The glass of water drenched Damien and flattened his hair. I turned expecting to be grabbed or accosted in some way, but none of the servants reacted. They stood waiting, staring ahead like robots. I didn’t wait for Damien to scream at me. I ran back into the school, hoping to catch up with Angela, but I hadn’t seen which way she went once inside. I ducked into the nearest bathroom and called her name but received no answer. I walked down hallways looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found. Lunch was three quarters over by the time I gave up. I had barely gotten a chance to eat any of the main course of the fancy lunch, and I was still hungry. I didn’t dare try to go back to the apartment in case Damien was still out there. I decided to try my luck with the kitchen. I ducked into the back. Lunch service was over, and now cleanup was in full swing. Mom was wiping down her station. I slipped up to her and gave her a hug.

“Sarah, this is a nice surprise,” she said with a smile. 

“Yeah, it is. Got anything to eat?”

She blew out a breath in amused frustration. “I should’ve known. Why didn’t you eat at the apartment?”

“I got caught up with something and couldn’t make it. May I have a piece of fruit or two pieces of fruit?”

Mom shook her head. “Let me see what I can find.”

She went to one of the big coolers and looked inside. A crate of oranges sat on top. She grabbed one and gave it to me. “These are left over from breakfast. Do you really want two?”

“No, one’s fine,” I said. I let her cut it into quarters for me. The bell announcing the end of lunch rang. She turned and pushed me to the door.

“Back to class with you. Next time, pack a lunch if you know you’re going to be busy.”

I rolled my eyes. I hadn’t known. How was I supposed to plan anything with Damien West around? I wondered if he’d continued eating after Angela and I left. I imagined him alone at the fancy table, surrounded by servants, eating silently. He’d probably taken out his cell phone to play a game or text someone. Maybe he sent Andy and Tom a text to invite them to lunch. They could’ve laughed about the stupid girls who couldn’t take  jokes or a little screaming.Why had Angela tried to lie that Damien had set that all up? It was clearly preposterous. The only way he’d set something like that up was if the food were poisoned. Was that why he’d offered me desert after Angela stormed off?   

“Hey, there. Watch out. You’re going to have an accident.”

Strong hands stopped me. I was flabbergasted to realize that I had almost walked straight into someone while I was thinking about Damien. Jesus, he caused trouble even when he wasn’t around. I looked up and realized my almost accident was with Noah Nash. Of course, I had to almost walk into the gold boy of Noble Academy. “Oh, I’m so sorry. My head was in another universe.”

Noah gave me an easy smile. “Don’t worry about it. Sarah, right?”

I nodded, surprised he remembered my name. 

“How’s it going with Damien?”

“Oh, you know beside the psychotic tendencies and the homicidal rages, he’s a charming boy.”

Noah shook his head knowingly. “Yeah, he hasn’t changed.” He lifted his head and looked me right in the eye. My heart gave a little flutter as I realized just how close he was to me, and he had really pretty eyes. “Listen, if you ever need help with him, let me know. Or if you just need to scream about how insane that asshole is, I’ll listen.”

“Thanks, but I wouldn’t really want to put you through that.”

Noah squeezed arm and let me go. “Don’t worry about it. Just know I’m here for you.”

I nodded, trying to calm myself as I could feel my cheeks heating up. Jesus, Noah Nash was really cool and pretty cute. Why couldn’t I have been a year older? I wouldn’t have minded sharing all my classes with him. Noah gave me another smile. “Well, I’ll see you, Sarah Smith.”

I smiled. “Bye, Noah Nash.”

He grinned and with a wave was gone.

Damien was waiting for me when I entered Algebra. His hair was as poofy as ever, and his clothes appeared fine. The servants had probably blow dried him after I left. If they did serve Damien’s family, they probably came prepared for anything. 

Damien pulled out my chair without looking up from his phone, but I didn’t sit down. Instead I asked, “Why do you want me to sit by you?” 

His hand shot out and went under my skirt. He grabbed the back of my thigh, his fingers digging into the muscle. My body spasmed like I’d just stuck a fork into an electric socket. He let go as quickly as he’d grabbed it. 

I smacked the back of his head with my satchel. 

His head bounced forward, but it didn’t faze him. He still stared at his phone. “Take your seat, Sarah,” he said in a bored tone.

“Don’t ever do that again,” I hissed.

“Make me.”

I contemplated hitting him again. Actually, I imagined pummeling him, but that would garner me expulsion, my parents’ dismissals, and a new mailing address courtesy of the federal penitentiary system. The rest of class was seated with eyes forward. It appeared that no one had seen Damien grab me. If I reported him, it would be my word against his, and his word had more zeroes attached to it. I didn’t know what to do.

“If you don’t sit here, I’ll make whoever you sit by move. And I won’t be pleasant about it.”

I already knew that wasn’t an idle threat so I cautiously took my seat by him, hyper vigilant of his hands. Prof. Bolkis came into the room and closed the door. He took attendance. He even called Damien and my names. It appeared Damien now officially had a schedule and every class was with me. Joy. He could still switch out though. I was sure the administration would let him. I wondered if they would let me.

Prof. Bolkis went over some equations and wonder of wonders, he actually called Damien to the board to solve one. Damien slouched out of his seat and went up. Everyone went quiet as he passed. Without a word, he took a dry erase marker and worked the problem to the correct answer. Prof. Bolkis nodded his head and told him he could return to his seat.

I watched all of this in amazement. What was it about Prof. Bolkis that garnered him a modicum of respect from Damien? And could he teach me his ways? When class was over, Damien walked with me to Earth Sciences. I half-expected him to disappear like he’d done the day before, but he trailed after me into the lab room and sat down at the same station as me. I took out my lab book and turned it to the appropriate page. Prof. Friedman came in and distributed all of the materials we would need that day for our assignment. We were to be measuring the curvature of the Earth using world globes and light. I read the instructions and set everything up. It wasn’t complicated. I was all set to do it by myself, so jumped when Damien was at my elbow with the tailor’s ribbon ready for the next crucial part of the exercise. 

“So a birdie told me you were talking to Noah Nash.”

His comment startled me. The globe shifted under my hands. I quickly righted it and concentrated on the tailor’s ribbon. “I bumped into him, or almost did. It was on my way to class from lunch.”

I didn’t know why I was giving him such a thorough answer, but I was nervous of his response. He had made his dislike for the charismatic sophomore quite clear. I knew that if he was asking, he wasn’t happy about it. 

“Don’t talk to him.”

I frowned and wrote down the measurements before I allowed myself to answer. “You really have no right to say that to me.”

“I can say whatever I want to you.”

I plugged our findings into the equation. This exercise wasn’t supposed to take all of class. We needed to finish up in ten minutes. “Fine, yes, you can say whatever you want. I don’t have to listen.”

Damien growled and grabbed my arm to turn me to face him. “You’ll do whatever I want.”

“No, I won’t,” I said simply. Was I becoming accustomed to his irrational behavior? I didn’t know. But I couldn’t be bothered to get upset with him. It seemed pointless. I glanced back at the worksheet. I hadn’t finished it yet. There were a few more steps to the equation. Damien saw the source of my distraction. He growled and grabbed the worksheet and tore it to shreds. 

“Damien West!” Prof. Friedman shouted.

Damien sneered at the professor, but before Prof. Friedman could say more, the psycho dragged me out of the room.