We hadn't gotten far down the sidewalk before someone stepped into her path. At first glance, I thought it was Mari. But though she was also blonde haired and blue-eyed, it wasn't Mari.

"Celeste," Jason greeted her, but there was no enthusiasm in his voice. He sounded irritated, actually.

"Jason," replied Celeste with a sneer. "I didn't expect to find you with the new girl. I thought you'd still be pining for your ex."

Jason didn't reply, which made nerves flutter in my stomach. Still pining for his ex? What was that supposed to mean?

Celeste turned to me, her blue eyes amused. "I can help you get revenge," she said.

"Revenge?" I asked, confused.

"On Mari," Celeste said, as if that was the most obvious answer.

I gave a scoff. Mari was irritating, but I had no intention of painting a larger target on my back. "No thanks," I said, before attempting to skirt around her on the sidewalk.

But Celeste stopped me, gripping my arm tightly. "I can make a wonderful friend," she warned, her voice low. "Or a very good enemy. The choice is yours."

"I think I have plenty of friends, thanks," I replied, anger lacing my words.

Celeste's friendly smile turned bitter, her blue eyes narrowing. "I don't think you heard me."

My anger swelled. "I heard you just fine, Celeste. My ears aren't broken. I just have no interest in a fake friend that wants to use me as bait in her war with the other mean girl."

Celeste sneered. "You'll regret your choice soon enough."

She moved toward me, but Jason was there, towering over her. "That's enough, Celeste. She said no. Move along."

With a curl of her lip, Celeste looked up at Jason. "Have fun with your consolation prize, Jase. Though I'm not sure how much of her will be left by the time your ex is through with her."

Then she turned on her heel and stomped away, toward Alpha Hall.

I watched her until she was out of sight, then I blew out a sharp breath of relief.

Jason's shoulders were tense and he was not as carefree as he had been before Celeste had shown up.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, watching as the emotions flickered across his face.

He turned back to me with a smile, but I could tell it wasn't genuine.

"She definitely knows how to push people's buttons," I said, unsure of what else to say. It seemed clear that Celeste had definitely hit a sore spot with her words.

"That she does."

Without anything else to say, we walked in silence to Omega Hall. The easy-going conversation we'd had before Celeste had lifted my spirits, but I was left wondering why I always seemed to be the target of the mean girls. Was it just because I was the new girl?

The walk to the classroom felt entirely too long. As the silence stretched between Jason and I, the tension thickened to an uncomfortable amount.

I thought Jason would sit away from me, but he slid into the seat next to mine, though he was still silent. The rest of our class began to file in around us, and I fiddled with my notebook and pencil to distract myself.

I felt it when Mari and Alek entered the room. A shiver slid up my spine and I looked up, only to lock gazes with Mari's ice blue eyes. She looked amused as she turned her gaze to Jason.

"Wow, yesterday's trash found the rest of the garbage. Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Jason didn't look up at Mari's words, but I could tell that it deflated him. Alek stood behind Mari, though he seemed bored by the whole situation.

"Come on, Mar," he said, waving for her to move along. "Leave the asshole to suffer."

Mari shot an irritated look to Alek before she turned away, heading to a desk as far from us as possible.

"I take it Mari doesn't like you that much either?"

Jason picked at a piece of lint on his blazer. "Not so much. Neither does Alek, though that's nothing new."

"He doesn't like me either, at least, not anymore."

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I wasn't sure what the point was of pretending Alek had once been my friend.

"Not anymore?" Jason asked, his brown eyes finally looking up at me.

"It's stupid really. We were friends when we were kids and when I saw him again, I thought maybe I'd have a friend here. But he's been nothing but a jerk to me."

"His loss," Jason replied. "And besides, you deserve a much better friend than Aleksander."

I gave Jason a small smile, but it felt like the most genuine one I'd given my entire time here at Whitethorn Academy. As our teacher entered and began class, I found myself hoping I'd see more of Jason.

~

My classes were boring. There was nothing special about any of them.

I supposed I had been expecting too much, but from the way Whitethorn Academy looked, I'd assumed these classes would be spectacular. I hadn't realized that something that sounded so fantastic would be so dull. By lunchtime, I wanted nothing more than to take a long nap.

At lunch, Naomi found me and sat down with her food, her red curls bouncing. She happily started munching on her carrot sticks, swirling them in heaping amounts of ranch dressing.

"So, how was your first day of classes?" She asked me, though her mouth was full was full of food.

I fought back the look of disgust I wanted to give her. "They were fine. A little boring." I gave a shrug of my shoulders.

"I've heard that the normal classes are pretty lackluster," Naomi agreed. "Then again, even the Gifted courses can be boring."

I murmured my agreement as I picked at my turkey sandwich. I looked up in time to see Mari and Alek enter the room, with Mari's minion, who I'd learned was named Nadia. Naomi followed my gaze and made a show of rolling her eyes.

"Did she give you any more trouble today?"

Snapping one of my chips in half, I shrugged my shoulders. "I accidentally ran into her again. She called me a few names. And then I met a girl named Celeste, who offered to help me get revenge."

Naomi gaped, dropping her carrot stick. "Please don't tell me you agreed to help her."

I was offended. "Of course not! I told her no and she told me I'd regret my choice soon enough, whatever that meant."

"Probably nothing good," Naomi muttered as she stared down at her lunch. "Celeste and Mari have been fighting over Alek for a few years now. He's bounced back and forth between them several times. Guess he has a type, huh?"

"Yeah, mean and blonde, apparently."

Naomi snorted a laugh as she took a bite of a carrot stick. "Anything else interesting happen today? Any more offers for mean girl cliques?"

"No. I did meet a boy named Jason though."

Naomi didn't react right away. She continued to swirl her carrot stick around, her face paling. Then she looked up at me. "Did you manage to offend him too?"

"No. He introduced himself to me after I ran into Mari again. He asked me if I was okay. And he told Celeste to get lost when she was harassing me."

"That... was nice of him." The words seemed like a struggle for Naomi to voice. Her face was still pale and she no longer seemed interested in her food.

"Why do you seem so surprised?"

"Jason is complicated."

"Complicated how?"

Naomi seemed to be considering her words carefully. "Jason used to date Mari."

I wanted to groan. I'd turned down Celeste's offer of revenge for a lot of reasons, but a big one was because I hadn't wanted to paint a larger target on my back. But by spending time with Jason, I might have already done that.

Even though Mari didn't seem to have any lingering feelings for Jason, I wouldn't put it past her to use it as an excuse to come after me again.

"Are you okay?" Naomi asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to keep track of all these mean girl dynamics."

Naomi gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm not saying you need to stay away from him, but I thought you should have fair warning. Mari isn't one to take things lightly. She might pretend to hate him now, but if Alek breaks up with her again, she'll probably go crawling right back to Jason."

No longer hungry, I pushed my plate away.

"We should probably get moving," Naomi said. "If we're late for Coach Knight's class, she'll make us do push-ups until we have jelly for arms."

I followed her to put my plate away, before we slipped back into the cold embrace of the outside. Naomi didn't lead me the same way as she had the day before. We avoided that line of trees I'd so desperately wanted to walk into.

Part of me was thankful for that. I had no intentions of embarrassing myself like that again.

Inside of the gym didn't look any different than any other gymnasium I'd ever been in. It was decked out in navy blue and silver, the colors of Whitethorn.

Naomi led me to the locker rooms, where several other girls were already getting ready. "Your locker," Naomi said, presenting me with a random locker. "This is your combo." She handed me a slip of paper, and I thanked her.

After fumbling with the lock a few times, I finally got the lock to snap open. Inside the locker, a navy blue athletic shorts, a light gray shirt, sports bra, and tennis shoes waited for me. I changed quickly, stuffing my school uniform and bag into the locker and slamming the door shut.

Naomi waited for me and we entered class together. Coach Knight paced around, a clipboard held in her hand. Her gray eyes --- eerily similar to Inara's—were narrowed as she took in the small crowd that had already gathered.

When the bell rang to signal class, she immediately took roll call, letting us know she was all business. I knew she would not be a teacher to mess with.

As soon as roll call ended, she began to bark out exercises to us. I followed Naomi's lead on some of them, unsure of her unfamiliar words.

Coach Knight watched me carefully, occasionally writing notes on her clipboard. The entire ordeal had me so unnerved.

When Coach Knight finally dismissed us, I was panting and every inch of my body was on fire. PE back home had been running a few laps before playing kickball or dodgeball. Not the intense workout we'd just been put through.

"I thought I was going to die," I told Naomi as we filed back to the locker rooms to rinse off and change clothes before our next class.

"Coach Knight is intense," Naomi replied. "Very no nonsense."

I nodded my agreement before turning to my locker to grab my uniform to change into. But as I pulled it out, a single sheet of white paper drifted to the floor. Curious, I picked it up, unfolding it as I did so.

I know what you did at the bonfire.