Page 98 of Spearcrest Knight

I leave, walking on air. I can’t even remember the last time I felt this free and happy. To celebrate, I allow myself to actually have lunch instead of eating as I work. I fill my plate with food and go find the girls, who are sitting in the dining hall since it’s too cold to hang out outside like we usually do. Araminta is in the middle of a story, and both Audrey and her jump when I appear in front of them with a bright grin.

“Oh my god, Sophie, you look insane!” Audrey exclaims. “Are you ok?”

“I’m in a good mood,” I explain, taking a seat next to them and grabbing my knife and fork. “I’m in areallygood mood.”

“Your timing is good, too,” Audrey says. “Guess who Araminta spoke to yesterday?”

Araminta stares at me with huge eyes and I stare back. She seems to be awaiting my guess. “I don’t know… Mr Ambrose?”

“Mr Ambrose?” Araminta says, frowning. “Why on earth would you guess him?”

I shrug. “Make-up?”

Make-up is technically against the rules, although teachers are generally pretty lenient. Mr Ambrose, though, is a stickler for his school’s rules, and Araminta doesn’t know the definition of a natural look. Today, she’s wearing purple eyeshadow, glitter under her eyes, and a sort of witchy violet lipstick. But she laughs and shakes her head.

“No, you idiot. Not Mr Ambrose.”

“Think somebody in our year,” Audrey says. “Somebody you feel strongly about.”

“Evan,” Audrey says to me, rolling her eyes.

I raise my fork in the air. “Let me stop you right there. I have literally just come back from Miss Bailey’s office after officially resigning from tutoring him.”

“What? Really?”

“As of today, I’m not wasting a single more minute of my life on him.”

Araminta leans forward across the table, lowering her voice. “Do you not want to hear what he said to me?”

I shrug. “I imagine something either creepy or stupid. Either way, I could not give less of a fuck if you paid me to.”

“You’d be surprised,” Audrey says.

“You genuinely don’t want to know?” Araminta asks, eyes wide.

I nod. “I genuinely don’t. In fact, I would rather listen to you describe having sex with Luca Fletcher-Lowe in excruciating detail than talk about Evan for one more second.”

Araminta lets out a peal of shocked laughter. “Don’t be disgusting!”

“You did say you would have sex with him out of all the Young Kings,” Audrey points out.

“Yeah, but not actually!” Araminta says with a grimace. “He’s so creepy—I’m pretty sure he might be an actual psychopath. I heard a rumour he likes tying belts around girls’ necks when he fucks them—that shit is far too advanced for me. Anyway, as if I even have the time right now.”

“Yeah,” Audrey agrees. “Back when they made the bet I don’t think they realised how stressful and busy upper school would actually get. I saw three of the Young Kings in the study hall the other day, and they weren’t even fucking about. They were genuinely working.”

“It’s those university applications,” Araminta groans as she peels open a muffin. “I don’t know about you guys, but they felt like a real wake-up call to me.”

Talk turns to university applications. After this year, we might all be scattered across the world, and that unspoken fact hangs over the conversation like a dark cloud.

It reminds me I have other things to worry about than Evan—a lot of other things. And to my relief, I don’t think about him for the rest of the day, I don’t even think about him that night, and manage to sleep well for once. And I don’t think about him in my classes the next day, and I don’t think about him all the way until Friday afternoon.

Because on Friday afternoon, I’m sitting in the study hall working through a pile of Maths past papers when the door slams open. I jump, almost dropping my pen, and look up with a frown.

In the doorway is Evan. He’s out of uniform, wearing his swim team sweatshirt and dark shorts. Despite that ridiculous outfit, his presence radiates light and heat, and the way he stares around the room is ferocious, almost intimidating.

His eyes find me, and he surges forward like a predator springing into a leap to chase its prey.

“Everyone out, now!” he roars.

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