16 An Invitation.

I held back a gasp as my eyes went over the rest of the pages, taking in the titles, prompts and instructions, before I slowly looked back up to meet the dark gaze that was surreptitiously waiting to behold mine.

My breath caught in my throat as our eyes met, and he remained silent. As did I.

"Who are you partnered with?!" Brittany chirped beside me, interrupting our tensed staring contest, and I pulled my gaze from his to look at her.

"These partnerships could literally make or break our futures. They determine how elevated our college applications are, and also heavily influence our chances of making it into an Ivy League or having to take a gap year and apply again next year. Oh God! I don't want to take a gap year!" Brittany continued, rambling worriedly without waiting for a response to the question she had asked me.

Her brows pulled into a frown and she began drumming her dainty fingers against her desk table.

"I just don't understand why they never let us choose our own partners for such important projects. Like it's so infuriating! I've been partnered with that dork faced goof ball, Trent, again!" She yelled and a few heads turned our way, but she didn't seem to care.

"I was once partnered with him on a chemistry project in junior year, and OH MY GOD! It was the worst thing ever! He literally never does anything and will in fact, go out of his way to add in foolish and baseless conclusions to my thesis behind my back, essentially aiming to jeopardize all of my hard-work!"

She groaned and slapped her hands against her face as she slumped in her seat.

"Oh! I'm gonna kill myself! Or I'm just going to kill him before this becomes any more disastrous than it already is!"

"Relax, frecke-face. Trent isn't here," Roman drawled from the seat in front of me, and both Brittany and I snapped our gazes to him.

He was still sat, straddling the chair, his icy, midnight gaze flicking boredly between Brittany and I.

"He will not be resuming with us for senior year." He added at Brittany's questioning gaze, and her brow shot up in skepticism.

"He changed schools?" Brittany asked, and Roman let out an irritated sigh as he leaned his chin on the back of the chair, fixing his gaze on me.

"Yes, freckle face. So stop getting your knickers in a twist and relax. Mr. Dart probably doesn't know yet, but I'm sure he'll realize it soon and assign you a new partner."

Brittany remained silent for a while, her brows furrowed in contemplation, before she finally spoke again.

"If Mr. Dart is unaware that Trent has changed schools, then how do you know? Shouldn't the school authorities have been notified during the break?"

An irritated shadow crossed Roman's eyes as he dragged his gaze from mine to fix Brittany with an icy glare.

"That is out of the bounds of my knowledge of Trent's life and choices, freckle-face. Perhaps you should go interrogate Principal Fernsby instead, on why she's been proven unaware that one of her esteemed students will not be returning to the school."

Sarcasm dripped from his voice like venom, and a scowl appeared on Brittany's face at his words.

She seemed to want to speak more, but she took one more glance at Roman's glare, then she bit down on her lip and slumped in her seat with a sulky expression on her face.

I wished there was something I could do to help, but I didn't even know who the Trent guy was. I wondered how Roman seemed to know that he wasn't coming back to school though, since it wasn't public knowledge yet.

I tentatively reached a hand out and patted Brittany's shoulder in a way I hoped was comforting.

I was never one to initiate physical contact first. Not ever. But I seemed to have grown weirdly protective of my pretty, green-eyed, freckled school-guide. And I realized that although I could care less about a high-school literature project, it probably meant the world to her.

I was in my third year at Yale already, and was studying for degrees in two other non-Ivy league online collegiate schools.

Worrying about a high-school project was so farcical to me, I almost burst into laughter at the comedy special my life was slowly becoming.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. If it's true that this Trent guy really isn't coming back, then you could use the opportunity to let Mr. Dartmouth know, and also slip in a request for a partner of your choice." I offered with a small shrug and a smile, and I watched as Brittany's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"You're right!" She chirped brightly. "We usually never get to chose our partners because we don't know when the literary decision-making committee holds their meetings. But if I'm informing Mr. Dart of such an important piece of information, it would be the perfect timing to slip in the request of a partner I actually want."

She physically brightened as she turned to me with a grin on her pretty face. "You're a genius!" She grabbed both of my shoulders, and I held back a yelp as she shook me vigorously, before leaning over and pulling me into a hug.

I was still reeling from the suddenness of it all, when she leaned back in her chair, and her brows furrowed in contemplation.

"I should ask if I could get partnered with you," she glanced at me before continuing. "Although, I'm not sure if three people in a group could work. It's always been dual partnerships for a reason. But since everyone's already paired, Mr. Dart will have no choice but to create a triad partnership group. Oh! This is going to be so exciting!"

Brittany shrieked in excitement as she clapped her hands together and grinned.

"We could work on it at my house during the weekends, if that's okay with you. Or we could work at your house. Wherever would be convenient," she continued, emerald eyes glittering, but then she stopped and a small frown appeared on her face.

"Wait, who did you say your partner was again?" She asked, and my gaze subconsciously began searching for his, until our eyes met, again.

"Vasilis," I answered Brittany, still holding his gaze. "Vasilis Wang."

"Oh..." Brittany trailed as I turned back to look at her. She suddenly seemed uncomfortable, but before I could deduce what was wrong, the classroom door opened again, and Principal Fernsby waltzed in with her signature sugary smile plastered across her face

"Hello, kids! As I'm sure you've been informed, Mr. Dartmouth has had to leave to take care of some personal business, and he will not be returning for the rest of the day." She glanced briefly at the black leather watch on her wrist before continuing.

"And since you only have a few minutes of this class left anyways, you are permitted to go home early, for those of you who live off campus. For the boarder students, I'm to inform you that the time for your scheduled meetings with your residence hall directors has been moved to 5:00pm today, so you might as well start heading there now."

Some of the students groaned at this, and I watched Roman roll his eyes as he looked away from the principal to continue staring at me.

I had chosen to ignore his stares, but they really were making me uncomfortable. And I couldn't help but find it funny watching him sit there, straddling the chair with the buttons on his shirt only done halfway. His blazer was nowhere to be found, and he had no tie on either.

He looked nothing like a student. Everything about him was just so...out of place with the school.

He looked like he belonged in some company's CEO office chair, bossing people around rudely. It almost felt like him being a high school student was a joke. Or an act.

I shook my head and looked away from him as the Principal was starting to leave.

"See you lot tomorrow! Have a nice evening!" She gave the class one last sugary smile, and then she was gone.

If she had noticed how Roman had had his back to her the entire time, or how he was breaking at least over a dozen of the school rules just by his appearance, she made no inclination to acknowledge it.

She didn't even look at him for a split second. It was as though she was used to it. Like it was the norm.

"So, Jade, what are you doing tonight?" Roman drawled as I began arranging my books atop one another neatly, preparing to leave.

Mr. Leadsey wouldn't arrive to pick me up for another twenty minutes, so I'd probably have to text or call him to let him know I was done earlier than scheduled.

I shrugged, eyeing Roman suspiciously. "Nothing. Why do you ask?"

A slow grin appeared on his face. "There's a dorm party happening in the East Wing tower of the dormitories later tonight. You should swing by," his midnight blue eyes twinkled as he spoke, and I couldn't resist the snort that escaped my nose.

"A party on a Tuesday? On my first day of school? No, thank you not." I put the last textbook on my small pile of books and straightened it until I was satisfied.

"Besides, I'd rather spend the entire night eating grass than hang around anywhere near you and your friends."

I added and watched a streak of amusement appear in his eyes as he leaned forward and placed a hand over his heart.

He mimicked a pained expression. "Wow. I'm hurt. I didn't know you already formed such strongly negative opinions about my friends and I. Whatever have we done to you?"

I cocked my head to the side as my left brow shot up in disbelief. "Were you not in attendance earlier at the cafeteria when Charlotte was attempting to bite my head off?" I questioned and watched him chuckle.

"Trust me, that was her friendliest attempt at getting to know you. She harbors no ill will. If she truly was attempting to bite your head off, then believe me, Jade dearest, your head would not still be sitting so gracefully on your shoulders."

Silence reigned. My frown deepened as a familiar pit of fear opened up in my stomach at his words.

I was struggling between gauging how I felt about him calling me dearest, and him practically saying that Charlotte could murder me if she wanted.

Or maybe I'd heard wrong?

Roman burst into laughter at the look on my face, then I watched his fingers reach out to smooth a curly strand of hair from my face as his cunning, icy gaze turned soft.

"I'm just kidding," he said, his icy fingers still lightly brushing my cheek, before he leaned back and gave me a cool smirk.

I had stiffened instantly.

A shock of cold electricity had sparked in the part of my face that his fingers grazed, and I simply sat there, frozen and wide-eyed as he smirked.

"Do not fret, precious Jade. Charlotte is not your enemy." He spoke, his voice deep and slightly unnerving. And I felt it again; that feeling that he was not supposed to be here. That he was pretending to be something he wasn't.

He rose from his chair, almost like a panther springing into action, lithe and dangerous as he stood tall and slid his hands into his pockets.

"I'll be expecting you at the party tonight." He gave me a lopsided smile. "See you later, precious Jade." And then he sauntered out of the classroom, his signature invisible, icy cloak of air exiting after him.

My fingers curled into fists as I bit down on my bottom lip in...anger? I expected to feel angry at the term of endearment he'd used for me. But I strangely found that I didn't mind it?

I don't know.

Precious Jade...

My gaze subconsciously found Vasilis' dark ones as I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to make sense of what was going on in my head, and I realized he had a murderous expression on his face as he stared at the spot Roman had just left.

His Tartarean dark eyes had turned even darker than I'd thought possible, a sheen of cold, murderous silver lining his irises.

He turned his gaze to me, and I watched his expression soften infinitesimally, then he stood up and walked out the classroom without another word.