“Miss us?” I ask her, and kiss her on the cheek.

“About as much as I miss hemorrhoids,” she says, leading us to our favorite table next to the window and plucking the RESERVED sign off it.

I feel Ash watching me as I stare at the cows. “Layla told me you weren’t prepped for coming to this school.”

My smile disappears and I immediately scan the room. The only door is the one we came through. “And Layla thought I was playing a game.”

“Were you?” he asks, his invasive gaze intensifying.

I shrug and look back out the window, trying to appear casual, but my heart beats a mile a minute.

“Interesting,” he says.

“Interesting, what?” I say with a little too much emphasis on what.

“You weren’t prepped,” he says.

I make eye contact with him. “I didn’t say that.”

“You did,” he says. “If you were prepped and being strategic by pretending you weren’t, you would never call my attention to that fact. You would keep up that game. Also, your pulse quickened when I questioned you, and you looked away from me.”

My eyebrows push together. “How could you possibly know my pulse quickened?”

“The vein in your neck.”

“You stay away from my neck,” I say, channeling my inner Emily.

He smirks. “You also very subtly shook your head, telling me your answer was no. And you took a fast breath through your mouth instead of your nose, indicating stress.” He pauses, waiting for me to pick my chin up off the floor. “What you can do with names—piece them together and identify people with them? I can do that with body language.”

“Okay?” I say, not really wanting to use any more words than that after his analysis.

“You’re my sister’s roommate,” he says, his seemingly happy expression never wavering. “Don’t lie to me, or I will know.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Not unless it needs to be.”

I rub my hands over my face. “You know what? I think I’m going back to the cafeteria.”

“Dining hall,” he corrects me.

My chest rises a little higher when I breathe, which I’m sure he notices. I turn away from the window.

“You don’t like being here,” he says, and I stop in my tracks. His ability to read me is annoying as shit. “If you weren’t showing everyone your hand all the time, you’d probably like it more.”

“I’d like it more if everyone in this school were less creepy,” I say, frustrated, which only widens his grin. “And stop smiling like that. If anyone should make something less obvious, it should be you and your gloating.”

He laughs, which seems to surprise him as much as it does me. He pauses. “It wasn’t smart, what you did with Aarya.”

I huff. “I was defending your sister.”

“You think that’s what you did?” He shakes his head and his expression turns serious. “You showed Aarya that you’re loyal without being discerning. That you aligned yourself with your roommate after less than a day. That you’re emotional, and that by threatening the people around you, she can get a reaction out of you. Maybe even hurt you. You didn’t defend Layla, you made her a target.”