“I can see why,” Jaya said as her eyes lit on a medal. It was small and silver, with an embossed bow and arrow on the front. “Archery?” she said in surprise.

“Oh, that. Bayer told me to take part in some competition last year. I got second place.”

“I love archery. I won a trophy for it once, at a boarding school in Britain,” Jaya said, feeling a pang for a hobby now gone. “I’ve considered doing it in college, too.”

“Cool,” Daphne Elizabeth said, lying back and staring at the ceiling, her red hair bright against her white sheets.

Jaya studied her; she clearly had something on her mind. “Everything okay?”

“Sure,” Daphne Elizabeth said. “Rahul’s advice is still working. Alaric and Caterina aren’t sitting together anymore in English, so they can’t really talk in the one class I share with both of them.”

“Ah,” Jaya said, sitting back down in the papasan and picking up her book. “But?”

Daphne Elizabeth nibbled on her lower lip and turned over to face Jaya. “I just never thought I’d be that girl. The other woman.” She said it mockingly, but Jaya could see pain in the lines that bracketed her mouth. “It’s so freaking cliché.”

“Why don’t you change it?” Jaya asked. “If you really feel like your life’s a cliché and Alaric isn’t worth it, I mean.”

Daphne Elizabeth laughed a little, her chin propped in her hand. “You make it sound so easy.”

“That wasn’t my intention.” Jaya paused, thinking about Grey Emerson and how she was letting her instincts—spitting sparks, roaring with anger—lead her where she needed to go. “I suppose I just mean people’s instincts rarely lead them astray.”

“I can’t tell if it’s my instinct or my hormones that led me down this path,” Daphne Elizabeth said morosely.

Jaya paused and then turned a page in her book. “I see.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm?” Jaya continued to read.

“Jaya.” Daphne Elizabeth waited until Jaya met her eye reluctantly. “What did you mean by ‘I see’?”

Sighing, Jaya crossed her arms on her book. “Well, I… I don’t understand why you feel the need to be with Alaric, that’s all.”

She thought again about Alaric in the library, that first day she’d met Grey without knowing it. How Alaric’s face had been a twisted sneer of entitlement and elitism when he’d bullied Elliot before Grey stepped in. She considered telling Daphne Elizabeth what she’d seen, but she didn’t know her very well, and Jaya was afraid she’d shut down completely. She already looked on her way there, with her arms crossed, leaning away from Jaya.