Page 116 of The Blairville Legacies

What if I had ended up in the wrong room?

I backed up to check the sign outside the entrance to make sure I was in the right place, and when I readmolecular biology, I stepped back into the room, shaking my head and trying to ignore the horde of girls.

It didn’t slip my mind that they were all human. Among them was Penny Bexley, the little sister of reporter gossipJenny. Penny had been in my year at Blairville High and, even then, had shown little interest in her family’s radio station and more in biology. A wonder she had managed to minor in biology. As far as I knew, the sensationalist Bexley family had forced their youngest into majoring in media, just like Jenny, who seemed to be completely absorbed in it.

When Penny spotted me, she smiled shyly. Quickly, I looked away.

I let my gaze wander around the seminar room.

The course, including me, consisted of just thirteen people, and I was unusually late because Grace had tried to talk me into combining economics with law at the last minute.

I had already given up my passions when I chose economics as my major, giving up computer science and chemistry.

And over my dead body would I find myself squeezed into a lecture with even more Copelands and DeLoughreys.

My spirits plummeted when I spotted Amber Smith and Kelly Hepburn at the very front of the second row of seats. You’d think they’d be less toxic without Vivienna, but Amber was the walking devil personified, evennastierthan Vivienna, in my opinion, and the reason Vivi had become that way in the first place. And Kelly was the epitome of annoying. Her pink Barbie outfit was just icing on the cake.

I didn’t know how Amber, ofall people, could care about biology, but she did. Maybe it was due to her element:Earth.

ButKelly? I knew why Barbie was here. Because of Amber.

When Amber spotted me, she stopped her banter and eyed me condescendingly from the side.

Again, I quickly looked away, trying to calm my pulse, and looked around for an empty seat.

Great. Three seats were still available. One was the one in the very back next to Noah, a brown-haired Senseque who was already inspecting me like he wanted to end my life, one was next to Amber and Kelly, and the last one was the seat next to the second and last guy in this seminar:David DeLoughrey.

Amber demonstratively placed herMichael Korsbag, studded with obsidian-colored rhinestones, on the chair next to her, and my inner tension grew immediately.

I was screwed.

While the Ruisangors didn’t hate us as much as they hated the Senseque, they didn’t trust us. And neither did we trust them. They didn’t just want a piece of the pie, they wanted to buy upthe whole town. And we wanted them to leave the city because their existence was a threat to humanity.

Mutual distrustdescribed our relationship perfectly.

But sitting down next to Noah, the gruff Senseque guy from Nash’s goon squad, was definitely the worse fate.

With growing panic, I walked past Amber and eyed the platinum blond Ruisangor. One of the three who were now studying here and just reeked of trouble.

This one was the quietest of the three, the one the others were least afraid of, but none of them knew that quiet people were actually the more dangerous ones.

He stared around the room, eyeing the modern high-tech board with his blue eyes, as if the obviously absent professor had written something on it.

Strange guy.

“May I?” I dared to ask, pointing to the empty seat next to him.

David broke free of his creepy stare, and his sharp gaze met mine.

Awesome. How had I even come up with the idea of addressing him?

He eyed me briefly, raised his chest as if he were annoyed, and looked back at the blackboard.

At least that wasn’t ano... So, I carefully pulled back the chair and sat down before unpacking my bag with shaky hands.

God, that damn shaking. Couldn’t it just stop?

I felt David’s gaze on me, but when I looked at him, he was already staring around the room again.

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