It’s the way his body has tensed, the muscles on his chest twitching. Then, as if to confirm and really make sure that I’m saying what I’m saying, he asks, “You didn’t what?”
I sigh, hating that I have to spell it out for him, hating that I have to tell him period. “I didn’t graduate.”
He lets another beat pass.
Butthen, he loses it.
He actually loses it and thunders, “What the fuck do you mean you didn’t graduate?”
It’s so unexpected that I flinch.
I don’t understand his reaction.
Nevertheless, I explain, “It means I didn’t graduate. I didn’t haveenough creditsto graduate so I go to —”
“Bullshit.”
“What?”
“Bull-fucking-shit,” he snaps, his eyes so narrowed that they’ve become slits, his nostrils flaring like he’s some kind of an enraged animal. “You’re fucking smart. You’re one of the smartest people I know. You’re always at the top of your class. You fucking tutor people. How the fuck did you not have enough credits to graduate?”
I’m even more confused now. Than I was before, I mean.
His outburst has completely thrown me.
The fact that it looks like he…cares.
As unexpected as that is, it’s even more unexpected that I feel a warmth blooming in my chest.
I feel a flush of pleasure.
And I can’t even help it.
I can’t stop it.
The racing of my heart. The hitching of my breaths.
I knew thatheknew, about my grades and tutoring; I tutored his best friend. Plus I was his best friend’s girlfriend and there were so many occasions when Lucas would announce to the world — usually in a loud voice at the cafeteria or in the courtyard — that his girl got another A, or that his girl won the debate competition.
And since Reign was always around, he’d get to listen to Lucas singing my praises.
It used to be so embarrassing and endearing as well.
So of course, Reign knows my academic record.
But I didn’t know that this is what he thought of me.
That this is what hethinksof me.
Tucking my hair behind my ear, I say, “Well, that was… before. Before everything. I haven’t been the top of my class, the top of anything really, in two years.” I duck my eyes too, unable to hold his intense gaze. “Turns out, being heartbroken while you’re trapped in a cage isn’t very conducive to studying.” I clear my throat. “Anyway, I go to summer school now and I should be able to graduate in a few weeks. And that’s when I get to move back to the manor. Finally.”
I’m staring down at my sneakers.
At his shoes.
At the floor.
Anywhere but up at him.