Page 7 of Savage Rose

My. Palms. Sweat. Everyone’s watching to see how I’ll react to his daunting brand of attention. Or am I imagining that? One swift look around tells me I’m not. They’re totally all watching—and delighting in—my discomfort.

I don’t know what happened to the guy who stopped in the middle of his run to ask if I needed help. Or even the guy who tracked me down the next day to apologize and find out who I was. But this person is neither of those guys. This one’s stare is ice-cold and calculating.

Menacing.

Savage.

And his friends aren’t much better. The shorter one, who I remember is named Beau, looks smugly at me. Looks like I’ll be sharing a table with him. The tight end is on my other side, across the aisle, and he has such a manspread going on, I have to step over his foot to get to my seat.

All I’d wanted when I came here was to have a fresh start. Away from the people at my old school, the ones who knew my mother and felt sorry for the newly coined orphan. Away from the hospital Mom had been sick in and the home she’d passed away in.

Is it really too much to ask that my new beginning wouldn’t be jeopardized by some jerk who has flipped his shit for some unknown reason?Why me?

I put my bag down on the floor next to my seat, then pull out a notebook and a pen.

A low whistle sounds from somewhere behind me. “Who the hell takesnoteson the first day of class?”

“Totally a Thorn thing to do.” Everyone around us laughs. Fingers of dread creep up my spine. I glance over my shoulder.Yep. It’s him, staring at me like a psycho.I wonder if I can ask the teacher to move my seat.

Thankfully, Mrs. Harden walks in and calls us to attention. She talks so much that the dickheads don’t have a chance to say or do much else for the rest of the class.

Throughout the entire period, the disturbing feeling of Xander’s eyes boring into my back never stops.

Chapter 5

After my second class, which, thank goodness, wasnotfull of obnoxious football players, I stop by my locker. It turns into a huge ordeal just to open it—it’s a complete bitch to unlock. Once I finally manage to break into it, I pull out the books I won’t need today and place them on the top shelf, then squat down to cram my bag inside. With that accomplished, I stand and look around and realize the hall has pretty much cleared. I’d told Max to go on ahead because I wanted to get my locker situated. Taking a deep breath, I head in what I hope is the direction of the cafeteria. Up ahead of me is one last large group of students, all ambling slowly down the hall. I assume they are going to lunch, too, so I follow.

One awesome thing about a private academy is that the school makes its own schedule; it’s not bound in any way by what the state school system does. So, while the poor kids over at River Rock High have a measly twenty-five minutes for lunch, we have a full hour. We’re even allowed to leave campus if we want to, which would never have been allowed at my old school. In that sense, things are looking up.

It’s all good until I hit the lunchroom.Holy shit, this place is huge.I have no idea where my new friends are. Jeez, I don’t even know if they are really my friends or if they were just decent enough to help the wretched new girl because I’d looked like a deer in headlights back in the office this morning.

Scanning the huge crowd, I notice a table dead center in the cafeteria where the whole group of football players I’d been in class with earlier are sitting alongside the girls Daphne pointed out as cheerleaders. Everyone else watches them, like they’re something special. In reality, they’re loud and boisterous, joking and having a good time, not giving two shits that they’re being studied like they’re in a fishbowl.

Micah and Beau each have a girl sitting on one of their muscular thighs. Aria sits next to Xander, her arm wound through one of his, almost as if she’s hanging on, and her head rests on his shoulder. Every once in a while, she flicks her long, blonde hair over her shoulder and looks up adoringly at something he says.Hurl.

I shake my head and get into the lunch line. My eyes get big when I see all the choices. A nice-looking guy slides his tray along the counter behind mine. “Too many choices, right?”

“Yeah, you can say that again. It all looks like it’s straight out of a gourmet restaurant, too.” I shoot him an awkward smile, then scan my card and head out into the virtual sea of black-and-red uniforms.

This is the worst. I knew it would be like this on day one, but I guess I was holding out hope after Max and Daphne latched onto me this morning that maybe I wouldn’t have to go through this.

Tucking my lip between my teeth, I command my feet to move. My heart rate picks up as I scan the room for an empty table. I would much prefer to sit alone than impose myself on people I don’t know.

I’m about to give up and head outside to the gardens to eat in peace when movement from the side of the room catches my attention. Daphne and Max wave, and my shoulders droop in relief.

I cautiously make my way in their direction, winding through the tables. Unfortunately for me, the only way to get to Daphne and Max is to walk right past the football team and their adoring fans.

As I walk past, Xander looks me up and down. “Fucking scholarship students. Am I right?” The entire goddamn table of football players and cheerleaders bust out laughing.

What. The.Fuck?

I avert my eyes, my face flaming red.

“Check it out. Her face just turned as red as her hair.”

I don’t even know which asshole said that, but I pick up speed to get away from them.

Daphne grits her teeth when I get to the lunch table she and Max have claimed. “This is not good.”

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