I narrow my eyes at her. “My face was good enough to steal your man.”

Ohhhh shit.

Boom.

Mic drop.

I didn’t actually steal Aiden from her, he’s made that abundantly clear. But damn, that felt good. I swear her eye twitches and a vein in her forehead pops, but she does a good job trying to remain calm and unfazed. Wow, maybe her New Year’s resolution is to try not reacting explosively. Annalisa’s laughing beside me, and Noah is practically glowing with pride.

“Ryan is twice the man Aiden is.”

Doubt it. “Not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy our time together, Kaitlyn, but is there a reason I’m spending my morning talking to you?”

Her blue eyes laser focus on me. “I hate you. I more than hate you, I despise you. You’ve had a good first semester, running around thinking you’re the queen of the school. But that ends now. This is my school. I’m running the show.”

She takes a step closer to me, and I force myself to square my shoulders and stay where I am, to not back down. The shadows under her eyes that she’s concealed with makeup are more prominent this close, and she seems different. Older, maybe. But still the same, entitled attitude.

“Ryan thinks there’s something off about you, more than in the sense of you being a stupid little bitch, and I agree. Andrew Kessler is going to ruin Aiden’s life, and we’re going to ruin yours.” She gets even closer to me, if possible, and this time I do step back. “Secrets don’t stay secrets forever. Stay out of my way.”

I open my mouth to lob back one of my patented snarky comebacks, but my mind draws a blank. Honestly, I’m a bit rattled. All the time she’s spent hanging out with Ryan has clearly changed her. She seems more focused and calculating, less likely to explode. She’s always been kind of scary, but now she seems more threatening, if possible.

Something on my face must give away how much her words affect me, because Noah steps in and gently pushes her away from me. “Lay off, Kaitlyn.”

She gives him a calculated look. “Don’t act like I killed someone. I’m not the one who has a murderer for a brother, am I, Annalisa?”

Oh. No. She. Didn’t.

Annalisa’s head snaps over to Kaitlyn so fast I get whiplash. “What?” she asks lowly, almost as a warning.

“Ryan said the Luke Montley who’s going to rot in prison for killing his dad comes from your white-trash family,” she basically sings, loud enough for the whole hallway to hear.

Annalisa and Luke have different last names, so when his came out in the news, no one harassed her since they didn’t know he was her brother. Even though Annalisa doesn’t have the greatest relationship with her brother, we all know how much this is affecting her, and how bothered she is by her brother being in this kind of trouble. I put a hand on Annalisa’s arm, warning her not to react the way Kaitlyn wants her to.