He studied my face for approximately three seconds. Then nodded once.
"Dropped. Gone. Never bringing it up again unless you do first."
We walked the rest of the way to Room 3-A in silence.
The classroom was already half full when we entered. The usual clusters. Athletes by the windows comparing workout routines. Overachievers near the front arguing about last night's homework. Everyone else scattered through the middle in various states of consciousness.
I made it exactly two steps inside before I felt eyes on me.
Not the casual glances I'd gotten used to over the past three weeks. The kind where people looked at me, then at my car, then back at me, calculating whether I'd somehow robbed a bank or sold a kidney.
This was different.
Sharp. Focused. Like being tracked by a laser sight.
I found the source immediately.
Cassidy and Harlow. Second row. By the windows.
