the Crawford Pack knew I was from the Supernatural Council, they would become very wary of me and I wouldn’t be able to move around as freely as I could now. Of course, it was also possible that they would kick me out of the Crawford Pack. After all, most packs and werewolves believed that the Supernatural Council was a power-hungry organization that had enforced the pack observer program just to steal power from and disintegrate packs.
I schooled my features to be as expressionless as possible while I packed my things into my shoulder bag. Then, with my head held high, I followed the VC’s assistant out of my class under the focused stares and murmurs of my Chemistry classmates.
5
Aurora
After getting me from my class, the Vice-Chancellor’s assistant, Mr. Webster, said nothing as he led me to the staff parking lot where his truck was parked. As if life hadn’t given me enough lemons to make lemonades out of, Aiden, Caden, and Mateo were also seated in the truck.
“Mr. Webster, is something the matter?” I asked.
He paused mid-step at my question before he continued walking. “There’s been an incident. I’m afraid the Crawford Town police need to speak with you.”
“What—”
Before I could say more, he interrupted me as he opened the door to his truck’s backseat for me. “I can’t share the details, but you’ll know what happened when we get to the police station, Miss Byrne. Please get in the truck.”
He would have looked like a perfect gentleman if he hadn’t angled his body such that he could grab me if I wanted to ‘escape’ as if he suspected me of doing whatever I was going to the police station for.
