WILLA

When I returned to the room, Verah wasn’t there. Her box sat open on the bed with a few clothes scattered across it.

I grabbed my phone, swiping through it quickly to see if she had left a message. Nothing. I walked to the bathroom, peeking inside with a mischievous little smile. Empty.

"Weird," I mumbled, stepping over to the window. I glanced outside.

I hadn’t seen her leave the building either. She must have slipped out without me noticing.

I sighed and walked back to my bed, dropping onto it with a soft thud.

"Good thing, I guess," I murmured, laying back and staring up at the ceiling.

She would have forced me to tell her everything that happened. And I definitely wouldn’t have been able to hide the fact that three insanely hot boys in this academy had kissed me today. Yeah, including her cousin — the one she loathed — and Elliott.

I’d better keep that part about Elliott from her. I couldn’t stand another scolding right now.

I lay there for a few more minutes, letting my thoughts run wild. Then the door flew open with a loud bang, snapping me out of it.

Verah burst into the room, wheezing and out of breath. She slammed the door shut behind her and pressed her back against it. I sat up quickly, a frown pulling at my lips.

"Did you see a ghost?" I asked.

"Oh my fucking bad heart!" Verah screeched, jumping nearly a foot in the air.

She yanked the door open again and bolted back out, still gripping the handle as she stared at me with wild, panicked eyes.

Then realization dawned on her face as she recognized it was just me and not whatever monster she’d been running from.

"Elyse!" she cried out, glaring at me.

"Yep," I said, fighting back a smile. "Care to explain what that was all about?"

I looked away from her disheveled hair to the sleeveless brown crop top barely hanging on top of her breasts, then down to the blue denim jeans that were so short they could pass as panties.

This wasn’t her usual exercise outfit. Verah cared too much about her appearance to show up like this in a field full of students.

Besides, if she had gone for a run, she wouldn’t have left the room without dragging me along.

"Where did you go?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

Verah’s cheeks tinted pink. My suspicion deepened. She huffed, looking away from me.

"You shouldn’t be in right now," she said.

"Does this involve a man?" I asked.

"What man?" She stepped back into the room, shutting the door behind her. She walked over to her bed, sat down, and pulled out her phone, immediately starting to type.

Her face lit up from the screen’s glow, and a small, secretive smile curved her lips.

"The sentinel," I said. "Jude, is that his name?"

"J...Jude?" Verah stuttered. She didn’t look at me, still glued to her phone. "Who the hell is Jude?"

I didn’t answer. I stood up quietly and tiptoed toward her until I was close enough to peek.

I leaned forward and spied. Yeah, I was right. It was Jude — the sneaky, petty sentinel!

"My god, Verah," I said.

Verah gasped, hastily hiding her phone behind her back. She looked up at me with a scowl.

"You’re fucking him," I teased.

"Fucking... who?" She feigned ignorance.

"You faker," I murmured, thinning my eyes on her. "I just saw you texting Jude and him talking about the ’good time’ you had..."

"I saw you kissed my cousin!" Verah shot back.

"What?" It was my turn to stutter.

Heat crept into my cheeks. Verah rose from the bed with a triumphant smile. "You kissed that slobbering fool."

"He doesn’t slobber," I defended, "and stop trying to change the subject."

"I am not trying to change it," she argued.

"You are," I replied, furrowing my brows in concern. "Lance is my mate. I’m allowed to kiss him. You, on the other hand, don’t even know who Jude is. Is he single? Disease-free? Did you even use Condom"

"He’s single and disease-free," Verah said without thinking.

"Ha!" I pointed my index finger at her triumphantly. "Caught ya!"

She stared at me with pure confusion on her face.

"You just admitted to fucking him," I said with a smug smile.

"Bitch," Verah muttered, shooting me a mock dirty look.

"You love this bitch," I pointed to myself, sticking my tongue out at her.

She couldn’t deny it anymore, so she let out a defeated sigh, shoulders slumping.

"So, how was it? Good?" I pressed, grinning.

"How was the kiss with Lance?" she retorted, wrinkling her nose. "Disgusting?"

"Sweet," I replied, unable to hide the small smile tugging at my lips.

"Sweet?" Verah gagged dramatically, wrinkling her nose even more. "Do you mean he spat in your mouth and forced you to swallow it?"

"Nothing like that happened," I said. Even though it hadn’t lasted long, I had a feeling Lance would be just as good as Eric.

"Now answer my question and stop making that disgusting face," I demanded.

"I’d rather we go shopping now," she said, glancing at the pink wall clock. I followed her gaze. It was already noon. "Seeing these curtains and the overall room makes me want to throw up."

She was evading again.

Verah slipped out of the slutty outfit and changed into an olive green knit crochet long-sleeve top with a white camisole underneath, paired with sage green wide-leg cargo jeans embroidered with delicate daisies.

She finished with matching green daisy high-top sneakers.

As soon as she was done, she turned to me, her eyes gliding down my frame. "You’re ready."

"I am," I affirmed with a nod.

I didn’t bother pressing her about Jude. She didn’t look like she was in the mood to talk about it anyway.

Verah snatched her white floral purse off the hanger and headed for the door. I followed close behind. She opened it, then paused and turned to me.

"If you must know," she said, voice low, "he’s really terrible."

"Terrible?" I repeated slowly, blinking at her.

Was she talking about the sex... or him as a person?