Patricia made good on her promise to call my father and tell him we weren’t a good fit, that she wishes me well. I know she said that last part because he calls me to ask if I’d like to talk about it. I say no.

I walk the campus half expecting Nick or Greer or even Sel to jump out at me from behind a line of students or a tree. Not that they ever have; I think it’s a Legendborn rule to avoid one another on campus. But they could find me… if they wanted. It makes it much easier on me that they don’t.

I can do what my mother did, I think. Live oblivious in the world the way that everyone else does. Maybe our paths were different, but my mother and I came to the same conclusion.

I have to forget them, because remembering is too dangerous.

“… Maybe after class?”

“Mm.” I chew absentmindedly on my blueberry jam–smothered biscuit as I read the DTH. I didn’t even know until this week that Carolina had a school newspaper.

“Bree.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re making a mess.”

“What?”

Alice points at my lap where three warm pools of butter have expanded into lakes that stretch from the horoscope section to an article on student body elections. A biscuit crumb falls from my hand into the center of a butter lake and promptly drowns. “Damn.” I push the paper away while she covers a laugh behind her coffee cup.

I’d let Alice drag me out of bed earlier than was strictly necessary, at least by my own standards. “So we can actually eat breakfast” is the type of reasoning that only sounds reasonable if you’re Alice. Alice, whose parents get her up at six thirty a.m. even on weekends.

“Did you hear anything I just said?”

“No…?”

She puts her cup down and gives me a long stare. A clunk-clunk-c-c-clunk reaches us from across the dining hall, where students are dumping used and empty food trays onto a conveyor belt with varying degrees of care. “You’ve been weird all week.”

I poke at my bowl of cheesy grits and shrug. “Just focusing on school stuff. I got a C minus on that English test, so it’s clearly warranted. What were you saying?”

“A C minus? Matty, you’ve never gotten anything below an A in English in your life. What’s going on?” Alice tilts her head and fixes me with a stare. I stare back. After a moment of silence she sighs, wrinkling her mouth and nose together. “I said I know you don’t have a dress for the gala thing this weekend. We should go shopping after class. There are a ton of boutiques downtown, and I saw some sales.”

I look away and gnaw at the inside of my cheek. “Yeah, about that. I’m not going.”