“I have a hunch.”
I subconsciously step to the door, but Jeremy flashes me a glance I can’t quite decipher, then closes it behind him.
Cutting off any chance I had to hear his hunch.
He couldn’t have possibly figured out it’shim.
Right?
* * *
Hushed whispers floataround me with the perseverance of buzzing bees.
My name and Jeremy’s, as well as our last name, have been murmured a dozen times.
I still smile at whoever meets my eyes and even ask them how they’re doing. I comment on their fashion and tell them I loved their last TikTok or Instagram.
Every last one of them smiles back, and even if they still murmur about me, it’s all along the lines of:
I can’t believe she’stheJeremy Volkov’s sister. She’s such a darling.
A doll.
A sweetheart.
A good sport.
I’m the people person, the PR of Jer’s reputation, and the number one candidate to be the family’s spokesperson.
They say the only way to be popular or loved is to stomp on others and be mean, but I believe in being nice.
I believe in being social for the greater good.
Now, if I could just not let other people’s opinions eat me up from the inside, that would be perfect.
I come to a halt when an arm wraps around my shoulder. “Oh. Em. Gee. You’re alive, thank the gods and all religions.”
Ava does a whole tour around me, and it looks kind of funny, considering the huge cello strapped to her back.
She inspects every inch of my body, even patting my face to make sure it’s the same.
Today, she’s dressed in a pink skirt and a white top with a fashionable cut. She’s the most elegant person I know, after my mom, and she resembles me in personality, too.
We clicked the moment we first met about two months ago when I first enrolled in REU. As a result, I became close with all her friends, too. She and the girls even allowed me to move into their private apartment in the dorm, despite the fact that I’m the ‘American’ who simply doesn’t understand their obsession with fish and chips.
I grin. “Hi, missed you.”
She hugs me and kisses my cheek. “Missed the shit out of you, bitch. What are the chances of your brother dropping the lame patriarchy and letting you come back to the dorm?”
“At the moment? Zero.”
She groans and hooks her arm with mine. “You really okay? Everyone keeps talking about the fire in the Heathens’ mansion.”
“I was dead asleep.” I lie through my teeth. “Until they woke me up with all the noise.”
“That must’ve been so scary. I can’t imagine waking up in the middle of the night at the news of an attack.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it an attack.”