Page 88 of Distortion
‘Oh.’ I empty the glass and put it on the side and he nods.
‘Good girl.’
Those words.They make my stomach flip very low down.
I blink at him, trying to make sense of whatever this new feeling is.
‘You’re blushing,’ he murmurs.
‘Oh.’ I’m not sure what that means.
Confused, I turn away and I’m sure I hear him chuckle as I walk to the stairs. I’m deep in thought as I climb them and go to my room. I find my notebook and a pen, and I glance out the window as I leave, happy to see that although it’s a little cloudy, it isn’t raining. I’ll need to buy a jacket soon. I should really have one now, but I’m out of money until I get paid again.
But even then I’ll need that money for the rest of my textbooks, and I estimate that it’ll be at least another four hundred dollars. They’re more important than being a little cold, I decide. I probably won’t notice the chill, but I’ll definitely notice if I can’t do my work because I don’t have the course materials. So will the professors.
My eyes fall on the bank card that Shade gave me. It’s still sitting on my desk, forgotten. He said something about an allowance. I grab it and thrust it in my back pocket. It makes sense for John to foot the bill for my books, he would have had to pay for the English Lit ones anyway.
When I get back downstairs, I find Mav waiting for me at the front door. He hasn’t seen me to my classes since the first week.
‘I thought you weren’t walking me anymore.’
He throws his bag over his shoulder. ‘We’re going to the same building. Seems stupid to go separately.’
‘What class do you have?’ I ask.
‘None. I’m going to the lab.’
He opens the door and I walk into the cold October air, trying not to shiver.
‘The formulas I did for you last night. That was ... what you wanted?’
He nods. ‘Exactly what we wanted. You did a great job on them.’
I beam at him.
‘Look, Daisy, I’m sorry if we were ...thatwe were such jerks.’
I shrug. ‘I already knew what you thought of me. I’m just glad I was able to meet with Doctor Applegate and he was willing to give me a chance. Otherwise, I’d still be trying to understand why Twelfth Night is considered a comedy.’ I roll my eyes. ‘I barely understandmodernjokes, so that was a lost cause.’
The weird sound that comes from him makes me look, and I realize he’s laughing. I smile, glad on a fundamental level that he thinks I’m funny, though I’ll take thatvulnerablerealization to the grave.
‘Why were you in English Lit?’ he asks.
I shrug. I don’t want them to know it was John fuckery, so I stick with the admin error story.
‘That’s a hell of a mistake,’ he mutters, and I make what I hope is a noncommittal noise.
We arrive at the Novelle Center and Mav takes me to the lecture hall just off the lobby.
‘Do you have a shift at the coffee place later?’
I shake my head. ‘I wanted to get into the swing of the workload, so I’m not on the schedule until Thursday.’
‘Okay. Come to the lab when you’re done. I wanna show you around properly.’
I nod, feeling almost giddy that, not only do I have access to the lab, but some of the guys are being nice to me. It’s been kind of exhausting trying to keep my wits about me all the time, so that I don’t unwittingly fall into some kind of cruel trap.
But this could still be a trap, a little whisper says, curling through my mind and putting a damper on my mood. I banish it, but I also promise myself that I will go against my nature and not believe everything they tell me. They’re being kind today, but yesterday they weren’t. Nor the week before that and the week before that. I forgive and forget too easily. I know that. It got me into trouble more than once at The Heath, and not just with the staff.
