Wildfire

Chapter 19

19. Talk

My stomach felt twisty with nervous butterflies by the time I reached the doors of the lecture hall. I was early, as per usual, and a few students were still loitering about outside, waiting for their friends to arrive or smoking the end of their cigarette.

I slipped past them soundlessly, my head bowed. With each step I took, my nervousness increased to the point of nausea. I had been dreading this moment all weekend, ever since it really started to dawn on me that I'd have to see Lexie in class. She hadn't contacted me at all over the weekend and I certainly hadn't contacted her, so I had no idea how she was feeling about our fight.

Hell, I wasn't even sure how I felt about our fight. I was still mad. No, I was beyond mad — I knew that I was partly to blame for what had happened in the club, but that didn't mean she had to scoff at my attempts to save her butt — again — and drag my mother into it. Especially knowing what she knew.

A part of me was a little scared that if I came face-to-face with her today, I'd probably hit her again.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside the dimly lit lecture hall, tugging off the fingers of my gloves as I walked. Only a handful of students had already arrived, and Lexie was most definitely not one of them. I had to remind myself that the likelihood of Lexie showing up was remote, anyway — Lexie rarely ever made it to her morning classes unless she had something important or gossip-y to tell me.

I slid into one of the seats at the back and pulled out my notepad and pens, carefully avoiding the book that Georgina had given me, which now lay at the bottom of my bag. I had spent all day Sunday pouring over the book, trying to make some sense of it — but if anything, it had left me more confused than before. But still, I drawn one pretty clear conclusion: Lexie had no fudging clue what she had gotten herself messed up in this time.

According to the book, she hadn't really had much choice — it was in her blood. From the moment she was born, she had been destined to "bond" with Aiden. They were linked by an old, unfathomable form of magic that couldn't be broken. Coming face-to-face with him had only activated the bond.

It sounded almost romantic — almost. There were too many creepy drawbacks to the bond, like the ability to communicate telepathically or influence how the other was feeling. The idea of somebody being able to get inside my head like that was beyond freaky — I shuddered at the thought.

Lexie was really walking over a minefield this time.

Slowly, students began to trickle into the lecture hall. My stomach plummeted when Lexie walked through the doors, but she barely glanced in my direction as she made her way down the steps to her usual location. She looked pale and cold, but then, it was freezing outside, so that meant nothing.

I watched as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and pulled out her things, settling herself into her seat.

All at once, my nerves seemed to deflate. She was ignoring me. All of my worrying and nerves had been for nothing — she wasn't even going to acknowledge my existence.

A pang of hurt echoed through my chest, but I suppressed it ruthlessly. It was better this way; if she had confronted me, I probably would have decked her again. I wasn't ready to just forgive and forget — or fight all over again. As much as I knew about her new situation, my anger far outweighed my sympathy, and it was going to take a while for the scales to tip in her favour again.

Still... a part of me had hoped that she'd at least apologize.

I rolled my eyes. When had apologies ever been in Lexie's repertoire?