Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 25

The girl is bad news. 

Indigo's voice echoes in my head, refusing to go away as I hear it over and over again.

Why would she get banned from her last school? I wonder silently as I struggle to get through my classes and focus. But much of the lectures go over my head and flit by as I aimlessly drift through them. What could a Hallewell possibly do to earn a lifetime ban? 

But in my mind I had a few ideas. 

Astrid was a bit dangerous, that much I've already seen. 

But to do something that would earn a lifetime ban? 

"Hey."

I look up as I'm walking down the hallway to my last class to see that Violetta is standing not too far away down the hall like she was waiting for me outside of my classroom. Her eyeliner is a bit smudged, one of her eyes a touch puffy. I want to ask her if she's okay but decide against it. 

It's not your business, if she wants to talk to me, she can initiate it but it's not your place to push her into talking to you about personal things.  

"Hi," I murmur as I force a brief smile.

"You coming to the meeting tonight?" she asks as she falls into step beside me.

I think back to Indigo's warning as I shake my head, I needed to talk to Astrid and hear the truth from her. If we were to trust each other with a blood oath, the least I deserved was full truths, not halves. 

"I can't, I need to do some studying tonight," I fib, the lie shaky on my tongue. "Sorry, I know I promised you guys I would come the other day." 

"I understand, sophomore year can be a little...overwhelming to begin with," Violetta assures me, letting the unsaid be heard. "We have meetings on Saturdays and Sundays when there are no classes, though?"

"I'll try for Saturday then," I say as I pause by the doorway to my next classroom before I add more quietly, "Are you okay?" 

She nods at this, her eyes taking on a distant look. A few students pass us by, heading for the next class as a few of them shoot quick glances at Violetta. 

"I will be, Finn and I trained together a lot so it's a bit hard with him...being gone." 

"I'm really sorry, Violetta," I say before she shakes her head, cutting me off. 

"I will be okay, it's not your fault," she squares her shoulders then and takes a breath, "we'll all be okay," she adds before she turns away and melds with the students milling about in the hallway. 

I can't help but stare after her, wondering if maybe I've crossed a line. 

My phone suddenly buzzes in my skirt pocket, interrupting my thoughts. I pull it out and glance at it to see that I've gotten a text from my mother.

"I love you, be careful," is what her text reads. 

For a moment, I'm afraid that she's Seen something.

I'm not sure what all her powers cover when it comes to Seeing, though I shake off the needling sense that she has Seen something. If she had, she would likely be here to tell me in person rather than send me a foreboding message.

She's just being mom, not an oracle. 

"I love you too, I will," I promise before I head into my last class.