While she was gone, I picked up my phone from my bedside table and opened The Chitter Chatter, which , thanks to the awful internet connection in our room, took a while to load.

The last update had been posted yesterday evening and detailed that Sammy, Jasper’s ex, seemed to be seeing Aiden from the drama club now.

Amelia stepped out of the bathroom again before I could finish the article. Straightening her skirt—she was one of the only people I knew who wore her uniform long after classes were over—she asked, “What are you doing?”

“I was just seeing if there was anything new on The Chitter Chatter.”

Amelia wrinkled her nose and sat down on my bed again. “I will never understand what everyone finds so interesting about that poorly written gossip blog.”

“It’s the mystery around The Watcher’s identity that’s so intriguing, I guess.” I leaned forward a little. “Surely, you’ve thought about it as well, haven’t you? Who do you think it is?”

“I think it is someone with way too much time on their hands who should be directing their attention to things that actually matter, and also an incredibly bitter person who likes causing anarchy in our community.” She made a meaningful pause. “I’m sure you can think of someone who seems to hate everyone here and would not be opposed to taking their own issues out on others.”

I stared at her for a few seconds, uncomprehending, before I understood what she was trying to say. Lowering my voice even though there was no one else around, I said, “You think Noelle would . . . ?”

“I would not put it past her,” Amelia said. “After all, it started as soon as she arrived here two years ago.”

Frowning, I tapped my pencil against the paper. I couldn’t align the image I had of Noelle with the one of The Watcher, but before I could tell Amelia that, the door opened.

“Hey, Evelyn, I—”

Noelle paused in her tracks when her eyes landed on Amelia, one of her eyebrows lifting. Bracing a hand against the door frame, she said, “What the hell are you doing here, Amanda?”

“She’s helping me with maths,” I explained.

Meanwhile, Amelia twisted around to glare at Noelle over her shoulder. They were like two cats getting their claws out every time one dared to step into the other’s territory, always hissing threateningly at the other like they were ready to scratch each other’s eyes out if the other came within reach.

Noelle’s shoulders only relaxed a little bit when I offered her a smile. “Don’t mind me,” she said, flopping onto her bed before grabbing a pair of headphones as well as a stack of files from her bedside table. “I’ll just be over here doing . . . basketball captain stuff.”

I nodded and looked down at my notes again. To Amelia, I said, “I think I get the polynomial functions thing now. Thanks for explaining everything to me again.”