She grabs me by the hand and squeezes hard. “He’s such a fucking creep,” she says. “I feel like I’ve been living in an alternate dimension. It was so obvious something was up when he ditched you and switched over to pay attention to me, but nobody thought that was strange.” Her lip curls in disgust. “Everybody knows he has his favorites and that his favorites always win. Nobody cares about that. Everyone just accepts that’s how it is.”

“And then there’s that rumor going around the cast that I, like, hooked up with him or something,” I say, and a shiver goes up my spine.

“Yeah, and nobody thinks that’s weird. They just think I’m weird when I tell them they shouldn’t say that because it’s not funny.” She huffs and starts gently interlacing our fingers. “So what are you going to do about all of this?”

I stare at our hands, frowning. “I don’t know. I was hoping I could convince Brittany to tell the school.”

“Yeah, the chances of that don’t seem good, considering that she just tried to fire-punch you,” Ana says drolly. “Are you going to report them?”

I consider her question. That seems like the right thing to do now that I know Brittany won’t come forward. Even though it will ruin everything for me. “I have to.” I look at her pleadingly, wishing I could steal some of her incredible composure. “Right?”

“If you report them to the school, he’ll deny it,” she says. “It’s not exactly great for Brittany either. She would probably lose the scholarship, and it would be a big scandal.” Her dark eyes narrow. “He’s popular too. Everyone loves him. And the school loves the money his family gives them.”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t report them?”

“No, I’m just trying to be realistic about this.” Ana’s expression goes thoughtful. “This thing with Brittany kind of reminds me of my cousin. She was in this really bad relationship with a wizard who had a much higher magic level than her.”

“Really?”

“Everyone told her he was bad news and that she shouldn’t keep sharing magic with him, but she didn’t believe them,” Ana says. “She basically turned into a zombie. Every time they had an argument, he could mess with her emotions to make her agree with him.”

Oh god. How long has this been happening to Brittany? Maybe that’s why she’s so messed up about him. Some of my horror must show on my face, because Ana reaches over and wraps her arms around me, pulling me in for a hug.