The Devouring Gray(12)
So it gave her a small rush of petty satisfaction to notice the way people grimaced when Isaac walked by. People watched Justin because he’d earned their respect. They watched Isaac because he’d earned their fear.
Three years ago, she would’ve been with them, breezing in late, laughing at Justin’s bad jokes as they slid into the back row of the classroom. Harper wondered if it was hard for Justin to act like he’d never known her. It probably wasn’t. Not the way it was for her. After all, he was the one who’d acted like she didn’t exist as soon as she wasn’t useful anymore. Which meant they’d never been anything at all.
Harper pushed down her fury as a wave of murmurs swept through the classroom. She followed her classmates’ stares to a white girl standing uncomfortably in the doorway, scanning the room for an empty seat. Harper didn’t have to look to know the only desk left was the one in front of Isaac Sullivan. Even the most oblivious kid at Four Paths High knew better than to sit there. But the new girl didn’t have a choice.
She walked across the classroom, her gaze raised above the students’ watching eyes. That kind of scrutiny would’ve made Harper’s skin crawl, but the girl didn’t flinch. A new student at Four Paths High was almost unheard of. The last person to move in had been Britta Morey, in second grade, and people still treated her like an outsider.
Mrs. Langham—Suzette’s mother, and also their homeroom teacher—cleared her throat as the new girl found her seat.
“Welcome back, everyone,” she said, with a pointed glance at the girl as she dropped her backpack on the floor. “I know you’re all excited to be returning for another year at Four Paths High.”
The class stared back at her. Isaac’s desk began to vibrate at the back of the room, his foot tapping rapidly against the floor. Mrs. Langham ignored him.
“Let’s try that again, shall we?” she said. “Are you excited to be returning for your final year at Four Paths High?”
This time, the room broke out into halfhearted clapping. Even Harper couldn’t suppress a grin. A year from now, she’d be done with this place forever, starting her freshman year at whatever state school gave the best financial aid—SUNY Binghamton or Geneseo, if she was lucky.
Harper knew a significant chunk of her graduating class would stay in Four Paths forever. She couldn’t imagine a worse fate. All Harper wanted was an escape—from her ever-growing pack of siblings, from the Hawthorne family’s cold disdain, from a place where she would never be able to overcome her mistakes.
“Seniors,” continued Mrs. Langham, “please be extra welcoming to our new student, Violet Saunders.”
Saunders.
Harper’s pulse quickened as the murmurs started up again, louder this time. The new girl stared resolutely at her desk as the few people who hadn’t been looking at her turned their focus toward her.
Harper wondered why the Saunders family was back. Why anyone would ever return to this town, even someone with founder blood, was beyond her. It was surely making the Hawthornes uneasy, though, having all four families in play. Harper’s father had told her about when he was a kid, when Mayor Saunders had trusted each family to patrol their own territory. But that was before the Saunders family began to dwindle. Before the Sullivans fled. Now it was mostly just the Hawthornes and the Carlisles going on patrols, and Sheriff Hawthorne acting like everyone else mattered less than she did.
Mrs. Langham sorted through schedules at the front of the room, calling up the students one by one. Her voice was undercut by the sound of Isaac’s desk banging into the floor. As always, he was blatantly inattentive, his book splayed across the desk as it vibrated in time with his breathing. It knocked against the back of Violet Saunders’s chair, until finally she turned, nostrils flaring, and gripped the edge of Isaac’s desk.
“Hey, Brave New World.” Her voice was melodic but strong, a voice that made people pay attention. Harper would’ve killed for a voice like that. “Would you mind stopping before you put a permanent dent in my back?”
Isaac’s deep voice rang with false innocence. “Stopping what?”
“Banging your desk into my chair,” Violet said, perfectly deadpan. “Some of us are trying to pay attention, and it’s distracting as fuck.”
Her words sucked the air out of the classroom. No one talked to founder kids like that, especially not to Isaac Sullivan. Not after the rumors about his ritual day, the whispers that he was the reason his whole family had left town.
Isaac’s desk went still, and the air in front of his hands began to shimmer. Harper braced herself as the new girl’s eyes widened. Lia and Suzette were holding hands; Cal and Seo-Jin had already half risen from their seats.
And then Justin Hawthorne leaned through the refracting light until his hand was resting on Isaac’s arm. Neither of them spoke, but Isaac’s head turned sharply to face him. Their gazes stayed locked together, solemn and impassive, as the world faded back to normal.
“I guess I didn’t realize,” Isaac said.
Justin’s head inclined in a sharp nod before he retreated to his seat. The tension in the room went with it.
“Thanks,” said Violet, but she was looking at Justin when she said it.
Harper could see it now. How Justin would ensnare Violet the same way he’d ensnared Harper, when they were kids, before she’d disappointed everyone.