The cold hit me first, followed by the low thrum of student chatter as I stepped onto campus. It was like walking into a spotlight, too many eyes, too many whispers, too much crap pressing down on my shoulders.
I was back.
It was so strange, like a ghost haunting my own life. Everything was the same, the chipped bricks, the faded mascot banner flapping weakly in the wind, and the sound of sneakers shuffling over gravel, but I wasn’t the same. Not even close. The world had shifted under my feet, cracked wide-open by secrets and betrayals, and yet somehow it just kept turning. Students laughed, gossiped, and scrolled through their phones as if nothing had happened. As if girls weren’t going missing. As if my parents hadn’t been murdered. As if I hadn’t been played. I stood there, feeling the strangeness of it all sink deep into my bones, this sense of being awake in a dream everyone else refused to see. Oblivious. Untouched. Free in a way I couldn’t even remember how to feel.
I refused to let them break me.
I wouldn’t hide.
I won’t run.
Nothing like a little internal affirmation to get me through the day. Now I just had to walk through the front doors of Public with my chin high. Fuck them all.
I could do this.
I had Poppy.
I wasn’t alone.
If there was a traitor, and I was still in danger as Kreed believed, this might be a really bad decision, but I didn’t know if his claim had any weight. It could be another lie, another tactic to manipulate me. It wasn’t like I was some gang heiress. It wasn’t like Rusty expected me to take up my father’s position in the crew.
That would be absurd and something I had no interest in. I’d leave the criminal activity to Rusty and the Corvos. Turned out, I didn’t have the stomach for it despite it being in my blood.
And then I saw them.
Mason and Maddox stood by the lockers near the main entrance, their dark hair and clothing a sharp contrast against the pale gray walls. Mason noticed me first, his expression unreadable. Maddox’s gaze followed a beat later.
But no Kreed.
My heart twisted in my chest before I could stop it. I hated that I noticed his absence more than anything else. Before I fully spiraled or crashed into someone from sheer distraction, an arm looped through mine, grounding me. “God, you really were about to freeze like a baby deer in headlights, weren’t you?” Poppy said, her voice a low whisper laced with amusement. “Come on, babe. You’re not walking these halls alone.”
Relief washed over me as I leaned into her, grateful and already a little steadier with her by my side. The hallway pressedin around us, but Poppy’s presence carved out a little bubble I could breathe in.
I didn’t look back at Mason and Maddox again.
And I didn’t let myself think about Kreed.
Not yet.
“He’s not here, by the way,” Poppy informed me as she ushered me into the crowd like she didn’t give a single fuck, her black platform boots stomping against the tile like thunder. A pleated plaid skirt swished around her thighs, paired with ripped fishnets and an oversized hoodie featuring a moody anime girl with bleeding-heart eyes. “If you’re looking for him.”
“I’m not. And I didn’t ask.”
Two space buns perched high on her red hair like little gothic crowns. Silver piercings glittered along her ears, and a black choker hugged her throat. She could have stepped out of a Tim Burton dream and into a Tokyo street scene. She somehow made it work. “You didn’t have to. Your eyes haven’t been able to stop looking for him.”
“Sorry. I just don’t want him to blindside me again,” I reasoned.
“Hmm. Is that all? I’d be more concerned with that duo if I were you.”
I followed her gaze to see Mason and Maddox still watching me. “Shit,” I mumbled.
“He hasn’t been at school for the last few days in case you were wondering. Not since we went to see you.”
“Why not?” The question tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
She shrugged. “Probably too drunk in some corner, but he’s going to be pissed he missed you.”
I hugged my bag against my chest. “Good.”