Page 30 of A Heart of Bluestone

Muttering curses under my breath, I push up onto my knees and look over at Courtney.

She’s clean, save for a few drops. That sags my shoulders with relief. And, with a glance at James, the relief is stronger, because he is clean, except a few droplets on his hands that I think he used to shield his face.

Faintly, I’m aware that the sniggers have stopped. Abrupt, tense silence—a quiet outrage that might as well be a shout.

I swallow, thick. A nervous dash of my tongue over my lips.

Courtney turns her stunned look on me. Just a smear of sticky butterscotch on her chin, a bit of lumpy apple in her oily hair, but nothing a quick rinse won’t take care of.

The relief dissipates.

The hall is silent. So silent that, if someone dropped a fork, it would clatter in my bones.

I push up from the floor.

Everything in me is screaming to run. To avoid the stares spearing through me from the nest of Snakes.

That tray wasn’t meant for me.

It was headed for Courtney.

And I stopped it.

I just signed my own death warrant.

No one interferes with them. That’s a rule to live by at Bluestone.

But I interfered.

I will pay the price.

I grab my books and, without a backwards glance, not at Eric, not at my brother or Dray, I scurry my ass out of the hall.

James and Courtney are hot on my heels.

They have the right idea, the smart one. Get back to the dorms before whatever that slight prank was escalates.

Foolish us.

There is no escape.

6

The anxiety is relentless.

Feels like worms writhing in my belly. It pumps through my veins, tearing me apart as though icicles spear through me.

Dread.

Sheer, total, and utter dread consumes me.

You’d think I’d be used to feeling this way by now. But all I want to do is curl up into a ball and hide the rest of the year away. I don’t want to leave the dorm room. I want to stay right here, tucked up under my blankets.

But I have to go to the bathroom,bad.

My thighs are clenched tight, and I’m twisted at the oddest angle, all to hold it in.

The weight of my bladder has started to turn on me, more than pressure, sharp pains sear my insides now.

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