CHARLOTTEI watched as Taide walked into the room, my heart pounding with every step he took.I got to my feet in a second, my heart thumping. "How did you get my number?" I asked, my voice dripping in spite.The auditorium was silent, causing my voice to echo loud enough for him to hear the venom it held. His eyes narrowed as the approached me."Calm down Charlotte. I’m not here for a fight." He shoved his hands in his pockets, "I just wanna talk."“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you want.” I bit, “I’m leaving.”Taide pressed his lips together, his face calm despite how pissed off I was. He sighed, running a hand over his fresh cut, "I’m really not here to cause trouble. I wanna ask about my brother."I steeled my expression, trying my best to put up that mental wall. Which brother? And why would he be asking me about any of his brothers?Taide began, "You met with my brother recently, what did you guys talk about?"How did he know that?I tried not to let my surprise show. If Caeson
CHARLOTTERunning my tongue over my dry lips, I stretched my hand to get the glass of water for my parched throat, gulping the liquid, while keeping my eyes on the book in front of me. I dropped the glass, my eyes moving to the last line on the page before I flipped it open."Char, look at my nails!" Madeline chirped from the bed, and I turned to glance at the work she had done on her toes.Today we didn't have classes, but I chose to use my time studying while Madeline opted to get a DIY manicure.“Pretty,” I drawled, observing her handiwork.Her nails were painted purple, with a touch of dark and sparkly glitter. Madeline wiggled her toes, “If you like, I can do yours?"I let out a laugh, turning the chair to face my books. "Maybe later."From the corner of my eyes, I saw her shrug, before going back to admire her nails. She hummed into the silence, admiring her artwork, while I spun a pen between my fingertips, contemplating dropping math."Madeline Soloh!" A hearty male voice boom
CHARLOTTE Holy shit!” Madeline voiced the thought that’d just flashed through my mind a moment ago. Now, it seemed like too small of an expression in light of the chaos that broke out around us. People pointed and gasped at the burning building, smoke filled the air and debris made it almost impossible to move around. Not that we’d be able to, after all, there were still two people holding us in place. “Don’t get too close to the fire ladies,” Ethaniel said with a burst of laughter, his voice was too calm for someone who just watched a building explode a few minutes ago. Tristan joined in the laughter, they both released us and quickly left with smug looks on their faces. Madeline and I watched them dash through the crowd and disappear, we shared a look of confusion. “What the hell-?” I said when the two were finally out of sight. “Do you think…?” Madeline started, she didn’t complete her sentence but I knew what she was asking. Did they have something to do with this?
CHARLOTTEI shuffled out of the library with my hands aching from all the books I was holding.If I was going to keep that damn scholarship, then I couldn’t let the tragedy of the fire stop me from studying. A parole officer had told us we could go see what was salvageable by the weekend, but until then, I had nothing to keep me afloat.I thought of the long walk to the dorms as I stepped onto the road. My gaze caught the black Range Rover parked on the side of the road, right opposite the library. My eyes narrowed; I knew I’d seen that car somewhere before. As soon as I stepped onto the road, the headlights flashed. The engine started running, and the vehicle began to move slowly toward me.There was no way I could outrun a car. But damn it if I didn’t try.What the hell was happening to my life?As soon as I looked away from the vehicle with the intention of quickening my pace, the engine purred more dauntingly. Before I could react, the Jeep cut in front of me so quickly that I had
CHARLOTTE“Why are you even agreeing to this anyway?” Madeline asked, stepping over what seemed to be the charred remains of our bed.A few feet away, the sounds of other girls rummaging through the wreckage of their rooms could be heard.The dean finally gave us the all clear to return to the left wing and see if we could salvage anything from the wreckage before moving to our new accommodations. For the other girls, that meant the accommodations that was being prepared for them by the school and for us, it meant moving over to the triplets’ house.And though Madeline been excited to hear I was coming with her at first, her excitement quickly turned into suspicion and she’d spent the last few minutes questioning me about my decision to actually move in here.“Why not?” I muttered as I wiped the ash of what was left of my study table. So far, only Madeline has been able to save any of her belongings, a few clothes and books. “It’s better than being jammed into a room with thirty othe
CHARLOTTESilence hung in the room after Reigh’s greeting, the others didn’t say a word, but they pointedly stared at the both of us as though waiting for something.I had to fight the urge to turn around and make my way back to the wreckage of my dorms, that suddenly seemed much safer than whatever this was. I pretended like I couldn’t feel their gazes burrowing into my skin.“Well, since you’re all here why don’t we address the massive elephant in the room,” Madeline said cheerfully, there was an unpleasant edge to her tone.Both our eyes went to Reigh who was sprawled out on the couch, fiddling with his guitar.“And what might that be?” He asked in a nonchalant tone.“Stop acting Reigh!” She snapped, irritation etched her onto her features, she pointed an accusatory finger at him. “I saw you by our dorms on the day of the fire. Explain what you were doing there in the first place.”Even at the bite to her tone, Reigh didn’t bother looking up. “I have no idea what you’re talking abo
CHARLOTTE Taide was standing much closer than I expected him to be. His breath brushed against the crook of my neck, and I had to suppress the shivers that started in my spine. I'd rather jump down these flights of stairs than let Taide know how affected I was by his presence. I thought he would keep moving after he finished speaking, but he remained just a step above me, giving him the perfect view of his mark resting smugly on my collarbone. I couldn't decipher the look in his eyes, but I smacked a hand over it. I turned around and returned to the house before he could say yet another ridiculously annoying statement. Madeline and Reigh were exactly as we left them, leaning towards each other and exchanging words with angry frowns on their faces. Taide rolled his eyes at his siblings’ behaviour and said calmly. “I’ll take your bags to your rooms.” That was enough to get Madeline to rip her gaze away from Reigh, but not without giving him the middle finger. Reigh brushed
CHARLOTTEThe sight of the out-of-place object stunned me. I walked over to the bed, letting the books in my hand drop in a heap next to it as I began to study the box.I ran a hand over the surface, awed. Then, when I read the name written in fine print on the cardboard, I was even more taken aback. This was meant for me? I’d spoken about buying a secondhand laptop earlier, but this was miles away from it. Miles away from anything I could ever dream of affording, and even more miles away from the laptop that was burned in the fire.“How the hell did this get here?” I asked myself. I ran a hand over the box and tilted it this way and that—like I expected to see the name of whoever left it here imprinted on the side or something.My first thought was Madeline. This wouldn’t be the first time she’d gone out of her way to spend on me, even though I warned her not to. But that didn’t make much sense, Madeline and I had left the house together earlier and she certainly hadn’t left befor