She accepted the tissue with trembling hands. “If I say, you have to promise not to—”

Before she could finish, the door suddenly flew open and Seth poked his head inside. “Oh, here you are. I thought we wanted to meet in the common room to do that stupid assignment—

shit, is everything all right?”

Amelia hastily wiped her eyes dry with the tissue. “I am fine.”

“You don’t look like it,” Seth remarked and came to a halt next to us. “What’s wrong?”

“She was just about to say.” I gave Amelia’s shoulder a light squeeze. “Go ahead. We won’t tell anyone.”

Amelia was silent for a long moment. Then, avoiding my eyes, she muttered, “It’s my last English essay. I got a C.”

Seth and I exchanged an incredulous look.

“You’re . . . you’re crying because you got a C in English Lit?”

I asked. “Hey, that’s not that bad. At least you—”

“No, it is bad.” I knew I had said the wrong thing when tears welled up in her eyes again. “It is terrible. Everything is terrible.”

Before I could think better of it, I hopped off the windowsill and pulled her into a tight hug. At first, she stiffened, but then, with a muffled sob, she went boneless in my arms. Her fingers clutched my shoulders, every inch of her trembling while I held her and rubbed soothing circles on her back with one hand. Behind her, Seth awkwardly patted her shoulder.

Neither of us really knew what to say, so we just stayed like that until, after what felt like ages, Amelia pulled back with a sniffle.

“Sorry,” she said, turning to look at Seth. “I don’t want to waste your time. We should get started with our homework.”

He lifted an eyebrow, staring down at her in disbelief. “Are you sure? If you want to go to your room and be on your own or something, that’s okay too. We can still work on it tomorrow.”

“No.” She resolutely wiped the last tears away and raised her chin. “I feel better. Let’s get this over with.”

Seth looked too tired to argue and slumped onto the chair next to him with a shrug. “Fine.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall, wincing when I realized that I was running late for my library shift. Still, I was reluctant to leave them here like this. “Are you going to be okay on your own?”

Both gave an unconvincing nod. Next to each other, both pale-faced and bleary-eyed, they made a pitiful picture.

“Okay . . .” Looking at Seth, I said, “I’ll be in the library if you feel like hanging out later.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he mumbled.

After giving Amelia another short hug, I hurried outside and down the corridor to the library. On my way there, I straightened my shirt with one hand; there was a wet spot near my col ar where Amelia had pressed her face, but it wasn’t too noticeable.