Because I meant it. Bronwyn’s snub tonight was the last straw on what was already a hay barn full of snits and jabs and overall bitchiness. And it was enough. I was done with these people and this place. It had once held so much hope for me, but that was now gone.

It was at that moment the bee suddenly zoomed off the leaf in Arthur’s hand and disappeared up into the darkened skies of early evening.

Headed home.

I was rude to Arthur. That wasn’t my intention when I walked away from him without so much as a “thanks for helping save the bee” or even the bare minimum of “bye,” but that was the end result. Rudeness.

It didn’t occur to me that I’d abruptly left him by the pond until I was back in the empty dorm room I shared with Thea, scrolling “find cheap flights” websites, the emergency credit card given to me by my parents in my right hand, tapping against the wooden desk.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

I hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights when I entered, instead going straight to the laptop, which was next to the window overlooking the pond.

And that was when I glanced over to see Arthur standing where I’d left him.

A wave of guilt came over me. Grandma Jo would not be pleased; she was big on manners.

My first instinct was to tell him sorry when I saw him next, even as a part of me recognized he probably wouldn’t care. Arthur was not big on manners, at least not that I’d experienced.

I’d met him on my first day of classes in Advanced Calculus. My mistake was having taken the first seat in the second row, which turned out to have been his favorite. He’d scowled at me then sat in the first seat of the first row to my left with an annoyed huff and refused to look at or acknowledge me for the next month.

That had pretty much set the tone between us.

As I waited for the airline-finder website to settle on a list of possible flights, I watched him pick up an object from the ground then toss it into the water, and I wondered what Arthur was doing for Christmas.

I supposed I should’ve asked. Was he staying here at Barrington? Or going back to England? The thing about boarding schools was you could stay there when school wasn’t in session if you made arrangements ahead of time.