Page 67 of Endless Anger
Plus, they have a history of being Visio Aternae members, which makes running community service projects like this one easier if I have them involved. Not even Dean Bauer wanted to stand in my way when he learned Eli would be participating.
“You don’t even like girls,” I tell Willa when Eli ignores her, needing to fill the air. I might not be attracted to her, but the fact that she’s willing to speak to me at all matters.
I hate that it does, but I can’t change it at this point. Allies are too few and far between to reject.
Especially now that Celeste is gone.
“That’s true,” Willa agrees, making a face as she overturns a large rock.
“So why are you crying about a date with me?”
“Just curious if I could tame the Wolfe queen.”
That makes Eli snort, but he doesn’t say anything else, moving several feet down the lakeside.
“Terrible nickname. And you can’t,” I tell her, marking through her signature on the check-in sheet. “I’m not interested.”
“But if youwere, who’d be your ty?—”
“Ms. Crawford,” an authoritative voice says, joining the conversation, and I grit my teeth against the sound. “You’re talking an awful lot for someone with so much work left to do on your side of this embankment.”
Willa shoots me an apologetic look, spinning around so she’s nolonger facing the dean. I tuck the clipboard under my arm, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from immediately demanding to know why he’s out here.
Part of the agreement is that he makes random appearances to ensure the students are doing what they’re getting credit for. As if I’d let anyone sign up and leave without doing their fucking job.
I could clean the lake up on my own, if that were all it took. I’d be out here doing it for longer, but at least I wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else either.
Dean Bauer clasps his hands in front of him, surveying the scenery behind me. He doesn’t say anything more while he scans the area, presumably trying to make me sweat as I wait.
It works. I shift on my heels, my gaze darting up and down the front of his tweed jacket. There’s a hole in one of the elbow pads, and the lapels are almost threadbare, but my eyes can’t stop circling the little brown button holding the two sides together in the middle.
Swallowing, I rub the back of my wrist, trying to let that ground me in the moment. I can feel my focus slipping, struggling to remain in the present as images from Friday filter in, disturbed by his presence.
Him berating me in his office, though not outright. He slices with thinly veiled jabs and questions about my intelligence, suggesting I’m not suited for a place as precious as Avernia.
But my mind doesn’t stay in his office either, jumping right ahead to Friday night and what happened in the quarry above us. Until this point, the cleanup effort was doing a decent job at distracting me from those thoughts, but now the scent of blood returns along with the fear in my chest, and it takes several beats of dissociation for me to even notice that Dean Bauer’s talking to me.
I blink, scattering my thoughts like a blanket of fog over my brain.
“…not sure this is the most productive use of school resources,” he says, though the first part of his tirade is lost to me.
“What?”
Dean Bauer’s face reddens. “Ms. Wolfe, it would behoove you tonot be insubordinate in public. You send an atrocious message to your fellow students.”
My fingers curl into my palm. “I didn’thearyou.”Moron.
“Goodness, do you ever pay attention? No wonder your grades are suffering.” He scoffs, shaking his head. “I’d like to see you in my office Monday morning.”
“Couldn’t we just discuss whatever it is now?—”
“Eight a.m., sharp. I hope I don’t need to send the campus police after you, but please note that I am not above such measures.” Turning on his heel, he levels me once more with spite lacing his bright gaze. “I’ve invited your parents to this one.”
An hour later,Yuri meets me at the abandoned building a mile from the lake, helping me pack away the cleanup equipment as students begin tapering off.
“What do you think he wants to see you for this time?” she asks, blowing a bubble that smacks against her lips.
I shake my head, pacing back and forth. “No clue.”
