Chapter 64: Whispers and Thorns
Evaline:
By the time Monday morning rolled around, I was able to feel the change in the air like a pulse beneath my skin. The whispers were louder, more frequent. Eyes were trailing after me in the hallways, lingering a second too long.
The students at Silver Moon Academy had always talked. It was their favorite pastime. But now, the gossip wasn’t just about entrance scores or... my identity as a rogue, as a nobody. It was about my internship and the Alpha.
Not only was I a top scorer. Not only had I secured the prestigious privilege award. But now... I was working at the Council. Under Alpha River.
By some cruel twist of fate, my private misery had become public envy.
It started innocently enough. I didn’t realize at the time of dinner on Saturday evening, when I revealed about my position as River’s assistant to my friends, someone at the table next to ours was listening.
By Sunday afternoon, the rumors had spread like wildfire. And by Monday morning, the students were no longer whispering about my internship, now they were whispering about me.
And yet, as unsettling as it was, most of them hadn’t confronted me. Not directly. They preferred to make passive-aggressive comments in the halls or laugh louder than necessary when I walked past.
I could live with that.
What I wasn’t prepared for was Tuesday.
Because Tuesday changed everything.