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Oliver took his phone, giving me a curt nod.
My chest tightened.
He would never talk to me again.
And it wasn’t just them. By the sudden silence around me, I knew the whole class was watching.
This was so bad.
And the damned curls were frizzy from my furious battle this morning.
I dragged myself back to my seat and shrank down, still grasping it against my head, knowing I’d have to make a whole scene to put it back in its bun. I could feel the knot from the hair tie that was still tangled up in it.
Break was almost over, too. Three and a half minutes. I didn't have time to run to the bathroom. Even if I did, I'd have to walk byeveryonelike this.
Around me, I could hear the muffled sounds of poorly stifled mirth.
A hot bubble of shame burst in my chest, visceral through my missing memories, as if I’d been here a million times before.
I barely heard the scrape of a chair.
My eyes were burning, and I winced as I bit my lip again, trying to measure my expression.
I didn’t process the low words spoken behind me, or how they were almost cold. “Jasmine, Oliver. I’ll catch up later.”
I was so busy spiralling that I jumped when delicate fingers brushed mine, and then someone was tugging the hair tie from the huge buffle of hair that had it trapped.
They’d come to stand behind me?
“I amsojealous.” Her voice was smooth and calm, and her scent of fir trees and oranges was as soothing as I was panicked. “I always wanted hair as thick as this.”
I couldn’t move, shock blitzing every other feeling as dainty hands skillfully and swiftly wrestled my impossible hair back into its bun in front of every silent stare.
Then Roxy placed her books neatly beside mine, a surprisingly shy smile on her devastatingly beautiful face as she took the seat at my desk.
I just stared, the whole English language making a mass exodus from my brain.
Oh…
Shit.
This was bad.
This wasworsethan bad.
I needed the hardwood floor to open beneath me and swallow me up right now.
Because Roxy Vasilli was not allowed to be a nice person, not when I was trying to steal her alphas.
TWENTY
SHATTER
That evening, Umbra summoned me from my nest. “What’s this?” I asked, noticing a full spread of snacks across the table.
I’d hidden in my nest since lunch, as there were no afternoon classes. I’d tried to read one of the Arkology books I hadn’t yet opened, but instead I’d just clung to my pillows, furiously going over every moment of this morning, trying to figure out how to never look like such an idiot again.
“Movie night,” Dusk told me.
