Riley
The rest of the day is a study in social leprosy. In every class, the seat next to me remains empty. Whispers follow me like a cloud of gnats, just quiet enough that I can’t make out the words but loud enough to know I’m the subject. Girls I’ve never seen before give me looks that could curdle milk. The boys either ignore me completely or watch me with a predatory curiosity that’s just as unsettling. The Blackwood twins have marked me. I am contaminated goods.
By lunch, my stomach is a tight knot of dread. I don't want to face the entire school in one room, but skipping a meal on my first day feels like admitting defeat. I grab a tray of something that might be chili and find the only empty table, tucked away in a corner by the rattling vending machines.
“Is this seat taken?”
A small, hesitant voice makes me look up. A girl with wide, nervous brown eyes and a cascade of dark, curly hair stands there, clutching her tray like a lifeline. She’s not one of the polished, perfect predators I’ve seen all morning. Her clothes are simple, her face open and kind.
I’m so surprised I can only shake my head. “No. It’s all yours.”
She slides into the seat opposite me with a relieved sigh. “I’m Maya. You’re Riley, right? The new girl?”
“Is it that obvious?” I ask, managing a weak smile.
“A little,” she admits, picking at her salad. “It’s just… word gets around fast here.”
“Let me guess. The word is that I have a death wish and enjoy antagonizing future Alphas.”
Maya’s eyes go even wider. She leans forward, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “You really shouldn’t have done that, Riley. You have no idea.”
“Done what? Refused to let them treat me like gum on their shoe?”
“You talked back to Jonah. And Bianca was right there.” She shudders. “You might as well have painted a bullseye on your forehead. Bianca doesn't let anyone get that close to them.”
“I wasn’t trying to get close to them. I was trying to get to my locker.” I push my chili around with a spoon, my appetite gone. “What’s her deal, anyway? Does she own them?”
“She might as well,” Maya says, her gaze darting around the cafeteria nervously. “Her father is Elder Marcus. He’s the most powerful member of the pack council. Everyone just assumes she and one of the twins will be a Mated pair. She’s been staking her claim for years.”
Mated pair. The words sound foreign, ancient. My mom used to talk about it, back when she still talked about our heritage. A bond forged by the Moon Goddess herself. It sounds like a life sentence.
“So she gets to decide who they talk to?”
“She tries. Especially with new people. She likes the order of things. You’re a disruption.” Maya takes a small bite of a carrot stick. “Just… be careful. The pack has a very clear hierarchy. Omegas, Betas, Alphas. The Blackwood family is at the top. Crossing them has consequences.”
“Thanks for the warning,” I say, and I mean it. It’s the first genuinely kind thing anyone has said to me all day. “It’s nice to meet someone who isn’t looking at me like I’m a science experiment gone wrong.”
“I know what it’s like to be on the outside,” she says softly. “My family isn’t high ranking. We keep our heads down.”
Her eyes flick over my shoulder and her friendly expression dissolves into one of pure panic. “Oh no.”
I turn my head. Bianca is walking toward our table. She’s flanked by two other cheerleader types who look like less impressive copies of her. She’s not looking at me. She’s looking at Maya.
“Maya,” Bianca says, her voice dripping with condescension. “I’m surprised to see you slumming it over here. Did you get lost on your way to the loser’s section?”
Maya shrinks in her seat. “Hi, Bianca. I was just…”
“You were just what?” Bianca interrupts, her eyes finally flicking to me, cold and hard. “Consorting with the enemy?”
“She’s not the enemy,” I say, my voice firm. I stand up, putting myself between Bianca and Maya. “She’s my friend. We’re having lunch.”
Bianca lets out a laugh that’s more like a sneer. “Friend? You’ve been here for four hours. You don’t have friends. You have a reputation. And it’s not a good one.”
From the corner of my eye, I see the twins at their table across the room. The jocks’ table. The royalty table. Jonah is watching us, a cruel smirk on his face, enjoying the show. Caleb is looking down at his food, his expression unreadable, but his shoulders are tense.
“Leave her alone, Bianca,” I say, keeping my voice low. The entire cafeteria has gone quiet now. Everyone is watching.
“Or what?” Bianca challenges, taking a step closer. “You’ll insult me with your big city words? You don’t have any power here, stray. You’re nothing.”
One of her lackeys, a girl with a vapid smile, comes up beside her. She’s holding a carton of chocolate milk. I know what’s going to happen a second before it does.
Bianca gives a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
The girl pretends to trip, lurching forward, the milk carton aimed directly at my chest.
Time seems to slow down. I brace for the cold, sticky impact, the public humiliation, the laughter that will follow. This is it. My official coronation as the school pariah.
But it doesn’t happen.
A foot shoots out from under the table next to us. It’s a blur of motion. It catches the tripping girl’s ankle. She doesn’t fall forward onto me. She yelps, pinwheeling her arms, and crashes sideways into a different table entirely. The milk carton flies from her hand and explodes against the wall, a Jackson Pollock of brown liquid.
Silence.
Then a low chuckle. I look over. A guy I don’t know is pulling his foot back under the table, trying and failing to look innocent.
“Sorry,” he says, not looking sorry at all. “My leg cramped up.”
But my eyes are drawn past him, back to the twins’ table. Caleb is looking directly at me. His face is a mask of indifference, but just before he looks away, he gives the tiniest, almost invisible lift of his chin. A nod. A signal. Not to me. To the guy who tripped the girl.
My breath catches in my throat. Did he just… help me?
Bianca’s face is a thundercloud of fury. Her plan has been ruined. She was supposed to humiliate me, and instead her own minion is on the floor covered in her own spilled lunch. The quiet of the cafeteria begins to break, first with a few snickers, then with outright laughter.
“This isn’t over,” she hisses at me, her voice a venomous promise. She turns on her heel and storms away, her cronies scrambling after her.
Maya lets out a shaky breath beside me. “I thought I was going to die.”
“You and me both,” I murmur, my gaze still fixed on Caleb. He’s talking to his brother now, laughing at something Jonah said, as if nothing happened. As if he didn’t just subtly intervene and save me from a social catastrophe.
Why? Why would he do that? After this morning, after the way he looked at me, the way he cornered me. It makes no sense. Jonah wants me gone. Bianca wants me destroyed. And Caleb… I have no idea what Caleb wants.
I sit back down, my legs trembling slightly. I look at Maya, who is staring at me with a mixture of terror and awe.
“Nobody stands up to Bianca like that,” she whispers. “Nobody.”
“I’m starting to see that wasn’t my smartest move.”
“No,” Maya says, a small, genuine smile finally returning to her face. “It probably wasn’t. But it was pretty amazing to watch.”
The warning bell rings, jarring us both. We gather our things in silence. As I throw away my uneaten lunch, I can’t help but glance back at the Alphas’ table one last time.
Jonah’s stormy eyes meet mine across the room. They’re filled with annoyance, but also a flicker of that same grudging respect I saw in the hallway. My stomach does a nervous flip.
Then my eyes find Caleb. He isn’t looking at me. He’s laughing with his friends. But I can’t shake the feeling. That confusing warmth in my chest flares up again, a dangerous, hopeful little flame.
One brother seems to hate me on principle. The other… the other is an enigma. He’s a threat and, impossibly, a shield, all wrapped in the same infuriatingly handsome package.
I walk to my next class with my new and only friend, feeling more isolated and confused than ever. This town is a puzzle, and I’m starting to think the Blackwood twins are the most complicated pieces of all.
