Chapter 3 – Reese #3
When he smiled, it didn’t reach his eyes. There was a shroud of melancholy around him that I hadn’t noticed before, and it was so familiar that for a moment, I thought a piece of my own had broken off to find a new owner to haunt.
He stood up, brushed his hands off on the thighs of his jeans, then touched two fingers to his brow in what I assumed was a salute. “See you later, tiger.”
He hopped over the wall and disappeared as if he’d never been there at all.
If I had a single ounce of luck, I’d never see him again.
Ashbrook was a smaller town in upstate New York, and the academy’s campus took up most of the square-milage. The town itself—from what I’d seen from the taxi ride over—was pretty bare bones, and most of the shops and restaurants catered to the students’ needs.
The forest and cemetery were thankfully pretty close to my dorm, so the walk back didn’t take too long. But being covered in mud garnered me some weird stares from everyone I passed, which was unsurprising. The rest of the students were disgustingly clean and impeccably dressed.
I took a shower and changed into dry clothes to get ready for my next meeting in the administrative building.
My roommate still wasn’t there, and I was thankful I hadn’t run into him before I got the chance to clean up. Not that I cared if he saw me dirty and bedraggled; I wasn’t here to impress anyone, especially not with my looks.
When I got to the administrative building, I had to wait in a short line to speak to someone. I pretended to look at things on my phone so that no one would talk to me, but I really didn’t need that prop because no one ever tried.
Once it was my turn, I sat down in a rickety wooden chair in front of the desk of a smiling woman who introduced herself as Ilsa.
She asked me a few identifying questions, discussed the parameters of the scholarship with me, and made sure everything was correct in the system.
The back of my neck prickled with an uncomfortable awareness, and when I turned my head, I found the stranger from the woods standing at the far side of the room by himself. He was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and one foot propped on the wall.
And he was staring right at me.
When he smiled and winked at me, my face heated and I could feel the tips of my ears start to burn.
I whipped my head back around and tried to concentrate on what the woman was saying, but I couldn’t.
Fuck.
Was he actually a goddamn student here? It wasn’t a very big school, either, so what if we had classes together—
“And you’re all set in your room, right? Found everything okay?”
I raised my gaze to Ilsa’s and nodded. “Yeah, it’s great. Thank you.”
“Good, good. There should be a placard in your hall with all the maintenance and utility information—numbers to call and such, if you ever have any issues. And I’m sure your fellow students will help you, too.
” She smiled at me, then turned her attention back to the computer and started typing something.
I glanced over my shoulder.
He was still there, staring at me.
When he blew me a kiss, I turned around and shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
“Excuse me, but…is that guy a student?” I nodded toward the asshole from the woods and was glad when she seemed to find who I was talking about right away.
Her face lit up with delight, and I died a little inside. “Oh, you don’t know? It’s Dakota Voss, Dean Voss’s son! Such a lovely duck. So talented, too. All the dean’s sons go to school here, and they’re all equally lovely.”
A lovely…duck?
I knew about Dean Voss, but that guy was his fucking son?
His name sounded kind of familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d heard it before. Maybe I hadn’t heard it anywhere and he’d just made me feel like I should know who he was with his arrogant question.
You really don’t know who I am?
My stomach churned with unease, and the need to leave brought with it an anxious energy. “Sorry, I’m gonna—was there anything else you needed? I have to go,” I said, pushing my chair back.
“Oh.” She looked a little surprised, then shrugged. “I was going to print some helpful packets for you but—I mean I suppose you could come by some other time for those?”
“Yeah, I’ll come back tomorrow,” I lied.
“Oh wait!” she cried, startling me. “Before you go—oh, gosh, I can’t believe I almost forgot to tell you.” She laughed nervously, and now I was fucking nervous. She scribbled something on a piece of paper, then handed it to me. “Here. Dean Voss would like to meet with you on Friday.”
Oh, fuck me, what had I done now? Had Dakota told him something? Was I about to get kicked out before the semester even started? Was this about what happened at Tagerton? Or something else entirely?
The panic I was feeling must have shown on my face because Ilsa waved her hands and said, “No, don’t worry!
It’s nothing bad, he likes to meet with all our scholarship students.
It’s quite standard and won’t take very long.
” She smiled, and I stared down at the card like the date and time of my death were written on it.
“And, well, he did mention wanting to discuss the details of your departure from Tagerton.”
Fuck.
I cleared my throat and said, “I, um—thank you for all your help.” I gave her a smile that probably looked like a grimace, but smiling was the last thing I felt like doing right now.
I practically ran out of the building and prayed Dakota didn’t follow me.
It took me twenty minutes to get back to my dorm. The campus was enormous and felt like a maze; it would be a while before I was able to comfortably find my way around.
I’d been placed in one of the dorms on the east side. My room was on the fifth floor at the very end of the hall, which meant there was an extra window looking out toward the sunrise. The person who’d been living here hadn’t picked the side with the extra window, which I was delighted to find.
When I got to my floor, there were a few students who’d left their doors open and were playing music.
The air up here was stuffy and dry; it smelled a little mildewy, which was unexpected for such an expensive, prestigious school.
Maybe I’d been placed in one of the shittier buildings?
I didn’t care though. The smell of mildew was the norm where I came from, though I was sure some of these guys were more used to the smell of cleanliness and luxury.
I bet they didn’t even know what mold smelled like.
I was halfway down the hall when I passed a room with an open door.
“Hey!” someone called, and then quieter, “Shut up, Trevor, that’s gotta be him.”
I turned as a tall, lanky guy leaned out of the room. “Hey, man, you sure you’re on the right floor?”
“What? Yeah, I’m on the fifth floor. Why?”
He shrugged, then smiled. “Just never seen you before. Oh, shit, wait wait wait. Don’t tell me you’re going to 508.
” He snickered, and then another guy stepped out behind him, holding a bag of chips in one hand and digging into them with the other.
This one was shorter and had neatly combed hair parted to the side.
He gave me an appraising look, then stared hard at my birthmark.
What the hell did these assholes want?
“Yeah, I’m going to 508. Why?”
They both gave each other a look, then the taller one said, “Nah, nothing. You’ll be fine. Word of warning, though, the guy who’s in there is a little…” He scratched his head and looked up at the ceiling, like he was trying to find the right word.
“Crazy,” his friend finished, crunching on a mouthful of chips. “He’s fucking crazy. Like, spent time in the loony bin crazy. Good luck, dude.”
His friend nodded solemnly. “Yeah, his roommate left school because of him. Wasn’t even here for two weeks. Hope you last a little longer.”
Was this a joke? Some kind of prank they were pulling because I was new?
“Sure. Whatever,” I muttered, sidling past them.
One of them laughed, then said, “Wanna come to a party later? On Greek—” He cut off on a grunt, and I looked over my shoulder to see the other guy hissing at him as he pushed him into their room.
The door slammed, then loud laughter sounded behind it.
Two semesters. Just two more semesters, and then I’d be gone.
When I got to my room, I pulled the keycard from my pocket and unlocked my door. I hadn’t really unpacked yet, and the academy had left sheets, a blanket, and a few pillows on top of the bare mattress that I still had to put on.
I headed into the small bathroom, flipped on the light, and looked around the space.
Each room had its own private bathroom, which was amazing. But where was the laundry room? I’d have to ask another student. Ugh.
“It’s kinda small, right?”
I jumped at the sound of the deep, raspy voice right next to my ear, tripping back into a hard body. Two hands gripped my upper arms to steady me, and I ripped myself away from the person, whirling around to find myself face-to-face with Dakota fucking Voss.