Page 26 of A Dead Man's B-Side
At this rate, he’d wake the entire floor.
With a resigned hiss, I threw the door open and glared at the boy who was now knocking on air before quickly righting himself. “Get in, you ceaseless parasite.”
I grabbed his collar and pulled him into my dorm, going to close my door when the one in front of me opened. “What’s–”
Wolf Kingsley.
Wolf Kingsley’s dorm is facing mine, and his eyes widened when they met my own. It felt like looking into a mirror when our hands paused on our doorknobs, waiting for the other's next move.
Slowly, he rested his features and peered over my shoulder to August, who was dusting himself off like I’d thrown him into a mountain of hay.
I admit, there was no way I could explain myself out of this. Not that I needed to, let alone wanted to. I didn’t owe anyone anything.
My hand tightened into a fist, and I shifted my eyes from August to Wolf. Wolf to August.
It was August who spoke first, in a breathless huff, “Oh… Calm evening, eh, Wolf?”
The boy in question leaned against his doorframe with a raised brow, completely ignoring my presence. “It was, actually, until you decided to kick up a storm. Nothing entirely out of the ordinary.”
I peered into his dorm and found steam coming from the direction of his bathroom. One would assume he was taking a hot shower, but the steam was heavier, thicker. It almost looked like smoke.
Or… something entirely different.
Wolf must have caught me looking, because he straightened, covering my view, before closing his door and stepping closer to mine.
When I met his gaze, I found him watching me with a look of warning. To not ponder on what I’d seen or to not speak of it, I didn’t know.
But that only confirmed my suspicions.
The Quarter monitor wouldn’t be too happy to learn of any questionable behaviour on the second floor, and because I can pick a lock, Wolf would soon be dancing on my strings until I saw fit.
Though that would be hypocritical, considering I promised myself to stay under the radar and to mind my own business.
Wolf shuffled closer to my dorm with a kind smile he sent to August. “Planned a hangout?”
I watched the interaction with a curl of my lip as August preened under the other boy’s attention. “Yeah! Yeah, I mean, you could say that.”
I went to close my door before Wolf slipped past with an arrogant smile, boxing us all in. I turned to August with a scowl. “Wedidn’t plan anything. You were leaving… Both of you.”
I sent, with the last drops of energy left in me, the meanest glare I could muster, but August, ever the suicidal, only shrugged with another one of his grins. “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. You’re new… We could show you the ropes around here.”
I scoffed. “Looks like you yourself don’t have a handle on the ropes around here.”
He rolled his eyes, not the least bit offended, as if my words were water sliding off a raincoat. “Fine. Wolf will show you–or rathertellyou the ropes around here, and I’ll… hang around.”
Wolf, who was too busy looking around, chuckled and shook his head. “For someone so academically brilliant, you don’t always make sense, Myro.”
I turned my narrowed eyes to him before giving thought to August’s proposal.
They’ve both been in Castle Hill long enough to know something. I needed information, and August, stupidly, was in need of company.
For the small price of my patience, I would be willing to havemy curiosities sated.
“No, now get out.”
August threw his head back with a groan and stared at the ceiling, as Wolf made his way over to my nightstand and picked up the lighter, I’d forgotten to put away.
With a tilt of his lip and a wave of his hand, he pointed with the lighter to my lower half. I looked down and found the packet of cigarettes protruding from the pocket of my pants.
