Truthfully, I’m not sure why Alfie is speaking as though he has any difficulty with that. I have to admit, he has a valid point, though. It would be nice to manipulate the media for once, rather than allowing it to manipulate how my own citizens feel about me. Of course, I’ll have to check it with Danni, but if she’s comfortable with it, then why not?

“You do mean platonically, yes?” I ask, just to check.

He smirks a little. “Rosie. Trust me. I’m not sitting here envisioning some sort of great love story between us where you’ll realize your true feelings for me after you hold my hand a couple of times. And besides, no offense, but the kiss was a little…”

“What?” I ask, quite ready to take offense anyway.

“It wasn’t very good,” he finishes, and I bristle. “Not because of you!” he clarifies quickly. “You’re a wonderful kisser. It’s just, it felt, sort of … very…”

“Platonic?” I finish for him, and he nods eagerly. “I felt exactly the same,” I say, relieved.

“There was nothing there. Which is fine,” he adds. “Sometimes you just have to try something out, just in case, right?”

“Absolutely. I—” I break off as an incoming call notification fills half my screen. “Alfie, can I call you back? William’s trying to get in touch.”

“Oh, of course. Actually I’m about to start working on an essay, but I’ll message you later?”

“Perfect.”

Well, that went far better than expected. All that procrastination and avoidance, only to have Alfie understand completely? I feel silly. Of course, I should have known Alfie would understand. It’s only that trust is coming harder and harder to me these days.

I answer William’s call feeling far lighter than I did twenty minutes ago. William, however, wastes no time at all in crashing me back down, his voice clipped and urgent. “Rose. We’ve received a tip from within Bramppath College that you’re in a relationship with a student named Danni Blythe.”

I bolt upright on the bed and blanch. “You what? From who?” I ask, not at all as measured as I meant to sound.

“It was anonymous, unfortunately. And before you ask, no evidence was provided. But naturally, the first step for me is to contact you to find out if there’s any truth to the accusation.”

I frantically run through the events of the past few weeks. How could someone know about Danni and me? Did she tell somebody? Did we somehow slip up? Could someone have seen us? Did Danni leave her curtains ajar one night? Not as far as I can remember. We were being careful, weren’t we?

Were we?