"JAMES IS STARING at you," I told Adelina one day while we were chilling in the courtyard. It was one week after we'd gone back to school and I hadn't made much progress with my plan, but I wasn't dissuaded. It was the first week back, after all. I needed patience. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Her eyes narrowed. "Staring or glaring?"

"A tiny bit of both," I admitted. "I can't tell."

"I'm going to kill him."

"Not a good idea. I can spot... Clark, Tom, Victor, oh fuck that is Seb." I tore my gaze away instantly, less I was caught staring. I shook my head internally. "Why did I think that was Damian for the longest second?"

Adelina shrugged nonchalantly, but even then her rage was clear. "I guess they look kind of alike from the back. Why is Seb hanging out with them again, though? I know they're friends, but they're not that close as far as I'm aware. Apparently Seb was only invited to that gathering in September because they'd bumped into him on the way there."

"He's friends with everyone." Even I couldn't hide my bitterness as I said that. Adelina glanced at me with surprise.

Then, she said, with an accusatory tone, "You're mad at him. Stop denying it."

"Yeah, I'm mad at him." She seemed surprised at my easy admittance. I met her eyes. "I'm fucking mad because I thought we were friends."

"Do you want revenge?"

"I'm not that petty." Oh, but I had a whole plan for it. Albeit it wasn't precisely revenge, since I gained much from it as well. Seb was something I used to motivate myself now, whenever I felt like I was starting to fall off, to lose steam. He was startlingly efficient at that. I wasn't going to complain.

"Sometimes," Adelina sighed, "I think you are. You always seem to be the most mature out of all of us, but with things like this? You have the mentality of a five year old child."

"Oh, excuse me, Adelina Roche. That's rich, coming from the girl who has a pointless grudge with someone who's never actually done anything to her."

"He destroyed my favourite doll!" she protested.

I hadn't heard that before, but still. "And how many years ago was that?"

She pouted. "Two."

I froze. "Adelina, you're fifteen."

"So?" she cried. "I'd had that doll since I was a little girl. I loved it, okay?"

"It's a doll," I deadpanned. "It's no reason to hate someone this much."

"I loved that doll."

"How did he destroy it?" I questioned, expecting something wholly ridiculous.

And it was. "He tore it apart! With scissors! It was brutal, Hon, trust me." Adelina had a pained expression on her face. "I still remember the state of Etienne—that was the name of the doll—afterwards. Oh, its poor bunny ears cut right off, the cotton stuffing scattered all over the floor... a brutal sight. He's a monster, Hon." But there was a hint of laughter in her voice that showed she wasn't fully serious, which was good, because if she was I'd be absolutely horrified.

"And you plan on hating him for the rest of his life due to that?" I inquired patiently.

She nodded. "Yes. I do."

"What a vengeful woman you are, Ade."

She nodded in agreement. "Vengeful. That's me. I'm extremely vengeful. Wrong me, I will make you pay. And James is my archnemesis, you know."

I giggled. She giggled too. I shot another look at where the boys were, and they'd settled around a bench, laughing about something. Huffing, I turned back to Adelina. "Look at them, Ade, look at them."

She shook her head with a dramatic sigh. "So sad. A bunch of clowns."

"Oh yeah. Clark and Queenie are back together?"

Adelina forced a smile. "Broke up again. Earlier today. Queenie told me earlier when I saw her. Very dramatic."

"He's laughing," I pointed out. "He seems very happy right now, not at all like a person who just broke up with his girlfriend again."

"He called it off," Adelina grinned. "She says she did, but from the way she looked I can just tell. I think he's in love with someone else. No idea who. I'm sure we'll figure it out within the next three business days."

"Oh, most definitely, most definitely," I said in agreement. "Less than that, I think. I'll probably hear it from Marissa and Isabel later tonight." They were my new roommates for the term. Isabel, despite how quiet she was, did know a surprising amount of gossip. And Marissa was a talker.

"Or earlier," Adelina said. "Once we get our phones. From BridewaterSecrets." BridewaterSecrets. That was the gossip account. It was still somehow up and running. I was quite shocked, if I must say so myself. I'd expected it to die down after a day or two, but it was still going strong. That was pleasantly surprising. I actually quite enjoyed it, despite the constant reminder that a majority of the kids still didn't know my name after an entire term here. But the amount of drama revealed by the account made it all worth it.

People were really willing to do anything as long as they were behind a veil of anonymity. It gave them security, I suppose, that their actions, at least in their view, would have no consequences. They could just type those words, whether or not they were true, and pretend as if they were just as shocked as anyone else to see them.

But we were all profiting off it so far. An endless show of entertainment, never-ending. And so no one would snitch, no one would complain, at the risk of social ruination.

I glanced at my watch. "Ten minutes until we can get our phones."

Adelina sighed. "Let's just wait here until then. I'm too tired to walk the stairs twice."

"Fair enough."

"Adelina!" Both her and I turned to the source of the voice. It was a bunch of girls from Sorren. I recognised a majority of them, even if I couldn't exactly match the name to the correct face. Taysha Addams, Emilia Rivera, Anna Covington and Lavender Estep. Emilia and Lavender were cousins, but they didn't always seem to get along.

They quickly made their way over. Adelina smiled and greeted them all, and for once I waved as well. Before, I'd just have ignored them the same way they ignored me.

"Oh my fucking god," Taysha groaned, "have you seen the amount of prep we got for Theory of Magic?" She had a bag slung on one shoulder, and she was magically lifting a water bottle. It was the kind of magic my parents would have condemned me for, but it was fairly common among most other magic users.

"I haven't," Adelina said, brows creasing. "Is there a lot?"

"An entire fucking past paper."

And that was my chance to interject. "Wait, that's prep for you guys? We did it during class."

Taysha's eyes flickered to me, mild surprise entering her eyes. But she didn't let that affect her. "Lucky! I'd rather have done that then spend like, two prep sessions on it."

"It's not difficult," I assured her. "And hey, at least you could do it with the textbook open. I couldn't."

Lavender frowned. "Are you in Nicole's class? I think she did it during lessons too."

"I am," I told her. "She sits two seats away from me."

"Ah, I see, I see."

They were all nice. I could tell that much. They just never felt the need to pay any attention to me from day to day. I could tell you that half of them probably couldn't tell who was who between me, Yunji and Analisa. And I'd make the mistake of not inserting myself at all last term, but I was doing it now. I was going to make sure these people remembered my goddamn name.

Adelina sighed. "Hon, how much do I need to pay you for me to tell me all the answers?"

"I could, and then you'd fail your exams." I refrained from saying again. Because Adelina had failed Theory of Magic. She'd scraped past History and Healing, but somehow failed Theory. And she hadn't even realised she had a problem with that subject.

Adelina gave me her best puppy dog eyes, which were efficient because she was gorgeous. Why did she have to be so beautiful? "What if I try to do it and then give it to you for marking?"

"Adelina, half the paper is essay writing."

Lavender nodded. "Nicole said that her wrist felt like it was broken after she was done."

And now I was just a bit speechless, and I decided that I wasn't much a fan of Lavender Estep. Dear god, why do these people always find a way to link everything that had to do with any full boarding girl back to Nicole Yeung?

I managed a weak "yeah" before Anna spoke. "Just ask Nadia, Taysha. It's not that bad."

Adelina glanced at me. She knew I was just a tad sensitive about the subject of Nadia Sorren. I gave a nonchalant shrug in return, but internally I was raging. Why? Why were they so fucking popular? Why were they the names hanging on everyone's mouth, and why was everything said about them always positive? Why were Yunji and I the only people who realised how much of a bitch she was to people she thought were beneath her?

Oh, right, because I was rather certain we were the only two people at this school right now who she thought was beneath her.

Fucking hell.

Emilia seemed to be the only one among the four who seemed to notice that Adelina and I were looking increasingly uncomfortable. She creased her brows slightly, and then turned to the other Sorren girls. "Guys, it's four thirty. We can go get our phones now."

"Oh! Well, see you guys around," Taysha said with a wave. "Have fun!"

I glanced at my own watch. It was twenty-five.

Adelina waited until they were gone to say, "They're nice people."

"I know," I told her. "I know they are."

"But they do talk about those guys a lot."

"They do."

"Why?"

"Because they're the popular ones, and the rest of us are just cannon fodder."

"You shouldn't think that way," she told me. "I'm pretty sure you get higher scores than Nadia and Nicole in a few subjects. And just because you don't have as many friends as them doesn't mean anything."

"Top five girls in the year," I said suddenly.

Adelina glanced at me. "What?"

"Remember that post on BridewaterSecrets? Asking the account to list the top five girls in the year? Both Nadia and Nicole were on there. And remember that post asking who the girl Seb had a crush on? Even the account owner didn't know my name. Someone else replied my name after it, and I'm pretty sure it was Yunji."

Adelina stared, flabbergasted. "You actually took that stuff seriously?"

"I'm just annoyed, Ade," I told her honestly. "How come they can be so popular and three fourths of the year don't even know my name?"

"You know the account also listed Erika Larson as one of their top fives? Literally everyone hates Erika."

"She's still more popular than me."

"Trust me, you don't want to be popular like Erika Larson. You don't hang out with the weeklies much, I do. The shit I've heard said about her, my god."

"I know I'm being ridiculous."

"I think you're being too influenced by Yunji."

I glanced at her. "So you did notice."

"Of course I do." A pause. "You need to stop underestimating me. I guessed her crush on Withington too."

"Has she admitted it?" I inquired.

She shook her head. "But I brought him up once or twice, noticed her expression change. She has a fucking crush on him alright."

And we were both silent for a moment, because we both knew the rivalry between Adelina and James wasn't going to end any time soon, and as long as it didn't Yunji stood even less chance than she already had. Because Adelina had been telling the truth. She was more suitable for James than Yunji was.

They were as mismatched as me and Seb.

Which was why it simply was not going to happen. And it would never happen, considering how he was taking this whole thing.

But it was past thirty, so we made our way back to house to collect our phones before going our separate ways back into our dorms.

It was quiet inside my dorm, even though both Isabel and Marissa were there. I'd realised that the two of them had little in common, and it was the same with me. Thus, the constant silence in our dorm. Marissa spent half her time outside of house with her friends anyways, so usually it was just me and Isabel, who was almost constantly reading.

It was quite admirable, if I must be honest.

Isabel was one of the few girls in house who'd I'd really consider my friend outside of Adelina and Yunji. I was very glad to be rooming with her this term.

I changed into my casual wear, a black hoodie with a white heart on the front, and some comfortable sweatpants. Then I sat down in my chair and started scrolling through social media.

BridewaterSecrets' newest stories were the first things that popped up in my feed.

Why does Adelina hate James so much??

Excellent question, I thought to myself, quietly applauding whoever had posted it. Apparently, it was because of a doll. Even I found it ridiculous, and I was one of Adelina's best friends. I was meant to never find anything she did ridiculous and be by her side. And even I find the idea that this entire rivalry that was known to the entire year, and perhaps the entire school, was because of some childhood grudge over a broken doll.

I expected better from Adelina. And I really didn't get why James was taking her seriously at all. Because if I must be honest, he was encouraging it just as much as her.

I swiped onto the next story. Queenie and clark rip, approximately three weeks, not surprised tho.

So news had spread. Wouldn't be surprised if that tip was from one of the girls in house. I didn't think Queenie would have told anyone outside it yet, unless Clark had spoken himself. Though whether or not one of his friends would have been bored enough to post a tip was debatable. But I never underestimated the boredom of teenage boys, so it wasn't completely out of the question.

To that tip, the account had replied, watch them get back together in a week, which also wasn't out of the question.

It was just very dramatic, that was all I could say.

But life at Bridewater College felt like it was built to be dramatic, so there wasn't much I could say.

Next post, then. Nadia sorren is so fine.

I was not in the mood to read anything from Nadia Sorren sycophants, so I ignored that story and pressed onto the next one. But there were no more from BridewaterSecrets. I checked the time of the posts—one o'clock.

Okay, it had to be a day student, unless a boarder was using their second phone or their iPad to make the posts. But I doubted anyone would be that bored, or risk being caught. And I had no intention of playing detective in an attempt to find out who it was, because really it did not matter to me.

In fact, the veil of anonymity helped.

And it made school life feel slightly, just slightly, like Gossip Girl. I had no intention of having life here have anything else in common with the show, however.

"You guys know Queenie and Clack broke up again?" Marissa suddenly spoke up, glancing at me and Isabel.

Isabel glanced up from the book in her hand. "Of course. It's literally everywhere right now, and we don't live under a bloody rock."

Marissa pinched her nose. "Let's just say that Queenie is more than a little bit upset right now. So if you see her later, be careful. Like, don't mention him at all. And if you see Clark coming in one direction, lead her to another."

That had little to do with me, since I was going to have prep in the library anyways.

"Bring her to dinner late, maybe?" I suggested. "Clark and the Wadsworth boys are usually some of the first to arrive at the dining hall."

"Good point," Marissa murmured. "Ah well, we'll see what happens. She might have stopped screaming and crying in the past half an hour, who knows?"

"She's that upset?" Isabel asked, wincing.

"Yeah," Marissa sighed. "I don't even know why. It's not like this is the first time this has happened. It occurs once every few months, it's just routine at this point. I wish she'd stop wasting time on him, but there's just some kind of twisted attraction between them, I guess."

"Like magnets," I murmured.

"Precisely," Marissa said, sighing. I don't get it. And I won't ever pretend I do. Me, I have commitment issues, so mad respect to her for sticking with one guy for like, two years, I guess."

I decided not to point out that apparently the first time they broke up was because they both cheated on each other, which wasn't a stellar example of commitment, but nonetheless. And to be fair, they did get back together in the end.

From the amused expression in Isabel's face, I had a feeling she rather agreed with what I was thinking to myself.

"I hope she's okay," I said out loud to avoid the awkward silence.

"I don't know," Marissa sounded worried as she picked up her laptop. "I think I'm going to check up on her now. See you guys at prep."

And then she left the dorm. Isabel glanced at me, and I glanced back. She said, "This happens a lot, by the way. Don't let it affect you or upset you. Queenie will be okay."

"I know," I told her. "I'm sure she'll get over it soon. He's not worth it."

"What possesses them to drive themselves crazy like this?" Isabel asked in disbelief, shaking her head. "I wouldn't be able to get through it, honestly. Heartbreak every six months. Or less."

"Maybe this is true love," I jokingly suggested. "The inability to stay away from the other no matter what they do to you."

"Me, I think that's insanity. Though no boy has ever liked me." There was a hint of sadness in her voice.

"No way," I laughed.

"No boy has ever liked me," Isabel said matter-of-factly. "Except this one really annoying guy in Third Form, but he doesn't count. And we were too young anyways."

"I'm sure you'll find the one someday," I told her. "It takes time, you know."

"Yeah, but like, I look around me, and all my friends have found some version of a significant other and I just feel so behind."

"Yeah, but you can be the one single, independent person in the group. Me, I'd prefer that than being in a relationship. Especially at this age."

"Fair. It's not going to work out anyways."

For one of the whitest girls I'd ever met, Isabel had surprisingly Asian views on things. Perhaps that was why her academic grades were so good as well. We both went to Drama Club, and she was one of the only students there who got better results than me. She was crazy smart too.

"I think it's better," I said slowly, "to wait until we're a bit older until we start dating. Less chance of it not working out, you know. I doubt any of the couples at school right now are going to last forever."

"Agreed," she nodded. "But it's their choice, and the only thing we can really do is watch it all happen, I guess."

"It's like a TV show."

"It is," she laughed. "When are you leaving for the library?"

"Oh, same time as you guys, probably."

"Is it better there?" she asked. "I'm considering asking to switch to the library to study as well, but I'm not sure yet."

"I prefer it, personally. I just sit with James Taylor, you know, from Wadsworth, and we study together. Usually I help him out with questions he doesn't know how to do, it's quite nice. It's too loud in the prep room, in my opinion."

"Agreed," Isabel nodded. "Which is why I want to switch to the library too. I'll consider it. Would I be welcomed? Into you and James' little study group?"

"Most definitely," I grinned. "He'll be fine with it if only because it means he gets another person to tutor him when he doesn't know how to do prep."

"Well," Isabel murmured, "I suppose tutoring could help us study better. You know, let ue memorise things better, since you'd have to keep repeating them."

I nodded in agreement. "It's why I don't mind that much. He's nice anyways. And he has a lot of gossip."

"And don't we all enjoy that," Isabel smiled, her eyes filled with mirth. "Gossip is the currency at Bridewater College, and my god if it spreads fast."

"One of the main things I've learnt in the entirety of last term, yes."

Isabel sighed. "I keep forgetting you were at one point the target of the gossip."

"Rather regrettably."

She hummed. And then both of us returned to our usual silence when Marissa wasn't around. I actually did have some things in common with Isabel, but neither of us were necessarily people who liked talking about it. And despite being friends, we still weren't that close.

I left with Isabel for prep, and we split up after we walked out of house. Me to the library, which was above the dining hall, and her to the Klairns Building. I sat down with Taylor at my usual spot, and he quickly started filling me in with the latest news around school, before he settled on investigating me about Queenie's reaction to the highly publicised breakup.

"She was upset, I think," I said honestly, "but the girls said she'd probably be over it by now. We do still have an elaborate plan to keep her away from Clark for the foreseeable future, though."

Bluntly, he replied, "It's not going to work for long. They're going to get back together in like a few weeks. That's how they work."

"What a love story of the ages," I said sarcastically. "It would go down in history, I'm sure. Like Xuan Wu and Zhao Wan'er." And that reminded me of Seb again, since that was the two characters he'd wanted to do with me on the fashion show. And it was just awkward to think about it now. I wonder if he wanted to die every time he thought of that.

The thought that he would be just as embarrassed as I was was rather satisfying indeed.

James didn't seem to notice where my trail of thought had gone. "Certainly. It is the love story of our year. Everyone loves to keep up with it. You miss a single episode and you won't be able to keep up with it again. It's just amazing."

"Perhaps they ought to make a television show out of it," I said half-heartedly.

"Write a book about it, most certainly."

"Who's going to do that? You?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Shut up, Taylor. We have Theory prep to finish."

"Fuck Theory prep," he said with utmost politeness and the tightest smile I'd ever seen. Or perhaps it was just pained. Both, I rather thought.

"You should become friends with Adelina," I suddenly said. "Both of you. Absolute shit at Theory. It's just amazing at this point."

"Adelina Roche?" James asked in bewilderment. "Hell nah. She's... Adelina Roche. I'm not befriending her. Hell to the no."

"What?" I asked, confused. "She's nice. Really nice. And she loves gossip just as much as you do. Hey, why don't you come sit with us at dinner later?"

What I got in response was a wide-eyed look from James. "Are you insane?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "Me? Sit with you guys?"

"Why not?" I questioned. "It's not like you have to worry about the main reason dinner is so fucking gender-divided. You're gay. No one is going to think you have a crush on one of us."

"That is not the only reason why dinner is so gender-divided."

"Oh, it's because you're all cowards?"

"I don't see any girls going to sit with the boys at dinner, do you?"

I raised my head. "My god, no one's going to care. And you sit alone during dinner every day anyways."

"I like it that way."

"No you don't. I've met true introverts before. You're not one."

"And how do you know that?"

"You started talking to me out of the blue when you had no reason to," I pointed out. "If you really didn't want to be friends with anyone, you would not have done that."

"Oh, you fancy yourself a mind-reader, don't you?"

"It's actually quite obvious to anyone with eyes," I said matter-of-factly. "You're a lot like Yunji in that way. Except you don't try to befriend anyone."

"So, have we just established that I'm a hybrid mixture of Luo Yunji and Adelina Roche?" he asked, sounding extremely unimpressed.

"Yes," I said without a second thought. "Yes, you are. Now do your god fucking Theory prep, please. I'm not in the mood to let you copy my answers. And you can't anyways, it's an essay."

"It's an essay?" He sounded so shocked I looked up from my laptop at him incredulously.

"Did you not listen in class?"

"You think I listen to more than half the stuff taught in Theory of Magic?"

"Fair enough," I murmured. "Fair enough. Dei sei."

"What?"

"It means you deserve this. In Cantonese." My face was blank as I turned to stare at him. "Now sou seng."

"And what does that mean? Fuck off?"

"It means shut up," I said sweetly. "I could tell you to fuck off if you want, though."

He just glared. "Fine. I'll do my fucking prep. My god you're annoying. Why did I befriend you? All you do is boss me around and annoy me and—"

He shut up when I summoned my earphones out of my schoolbag. I could have turned and grabbed it with my hand, but hell, magic was just so convenient.

To be honest, it felt like I was getting rid of a lot of my reservations about things from last term. Magic included. Did it matter, in the end? My parents didn't have eyes here. They'd have no idea what I did as long as I didn't slip up.

I smirked, and then started typing away my essay on my laptop, ignoring his quiet curses.

I had to finish this prep soon because I wouldn't be at school on Friday. On Friday, the Duellers' Club was going to portal to London for the British Schools Duelling Open. Bridewater was hardly the only magical school in the country, it was simply one of the best.

I didn't have a lot of expectations for myself making it too far in the competition. I was still the weakest out of the four. I was betting for Adelina, mostly. She could already beat Theo and Caitlyn without too much issue.

Duelling was not separated by sex. While male duellers might be more physically capable, the magical aspect of it all meant that females could easily make the battleground even.

Coach had been gruelling us all throughout the past week. I'd worked out through Christmas to keep myself in shape, but the lack of practice during the month was still having obvious effects on me. With the competition so soon, I'd agreed to practice with Adelina and Theo later tonight under the supervision of Coach. Cait wouldn't be there, obviously, since she was a day student.

Duellers' Club was the one time Theo still talked to me. Not that I wanted to talk to him. On the few times we've done evening practices without Cait, he'd been the one left to the side while Adelina and I snickered away. He didn't seem to care, though. Unlike James, who actively sought people to talk to even though he denied it with every inch of his life, Theo was someone who didn't particularly care whether or not people were around him. He could talk to people without issue, but he could also be alone and be perfectly content.

An ambivert, if I must.

And it pissed me off. Because I really wanted him to know what it felt like now that he and Seb weren't talking to me anymore. That an entire term of friendship disappeared in a flash just because Seb couldn't deal with the fact I just didn't like him, even though I'd never said I had and never treated him more than a friend. I treated him the exact same way as I did Theo.

But there was nothing I could say or do about it now.