Page 31 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

I sag in relief and exhaustion, the adrenaline leaving my body and revealing how drained I am.

A week goes by during which he’s suspended for what he did to Max. It’s basically a slap on the wrist considering he should be jailed for assault.

I’m anxious as hell to cross paths with him the day he returns from his suspension. I wasn’t able to sleep the night before and I’d tossed and turned until I’d wanted to rip my hair out.

Turns out, I didn’t need to worry about another confrontation because when I see him, he does something a million times more painful.

Worse than his anger, worse than his unrestricted hate, he walks straight past me like I’m not even there.

I expect a clash between us and instead he skates by smoothly without a glance in my direction, leaving me to watch helplessly as he walks away.

He doesn’t speak to me again for almost two years.

Chapter 11

Sixtine, senior year

I snap out of my momentary trance and turn my head towards the scene unfolding in front of me, something akin to horror forming in my gut.

Bellamy, one of my two new American roommates, just ran into Rogue and accidentally spilled her milkshake all over his shirt. He’s got his hand wrapped around her neck and she’s fighting, trying to get him off her.

I’d be terrified if I was her. That’s one insane enemy to make. Rogue’s anger has always been trigger happy and time has done nothing to change that. He’s not one to be crossed – he’s likely to make you disappear in a ditch if you do – and she did just that on her first day.

I actually missed the physical clash between the two of them because my eyes were elsewhere, wandering as they so often do over to Phoenix.

It’s the first time I’m seeing him since school broke for summer. Three months in the sun have been kind to him, because he’s back with a fresh tan and a new look. His hair is buzzed short, adding to the dangerous energy coming off of him at all times, and he looks older than the eighteen years he just turned a couple of weeks ago.

He definitely has more tattoos than I remember. They snake up his arms in a patchwork of unique vignettes and words that I can’t quite make out now, but he’s got at least five new ones.

I’m not keeping score or anything.

The line that defines his jaw is so sharp that every movement is visible in his cheek. A small metallic clothing pin hangs from his left ear and punctuates the overall look.

His mouth looks fuller than the last time I saw it, but maybe that’s just my thirsty brain conjuring things. Apart from that, he’s still the same.

Same bad attitude, same blank face, same dead eyes.

Except, he’s looking at me.

My pulse stutters when I find his eyes already trained on me.He hasn’t looked at me in two years. Or if he has, I’ve never caught him doing so.

And I’ve looked.

Discreetly, of course, I’d never want him to know that after the way he’d treated me I was still seeking him out, but I have looked and his eyes have never found mine in return.

He’s looking now though, his unblinking gaze moving from my face and down to my body as his eyes drop slowly to inspect me like I did him.

I resist the urge to shift uncomfortably under his perusal and stand my ground.I know I’ve changed over the past couple of months as well and he’s probably just taking it in.

He can’t see the biggest physical development, namely the girls that I’m hiding under baggy clothing, but he’s taking in everything else – my glossy lips, sharp cheekbones, and piercing green eyes.

I’ve taken to wearing a bit of eyeliner and mascara to make them stand out more and at first blush, it seems to be working.

While we were locked in our war of glares, I accidentally bumped into Bellamy who in turn stumbled into Rogue, activating his anger in a heartbeat.

He’s got zero control of his impulses and even less of his anger, and I’m afraid of what he’s going to do to my new friend, so I step in.

“Rogue,” I say, “Give her a break, it’s her first day here.”

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