Chapter Twelve

n.

"Skylar Compton, you may enter" the Dean says as a tall lanky boy exits her office, holding a teddy bear to his chest like it's a life line. I walk in after him and Dean Yarby frowns. "You're not my ten o' clock, Nastassia". "Yes, but Skylar was gracious enough to let me take her meeting. Don't worry, Dean, we'll show her the ropes. I just really need to talk to you".

She motions for me to sit, and I let out an anxious breath, glad that she didn't fight me on it. This was important. "What do you need, sweetheart?" she asks as if she already knows. "Dean, they're nuts. The Cordelia Alpha Dorm is officially a pig pen. Those girls have no home training and they're driving me, and everyone else, absolutely insane. They're not CA material".

She rubs her forehead which is surprisingly free of wrinkles and fine lines. It wouldn't be anymore, if she kept up with that. "I've heard, from Mistress Lou, that they're quite an unruly bunch. Somehow CA got the worst of it, and I'm sorry. I know how much being an Alpha means to this school, so I'll give you permission to sort through the incoming students. You can switch in or out how you see fit, over the course of the next two weeks. But by the end of it, your dorm mates will be set. I suggest you guys make a group of original Alpha's that can figure out the best candidates. That's all I can do until new dorms can be built over the summer".

I clap my hands in excitement. "That's PERFECT, Dean! And one more thing...in the assembly tomorrow, can I have a five minute slot to speak. I need to make an announcement on the PURGE that will be happening, and let these new kids know what a CA ACTUALLY is". She waves me out of her office with an amused smile. "Sure, Nastassia. And you'd better look after Skylar, or else". "I will, I will. Promise". Her particular skill set replaced what I came to lack when Elliana and Kennedi abandoned me.

She'd fit right in.

***

"We are all gathered here today because of the current situation that's brought a toll on all of our lives. I don't know about you guys, but I can't deal with this anymore. So I had a meeting with the Dean and she gave us permission to purge out the bad, and bring in the best suitable people for our dorm" I say to the group of girls gathered in my room with me.

"Oh, thank goodness. One of those girls spilled a bottle of polish down the back of the couch. I wanted, more than anything, to stab her in the throat with my chopsticks" Blake complains from her spot on my vanity stool. Along with her there's obviously Peyton, and then Kennedi, Elliana, Selah and Skylar. Skylar's just here to spectate.  And much to my chagrin, Selah encompasses what it takes to be one of us. She IS one of us.

"It's so bad that I actually have detention for just SLEEPING in the bed with Cason Jett the past two nights. I had to get out of here" she says, making everyone's heads pivot to me. And it came as a reminder that although she was one of us, she'd never be a friend of mine.

"As in my ex, Cason?" I ask and she sucks her front teeth, shrugging. "How would I know that?" she dead pans. "Nothing I do is a direct attack against you, Nastassia. I'm not some war lord intent on blowing up your life. I don't care about ANYTHING that much".

And that's how the two of us differed. I cared about EVERYTHING that much. Every single thing in my life came from the execution of a plan. And I took everything as an attack against me. If an ex of mine moved on, he wasn't sad enough about our break up. He was supposed to be hung up on me for the rest of his life. If he was to marry someone from France, she was somehow stalking my social media and wanted to destroy me from the start. That was just how my mind worked. Man, I had to learn to let things go.

"Right. You're completely right and we have other things to worry about. So, here's the plan".

sky.

Writing a gossip blog is hard if you want to do it and have friends at the same time. My fingertips were itching to write and expose after sitting in the room with that group of girls for an hour. In my head, I already had a blog post written. They threw slick shots back and forth at each other that wrote an entire story for me.

There was a divide between them, with Peyton and Nastassia on one side, and Selah, Elliana and Kennedi on the other. Blake was kind of in the middle, looking as if she wanted to be on the side of the latter.

Things kind of cooled down after a while- Selah, Kennedi and Elliana tasked with getting the name list of incoming students and finding all of their ID photos. They had to make a folder for everyone in the room- excluding me, with an equal amount of names and faces so that everyone could watch their potentials from afar.

Peyton and Nastassia sat with their legs folded on Peyton's bed, knee to knee, talking about how they never thought magazines could go out of style. I heavily disagreed, as a realist, but didn't mention it. Blake sat quietly on her phone, an outsider who wanted in, but didn't quite know how to get there. Like me.

D: Coffee and walk around Foragami?

I sit up excitedly at Damien's text, Blake shooting me a curious look. I hover text for at least five minutes to decide on something cool to reply, but end up with something much more simple than I'd like.

Me: Yes

D: Dress warm, it's chilly. Or you could

take my sweatshirt while I freeze. Your

choice.

Me: I've always wanted to do that.

You're making all of my book cliche's

come true. ;)

D: Be there in 5.

Me: Perfect

"Who are you talking to? You're all blush-y?" Blake says, leaning down to take a look at my phone screen. I don't move it, since I see nothing to hide. "Coffee with Damien Beckett, huh? How's your social life ALREADY better than mine? I'm jealous" she says, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear.

"How'd you even land him? He's the most uptight person I've ever met. I mean, his moral compass has to be up there with Saint John or Mary, or some other person with a stick up their ass" Nastassia tells me, tuning in to the conversation.

"I don't know about that. He seemed really cool in the NO". "That's because he felt bad for breaking your face with a door. He's the most boring jock you'll ever meet. But you should go and see for yourself" Peyton warns.

I stand up from my spot on the floor, not easily swayed by the opinions of others. I'd definitely see for myself. It's what I always did. As far as I knew, every single girl in this room was single. There was no repetitive glances at their phones with love-struck eyes and smiles.

None of them had to excuse themselves to go and get at least a couple kisses in throughout the time we'd been in the room. So, why would I take guy advice from a bunch of spinsters?

He's waiting outside for me in a nude sweatshirt that says TIMELESS on it in small black print, and a lopsided smirk that makes me swoon. "Hi" he says, extending a coffee cup to me. "You seem like a girl who likes it black". I smile, accepting the cup from him. "Hm...well read, Damien. And it is really cold out" I agree, putting both of my hands on the cup and taking a sip. Perfect. I used to get all of that sugar and cream in my coffee until I started staying up until morning, writing.

It made me feel like a real writer, since I wasn't into the lung cancer and drug addiction kind of thing. That wasn't really my vibe. So the dark circles, jitters and huge black coffees were all I had in my arsenal.

"Hold this". He passes me his cup before grabbing the hem of his shirt and beginning the up and over. "I decided to give you the full experience, by letting you see me take it off. You know, when they notice how the guys shirt lifts up with his sweatshirt for a moment, revealing his washboard abs". I grin, because that's exactly what they do, and what I did. We switch coffee and sweatshirt between us, so that I could pull it on. "And then you take note of how much cuter I look in your sweatshirt than you do. Right?" I ask, taking a huge sip of coffee upon retrieval.

His sweatshirt smelled of some mysterious, woody scent and whatever soap he used that day. I pretended to take a deep breath of the fresh air, but really, I was just taking him in. "That couldn't have been more accurate. You know, I could keep your left hand warm while the coffee takes care of the right one" he suggests, holding a hand out to me. "I'd like that" I say with a smile, linking my fingers through his.

Those girls knew nothing. Damien was perfect.