Chapter 22 #2
“She better keep her mouth shut,” she mutters darkly. Then she sighs, throwing a handout toward my desk. “You have it worse, Addie. All four of them? Who did you anger in your past life?”
“Everyone, apparently,” I reply. “Will is kind of terrifying.”
Lilia makes a face. “If Satan had an intern, it would be him.”
Just as I’m about to respond, the door swings open, and Berlin and Ava stride in. Berlin zeroes in on me instantly. “What are you staring at?” she sneers, her expression remarkably cold.
“Nothing important,” I mutter under my breath, and Lilia snorts a laugh.
Berlin’s gaze snaps to her. “And what are you snorting at, Harris? You sound like a pig.”
Ava laughs like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. Lilia, to her credit, stays surprisingly calm.
“Take your bitchy attitude and slutty wardrobe elsewhere else, Berlin,” she says coolly, locking eyes with Berlin’s icy ones.
Berlin steps closer, her smile razor-sharp. “Watch it.”
“Or what?” Lilia fires back.
“You’re pushing your luck, Harris,” she hisses, and for a minute, Berlin’s eyes flash with anger, her lips tightening as though she’s on the verge of snapping.
For a moment, it’s all there—the fury, the tension, the sharpness in her expression.
But then, like a switch flipping, it’s gone.
Her features smooth out, and she blinks once, slowly, as if resetting herself.
Her face becomes calm, neutral. Uncaring. As if none of it ever happened.
She calmly leans in, face close to Lilia’s. “They really scrubbed the stink off you, huh?” she murmurs, voice silken. “Rehab must’ve worked. You don’t reek of alcohol anymore.”
Lilia doesn’t move. Doesn’t blink. But her face drains of colour so fast it’s like the blood’s been vacuumed out. Her hands clench around the edge of the desk, white-knuckled.
Berlin smiles pleasantly. “Still,” she adds, stepping back, voice light as spun sugar, “once a mess, always a mess.”
And then she turns and walks away.
“Whatever,” Lilia says flatly, her voice devoid of the venom it held just seconds ago, but her eyes stay locked on the desk. Unblinking. And her jaw’s set too tight.
I lean in slightly. “Lilia?” I ask, careful not to speak too loudly. “Are you okay?”
I watch as her throat bobs with a swallow, then she blinks, forces her mouth into something resembling a smile. “I’m brilliant,” she says cheerfully. “Now, focus.” She gestures ahead with her chin. “Your hell spawn neighbours have arrived.”
But I can’t seem to glance away from Lilia. Her eyes are forward, her mouth set in a line that’s almost a smirk.
I want to say something. I want to comfort her. To tell her that she doesn’t need to feel ashamed of something she’s already survived. That the people who claw their way out of darkness are the strongest kind. The real kind.
But the look on her face—it tells me everything I need to know.
She wants to drop it.
So I do. For now.
Somehow, I manage to force my gaze away from her, glancing up, and sure enough, Kai Steele, Will Carson, Christian Ryder, and Liam Grey are making their way into the room.
There’s a shift in the atmosphere, as if the air in the room changed.
Like they had sucked it out. Conversations dim.
Students straighten in their chairs. It’s ridiculous, really. It almost makes me laugh.
Kai and Will head straight to the back, while Liam and Christian take seats in my row. Liam plops down next to me with his usual easy grin.
“Hi, Adeline,” he says.
“Hi, Liam.”
His eyes take in my hair. “Cool braids. They look… damp.”
“I fell,” I admit.
“Figured it was something like that,” he says with a shrug.
Should I be offended?
“Give me your phone,” Liam says, holding out his hand.
“Why?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“Just give it,” he says, motioning impatiently, and against my better judgment, I hand it over. His fingers fly across the screen, and when he hands it back, I notice a new contact added.
“So you can ask me questions.” He smirks, pulling out a pen. Before I can ask what that means, his face shifts. He glances into his bag and freezes, his expression twisting into horror.
Liam pokes Christian, who’s sitting beside him. Christian leans over, glances into the bag, and immediately recoils. His entire face drops. “Why?” Christian whispers harshly, and I’m not sure what he’s glaring at more—Liam or whatever is in the bag.
I glance between them, trying to figure out if I’m about to witness a crime or just general stupidity. Liam doesn’t answer. He’s too busy staring into his bag like it might start hissing at him.
“You’re kidding,” Christian mutters. He looks over his shoulder and signals to Kai and Will, who are sitting in the back.
Kai leans forward, his brow furrowed. “Didn’t I tell you to put a fucking leash on it?” he mumbles.
Liam throws up his hands. “I did! I told you; it just slips right out.”
Will groans, dragging a hand down his face. “If it gets loose again, I’m not dealing with it.”
At this point, my curiosity is burning a hole in my brain, but Liam’s already bolted out of his seat, grabbing his bag and muttering something about the bathroom.
Mr. Anderson claps loudly then and I jerk upwards. I don’t even get a chance to look over to Christian and ask him what the hell that was, or why Liam was so panicked.
His hand freezes mid-air and I notice he’s holding the remote he always uses for presentations. “Now that I have all of your attention!” he announces, pressing a button on the remote. The words Term Project appear onto the screen in bold letters.
Oh, holy hell, not now.
He paces slowly before us. “Teamwork is the foundation of your academic and professional future. And collaborative work will help you build trust with your peers.”
Bit over the top, is it not?
I sigh. Oh, how I hate group projects. They’re a lot of work, a lot of compromises, and a lot of headaches.
He takes a breath then continues. “Today, I’m pairing you up. And before you get too excited, you’ll be working with the person right next to you,” he says, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. All this corporate talk sounds like nothing more than a fancy way to say, “suffer together”.
Mr. Anderson’s gaze lands on me. “Since you’re a desk of three, and we are an odd number, you can work in a three,” he declares, sealing my fate.
Great. Just great. Of all the possible combinations… just why?
Before I can even register a protest, Mr. Anderson strides on, his tone annoyingly chipper.
“Your task is simple. Create a business plan for ‘Campus Brew’. Design a coffee cart to give students a quick, affordable caffeine fix between classes.” He then goes on to detailing the basics: a menu of standard brews, cost analysis, a location plan, and a marketing strategy.
I glance sideways at Christian, and I know he sees me do it, but he doesn’t so much as acknowledge me. Too busy jotting down notes, I guess.
Or maybe he just doesn’t like you.
Then, minutes later, Liam finally returns, looking like he’s fought a small war. There’s a small tear in his shirt, and a faint smear of something on his sleeve that I’m not sure I want to identify.
“Where is it?” Will asks, leaning back in his chair.
“Locker,” Liam mumbles, slumping into his seat and exhaling a few tired breaths.
I stare at him for a moment, debating whether to ask what “it” is. But something about the look on Christian’s face tells me I’m better off not knowing.
***
I walk out of the classroom with Lilia, who is energetically complaining about something, probably the fact that she’s been forced to work with Ava on the project, though I’m too preoccupied to really catch the details.
My mind is still stuck on the thought of having to break the news to her that I can’t hang out with her and Bea today.
My mum needs me at home today, and work is non-negotiable.
But still, I can’t help but feel guilty, because these are my first real friends in…
well, forever. Letting them down feels like failing.
“Lilia,” I say finally as we reach our lockers. She turns to me, expectant but still distracted by the lock she’s fiddling with.
“What’s up?” she asks, glancing at me with mild curiosity.
“I—can’t hang out today,” I stammer, wincing at my own awkwardness.
Her expression softens instantly. “Addie,” she starts, but I quickly interject.
“I have work. A lot of it. And my mum needs me at home. It’s not that I don’t want to come…” My voice trails off, and I brace myself for her disappointment.
To my surprise, she waves it off. “Addie, you could’ve just said that. We’re not going to unfriend you because you’re busy. Bea would understand too.”
I’m mildly shocked at that, mostly because I half expected her to drag me there with her anyway. “I’m sorry. I’ll plan better next time. I really do want to go,” I say earnestly, hoping she can tell I mean it.
She smiles warmly. “We’ll figure it out. Or,” she adds with a smirk, “we could always just show up at your work and hang out there.”
That suggestion stops me in my tracks. “What?”
“You heard me,” she says, shrugging. “If you’re stuck working, we’ll just bring the fun to you. Simple problem solving.”
“Wow,” I say, my eyes slightly widened. “Thank you.”
She waves it off again, her attention already back on her locker. “Relax, Addie. We’ve got you.”
I grab my notebook and start to leave, but her voice stops me. “Oh, and Addie?”
“Yeah?” I turn back, and her eyes meet mine, sincere.
“If you ever need help at work, or with anything else for that matter, call me.”
A simpler offer, but one that makes my chest ache in the best way. “Thanks, Lilia. I mean it.”
***
I open my locker, and the wave of unease hits me before I even see it.
Sitting on top of my notebook is another note.
My stomach knots up, and all I want to slam the locker shut, pretending I didn’t see it.
But I know I can’t ignore it. I pick it up with trembling hands.
My heart pounds against my ribs, loud enough to drown out everything else.
Stop looking, Adeline.
The message is short, but it sends a chill down my spine. I read it again and again, the words blurring as my breathing quickens.
This doesn’t make sense. The notes before were basically begging me to dig deeper with the amount of hints they were throwing at me. They practically led me to the answers. And now, suddenly, they’re telling me to stop?
It’s clear there are two people watching me.
Fantastic.
***
The last bite. The best bite. The grand finale of my sandwich.
Oh yes, this is great. This is the bit I’ve been saving.
But just as I’m about to taste perfection, I look up. And suddenly, I forget how to chew.
Kai Steele is standing right in front of me, towering over me like some dark omen in a school hallway, and something about the look in his eyes pins me in place.
I don’t know if it’s the eyes or his general presence, but it affects me enough that my fingers slowly lose grip of the sandwich, and it plummets to the floor.
I stare at it with deep, soul-crushing misery.
No. No, no, no.
My stomach clenches in despair. That was my sandwich. And now it’s dead. Murdered.
I look back up at him, my hunger-fuelled devastation morphing into pure resentment. “Y-you—”
Kai just tilts his head slowly. “I?” he drawls.
I exhale through my nose, levelling him with a glare. “I was gonna eat that, you know.”
His gaze flickers downward, assesses the sandwich like it’s roadkill or something, then lifts his head, meeting my eyes again. “Switch with me.”
I blink. “What?”
“Be my partner.”
If he had asked me to rob a bank with him, I wouldn’t have been more shocked.
“…what?” I repeat, because surely, I’ve misheard him.
Kai rolls his eyes then, and it seems playful, but I don’t miss the faintest flicker of impatience in them. “Be my partner for the project.”
For a solid three seconds, all I can do is stare. Because this—this doesn’t make sense. Why would he want to work with me? Something tells me Kai Steele would never willingly work with me unless…
Unless he wants something.
“Are you feeling alright?” I ask, because naturally, that would be the other conclusion.
His lips quirk slightly. “Would that change your answer?”
I stare at him. “This is about the project, right?”
Kai just smiles, flashing me his dimples. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Because it’s you, I want to say. Because nothing is ever that simple with you.
But before I can say any of that, he shrugs. “I already told Anderson we’re working together.”
I jolt. “You what?”
“You heard me.”
I gape at him. “I can still ask to switch back.”
Kai just stares at me, expression blank, then says, “Really?”
It’s one word, but it’s enough to make me realize how insignificant my word would be against someone like him. Because really, what chance do I have?
The answer to that is none at all.
I exhale slowly, staring at him thoughtfully. “What do you really want from me, Kai?”
Kai hardly reacts, just nods and says, “We’ll meet tomorrow, straight after school in the parking lot.”
And then he turns and walks away, like that’s that. Like I’ve already agreed. The truth is, I don’t even need to agree. I know I’ve lost.