ss
, and my shoulders jump up around my ear
in hasn't caught up to yet. The cafeteria at lunch is loud enough to hurt. Grease and wet coats
the Golden Wolves. Rule
wood under my jeans, and I've got maybe four bites of past
eight, and somebody drops down right ne
e carb-loaded mus
cutting straight through the grease and radiator heat. Jonah Kline. Something
ship, Kline. I
off my tray before I can swat him. Eats it
n long-sleeve shirt in November, and I hate that
o buy y
ning to face me fully, hair a mess like he's been dragging his hands through it all mor
ck with t
the hair on my arms lifts on
tly, just further away, like somebody
taste it at the back of my throat, and my lu
r side and sets his coffee down hard enough to
ne.
es out low. N
ut further, deliberately taking up more of the
can see it twitch. His eyes are usually flat pale blue, but
ps too, and the playful edge
able without my permission. My blood feels wrong under my skin. Too warm. Too fast.
s me a wink. Lazy. Easy. Like he knows something I don't.
The cup jumps, ice skittering
is tray, unhurried on purpose. "You
hes mine. Half a second. Heat shoots down
ight ahead at his coffee he isn't drinking, jaw wor
he says finally. His knuckles h
nybody. He sat down.
for half a second, then snap back up like he d
here untouched. "Finish eating, Marlow
, like there's a whole other sentence buried i
ugh the crowd like the cafeteria
I press them flat on the table an
r, Lila Beaumont
just sat. She's stirring her coffee too fast, spoon clinking against the mug. Her face is comp
s her ph
he bin and leave, not stopping to find Tinsley or Brooke, beca
the inside of your nose in about two breaths. I let i
s buzzing around me, everybody heading to class with no idea what I'm carrying, be
est actually aches, a hollow thr
nd let myself into 314, leaning b
awled on her bed, scrollin
a mess." I ki
h you again? I swear I will literally key their
. Just lou
der a cracking green clay mask, and squints
xcuse before I've even decided if it holds up.
econd where Jonah's shoulder caught mine. It followed me the who
and to my forehead. Her skin feels cold against mine, and she goes quiet for
mascot thing. Jumpy. Sweaty
ogy midterm str
even a little, but before she can push
ification from No
st. A sc
ra got her. Her face is tight, controlled the way it always is, but her eyes give her aw
had K
d a f
er, warm and ordinary, and somehow that makes it worse, because wh
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