“I’m more worried about me. Do you know how much trouble I’ll get in if you drown yourself or fall down the stairs?”

“That’s not going to happen.” I wrestle his hands off my shoulders, but even though I told him not to, he follows me anyway. I slide against the wall a few times, catching myself before I fall to the floor.

“How much did you have?” he asks.

“Two beers.”

“Wow … you really can’t handle your alcohol.”

“Right? You’d think with the amount of gin and vodka my mother ingests I’d have developed some kind of natural immunity.”

“That’s not how genetics works,” Wyatt tells me, forcing me to stand up straight.

“It was a joke,” I say bluntly.

“Forgive me. I’m not used to you making those.”

It feels like it takes forever for us to make the few yards to the communal bathroom that all the boys on this floor share. Wyatt brings me to the shower area, stalls on each side of the room with a long bench running down the middle like a locker room.

Just like everything about Steerfield, it seems like the school never got past the original architecture from when it was built in the 1800s.

“Here, go shower.” Wyatt shoves the shower bag and towel in my arms.

“Not going to hold my hand while I’m in there?”

Wyatt smirks, his eyebrows hidden by his hair. “Not unless you want me to.”

I feel heat behind my ears. “Shut up.”

I step past the first curtain into the small changing room where I can leave my filthy uniform as I strip down. I’m trying hard not to think about the idea that Wyatt is so close by, a thick piece of nylon protecting him from seeing me naked. I almost shower in my clothes, just so I don’t have to look at myself, but then Wyatt would yell at me, so I step out of where my pants and shoes and underwear are pooled around my ankles and turn the water almost as hot as it’ll go, the steam radiating off my body instantly.

I can’t resist the urge to stand right under the stream of water, letting it run off me as I scrub at my face with nothing, knowing that it’s just going to dry me out.

But Wyatt was right—this does feel good, so I really don’t care.