but sheer stubborn will says I have to keep his gaze until he’s the one to break it. I’m totally winning the stare-off too and then North startles me with his grumpy, asshole tones.
“We weren’t expecting the detour here to deal with you, there are Bonds and Bonded going missing, you know.”
Like a knife slicing right through my heart, he could never know how much those words hurt me. I choke out, “I’m aware.”
A frosty silence takes over the car and I resist the urge to dig my phone out to mess around with as a shield. North will just spy on whatever it is that I do and I can’t sit here with his smug ass while this is going on. The drive over to my dorm only takes a couple of minutes and when the driver opens my door, I hesitate for a second before I open my bag, digging around for the assignment that started all of this shit.
The big fat F written in red and circled is like a beacon for us all, every eye hitting it and judging me for once again coming up as a defect.
Except this time I’m not.
I’m not going to let my own anger at this bullshit situation undo all of my hard work. I swallow around the lump in my throat and hold the papers out to North. “I appreciate you offering to mark my work for Nox. If you agree with his assessment of it, then I will accept it and apply for a make up assignment. I can… do that, right?”
North doesn’t look impressed by my words or the paper as he plucks it out of my hands. “You have no choice but to pass all of your classes. You’ll rewrite it until it’s adequate.”
I refuse to give him an answer, straightening and slamming the door shut before the driver has a chance to close it for me. It’s a long walk up to my room ignoring the other students who have already heard about what happened today. I change into some comfortable clothes and lay back on my bed for a second to breathe. The springs dig into my back but at this point, I’m so used to the feeling that it’s almost a comfort to me.
I give myself five minutes to wallow in my rage and spite.
Then I get up and start working on my make up assignment because I’ll be damned if I let Nox fucking Draven win.
Chapter Twelve
North emails me a week later with a B- grade and even though I’m positive that it deserves a higher mark than that, I email him back to say thank you and then I hit the books even harder.
Sage gets us a permanent table booking in the library and joins me in my mission to destroy Nox fucking Draven through my grades alone. Well, she tells me that her parents only let up on her about avoiding the whole world if she says she’s studying. I’m happy about it for half a second before she adds that her family is hoping Riley will change his mind about rejecting their Bond if she graduates with honors and gets a high paying job… like if she can earn him a lot of money she might be useful to him.
Someday, I’m going to kill them all.
I can feel it brewing in me, like someday it’ll boil over and I’ll have no choice but to just ruin them all. I mean, I’m already there with Giovanna because Sage was not exaggerating about how fucking evil the bitch is. If anything, she’s too nice about her. Something about her smug looks and smirks digs under my skin and irritates the ever-loving fuck out of me. I’ve never been a power elitist, my time with the Resistance drummed that into me, but there’s something about a girl who’s skating by completely on her looks that just eats at me.
After the first week of us hanging out at the library together, Sawyer shows up and studies with us. He’s polite to me but is still stiff and distant about it. Sage notices and offers to tell him to leave but I’m stubborn and want him to like me, so I work at charming him instead. I’m not sure it works but he’s never rude to me, so I’ll call it a win.
Gracie attempts to sit with us once but Sage shuts her down so swiftly that I have to hold back tears of laughter.