“You didn’t. It was cute.” She cleared her throat, her fingers readjusting the strap of the duffel bag she had slung over her shoulder. “I mean, it was fine. We’re fine.”

The tension in my shoulders finally dissolved, the rope falling away from my neck. Setting the book down next to me on the windowsill, I breathed a soft, “Okay.”

“Actually, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about. Before you, you know, got wasted, you told me you used to take self-defense lessons.”

“I remember.”

“I was wondering if maybe you could show me?”

“You want to learn self-defense?” I asked. “Why?”

“So the next time I punch someone, I break their nose,” she stated, like the answer was self-evident. “Do you have time?”

I sat up a little straighter. “Like, right now?”

Noelle shrugged and gave an absentminded little kick to the wall next to where I was sitting. “I have basketball practice later, so now would be good.”

“Okay,” I said before I could think better of it. “Give me five minutes.”

“Nice. I’ll wait for you in the gym.”

I nodded and watched as she turned on her heel, heading towards the stairs with the same determination with which she had approached me. When her curly head had disappeared out of view, I quickly gathered all my things and got up.

Back in our room, I tossed my books onto my desk and changed into leggings and an oversized T-shirt.

There was a nervous flutter in my chest as I left our room and hurried through the hallways, past the weeping windows, the route to the gym familiar after my night out with Seth. Once it was in sight, I slowed my steps and tentatively pushed open the door.

According to Amelia, the gymnasium was an extension of the castle that had been added in the 1980s. Instead of majestic arches and stone wal s, it consisted of simple gray bricks and maple flooring the color of honey that squeaked under the soles of my sneakers when I entered. One side of the large hall was occupied by a stand for viewers. Noelle was sitting on the bench in front of it, elbows braced on her knees and her duffel bag at her feet. While I was gone she had changed into loose sweatpants and a tight-fitting top, her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Upon seeing me, she got to her feet, looking inexplicably eager. “How do we start?”

“Help me get some of those gym mats?”

Noelle wordlessly walked over to the equipment room and helped me carry two thick gym mats into the center of the room.

Once we had placed them on the floor, we faced each other again, the gym mats a blue barrier between us. The pounding of my heart seemed almost deafeningly loud in the sudden silence and even though I tried, I couldn’t hold Noelle’s expectant gaze.

“Don’t get shy on me now, Greene,” she said and took a step forward onto the mats. “You said you know how to defend yourself. Prove it.”