Page 50 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

A few more steps and Jackson slowed. He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes locking on mine like he’d already known I was there.

Jason noticed next and lifted a hand. “Morning, Harper.”

Rick grinned. “Hey.”

Lia looked back at the voices. Her gaze landed on me for half a second, then slid past. “Come on,” she said, and kept walking toward the lecture hall.

Jackson waited until I drew level, then matched my pace. “Morning.”

“Morning.” I watched Lia’s back. “Your friend doesn’t like me.”

“Lia?”

“She made a point of ignoring me.”

He frowned. “She takes time with new people. She’ll come around.”

“Mm.” I didn’t buy it. And I wasn’t sure I cared if she did.

We turned down the main hallway toward the lecture hall. Ahead of us a guy walked backward, laughing with his friends, completely oblivious as he drifted straight into my path. I started to step around him, but Jackson was faster. His hand landed on the guy’s shoulder and guided him sharply out of the way.

“Watch it.”

The guy stumbled, caught himself, and spun around. “What the—” He stopped the second he saw Jackson.

“Sorry, man.” One of his friends grabbed his arm and hauled him back into the flow of bodies. They disappeared fast.

Jackson turned to me. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. He didn’t touch me.”

“I wasn’t taking the chance.”

My cat approved.

Environmental Science passed in ninety minutes of nitrogen cycling. Behavioral Analysis followed with sixty more on Sterling's typology of sexual sadists. Jackson sat beside me, knee against mine under the desk.

By lunch, I was starving and in no mood for bullshit, which was unfortunate because Naomi was waiting at the cafeteria entrance.

She stepped directly into my path. "We need to talk."

"No, we don't." I tried to sidestep.

She moved with me. Two of her girls hovered behind her at a safe distance, arranged for witnesses or support. Who knows.

"Harper."

"Norah."

Her eye twitched. "I've been watching you."

"That's unsettling. You should talk to your doctor about it."

"There's something off about you. Everybody can feel it."

“Mm.” I kept my face blank.

"No one knows where you're actually from. Your stories don't add up—”