A P

ered with a cough. Celeste took one slow step forward. "You think you're funny." "I think I'm hungry and my food is getting cold, so if you're not sitting here, I'd really appreciate it if you let me eat." "You have no idea how this campus works." "It's the first day," I said. "Nobody does." "I do," she said simply, "and girls like you, you come here thinking it's a fresh start, thinking nobody knows you, thinking you can just walk in and be whatever you want, and then you figure out very quickly that there's an order to things here and you're at the bottom of it." I pulled my chair out and sat down. "Okay," I said, picking up my fork. Celeste blinked, like she genuinely hadn't expected that. "Excuse me?" "I said okay," I looked up at her. "You've said your thing; I've heard it. I'm going to eat my food now." "You're really not going to move." "I'm really not." There was a pause. Not long. But long enough that I felt like I had just crossed a line I couldn't see. The girl to Celeste's left, tall with dark hair and a look on her face like she smelled something bad, stepped forward. "Celeste, she's not worth it; let's just go." "She's sitting in my spot, Lena." "Then let her sit there," Lena said, already losing interest. "There are other seats." Celeste looked at me for a long moment, the kind of look that was supposed to make people uncomfortable. I picked up my glass and took a sip and waited. "You're going to regret this," Celeste said quietly. There was no scene or voice raised. That was what made it worse. It didn't sound like a threat to me. It sounded like a fact. "Maybe," I said, "but I'll regret it on a full stomach." Hanna choked on her water. Celeste's jaw tightened; she looked at me one more time, then turned and walked away, her girls falling into step behind her without a word. Hanna waited exactly three seconds before she turned to me with both hands flat on the table. "What is wrong with you?" she whispered. "That is Celeste Varon; her father literally advises the king. Aria... she doesn't just talk." People actually listen to her." "She was going to do that anyway," I said. "Girls like that don't need a reason; if I had moved, she would have found something else." "You don't know that." "I do know that." Hanna stared at me, then picked up her fork. "Okay, but if she makes our first semester a nightmare, I'm blaming you." "Fair." We ate in peace for about ten minutes, which was nice while it lasted. "She's staring at you," Hanna said without looking up. "I kn