Page 10 of Savage Don

I continue onward as Janice drops back.

Up ahead, I can see the building where our lecture hall is. Soft orange light pulses out from the windows on the top floors, making it look like the comfiest place in the world—such a far cry from what it costs me to get here.

I could practically run to the building, but I’m at least self-conscious enough to know how much of a dork that would make me look like.

For as little as I care about social status around here, there is a fine line I’m trying to walk. The goal is to be just invisible enough so that I don’t draw any unwanted attention, without becoming too much of a loser that I repel potential friends… and boyfriends.

A heavy sigh empties my chest as I speed walk towards the lecture hall.

Boyfriends…

I’m not here at Branksome to party. I’m here to learn. But I’d be lying if I said that finding my first boyfriend wasn’t part of the motivation that first caused me to sneak off to campus. And I definitely did not start taking the pill a year ago because I want to keep being a virgin.

But my situation doesn’t exactly have a lot of leeway. It’s not like I can stay out all night hanging with friends and partying.

In my regular life, when I go out at night, a team of guards trail me, even if just at a distance. The only time they don’t is when I sneak out like this. But if I’m not back when they make their rounds at the crack of dawn, then I’m screwed.

The more I get away with this whole ruse, the more confident I become. But I’m not ready to confront my father yet.

He can’t find out.

I’ll be punished for disobeying him. Fuck. That’s so embarrassing. I’m an adult now. I should be able to carve out my own life. And if I don’t start soon, I’ll always be living out someone else’s…

I’m so lost in my own thoughts that I hardly notice how dark the front doors to the lecture hall are until I’m standing directly in front of them.

“That’s strange…” I mutter to myself as I reach out and pull.

Locked.

Looking up, I see that the top floors are still lit up. That soft orange glow radiates from the windows above. But the main floor is pitch black.

Trying to look inside, I place my hands against the glass and press my face between my palms. But there’s hardly any light. It’s like looking into a void.

Pushing back, I scan the door for a sign or a poster explaining where I should go next. Usually, when there’s a problem at a building where a class is taking place, they’ll reassign the lecture to another hall.

But the glass is clear of any paper. And all I can see is my own reflection, standing alone in the darkness of a strangely empty campus.

… Wait. Why is it so empty?

Before I can turn around and look for any sign of life, I spot something in the glass that makes me freeze.

A light shiver washes over my body as my eyes latch onto the reflection of a hulking figure in the glass doors. He’s standing somewhere behind me, near one of the streetlamps.

All of a sudden, I feel eyes on me. I’m being watched.

Whipping around, I prepare myself for the worst. As a Galli, I’m always ready for a fight, no matter how scared I might be…

But then I see him, and I’m frozen all over again.

Tall and intimidating as hell, the giant steps out of the darkness, and I drop my books.

Holy shit.

The hulking stranger is wearing all black, and his broad shoulders sway like boulders as he struts towards me, somehow passing under the lamplight so fast that I hardly get a glance at his face before he’s engulfed in darkness again.

What the hell is going on?

Slowly, the man approaches. Every step he takes reveals more details on his grizzled face. Even draped in darkness, they stand out, sharp and clear.