Chapter 1 —The Spark Of Conflict

• Brienne's POV
• The corridor was still buzzing when Nora dragged me out of the west wing, her grip tight around my wrist like I was going to make a run for it.
• "Five minutes," she said. "I just need my biology notes."
• "You said that before the game ended."
• "And I still mean it."
• "Nora." I pulled my wrist free. "The whole school is in these hallways right now. Can we not do this tonight?"
• She spun around and walked backwards, grinning at me. "Bri. We go in, we grab the notes, we leave. Nobody is even going to notice us."
• I looked around at the crowd pouring out of the arena corridor and said nothing.
• She was wrong, obviously. Avalon High after a hockey win was its own kind of chaos.
• Students everywhere, loud and flushed and wearing their jerseys like they had personally scored every goal. Someone had a speaker out.
• Two guys near the water fountain were replaying a highlight on one phone between them, arguing about it at full volume.
• "Did you see Landon in the third period?" one of them said.
• "Bro, that assist alone. That was insane."
• "He's been doing that all season. Guy sees the ice like nobody else on that team."
• Nora glanced back at me with wide eyes. "See? Hockey talk. We are invisible. Let's go."
• I followed her, drink in hand, weaving through the crowd with my eyes forward and my bag tucked close. Too many bodies moving in every direction with no regard for anyone who just wanted to get from point A to point B without being knocked sideways.
• A group of girls passed us going the other direction, all of them talking over each other.
• "Landon looked so good out there tonight, I cannot even explain it."
• "He always looks good. That's literally the problem."
• "Did he smile at you after or were you imagining it again?"
• "He smiled. I know what I saw."
• Nora leaned into me. "They're talking about Landon again."
• "They're always talking about Landon."
• "Because he's always doing something worth talking about." She gave me a look. "Don't make that face."
• "I'm not making a face."
• "You're making the face."
• I was not making a face. I just had no interest in Landon Cole or his assists or his smile or whatever else half the school wanted to lose their minds over every time he laced up his skates. He was a hockey player. That was it.
• I turned the corner still looking at Nora and walked directly into something solid.
• The impact knocked me back a step, my drink flying forward before I could do anything about it. Cold liquid splashed in a wide arc and landed squarely across the front of a white and blue jersey.
• The whole stretch of corridor seemed to pause.
• I looked up.
• Landon Cole stood there, jaw tight, eyes already dropping to the soaked fabric stuck to his chest.
• Up close he was taller than he looked from the stands, broader too, with the kind of build that made it obvious he had been on ice since before he could probably spell his own name.
• His dark hair was still damp, face still carrying the flush of someone who had just come off a win.
• Right now he did not look like someone celebrating.
• His eyes came up slowly and landed on me.
• "Watch where you're going." His voice was flat and cold. "Freak."
• A girl nearby laughed. Someone else repeated it under their breath.
• "It was an accident," I said.
• He looked at me for exactly one more second, the kind of look that said I was not worth any more of his time, then turned and kept walking.
• His teammates closed around him and the crowd shifted to let them through like it always did.
• Nora grabbed my arm. "Don't."
• "I wasn't going to do anything I said."
• "You had the look she said."
• "I don't have a look."
• She steered me away from the direction he went, her hand firm on my elbow. "He's an idiot. Forget it."
• I wanted to. I really did.
• But I could already hear it moving through the corridor behind us, low and amused, passing from one mouth to the next. That one word. Testing itself out. Settling in.
• By the next morning it was everywhere.
• Not loud. Not dramatic. Just there, dropped into passing comments the way people at Avalon High dropped things when they wanted them to sting without looking like they tried. A whisper near the science block. A smirk at the water fountain.
• Nora caught it too. She fell into step beside me after second period with her lips pressed flat.
• "How many times?" she asked.
• "Four. Maybe five."
• "Bri."
• "I'm fine."
• "You don't look fine."
• "I look exactly fine." I shifted my bag on my shoulder. "It's just a word. I'm not going to fall apart over a word some arrogant hockey player threw at me because his jersey got wet."
• Nora was quiet for a second. "You're right. You're completely fine."
• "Thank you."
• "You're also doing the thing where you clench your jaw and pretend you're not."
• I unclenched my jaw. She said nothing else about it and I kept my head up because I was not giving anyone the satisfaction.
• We were cutting through the main hallway on the way to the east wing when I heard it again. Louder this time.
• "Yo, freak."
• I stopped.
• Kai Mercer stood ahead of us with two teammates flanking him, leaning against the lockers like he owned the wall. He was grinning, the kind of grin that meant he already thought he had won something.
• Nora's hand found my arm. "Bri. Keep walking."
• "I heard him," I said quietly.
• Kai pushed off the locker and took a step toward us. "What, you deaf too? I said hey, freak."
• "Say that word to me one more time," I told him, keeping my voice steady, "and you will not like what happens."
• That made him laugh. His teammates laughed with him, right on cue.
• "Yeah?" He tilted his head, grin going wider. "What you gonna do, freak-ass stupid bitch?"
• The slap cracked through the hallway.