Untouchable

0.41

Ivy’s POV

I’m halfway through explaining an assignment to Kayla and Lily in the dorm when a sudden, forceful knock pounds against the door. I barely have time to exchange glances with them before Kayla gets up and swings it open.

Adrian, Alistair, Nathaniel, and Sebastian stand there, their expressions unreadable, though I can feel the tension rolling off them.

“What the hell?” Kayla mutters, stepping back to let them in.

“Is this some kind of intervention?” I joke, but no one laughs.

Alistair shuts the door behind him, and when he turns back to me, his face is uncharacteristically serious. “We need to talk.”

A pit forms in my stomach.

Sebastian nods toward the couch. “Sit.”

I frown. “Not until you tell me what this is about.”

Adrian, standing with his arms crossed, exhales sharply. “It’s about Lynne.”

Lily straightens. “What about her?”

Nathaniel’s voice is calm but weighted. “She’s not who you think she is.”

A cold sensation creeps into my chest. “What?”

“She’s been playing you,” Adrian says bluntly. “All of us.”

I blink. “That doesn’t make any sense—”

“We’re serious, Ivy,” Sebastian cuts in, his voice firm but not unkind. “She’s been planning something. Something against you.”

I shake my head. “No, you must’ve misunderstood—”

“I overheard her,” Adrian interrupts. His eyes burn with something unreadable. “She was talking to Kennedy. Saying how she never really liked you. That she wants to turn everyone against you.”

A cold wave of disbelief washes over me. “No. That’s not—Lynne wouldn’t do that.”

Alistair scoffs. “That’s exactly what she wants you to think.”

“She manipulated Kennedy,” Adrian continues. “She made her think Alistair wanted her back just to humiliate her.”

Kayla gasps. “No way.”

Lily looks between them, hesitant. “Are you sure?”

Nathaniel, who has been silent up until now, finally speaks. “We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t.” His voice is calm, but there’s an edge to it that makes me shiver.

I swallow hard. “Why would she do this?”

Sebastian exhales. “We don’t know. Not yet.”

A lump forms in my throat. Lynne has been my friend since the start of the year. She’s always been there, always supportive, always real. Or so I thought.

“No,” I whisper. “I don’t believe it.”

“Ivy,” Adrian says, quieter now. “You need to be careful.”

I squeeze my hands into fists. “She wouldn’t do this. Not to me.”

No one answers.

Lily is the first to move, reaching for my hand and squeezing it gently. Kayla looks furious, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“We don’t expect you to just take our word for it,” Nathaniel says finally. “But don’t ignore this.”

I nod stiffly, but my mind is spinning.

If this is true—if Lynne really has been playing me this whole time—then I don’t know who to trust anymore.