I was waiting by Props’ locker when he arrived to school and I grinned, seeing him pale slightly. His eyes went to the flash drive that was dangling from my fingers. “Heya, Props!” I said cheerfully.

“Hey—” he said uncertainly.

“How was your date?”

He opened his locker and said stiffly, “Fine. What are you doing here?”

“I took a peek at what’s on here,” I stated, leaning against the next locker. “Guess what? It doesn’t make any sense to me. So, seeing how I don’t read technical code, I should come to the resident expert. That’d be you.”

The guy looked like he was about to pee his pants.

“So, you’re going to tell me what’s on this,” I announced.

“What…what’s in it for me?” He hesitated.

“Same deal as before. What do you want? And it better not be a second date with Aidrian Casners.”

“Uh—”

Too late—he took too long in answering me—I wanted a ‘yes’ immediately. I snapped, “You’re going to help me or you’ll deal with me. And if I’m not scary enough, remember what I said about my car? I like running people over with it.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll help, jeez. Just…”

“Just what?” I warned.

“Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought. So, when and where do we get started?”

“Uh,” he scratched the back of his head, “how about after school? You could come over to my house—”

“Where I’ll have to meet your mom, who will think I’m your girlfriend? I don’t think so, you can come to Tray’s house. Bring your laptop and whatever techie gadgets you need.”

He paled.

I turned and marched off. Not appeased, not fucking at all. I wanted to get at that information ASAP and now I’ll have to wait for the entire fucking day.

Swearing, I kicked my locker when it stuck.

“Man, I’m surprised to see you here,” Crystal remarked, hugging her books to her chest.

I spared a glance at her, but went back to beating the shit out of my locker.

“You’re entitled to some time off, you know? You shouldn’t be back at school already. Brian’s funeral was yesterday.”

“I know when Brian’s funeral was!” I snapped, punching my locker. It wouldn’t move. Props wouldn’t help me right this second. And Brian was still dead.

I was mortified, feeling tears tease at the corners of my eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Tray seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He blocked me from the watching audience and Crystal quickly stepped closer, blocking me from her angle.

“Get off,” I warned.

Tray rolled his eyes and slammed a fist to my locker, where it opened immediately. He grabbed my books and held them hostage. “You going to calm down?!”

“Give me my goddamn books.”

“If you’re going to go at it like this, all emotional and shit—we’re gonna fail. You have to push it aside, Taryn.”

Crystal frowned. We weren’t referring to books.

“I don’t need—”

“My help?” Tray slipped it, “Because, according to you, you do need my help and I’m telling you—calm the fuck down!”

“My locker wouldn’t open.” I knew it was a shameless excuse.

“We’re not talking about your damn locker and you fucking know it,” Tray growled.

“Stop it!” I shoved him away. “Give me a break…”

“You can’t afford any breaks, not now.” He cursed and drew me with him, down the hallway and into the empty gymnasium.

He sat on a bleacher and murmured, “You took off early.”

I didn’t respond, but hugged myself. Trying to hold in the blistering rage.

“Taryn,” he began, softening his voice slightly, “you have to shut it off. You just have to. Being emotional will end up getting us killed. This isn’t some fucking high school prank—this is you and me playing a game that could get us killed. You’re right, you do need me on this and this is how it has to be.”

“But I can’t—”

He stood up and said sternly, “You have to or I walk. That’s the deal. There’s no other way.”

I glared at him, hating him in that moment.

Tray grinned at me and pulled me against him. Encircling an arm around my waist, he bent and whispered against my lips, “Why don’t we skip and go screw each other’s brains out?”

It had some appeal.

“We skipped almost all of last week. I don’t think I can afford it.”

Tray shrugged. “It’s not like you’ll get into trouble.”

There was that again—the elite—they could fucking get away with whatever the fuck they wanted to. But I’d been included recently, so I could get away with it too. I was such a hypocrite.

Brian’s dead. The reminder popped in my head—bringing me back to reality. I’d forgotten, for a few minutes, but I had. I clamped down on the guilt that speared my body.

“I gotta talk to the counselor about Mandy, too,” I murmured.

“Fuck that. Your folks should have to do it.”

“Yeah,” I bit out, “because they’re always around, aren’t they?”

“Come on. Let’s go to my place and spend the rest of the day in bed. It’d be good for you.”

“So I can enjoy sex when Brian’s dead.”

Tray pulled away, but not completely. It had worked, partially, but Tray watched me. And I knew he figured it out when the corner of his mouth curved upwards, “Not going to work, baby. I’m not going to ‘rescue’ you and tell you it’s alright and you don’t have to feel guilty that you’re still living. You know that shit and besides, the guy seemed to love you. He wouldn’t want you to go down that route, Taryn.”

I knew he was right, but—fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I’m sorry,” I slipped out, my hands twisting in my hair. “I’m just…I can’t handle this, I can’t not do anything, I can’t just sit in class, I can’t jus—”

Tray slammed his mouth against mine and an explosion erupted inside me. It was what I needed and I met him full-force, drowning in him. My hands wrapped around his neck as I hoisted myself up, my legs wrapped around him and he walked us against the wall. Pressing against me, he licked, sucked, kissed, and caressed my mouth.

“God—” I moaned, raking my hands through his hair, holding him tightly against me.

“Okay, laps around—”

Of course, there had to be a gym class first period. The teacher stopped in shock, students milling around him, trying to see what stopped him.

“Mr. Evans and Miss Matthews!” he reprimanded.

Tray held me in place as he lifted his head lazily and grinned at the teacher. “Hey, Mr. Martson.”

“This is not appropriate behavior and the two of you are missing your classes.”

I grinned, leaning my forehead into Tray’s neck.

“Well, you see, Mr. Martson,” Tray began, flashing a charming smile, “this isn’t what it looks like.”

“It isn’t? he asked skeptically.

“No, you see Taryn thought it’d be a good idea to practice her climbing skills.”

“On you?” Mr. Martson supplied dryly.

“Yeah, exactly, because you know, I wouldn’t let her fall.”

“Mr. Evans.”

“Yeah?”

“She can un-climb off of you now. Then make sure to take a trip to the principal’s office. You can resume your ‘climbing’ there.”

“I don’t think he’d appreciate that, Mr. Martson,” Tray said seriously.

“Out. Now.”

Tray let me down and I saw more than a few grins behind the teacher’s back.

When we got to the office, Tristan was sitting in the waiting room, looking irritated.

“Hey, guys!” She brightened up, seeing us. “Tray, how are you? I can’t believe you guys missed the entire play-offs. Seriously.”

He shrugged.

I was bored, pissed, and restless.

“Can it, Tristan,” I snapped, pacing.

“You are such a bitch!”

“Please. I’m just callin’ it like I see it.”

“Right…you know what? I am sick and tired of you. I come back from Spain and all I hear about is how great Mandy’s new sister is. She’s so fun and free-spirited. She puts Amber and Jasmine in her place—they’re right, but what they failed to mention was how you couldn’t care one iota about decency. It’s called class and you’ve got none.”

I laughed. “What makes you think I care?”

It pissed her off even more. This was putting me in a much better mood.

“Oh my God…I cannot believe your nerve. You treat Mandy like shit—”

Oh no, bitch.

“No, you treat Mandy like she’s your bitch. Like some little lapdog for you to play with and screw with her mind. You think she’s yours, like you have claim over people—which is why you and Amber don’t like each other. You’re the same, you’re both psychotic narcissists.” I got in her face.

“If anyone’s the—”

“It’s you. Trust me,” I clipped out, staring her down.

“You waltz into town and think it’s yours, but I’ll tell you one thing…I’ve been here a lot longer than you. My family founded this fucking town—”

“Ooh, look at that class. I didn’t know blue-bloods knew what swear words were,” I taunted, sitting back, watching her stumble over her words.

“Oh my God!” Tristan shrieked. “Can you get over yourself?” She turned to Tray and pleaded, “Tray—”

Tray stood up lazily, and remarked, “Why do you think I’m sleeping with her? Couldn’t beat her, so I joined her.” He sent me a private grin, his eyes lustful.

“Holy hell! If I knew this school was this entertaining, I’d have been here a long time ago!” Carter exclaimed, standing in the open-doorway. There were more than a few students behind him, shamelessly listening to the entire exchange.

“We’re not selling tickets. Shoo, fuckers,” I barked.

“I’d pay.” Carter held out his wallet.

“Carter, what the hell are you doing here?” Tray asked, moving towards him to punch him in the shoulder.

“Orientation, baby. Orientation.” He gestured to Tristan. “Guess that’s why she’s here too. I’m transferring.”

“Let me guess, your files were destroyed in a freak accident.” Tray said wryly.

“Something like that.” Carter sent me a grin. “Thanks for the idea.”

“I’m leaving,” I announced, and walked out. This was pointless. If Tristan, her royal fucking highness, hadn’t been helped, yet Tray and I shouldn’t have to stick around when all we were doing was making out. The principal will probably just throw out some bullshit about appropriate boundaries, and I’d tell him that Tray and I knew exactly how appropriate our boundaries were. Then we’ll get detention. Or I’d get detention. This was not what I needed right now. Not when I planned on using every free minute either hunting down Props or threatening Props.

At my locker, Molly proclaimed, “Is it true? Is it true? Is Carter Sethlers going to school here now? I’ve, like, heard it from eight people.”

Who does she talk to? Is there a secret underground of Invisibles that just see and hear everything? Seriously.

“Yes,” I bit out, grabbing my second period book now. Tray still had my first period book.

“Oh my God! This is great!”

I said, “You have a boyfriend. Sethlers is off limits.”

“Oh.” She blushed, how unusual. “Well…yeah, I mean…I spent the weekend with Garrett and it was…”

I couldn’t handle another full-body blush, so I asked, impatiently, “Did ya have sex or not?”

I literally thought, for an actual second, that her eyes would pop out of her head.

“Taryn,” she whispered, horrified she glanced around, “I…oh gosh…no. We didn’t have sex.”

“Did you want to?”

“Taryn!”

“Come on. That was the whole reason you were apprehensive about going to the cities for the weekend, right?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to announce it.”

“I asked a question. Announcing would be different. I’d use the PA system if I wanted to announce something.”

“Hey, bitch!”

I looked up—that is my name after all.

Aidrian Casners was pushing her way through the crowd, wearing a frilly pink halter-top over a black leather miniskirt. She had white hoop earrings dangling to her shoulders, which looked like they were about to rip her ears off from the speed she was zooming my way.

I grinned at that thought.

Molly shrieked and melted away. Literally. She had mad Invisible skill.

Crystal was following Aidrian, but I saw the grin she was biting back. She was only there for entertainment. Hell, Aidrian entertained me too.

“What up?” I asked easily, standing to face the firing squad.

“You sent that freak nerd to my house Friday night. I had to baby-sit his ass at Third Wave,” she hissed.

I rolled my eyes, then said smoothly, “That freak nerd is going to bank-roll you in one year. Trust me. He could own Third Wave in another ten, max.”

That drew her up.

“Really?” Aidrian asked, perplexed. “He’s a nerd.”

“He’s a computer nerd who’s going to save my life. So no, he’s not a nerd.”

“Oh.” She was at a loss for words. “I thought…I mean…he’s a nerd!”

“He’s going to be one of those hot nerds. Hot and rich. Mark my words,” I remarked, walking away.

Crystal burst out laughing as I passed her. She fell in line, “I’m in awe of you. I mean, really, truly, madly, deeply. Just awe. Almost idol worship awe.”

“She’s entertaining,” I remarked dryly.

“Hey,” she stopped me.

I heard her tone and I knew what was coming.

“No,” I spoke first, “it’s great that you know what hell my weekend was. It’s great that you think I shouldn’t be here. But really—I’m fine.”

She looked taken aback. “Okay, fine. I just…I just wanted to say that if you ever want to get stark raving drunk, look me up.”

I relaxed slightly. “Thanks. I might take you up on that,” I said, gentling my tone, but I couldn’t erase the impatience I was feeling.

The rest of the morning passed and everyone knew to stay away from me. It might’ve been announced over the P.A. system. Swear. I’d walk down the hallways and people would scatter, making a path for me.

It might’ve been the scowl on my face.

“Miss Matthews, you are wanted in the principal’s office.” Of course, my teacher had to tell me this at the end of class.

“Now? At lunch?”

“It’s important.”

So off I went. As I traipsed through the hallway, I saw Amber and Jasmine giggling over something. Sasha stood just to the side, glaring at Jasmine’s back. Tristan was at her own locker, with her own following already malingering around her. The girl worked fast—she’d be ready to usurp Amber’s power in a week.

“Miss Matthews,” the receptionist greeted me.

“I got a note.”

“Yes, Principal Marshalls is waiting for you in his office right now.”

He wasn’t alone. I saw Coach Hailey with one empty chair beside her. Guess that had my name on it.

“Miss Matthews, take a seat,” Principal Marshalls offered, gesturing to the chair.

As we both sat, he started, “Ms. Hailey tells me that you had a less than professional attitude with her Friday morning.”

“Well, yeah. Mandy couldn’t go to the game and so I tried telling her that, but she told me I was full of it.”

“I did not!” Coach Hailey gasped.

“Yes, you did. You told me you wouldn’t accept that Mandy couldn’t be there and you’d expect her at the Dome when you arrived. Your exact words. So yeah, I had an attitude because you had one first,” I stated matter-of-factly.

Principal Marshalls cleared his throat, sending a beseeching look Hailey’s way. “I think the more important matter is your sister. Where is she, Taryn?”

I shrugged.

“I realize you may be scared about ‘narcing’ on your sister, but this meeting is more about our concern for Mandy. She’s been struggling lately, we’ve all noticed.”

“And here she thought she was hiding it so well,” I remarked, rolling my eyes.

“Miss Matthews, I don’t think you realize how serious this is.”

“I do. But it’s not my place to send memos for my sister.”

I was right and Principal Marshalls knew it. I saw a flash of guilt in his eyes.

“This girl is awful. She has an attitude with everyone. I can’t believe you let her stay in our school,” Coach Hailey cried out.

“I thought you were a counselor,” I shot her way.

“I am.” She blinked, the evil robot was reconfiguring what the definition of a counselor was.

“You’re not even nice,” I pointed out. “Are you sure?”

“Taryn,” the principal barked, “you will learn to mind your mouthyou’re your manners.”

Sounded like the name of a rock band.

I rolled my eyes, but shut up.

“We have two items on the agenda here. One, your sister’s disappearance and two, your attitude.”

“Ask all my teachers. I don’t have an attitude with them.”

“Yes, this is why Mr. Martson found you and Tray Evans in an inappropriate position this morning.”

See—inappropriate position, inappropriate boundaries—same thing.

I grinned. “It didn’t feel inappropriate.”

“See! Mr. Marshalls, she should be in a boot camp somewhere. There are places that do outdoor therapy, I think Miss Matthews would benefit most from that type of environment.”

“Oh come on!” I cried out. “You just don’t like me because I didn’t take your crap. And Mandy being gone is not my responsibility to explain. When her parents finally show up, it’s their job.”

Principal Marshalls had been watching the exchange. He said, “I agree—”

With who?

“I agree with Miss Matthews that her sister’s absence should be explained by her parents and not her sister. But I agree with Ms. Hailey that your attitude does need dealing with, Taryn.” Oh, like the use of my first name is going to scare me. Bite my ass.

He continued his blah, blah, blahing, “I think some consequences should be handed out for your attitude.”

“Like I’m the only one with an attitude in this school!” I cried out. “That is so unfair.”

“When you transferred here, we were given specific instructions and warnings on your behaviors. You have one of the largest files in school and this is not the first time you’ve been sent to my office.”

Please, that chair was begging to be tipped over.

“And you have an impressive record of skipping classes.”

“Like I’m the only one,” I retorted.

“Which is why you’re primarily here for the prevention of further behaviors,” he explained in a tone that was supposed to sound kind, but he sounded like a pompous ass in my opinion.

“She’s not even taking you seriously,” Coach Hailey remarked, shaking her head. “Boot camp, Peter. It’s the only thing that’ll get through to her.”

And fuck you too.

“Can she not be here?” I asked, glaring. “She’s made it abundantly clear what her opinion is. Is there any other reason for her presence?”

Principal Marshalls frowned, but replied, “I agree, Miss Matthews. Ms. Hailey, we’ve already taken up enough of your time. I’ll keep your recommendations in mind and if you could have them typed in a report, it’d be most appreciated.”

She was going to argue, but she smiled instead. Like she’d been given a compliment or something. I made a vow, then and there, that I’d find whatever report she was going to type up and I’d shred it. Then I’d find her backups on her computer and trash those. Maybe a bat to her computer would work.

When she left, Principal Marshalls leaned back, considering me. He sighed. “Taryn, you are a mystery to me. Most of these students that walk these hallways make perfect sense to me. I know exactly what’s troubling them, how to help them, or how to change them. But you…you were excelling in your classes. Now you’re dating Tray Evans, skipping classes, pissing off teachers, and breaking into my office via the venting shaft.”

What? I looked up, surprised to see him grinning knowingly at me. He pointed upwards. “Don’t think we didn’t know who was behind that little prank the other week.”

I feigned innocence.

“We just couldn’t prove it,” he remarked, “But we knew. Principal Corey is a very good friend of mine. I’ve gotten more than an earful about your juvenile pranks.”

They weren’t juvenile. And they weren’t pranks.

“But that’s in the past and now we’re dealing with the present.”

I readied myself, ready to handle whatever he threw out.

“I’ve heard rumors that you’re a swimmer. Quite good, in fact.”

What the hell?

“I think your consequence will be to join the swim team,” he announced. “I’ve already talked to Coach Greenly. He’s watched you swim and dive, he said you’re given an automatic spot on the varsity team, which is highly unusual here at Rawley, let me tell you. Girls have to compete against each other for varsity spots.”

I waited. There had to be a catch.

“My only stipulation is that you do not kicked off the team.”

Meaning no skipping practices, no attitude, and no drama with team-members.

“And you can start today,” he finished, looking proud.

“What? No! I have something I need to take care of after school,” I protested, jumping out of my chair.

“Whatever it is, it can wait. You don’t want to get kicked off the team before you even start, do you?”

Oh…fuck!

“Good. Now that that’s settled, you can leave, Miss Matthews.”

I shut the door behind me. When I got to the hallway, my mind was reeling as I walked to my locker.

Most of the hallway was empty. A few lingered, talking, whatnot, but as I opened my locker, I found myself reaching for my purse. In my wallet, I found the picture I was looking for: me and Brian. We’d gone to the beach that day and we were just being stupid. He was carrying me on his back, my legs were wrapped around his waist and he had turned his head, trying to lick my neck.

I took a deep breath and clipped the picture on my door.

“That your ex?” Tristan asked behind me.

“Yeah,” I murmured, my voice lacking heat.

“Look, I’m sorry. I heard about it in fourth period about him. Why you and Tray took off this weekend.”

“So what?” I laughed. “Now you’re going to be nice to me? Please.”

“I’m trying to apologize here. You can cut me some slack.”

“Why the fuck would I want to do that?” I asked, more curious than anything else. “You haven’t exactly been gracious to me at all.”

“I have done nothing but be nice to you,” Tristan cried out. “But you’ve judged me based on one time when I was messing with Mandy. You’re constantly going after me. If you’re not siccing Casners on me, then it’s Amber. I can’t get a break!”

“And you deserve a break?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. I think I do. I’ve tried.”

“What have you done? If anything, I just don’t put up with your passive aggressive shit.”

“Look, I’m on the swim team, so I’m just saying we should try to get along.”

I didn’t even ask how she knew I was joining. The school had a better P.A. system than our actual P.A.

“What do you want from me, Tristan?” I finally asked, resignation settling in my bones.

“I don’t know. You’re Mandy’s sister. I thought it’d be nice if we could be friends, but apparently that’s not possible.”

“Look.” I was really trying here, like—patience of a god trying here, “Maybe…we got off on a wrong foot. And Amber didn’t exactly sell you either.”

“I can imagine.” Tristan rolled her eyes, shifting on her feet. “Look…truce? Start over?’

“Whatever,” I mumbled, but it was enough for Tristan.

The rest of the day passed like the morning. People steered clear of me, for the most part.

In seventh period, Molly was almost sullen in psych.

“You can say something. I’m not going to break,” I finally said, exasperated.

She blushed. “I’m just…I’m so sorry, Taryn.”

“So, who’d you hear it from?”

“Kayden overheard some sophomore talking about it. At first everyone was really mad at you because they all blamed you for not letting Tray go to the play-offs, but then someone said you went to a funeral. And then a freshman heard you and Tray talking in the gymnasium.”

I just groaned. The freshman had had front row seats to some inappropriate boundaries. Thank God the teacher had interrupted us. I never thought I’d think that.

Fuck.

I glanced over to Tray and saw him grinning at Carter—he was like a puppy at Petco. Carter was his best friend and I hadn’t realized how much till recently. Tray was ecstatic that Carter was at our school again.

No one could tell, but I saw it. There was a little look, a note of excitement on his poker face. His hazel eyes, those…seriously hot hazel-eyes that turned amber when he was…probably shouldn’t go there.

“So—” Molly was chewing her lip, looking terrified.

“What? Spit it out.”

“Okay? I mean…are you like…I don’t know, depressed?”

I rolled my eyes, but answered truthfully, “I handle shit like this by getting angry and getting even.”

“Huh?” She was confused. “I thought it was a…it was a car accident, right?”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t get revenge,” I said sweetly, leaning back in my chair.

“You’re nice. You wouldn’t understand,” I said bluntly.

“Yeah, but—” The girl was seriously perplexed.

Enough was enough. I wasn’t about to explain myself to an Invisible who recently discovered the fun of making out.

“So you and Larkins, huh?” I mentioned casually, sitting back, and waiting for her to blush. One…two…there is was. I couldn’t contain a chuckle.

“Shut up. We’re not like that…well—”

“You are. You both had to have the ‘sex’ talk with me. You are like that.”

“We did not.” She sighed, blushing at the same time. “Okay—”

“You did. The two of you are a couple. So just fucking admit it.”

“Oh my God,” she moaned, burrowing her head in her hands. Sorry girl, you can’t disappear in the middle of class.

“Did you guys have the ‘sex’ talk with each other?”

“Shut up. Please,” she moaned, her voice muffled by her hands.

I laughed at that, but I pressed on, “Come on. Seriously. Larkins was on strict instructions to have the talk. Did he? He better have.”

“Do you and Tray have the talk?” she asked, her voice still muffled.

“Yeah,” I smiled fondly, images of naked Tray in mind, “it usually consists of ‘bend over’ or ‘do you want to screw?’.”

“Oh my God,” she squeaked, trying to burrow through the desk this time. The Invisible wasn’t much of an Invisible right now.

“What’s with the act? You were fine asking me questions on Thursday.”

“That wasn’t about sex,” she hissed. “That was about…other stuff.”

“That other stuff is just another form of sex.”

She squeaked again which I found damn funny.

“Matthews!” Carter called across the room. “What the hell’s so funny?”

Molly groaned loudly and pulled her head from the desk to her lap. Almost—literally—underneath the table.

This made me laugh even more.

“It’s annoying,” Sasha griped, but it lacked heat.

I gritted my teeth, really, really, really hating that everyone was treating me differently today.

I snapped, the humor vanishing like the slam of a door. “I’m not some fucking fragile china doll. You don’t have to treat me like I’m going to break.”

Sasha’s eyes widened to saucers. She choked back whatever she had been thinking—imagine that, a Hooters platinum blonde not having a blonde moment—and sputtered, “Excuse me?”

“Oh, please, Sasha. Since when have you ever sugar-coated your insults?”

“Oh my God. I cannot believe you, Taryn! Excuse me for not going for the jugular—”

“That’d be assuming you’ve gone there in the past. Trust me, your aims—not even close,” I said smoothly. “You’re like a guy who can’t find the hole.”

“Oh!” “Damn!” “Fuck!”

The guys instantly knew what I meant, most of ‘em unable to contain their reactions of shock. The girls took a little longer—most of them anyway.

“You’re such a bitch!” It’s no wonder that Sasha knew the meaning immediately.

I laughed. “And you say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Miss Matthews, Miss Klinnleys,” the teacher spoke, returning from her errand, “quiet down or you’ll both be taking a trip to the principal’s office. And, Taryn,” her gaze settled on me, “you don’t need another trip to the principal today.”

“How many times you been there today?” Carter asked, leaning forward eagerly.

I didn’t answer, but Sasha answered instead, “It’d be her third time. Isn’t that, like, a record?”

The teacher must’ve seen my reaction, because she spoke quickly, loudly, “That’s enough. We’ll be having quiet time for the rest of the period. You can finish filling out your worksheets.”

I threw my books in my locker the second after class. Two students near me jumped in the air, quickly scattering when they saw me scowl.

It didn’t help that I saw Tray glance at me in disappointment, and then turn towards his locker. Fucker.