Nina That night, I returned to the arena for the hockey game. There were still protests happening outside, but there were fewer people now that campus security was standing around -- and apparently, as Lori and Jessica explained to me on our way there, several students were arrested for throwing ob
James didn’t answer right away. He paused for a few moments, unblinking, then cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak -- but before anything came out, his eyes caught something behind me, and he closed his mouth again. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Enzo standing beside
Enzo As I read the letter that fell out of James’ pocket, my eyes widened. I always knew that guy was off about something, and he’d been acting weird ever since my information was leaked. The information that was leaked included my physical fitness test files, and the only other people aside from h
“Wait!” she said. I felt her small hand grab my wrist and I stopped, not so much as looking at her because I couldn’t even bear it. “Promise you won’t do anything rash until we figure out what’s really going on,” she said, surprising me. I had expected her to say something about our relationship, bu
Nina Enzo and I almost kissed. But we didn’t. He stepped away before we could. I understood why he did that, but it still hurt. At the very least, even though he left almost immediately after, I made him promise not to hurt James; I wanted to get to the bottom of this before we did anything rash.
“There are no excuses in this class,” he interrupted. “The exam is over, and it looks like you’re only halfway finished. I’ll be docking points for this; next time, try not to stay up all night partying.” I went to say that I wasn’t up partying, but what was I supposed to say after that? If I menti
Nina By the time the symposium came, I had spent the past few days trying my best to solely focus on my presentation. I decided that I couldn’t let my feelings for Enzo impede upon my grades in the exact same way that he couldn’t let his feelings for me impede upon his performance in the tournament
“I think he made this,” he said, gesturing to the sick project. There was no name attached to it anywhere, however. “You don’t think…” I began, my voice trailing off. Enzo shrugged, glancing over at his shoulder. As he did, a couple of other students quickly looked away. I wondered if they had see
Nina The warm summer breeze brushed across my skin as I stood on the patio, clutching my robe tightly around my body. Laughter and splashes echoed up from the pool below, where our friends were already gathered for our big end-of-summer party. I should have been down there too, soaking up the ve
“What... what do you mean?” He braced his hands on the doorframe, leaning in closer with a heavy sigh. “I mean, by the time I caught up to them this morning, I only saw them long enough to get that photo before they were boarding a speedboat and taking off. Hell, I’m still not even totally sure wh
Nina My breath caught in my throat as I pulled open the front door expecting to see excited party guests, only to be immediately met with the sight of Luke’s grim expression. His brow was furrowed in a deep frown, his lips pressed into a tight line—clear signs that something was very wrong. “Luk
Nina I huffed out a breath as I hoisted the oversized cardboard box higher in my arms, carefully navigating my way through the living room. Strings of fairy lights poked out haphazardly from the top, and I could feel the weight of glass jars and other assorted decor inside shifting precariously wi
Then, at the last possible second, the scout seemed to find an extra burst of speed. He surged forward, hurtling between two towering oak trees and vanishing into the cover of the forest beyond. “Dammit!” I slammed my palms against the rough bark of the nearest trunk, powerless to do anything but
Enzo The crunch of leaves and snap of twigs echoed through the trees as Matt and I tore after the Schreiber scout. Our breaths came in ragged gasps, the hot summer air burning our lungs. Overhead, a little red bird chirped and flitted through the green canopy of trees; Daphne. But even she wasn’
Shaking my head, I turned without another word and stormed out of the fitting room. I took the two strides across the hall to Jessica’s fitting room and knocked on the door, folding my arms across my chest. “Jess? You in there?” There was a muffled thump in the fitting room, followed by the soun
Nina “How’s it looking in there?” I called out, rapping lightly on the wooden door of Jessica’s fitting room. “Um… decent, I guess?” her muffled voice floated back a moment later, although I could sense the uncertainty in her tone. “Decent? That’s it? Come on, Jess, this is your wedding gown w
Had I really known him at all, I wondered? Or had I merely been too self-absorbed and naive to see past the facade of unshakable command he projected? After a long silence, I found my voice. “Why didn’t he ever tell me that?” “He didn’t want you to see his weakness, I suppose,” Angelica replied