Chapter 12
TWELVE
Rule Number Nine of Adeline’s Guide to Overcoming Loneliness: Adeline, you are worthy. Loneliness isn’t who you are, it’s where you are. No more “I’m alone because I’m unlovable” or “No one wants to be around me.” This phase is simply a chapter, not the whole book.
“Hey!” I say with a wide smile, watching her rush to the back. “We… We met at the café. I’m Adeline Ross!”
Kym’s gaze lingers on me, unreadable. It’s like staring at a blank wall and expecting it to move.
After what feels like an eternity, she gives an almost imperceptible nod and moves to the seat next to mine.
She doesn’t look interested—doesn’t sound it either—but everyone needs a friend. Especially on their first day.
“So… you’re new here?” I ask, my voice shrinking with every word.
“Yes. I just transferred,” she mutters, pulling a notebook and pens from her bag.
There’s a guardedness about her that puts me a bit on edge. A sadness in her expression, touched by a torment that makes her seem less human.
More like a dream fading into the night.
And there’s something else I notice, a striking detail I, surprisingly, haven’t noticed before—a single white streak in her otherwise dark brown hair.
It’s random, sure, but for some reason it doesn’t feel out of place. It’s so bright I’m shocked.
From the corner of my eye, I watch as she begins to write, her pen moving furiously across the page. The sheer speed and precision of it is startling, almost mechanical. I mean honestly, she’s going abnormally fast.
Like a human typewriter or something.
I bet she could write an entire novel before I even finished my name.
But just as I’m about to take my notebook and pencil case out, my eyes fall upon the necklace she wears, a delicate chain with a ring dangling from it. A spark of recognition flashes through me, a faint echo of familiarity tugging at the edges of my memory. Where have I seen that before?
“Is that… a ring on your necklace?” I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.
Her fingers lift to the pendant almost instinctively, brushing against the ring. Her gaze hardens. “Yes,” she replies curtly, offering nothing more. For a moment, her mask slips. There’s something in her eyes—pain, sharp and raw—but it vanishes so quickly I wonder if I imagined it.
“You seem like you talk a lot,” she adds, her voice sharp. “Could you stop?”
My stomach twists. Oh my god, I’m doing it again.
“Sorry,” I say, my cheeks burning. “I didn’t mean to. I’ll stop now. Really, I’m sorry.”
She doesn’t respond. Just turns back to her notebook and resumes her furious notetaking. I slouch in my seat, mortified. I’ve definitely ruined any chance of her liking me. Clearly, I’m making a horrible second impression. Not that I didn’t already make a horrible first one.
It’s better if I just keep my mouth shut from now on.
The whispers start to creep in again, and I take out my pen and start taking notes for the rest of the lesson. I keep my head down, pretending not to notice the stares, the murmured insults.
I pretend not to notice. The teacher does the same.
But I did.
And I’m pretty sure Kym did too.
***
When the bell rings, I linger in my seat, watching Kym out of the corner of my eye.
I can’t help but feel bad. Kym probably doesn’t have anyone to sit with for lunch.
She’ll be alone, just like I have been countless times before.
But she packs up so quickly to leave it makes me think that maybe she doesn’t mind being alone.
Maybe she prefers it that way. She’s also made it pretty clear she doesn’t want my help.
And honestly, maybe my help would only make things worse.
With that in mind, I watch her leave the class.
By the time the last student files out, I’m still glued to my chair, my anxiety keeping me pinned down.
I wait. I wait to avoid the cruel comments coming my way if I leave.
But as the classroom empties and silence settles, I take a deep breath, trying to steady the trembling within me. I slowly rise from my seat.
“Adeline?” The voice startles me. It’s the teacher, her face creased with concern. “Are you okay?”
Oh, don’t act like you care now.
Not when everyone has already left and you’ve done nothing.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
I force a smile. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
She doesn’t look convinced, but I don’t give her a chance to press further. I grab my things and hurry out before she can ask more questions.
The hallway is mercifully quiet, most of the students having already swarmed the caféteria. I pull out my phone, glancing at a message from Bea telling me where to meet them. But as I head to my locker, something… or someone catches my eye.
Will Carson.
He’s leaning casually against the wall, a cigarette dangling from his lips. The sight of him stops me dead in my tracks. Smoking? In the hallway? That’s definitely not allowed. Not that he cares, which clearly, he doesn’t.
He scares the crap out of me.
Seeing him so close, alone. That just makes me want to sprint away as fast as I can. But I force myself to keep walking, head down, steps steady. Don’t draw attention. Don’t look at him.
And yes, I am most definitely shaking, just a little bit, but there’s no way I’m letting him see that.
“It’s Adeline, right?” he drawls, his voice with an ominous tone that makes my blood run cold.
His words echo in my ears, each syllable dripping with a subtle menacing tone as his black eyes bore into mine, piercing through my soul with their emptiness.
It’s as if his gaze could consume me whole, leaving nothing but a hollow shell in its wake.
“Why are you smoking in the hallway?” I instantly cover my mouth with my hand when the words unwillingly escape my mouth.
Idiot.
I’m such an idiot.
Might as well just sign my death sentence now.
I freeze, and he notices.
His smirk deepens as he pushes off the wall and starts walking toward me, slowly. My legs feel rooted to the spot, and every instinct in me screams to run, but I can’t move. The cigarette dangles from his mouth, the smoke curling around his face like a sinister wisp as he approaches.
He stops just close enough for me to smell the smoke on his breath. Then, without a hint of hesitation, he blows a stream of it directly into my face. The audacity of it makes my blood boil.
“You’re disgusting.” The words tumble out, and I regret them immediately.
A terrifying smile makes its way across his face, curving his lips in a wicked display of satisfaction.
I take another step back, my back pressing against the lockers, and when he finally closes the distance between us, my heart races, pounding in my chest so hard and fast I swear he must hear it.
His eyes scan my face, lingering just a little too long, like he’s cataloguing every flicker of fear, every crack in my composure.
“You’re adorable when you’re frightened,” he says, his voice soft, but not at the same time. “It’s a shame I didn’t bring my camera.”
My stomach churns. I didn’t know someone’s gaze could be so invasive, so probing. Like he’s trying to peel back my skin and see what’s underneath. He leans in closer, his hand brushing a strand of hair behind my ear in a gesture that feels more like a violation than an act of kindness.
My eyes dart nervously around the hallways—a desperate and pitiful attempt at finding an escape while I quickly notice there isn’t one.
Instead, I notice a glimmer of something dangling from his neck.
It’s a necklace, or rather, a worn-out string with a ring attached—a ring so strikingly similar to the one Kym wears.
The realisation hits me so fast I don’t even have time to process it.
The questions linger in my mind, but I don’t dare utter another word.
“Pretty eyes,” he murmurs.
But then, with a sudden brutality, he tightens his grip on one of my curls, yanking me toward him. Panic seizes me, my heart racing at the invasion of my personal space. “Where do you get these curls from?” he whispers near my lips, and I still, making me unable to push away.
Even though something tells me he wouldn’t have let me if I tried.
“Hm?” he hums, his breath reeking of smoke and sin. “The resemblance really is uncanny.” His smile, though, terrifies me to the core.
Is he talking about my brother? My father? He must be.
Just as quickly as his eyes soften, they turn manic again.
Although, I’m almost positive they were never soft in the first place.
His fingers trail across my face, first gentle, then increasingly harsh, the more pressure he adds.
“Wasteful. I think,” he hisses, his words laced with a twisted satisfaction.
I’m shocked for a moment, but I don’t get time to dwell on it because he releases me suddenly, shoving me back against the lockers with a force that rattles the metal.
The impact stings, but I don’t flinch. I refuse to give him the satisfaction.
My chest heaves as I glare up at him. “You’re terrible.
All of you are,” I say, my voice trembling but loud enough to be heard.
He smiles again, wider this time, a grin that reveals nothing but malice. “Your family’s all the same. Pity,” he sneers.
And then he’s gone, sauntering away as if nothing happened. As if he didn’t just leave me shaken and broken against the lockers. And the moment he’s out of sight, I sink to the floor, my legs giving out beneath me, and let out a shaky breath. The air feels heavier, the walls closer.
How dare he speak about my family like that? He has no idea what he’s talking about.
I hate him.
I hate his friends.
And yet, I’m going to have to walk into that caféteria with my head up and forget everything that’s happened.
But something did happen.
Will had showcased the proof to me. The necklace. The ring. It all makes sense now.
Will Carson is Kym’s brother.
***