Page 35 of Raise Hell

My voice is a touch too loud as I take a seat across from her.

Her eyes brighten for just a second before she recognizes me. “Oh. Um…hi.”

Not precisely the enthusiastic greeting I was hoping for, but I’m willing to work with it.

There are several books lying open on the table. Felicia is hunched over a notebook full of cramped squiggles I can’t decipher.

“You’re studying pretty hard considering school just started last week,” I point out as I set my own nearly empty bag on the table. “Shouldn’t you leave some of this work for the rest of the semester?”

Felicia shrugs, not meeting my gaze. “I have a lot of catching up to do.”

I raise my eyebrows at that. “I thought you said you came from some fancy international school.”

“I never said it was fancy,” she snaps, then seems to realize her tone is a little much. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize who you were when I asked you to sit with me at lunch. It’s probably better if you just go sit somewhere else.”

She winces like she expects me to throw a hissy fit in the middle of the library. Instead, I give her a rueful shake of my head and pull out my Economics textbook.

“Tell you what, when the rest of your study group shows up I’m sure there won’t be any room at the table left for me. As soon as they do, I’ll be on my way.”

Felicia opens her mouth, then immediately closes it again. “That was rude.”

My voice is placid as I reply. “I’m not the one saying we can’t be friends because your brother wouldn’t like it. A different kind of girl might take all this silent treatment personally.”

“I didn’t say it had anything to do with my brother,” she protests hotly. But from the look on her face even she knows it’s not convincing.

I raise an eyebrow as I flip my textbook open and lean over it. It only takes one sentence for my eyes to glaze over.

“Isn’t it, though? Kind of seems like everything around here is working overtime to pretend like I don’t exist.”

Her gaze furtively skips around us, as if we aren’t entirely alone on this floor of the library. “We shouldn’t be talking about this.”

Sensing the slight break in her voice, I decide to press the advantage.

“At least I know why I’m alone all the time.” My fingers turn the page in my book, even though I didn’t comprehend a single thing on the previous one. “But what about you? Your brother is the most popular guy on campus. It doesn’t make sense that you eat lunch by yourself or that you have to study alone.”

The wooden chair creaks in the quiet as she shifts in her seat. It’s the only sign of how uncomfortable this conversation makes her.

“He hasn’t made you off limits, too. Has he?”

“He just doesn’t want me to be taken advantage of. Most people don’t even know he’s my brother.”

I don’t even pretend to still be interested in my textbook. “Seriously?”

“He just asked me not to tell anyone that didn’t need to know. I wouldn’t have told you, but it came out before I could stop it.”

“But why?”

“Drake was worried that it would paint some kind of target on my back, so I can’t exactly hang out with his friends.”

Or anyone else, if she is supposed to stay outside of Drake’s orbit.

Between the Havoc Boys, all the desperate people who hang around them, and the even more desperate ones who hang around them, almost the entire student body would have to be off-limits.

“Sounds lonely,” I comment blandly.

“You have no idea,” she admits, then seems to remember who it is she’s talking to. “If this is some kind of game you’re playing, just tell me. Why are you even talking to me?”

I smile brightly at her, tapping a pencil on the edge of my book. “Because your brother has been an asshole to me since I got back, and this seems like a decent way to get back at him.”