I try.
I really try to concentrate during class.
It’s impossible.
For one, Kim seems out of it, barely taking any notes. And it’s worrying me shitless.
For two, RES’s football team’s forward line surrounds us like a pack of wolves with the big bad wolf right behind me.
Aiden hasn’t said a word, but he doesn’t have to.
His presence can’t be mistaken even if he remains silent. I can feel his eyes digging a hole in the back of my head and feasting on my brain.
Mrs Stone starts talking about a preparatory test. I concentrate on her for the first time since the class started.
“You’ll perform a known script and add your special touch to it. The more creative you are, the more bonus points you will get.”
I love bonus points. It’s my perfect chance to build up my record for Cambridge.
“Can we pick who we perform with?” A girl at the front of the class asks.
“Partners will be chosen at random,” Mrs Stone says. “Swapping partners is prohibited.”
“Can we go solo?”
“Absolutely not,” Mrs Stone says. “This is to teach you team spirit. ”
Some whine softly while others snicker.
I spend the rest of the class trying to take as many notes as possible to occupy my mind.
But one can’t erase how Aiden looms like the devil in the corner, waiting to steal my soul.
As soon as the class ends, Kim shoves her things in her bag and takes off out the door.
I’m about to follow her when my pen falls, rolling on the floor.
A tall frame bends over and picks up the pen.
I cease breathing when Aiden stands to his full height. His focus is on me as he twirls the pen between his index and middle finger.
That pen can go to hell for all I care. Call me a coward, but I can’t handle another face-off with Aiden right now.
Besides, Kim is my priority.
Without sparing Aiden a glance, I bolt out of the classroom while it’s still full of people.
New resolution: never get myself trapped alone in the same place as Aiden.
That’s my best bet to survive.
It takes me a few minutes to find Kim. She’s lurking by the corner of our next class, earbuds in, and her gaze lost somewhere out of reach.
I run to her and clutch her shoulder. “Kim! I was so worried about you. Why didn’t you call me back?”
Her face is pale as if she’s seen a ghost while she removes the earbuds. “Ellie…”
“What? What is it? Did Aiden do something?”
“Aiden?” Her brows furrow. “What does he have to do with anything?”
“Uh… Kim? You came to class with that arsehole.”
“He found me in front of the nurse’s office and told me to walk to class with him.”
My blood boils. “Did he hurt you? Force you?”
“What the hell? Why would he do that?” Kim plays with the straps of her backpack. “He asked nicely. Almost…”
“Almost what?”
Something nostalgic flashes in her eyes. “Friendly.”
“Whoa. Kim. Are you hearing yourself? Aiden isn’t friendly. He can’t be friendly.” He’s a fucking psycho!
Please don’t tell me he’s playing with Kim’s mind, too. Is this a ‘fuck you’ to me? Or am I being too dramatic?
But then again, Aiden is the type who calculates his moves before making any.
Kim scrunches her brows, lips tightening. “Why are you so tense?”
“I’m sorry,” I smooth my voice. “It’s just that I’m worried about you, okay? Aiden has never been friendly to you so why would he start now?”
“King was never mean to me either. We go way back, you know.” Her lips tremble.
Way back?
I know Kim studied at Royal Elite Junior with the rest of the horsemen, but I’ve never gotten the impression that she was friends with them before.
I mean, Xander bullies her at any chance he gets. Why would the others be friends with her?
Especially Aiden.
“Why were you at the nurse anyway?” I ask.
“Just a headache.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I went to pick you up but your uncle said you already left.”
“Sorry about that. Aunt picked me up and I forgot my phone at school.”
She’s silent for a second, chewing on her bottom lip.
She’ll eventually tell me whatever happened. For now, I rub her shoulder and speak in a light tone. “Senior year, senior resolutions, right?”
“What resolutions?”
“You know, we’ll nail this year, too.”
She stares at me, appearing lost. “How? How can we do that? Because your empty optimism never brought us anything.”
“Kim…?”
She doesn’t seem to have heard me and continues in rapid-fire. “We can’t stop them. We can only stay under the water while it’s being poured on us and pray they don’t miss so we don’t have to endure it again. We can only bow and let them strike, hoping this will be the last.”
“Kim!” I shake her. “Don’t say shit like that again. We weren’t born to be stomped on. Do you hear me?”
“I’m not all strong and put together like you, Ellie.” Tears shine in her eyes. “I can’t freeze the world out as you do. It hurts. All of it hurts. I’m tired, okay? I’m just so fucking tired of this shit. It was ten years ago. Ten fucking years. Yes, I fucked up, but I’m only human. I deserve a second chance.”
I remain rooted in place as Kim wipes her eyes and storms around me to enter the class.
She… snapped.
Kim isn’t the type who snaps. She’s so kind and quiet and… bullied.
What happened to make her snap? And what the hell did she mean by saying that she deserved a second chance?
A second chance from whom?
Maybe I don’t know my best friend as much as I thought I did.
Something prickles at the back of my neck and my stomach tightens with strange awareness.
I turn around only to be captured by the smoky eyes of the devil king.
And he’s smirking.
For the rest of the day, we’re so preoccupied in our classes that I can’t find a chance to talk to Kim.
I’m fidgeting, my legs won’t stop bouncing, and I keep biting the cap of my pencils.
There’s also the fact that the pack of four horsemen surrounded us in every class. Every. Freaking. Class. Aiden always sat behind me like a looming threat.
If anyone took the seats on either side of me and Kim, all they had to do was stand there and anyone who occupied that seat scrambled away.
Aiden didn’t make a move to talk to me or even acknowledge my existence since the smirk he flashed earlier.
His silence is scarier than his words. I can react to his words. How can I react to… nothing?
In the span of a day, he made my head about ready to explode.
When Kim bolts out of class, I run after her.
I spend five minutes searching for her around the school’s perimeter. She’s not at the cabin or the library.
My head hangs as I step into the school’s ninth tower — where we have our last class.
My head collides against something hard.
Ow.
Xander stands right at the entrance, blocking it.
He’s staring ahead, fists clenching.
I follow his field of vision, and something dies in my heart.
Kim is crying against Aiden’s chest and he’s rubbing her back.
