“Whatever,” he muttered under his breath. “How doyouknow that movie anyway?”
“I havetwosisters and a mom.” I winked at him just to fuck with him. Kaan was so easy to irritate, and I loved it. “Like I said, it’s just a movie. Nobody’s going to cut your head off because you’ve seen it.”
“I’d cut his head off,” a mischievous-sounding voice came from right behind me. When I turned around, Asiya looked right up at me, grinning like Satan herself. “Hi, Eden.”
“Asiya,” I said, feeling a shudder run down my back. A second later, my eyes moved over to the brunette girl next to her. She looked prettier now that she stood right in front of me. “And you are?”
The girl remained silent, but with every passing second, her cheeks turned redder.
“This isThe Devil,” Asiya introduced just for the brunette to push her elbow into her friend’s side.
“I’m Alana,” she said and turned to Asiya. “Can we go now?”
That was interesting. “Not a fan of meeting new people, I see.”
Alana pressed her lips into a thin line, her cheeks reddening even more. I didn’t know that was possible.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just shy,” Asiya explained. “And by the way, Eden, we’re only here talking to you to elevate Alana’s social status. Don’t get any funny ideas inside of that walnut brain of yours.”
Part of me wanted to react to Asiya’s insult, another knew better. So, I chose to ignore it and instead, focused my eyes back on Alana, trying to figure out if she really wanted to be here.
I was good at elevating people’s status on campus, apparently anyway. Each time I dated someone whom I thought was going to be the love of my life, I was disappointed to find out they were only with me to get themselves some form of fame out of it. Tons of followers on social media. Have articles written about them on our University’s gossip blog. Getting hit on by almost all the straight, single guys on campus. Some of them weren’t even single.
And after all that, I was getting blamed for sending hate waves my ex-girlfriends’ ways, when I never even bothered to look them up online after we broke up.
It was such a nightmare.
Alana didn’t look like she wanted to elevate her status. If I had to judge, she was desperate to get going and never be near me ever again.
Apart from that, something about her seemed a bit off. I couldn’t quite tell what it was, but she looked super uncomfortable, and I was sure it wasn’tjustbecause of me. Or us. Or… this party.
Something about Alana told me that she wanted to get away.Faraway.
And maybe buy some new clothes because while that dress looked hot as fuck on her, I doubted it was quite her size.
I could take her shopping if she wanted—hold on. No. That was so wrong of me to even think. I didn’t know Alana. I was charitable, but notthatcharitable.
“Now, why would you need to elevate your status?” I asked Alana, slightly cocking my head at her.
St. Trewery was huge, so in a sense, everyone was overlooked. Yes, there were ways to be noticed more often, become the life of the party, and get invitations toeverythingcollege-related.
And, okay, perhaps I knew a few people whose names almost everyone on campus knew, but I couldn’t imagine anyone genuinely wanting this. Living in the shadows must’ve been so much better than being recognized by people you’d never seen in your entire life.
Once the gossip blog talked about you,everyoneon campus knew the worst things about you. And they’d never forget.
“She’s kind of?—”
“I believe Alana can speak for herself, Asiya,” I interrupted her, not even bothering to look at her. If there was one thing I hated more than attention, it was other people assuming someone couldn’t talk for themselves.
So fucking annoying.
I was sure she could talk.
Alana gasped slightly, panic in her eyes.Or maybe she couldn’t.“Well, uh… It’s not that I, uh… You know?”
A chuckle wanted to slip past my lips, but I refrained from letting out a single sound. It was better that way. After all, I didn’t want to fluster her any more than I already had. “I don’t believe I doknow, Alana.”
She cupped her own face with her hands, taking a few quick breaths. “Well, it’s just that…” Her eyes moved over to my friends, drawing my attention to them as well.