Chapter 5 Worning

Ivy Sinclair POV

First days in new schools always followed the same pattern.

Step one: pretend you’re invisible.

Step two: realize you’re not.

Step three: survive anyway.

I was currently somewhere between step two and step three.

The classroom was too bright. Not in a comforting way, but in a why does everything feel slightly staged? kind of way.

The desks were arranged in neat rows. Students had already formed their little groups, occupying their usual seats and talking as if they’d rehearsed their social positions before I arrived.

I chose a seat near the middle.

Not too hidden.

Not too visible.

Neutral territory.

“Neutral territory,” I muttered as I pulled out my notebook. “That’s how you get killed in horror movies.”

I had barely finished arranging my things when the classroom door opened again.

The girl who entered didn’t need to announce herself.

The room did it for her.

Conversations shifted. A few students glanced up. Someone moved a bag off a nearby chair without being asked.

She walked as if she knew exactly where she belonged and expected everyone else to know it too.

Perfect posture. Perfect hair. A polished expression that suggested she’d never been told no without making someone regret it.

Then her eyes landed on me.

She paused.

It was barely a second, but I caught it.

Her gaze moved over my face, taking in my clothes, my bag, and the fact that I was sitting in a seat she apparently hadn’t expected me to occupy.

Then she smiled.

That was worse.

She walked straight toward me.

“Hi,” she said sweetly.

I looked up. “Hi.”

“You’re new.”

“No. I’ve been secretly living here for years. I just enjoy dramatic entrances.”

Her smile tightened.

Right. Humor wasn’t going to win me any friends today.

“You’re funny,” she said.

“I’ve been told that leads to either popularity or early retirement from life.”

She ignored that and leaned slightly closer.

“I’m Cassia.”

“Ivy.”

“I know.”

I paused.

“That’s slightly creepy.”

“I prefer informed.”

I studied her for a moment.

How did she already know my name? I’d barely had time to find the classroom. Someone could have mentioned it, of course. A teacher might have introduced me to another student, or Cassia might simply have heard about the new arrival.

There were perfectly ordinary explanations.

I disliked that none of them made her feel less unsettling.

“Do you have a file on every new student?” I asked.

“No.”

The answer came so quickly that I almost laughed.

“Okay.”

I noticed movement near the back of the classroom.

Kael.

He wasn’t sitting with the others. He stood near the wall, watching the room with an expression that suggested the whole place was mildly disappointing.

His gaze settled on Cassia and me.

Something in his posture changed.

Only slightly, but enough to tell me he was paying attention.

Interesting.

Cassia followed my glance, then immediately returned her attention to me.

“You should be careful,” she said.

I leaned back in my chair.

“That’s a strange thing to say to someone you’ve just met.”

“It’s advice.”

“I didn’t ask for it.”

Her smile faded a fraction.

“That wasn’t a suggestion.”

I stared at her.

Then I nodded slowly.

“Okay. Now I’m intrigued. Please continue threatening me.”

The conversations around us grew quieter. A student sitting nearby stopped typing, apparently deciding that whatever was happening was more interesting than whatever was on their screen.

Cassia noticed the attention but didn’t seem embarrassed by it.

“You don’t understand where you are,” she said.

I glanced around the room.

“I’m in a classroom. Unless I missed a portal.”

Irritation flickered across her face.

Good. At least the perfect expression wasn’t permanent.

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

There was something strange about the way she looked at me. It wasn’t simply dislike. She seemed to be measuring me against information she already possessed, searching for something that confirmed whatever she’d decided before approaching.

And beneath all that confidence was something else.

Possession.

As if she believed something—or someone—was hers to protect.

Her gaze shifted briefly toward Kael.

Ah.

That explained part of it.

Not all of it, though.

“You don’t belong near him,” she said.

I blinked.

I’d been in Willow Creek for less than twenty-four hours. I hadn’t even finished unpacking, and somehow I’d already wandered into someone else’s territory.

I nodded thoughtfully.

“Which him? I need clarification. There’s a lot of emotionally unavailable men in this room.”

A couple of students snorted.

Cassia’s eyes sharpened.

“Kael,” she said flatly.

There it was.

His name.

I glanced toward the back of the room. Kael was still watching, his expression as unreadable as ever.

“So that’s his name,” I murmured.

Cassia followed my gaze.

“Yes.”

“And your concern is?”

“He doesn’t belong to your kind of problem.”

The words landed differently from the warning that had come before them.

This didn’t sound like a girl protecting her boyfriend from a potential rival. There was no dramatic claim of ownership, no declaration that I should stay away because she’d been there first.

Her warning sounded calculated.

Like she wasn’t worried about losing Kael.

Like she was worried about what might happen if I got too close to him.

I looked back at her.

“What exactly is my kind of problem?”

She stared at me.

“You really don’t know?”

“Apparently, I’m the last person to find out anything in this town.”

Something flickered in her expression.

Surprise, perhaps.

Or recognition.

It disappeared before I could be certain, replaced by that smooth, practiced smile.

“You’ll learn.”

I almost laughed.

“That’s becoming everyone’s favorite answer around here.”

Her brows drew together. “What?”

“Nothing.”

I leaned back, studying her.

There was a question I wanted answered, and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get it by pretending to be intimidated.

“You know what I find interesting?” I asked.

Cassia’s expression became guarded.

“What?”

“You didn’t say, ‘He’s mine.’”

Silence settled between us.

It was a small thing, but I saw the reaction. Her jaw tightened, and for the first time, the perfect mask slipped enough to reveal something less polished underneath.

“I don’t need to say that,” she replied quietly.

I nodded.

“Right. Because you already believe it.”

Her expression hardened.

Behind her, Kael shifted.

I caught the movement from the corner of my eye, but he still didn’t intervene.

That irritated me more than it should have.

If Cassia was simply a girl who didn’t like sharing attention, why was he allowing her to corner someone she’d barely met? And if there was something more serious behind her warning, why was he standing there watching instead of explaining it?

Perhaps he wanted to see what I’d do.

The thought made me want to prove that I could do something unexpected.

I didn’t know him.

I shouldn’t care what he thought of me.

Yet I found myself looking at him again.

His eyes met mine, and that strange sensation returned.

A tightening in my chest.

A flicker of awareness that made the classroom seem momentarily less ordinary.

It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t anything I could name.

And I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t name it.

I looked away before I could get caught staring.

Cassia stepped back.

“This is your only warning.”

“That sounded rehearsed.”

Her eyes flashed.

For a second, I thought she might say something else. Instead, she turned and walked away, her movements controlled and her shoulders straight.

She didn’t look back.

I watched her return to her seat before letting out a slow breath.

“Okay,” I muttered. “First day, and I already have an enemy. That’s efficient.”

A girl sitting two desks away glanced at me.

“You really shouldn’t mess with Cassia.”

I turned toward her.

“I wasn’t aware I was messing with her.”

“She doesn’t like people who don’t listen.”

“Apparently, I’m terrible at listening.”

The girl gave me a sympathetic look.

“You’ll learn.”

I stared at her.

“Please don’t tell me that too.”

She smiled nervously and returned to her notebook.

I turned back toward the front of the room, trying to convince myself the conversation was over.

Then I glanced at Kael again.

He was still watching me.

Only now his attention felt sharper, as though Cassia’s warning had changed something he was trying to understand.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

He offered no explanation.

Of course he didn’t.

“Great,” I whispered. “Mysterious silent guy with emotional damage. My favorite genre.”

The teacher entered before I could decide whether that had been a thought worth having.

Books opened. Chairs scraped against the floor. The last conversations faded as everyone settled into place.

I tried to focus on the lesson.

I really did.

The teacher introduced the subject, wrote the day’s material on the board, and began explaining something about an assignment. I copied the notes, underlined the date, and even managed to answer a question when it was directed at me.

For several minutes, I almost forgot about Cassia.

Almost.

Then I caught Kael looking at me again.

Every time I glanced toward the back of the room, his attention seemed to find me before mine found him.

It was becoming difficult to convince myself that I was imagining it.

I lowered my eyes to my notebook and wrote my name beneath the date.

Ivy Sinclair.

New town.

New school.

New life.

The words looked ordinary on the page, but something about them left me uneasy.

My parents had been nervous when we’d arrived. They’d told me to keep my head down, blend in, and avoid drawing attention to myself. At the time, I’d assumed they were simply worried about another move and another unfamiliar school.

Now I wasn’t so sure.

Cassia had known my name before we’d properly met. She’d looked at me as though my arrival had confirmed something she hadn’t wanted to believe. And she’d warned me away from Kael without ever explaining what she thought I was capable of doing.

I didn’t know what any of it meant.

But I knew one thing.

I hadn’t come looking for trouble.

Trouble, apparently, had found me anyway.

I glanced once more toward the back of the classroom.

Kael was looking at me.

This time, I held his gaze for a moment longer before returning to my notes.

If Willow Creek had secrets, I intended to discover them.

I just hoped the answers wouldn’t be worse than the questions.