Page 55 of Nobody in Particular

He pretends to mull it over. “Hmm. I would imagine they loved the positive attention it got you in the papers. And the fact that it drowned out the mean stories for a week or so. And that they wererapturousat the prospect of having me as a future son-in-law. I hope they take the disappointment of this well, by the way.”

“Very accurate,” I say. “Particularly the part about the papers. I think they were rather hoping we’d do it again.” I realize too latethis sounds as though I’m hinting I would like the same, and stifle a groan.

“Well, there’s no reason we can’t give them more to write about, is there?” he asks.

I cock my head. “Uhh…”

“Oh, don’t look so panicked, Rosie, I mean platonically. Only they don’t have to know it’s platonic. We could fake date!”

“Fake date?” I echo.

“Absolutely. We can catch up in person a couple of times, maybe hold hands for the cameras, and bam. You get more stories that have nothing to do with your many flaws.”

I blink in surprise. “And what do you get?”

“More time hanging out with you,” he says simply. “You can be hard to pin down, you know. Plus, I think it’ll be extremely funny to watch them take things and run with them. It means we can control the narrative for once.”

Truthfully, I’m not sure why Alfie is speaking as though he has any difficulty with that. I have to admit, he has a valid point, though. It would be nice to manipulate the media for once, rather than allowing it to manipulate how my own citizens feel about me. Of course, I’ll have to check it with Danni, but if she’s comfortable with it, then why not?

“You do mean platonically, yes?” I ask, just to check.

He smirks a little. “Rosie. Trust me. I’m not sitting here envisioning some sort of great love story between us where you’ll realize your true feelings for me after you hold my hand a couple of times. And besides, no offense, but the kiss was a little…”

“What?” I ask, quite ready to take offense anyway.

“It wasn’t very good,” he finishes, and I bristle. “Not because of you!” he clarifies quickly. “You’re a wonderful kisser. It’s just, it felt, sort of… very…”

“Platonic?” I finish for him, and he nods eagerly. “I felt exactly the same,” I say, relieved.

“There was nothing there. Which is fine,” he adds. “Sometimes you just have to try something out, just in case, right?”

“Absolutely. I—” I break off as an incoming call notification fills half my screen. “Alfie, can I call you back? William’s trying to get in touch.”

“Oh, of course. Actually I’m about to start working on an essay, but I’ll message you later?”

“Perfect.”

Well, that went far better than expected. All that procrastination and avoidance, only to have Alfie understand completely? I feel silly. Of course, I should have known Alfie would understand. It’s only that trust is coming harder and harder to me these days.

I answer William’s call feeling far lighter than I did twenty minutes ago. William, however, wastes no time at all in crashing me back down, his voice clipped and urgent. “Rose. We’ve received a tip from within Bramppath College that you’re in a relationship with a student named Danni Blythe.”

I bolt upright on the bed and blanch. “Youwhat?From who?” I ask, not at all as measured as I meant to sound.

“It was anonymous, unfortunately. And before you ask, no evidence was provided. But naturally, the first step for me is to contact you to find out if there’s any truth to the accusation.”

I frantically run through the events of the past few weeks. How could someone know about Danni and me? Did she tell somebody? Did we somehow slip up? Could someone have seen us? Did Danni leave her curtains ajar one night? Not as far as I can remember. We were being careful, weren’t we?

Were we?

Has William spoken to Theodore? He naturally must suspect the truth after that night in the forest, but we usually have an understanding that as long as I’m not engaging in any life-threatening behaviors, he doesn’t report back to the palace on my daily life. And he’s seen me high more than once, so it’s not as though the theory is untested.

“Rose?” William presses. “I know your parents prefer a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach, but this is one time I have to disagree with them. The more I know, the better I can work to protect you and prevent rumors from spreading.”

What he says makes sense; however, it’s not that simple. For a start, Danni is only out to one person, a friend of hers from America named Rachel. She told me as much a week ago. Even if I were to decide William should know about us, I would need her permissionfirst. And truthfully, I’m far from eager to loop William in on this particular fact. He’s a great help in many areas, but as soon as anyone within the palace knows about Danni and me, it’s out of my hands. The palace is skilled at making problems go away, but they haven’t historically been much concerned about the price, there. I don’t want their eyes on Danni. Not when they would choose me over her in a heartbeat at even the whiff of a scandal.

“Danni’s a friend of mine,” I say evenly, “but that’s all.”

“I see,” William says, equally measured. It’s impossible to tell if he believes me. “Well, just so you are aware, there has been some online discussion regarding you and your friend. I’m sending through a number of screenshots we collected today.”

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