Jessie Kensington thought she had escaped her troubled past when she faked her death and started a new life as Violet Arrowood. But three years later, she finds herself at Vanguard University on a scholarship, trying to build the future she always d...
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The morning passed by in a blur. No one spoke to me despite the stares I got everywhere I went. I knew I had one class left before I had a break for lunch. I didn't really know how that worked. Was everyone in the whole university going to be there at the same time, or did it depend on what course you were taking? I didn't know, but the thought of walking into the cafeteria alone made me want to have lunch in a toilet cubicle.
The sound of bags zipping and the professor handing out assignments signalled that class was almost over. It's overwhelming, and the things the teachers discuss are pretty hit-and-miss. Some things are fascinating and seep into my brain, but others go right over my head. I'm currently fighting the pre-lunch brain fog I get when my body demands food.
The assignment gets slipped in front of me, and I glare at it. I'm pretty sure the pained feeling shows on my face because a tall boy with dark skin leans across the table.
"Tough class, huh?" he says, his voice calm and friendly.
"I thought it was just me," I answer, shoving my work into my bag and pushing myself off my chair. The boy stands up and does the same. He walks beside me and holds the door open as I walk ahead.
"You're new, right?" he questions.
"How'd you guess?"
"I would have remembered a pretty face like yours." I glance at him, and he stares straight ahead; a lopsided grin pulls on his face, revealing teeth as white as can be.
I cringe at the cheesiness. "Has that ever worked for you before?"
"I don't know yet," he laughs. "Give me a few minutes, and I'll tell you."
I stop before I enter the cafeteria doors, realising the boy just distracted me and my nerves the whole way here.
He looks back. "You coming?"
I hesitate.
"First-day jitters, huh?"
"Something like that."
"You don't know anyone here?"
"Only one person, but I don't know where she is. She's studying something different."
"Well," he says, walking back over to me. "My name is Teddy, and you can sit with us at lunch. Because I'm a gentleman and stuff." He walks back to the double doors leading to the cafeteria and pushes one open. He stands there holding it open with his back and waits for me to walk through.
I can do this. It's just lunch with people who are here to do the same normal thing you are doing, I lie to myself.
The cafeteria is packed with students. Benches upon benches are filled with students, young and older. It's loud and has a very chaotic energy, which makes me a little nervous, but it's comforting as well; they are so absorbed in their own conversations or books that they don't notice the other people around them, me included.
