Tuesday morning I walked to school.
Tessa had sent me the route the night before with a voice note attached - mostly just her saying the shortcut through Barker Lane had a dog that had chased her twice and she was not responsible for what happened if I ignored that warning.
I played it twice in my dark room at eleven pm and laughed out loud both times. First time I'd properly laughed since the move.
I left early. The morning was grey and cool, the kind that makes the whole world feel quieter than it actually is. Headphones in. Bag on one shoulder. And for the first time since we arrived in this city I wasn't thinking about Southvale, wasn't thinking about Jade and Priya and everything I'd left behind. I was just walking.
It was nice. For about four minutes.
Then I heard footsteps behind me coming fast.
I didn't stop. Then one of my earphones was pulled clean out of my ear - just slipped out smoothly from the right side and I spun around so fast I nearly lost my balance.
Ace Monroe was standing there holding my earphone up between two fingers with the most entertained expression I'd ever seen on a human face.
I snatched it back. "What the hell?"
"You weren't stopping." He said softly.
"Because I didn't know you were there!"
"I called your name twice."
"I don't know you," I said. Putting the earphone back in. "So my name coming out of your mouth wouldn't register as something I need to respond to."
He laughed. He was actually surprised, like I'd said something he wasn't ready for. He fell into step beside me without asking if that was okay.
"I'm Ace." He put his hands on his chest and said.
"I know who you are." I said back.
"So it does register."
I kept walking. "What do you want?"
"You're in my History class. I was being friendly."
"Ok, hey." I replied.
"That's it?"
"That's what friendly looks like. Hey. Acknowledged. Done."
He was quiet for a few seconds. I got the distinct feeling that Ace Monroe was not a person who spent a lot of time in silence and didn't love it when it was imposed on him.
"You're not going to make this easy are you?"
"Make what easy?" I asked.
He opened his mouth and scoffed. Then closed it. And I could see a different expression on his face that wasn't the easy grin from the cafeteria. It was something more real, more caught-off-guard. Like he'd started a sentence he didn't know how to finish.
We reached the gates and Tessa was already there leaning against the stone pillar with her bag on both shoulders. She watched us walk up together and her face said absolutely everything without her opening her mouth.
"Morning, Tessa." Ace said it easily, like they did this every day.
"Morning." Perfectly pleasant.
The look she cut at me over his shoulder was not pleasant at all.
"History, second period," Ace said to me. "See you there." And then he was gone, peeling off toward the main block without waiting for me to respond.
I watched him go and just shook my head.
Tessa grabbed my arm. "Explain. Now."
"He pulled out my earphone on the street. I have no idea why."
"Because he wanted to talk to you and you weren't stopping." She said it like it was obvious. "Mila. Ace Monroe does not chase girls down the street. That is not something he does. He doesn't have to."
"Erm, okay?" I replied.
"I'm serious. Be careful. He's not a bad person but he's also not someone who loses sleep over the trail he leaves behind him. And you cannot afford drama right now. You have a scholarship. You have goals. You don't have time for- "
"Tessa." I stopped her. "I can handle it."
She pressed her lips together. She didn't look convinced but let it go anyway.
We headed to our lockers. I was pulling out my History textbook when the hallway did that thing - that dip in noise I'd first felt in the cafeteria, like the air pressure changed. My head came up before I'd decided to look.
Zane Calloway was walking down the corridor.
One earbud in. Eyes forward. Moving through the crowd the same way he moved through the cafeteria - like the space naturally cleared for him. Nobody bumped him. Nobody cut across him. People just… moved.
He wasn't looking at me though.
Then he stopped.
Took one step back. And looked directly at me this time.
Not a glance. Not a quick check. He actually looked straight, unhurried, like he had all the time in the world and the hallway full of people around him didn't exist.
"12C," he said.
"Yes," I replied, because what else do you say?
He nodded once. Like I'd confirmed something he already knew. Then he waltzed away.
I just stood there like I'd seen a ghost.
"Okay," Tessa said from behind me, very quietly. "That I've never seen before."
"What?" I asked.
"Zane stopping. In the hall. For someone he doesn't know." She came to stand beside me. "In two years at this school I have never seen him do that."
"It didn't mean anything," I said.
"Sure, if you say so" said Tessa.
I grabbed my textbook, closed my locker and walked to class because the bell had already rung.
My heart was doing something stupid the entire way there and I refused to think about why.