Page 90 of Colton

“Nothing’s been planned yet,” I deadpan. “Don’t worry, once I have a plan, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Obviously,” she drawls. “But Soph, how are you handling the rumors?”

Sophia pauses mid-bite, lowering the fork with eggs down onto her plate. She glances between the three of us, and I close my eyes for a moment. This is not the time or place, and quite frankly, if the rumors didn’t reach her ears yet, there was no damned need for Grace to tell her.

“What rumors?”

“Well,” Grace’s smile turned into a panicked expression. “People have been speculating whether or not your rivalry with Soren has been fake all this time, and if you two are actually in love.”

Silence.

Utter and complete silence.

“What?!” Sophia screeches, her voice rising. “Who the hell would be stupid enough to believe that?!”

“Calm down,” I say, noticing the stares we’ve been getting. “I can bet it’s Cassia.”

At the mention of the name, Sophia’s expression falters further, before rage starts to bubble behind her piercing green eyes. Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone with such a striking shade of green. It’s almost scary how pretty her eyes are.

“That cunt,” Sophia hisses.

Cassia is a sore spot for Sophia. She’s our age, a fellow student at the Academy, and she’s been after Soren for ages. Rumors say the two have been hooking up forever, but that's just speculation. However, Cassia absolutely loathes Sophia because she’s the reason behind Soren’s terrible reputation.

To be fair, he started it all, so I’m putting all the blame on him.

“Listen, it may not be her,” Lila chimes in, trying to defuse the situation before Sophia goes looking for trouble and gets her ass kicked by Cassia. Unfortunately, she would absolutely break every bone in my friend’s body.

“I don’t care—” Sophia’s words get cut off when the air around us shifts. We all pause, looking to the left when we notice someone has arrived, and my brows rise to my hairline.

It’s Artemis.

She’s standing there, with that blank expression on her face, without so much as sparing Grace a glance. She doesn’t say anything for a moment, and she looks at me, as if she’s trying to get a peek into my soul.

“Avalon,” Artemis’ sweet voice rings around us, and I hold my breath. “I need to speak with you.”

“Uh, now?” I ask, looking down at my unfinished breakfast.

“Yes,” she says quickly. “It’s important.”

“Alright,” I push the chair back and grab my bag with my books since I don’t think I’ll have the time to come back and finish breakfast. I stand up, motion with my head toward the exit of the cafeteria, and Artemis follows behind me.

“See?! I told you I had a feeling! I didn’t know I’d be summoning the she-devil,” Grace hisses, and I suppress a chuckle.

“Shut up before she beats the crap out of you,” Sophia says.

Artemis and I continue to walk until we find ourselves in an empty hallway. Most people are either in classrooms, preparing for class, or still having breakfast, so we’ll have plenty of privacy.

“What is it?”

I turn to face her, folding my arms in front of my chest and leaning against the wall. Artemis is quiet for a moment, and the lack of her usual sassy attitude and the smirk she’s usually wearing like armor catches me off guard.

“I wanted to apologize,” she says, and I blink, unsure if I heard her correctly.

“What?”

“I want to apologize for the terrible way I’ve been treating you,” she says, and her voice is flat. I can’t tell if she’s messing with me or if she’s being sincere. “I was just using you to feed my own ego, and you didn’t deserve that. So, I’m sorry.”

“What brought this on?”