Chapter 5
“Okay.” Cait said. “Okay. Okay, okay, okay-“
“Stop saying that!” Vi hissed. Her thin semblance of composure seemed to snap at Caitlyn’s complete and utter mind break.
Her thumbs came up to her face and went straight into her mouth, seemingly trying to push her fangs back into normal canines.
“Dey won’ go back in.” She whined, slurring because of the obstruction with eyes wide and frantic. “And ma’ claws won’ retract, and-“
“Violet, calm down.”
“I tink fo’ someone turnin’ into a we’ewolf I’m pretty fuckin’ calm!”
“Half shifts occur because of intense emotion.” Caitlyn recited. Vi’s eyes widened in understanding. “So, calm down.”
Pulling her thumbs out of her mouth, Vi let her eyes flutter closed with a nod. “Calm down.” She murmured. She began to take deep breaths and Caitlyn grimaced when she wiped her thumbs on the back of her Lacrosse pants.
A beat passed. Vi’s chest swelled and deflated with each breath. Cait took the opportunity to try and calm her own racing heart.
So I was right. The annoying, know-it-all part of her thought smugly before it was shoved down and repressed.
It was a small satisfaction. One swiftly followed by an immense feeling of fear.
Fear for what this meant for the future. For Vi. For herself. For everything.
Cait knowing Vi was a werewolf - because there was no more toeing around it anymore. The glowing eyes, the claws. She was a werewolf - and not reporting it was a crime in and of itself.
Vi had a bit of an excuse. If you suspected you were undergoing a shift, you were supposed to do the ‘right thing’ and ‘turn yourself in.’
Which was code for ‘tell us so we kill you before you’re an issue.’
So yeah, Vi had a pretty good reason for not turning herself in.
The full moon was the day after tomorrow- or, scratch that, Cait glanced to the clock propped just above her door with hands reading 12:07, tomorrow.
That meant they had around 24 hours until Vi turned into a bloodthirsty monster and she began to edge closer and closer to losing her humanity entirely.
What the hell were they going to do?
“Did it work?” Caitlyn snapped out of her reverie, staring up at Vi who blinked at her with eyes that were still purple.
She hesitated, not wanting to stress Vi out further but the silence told the other student all she needed to know.
“Oh God.” Vi whined, claws coming up to grip at her scalp. “I’m gonna be stuck like this forever. How am I gonna hide it from everyone? From- from Coach?OhGod!”
She was pacing now. In small, tight circles and it was giving Caitlyn a stress headache just to look at.
“Coach’s gonna kill me! I can’t play lacrosse if I’m a werewolf. They’ll kick me off the team! I’m gonna lose my scholarship!” She strode forward to grip at Cait’s shoulders, shaking her with panic in her eyes. “I can’t afford tuition, Cait! I can’t even afford more socks! I just rotate my seven pairs and hope they don’t rip but I’m a fucking werewolf now, Cait. They’re gonna rip.”
“Vi,” Cait’s voice was strained from being shaken about like a rag-doll. She tugged herself out of the other girl’s grip, blowing a loose strand of hair from her face. “You’re panicking.”
“Of course I’m panicking! We haven’t all got rich parents to back us up!” Vi paused, looking past Cait for a moment. “Maybe your mom can cover me.” Before Cait could respond to that, Vi’s hands were in her hair again as she groaned. “No she won’t, what am I saying? She hates me!”
“She doesn’t hate you.” Caitlyn lied, because it seemed like the right move in this situation.
“She does, Cait, she does. Everyone in that fucking office hates me.” Vi’s eyes widened once more. “Oh god, do you think she knows? Do you think they all know? Oh God!”
The pink-haired student resumed her pacing, letting out distressed whines and muttering of ‘oh God’ every now and again.
Caitlyn couldn’t help feeling put off by it. She felt awful for Vi, and she understood her panic but this just seemed really out of character and-
She cut herself off. Then Cait was rushing to her desk and pulling out her little black notebook from one of the drawers.
Mood swings, check.
Erratic behaviour, check.
“Are you writing in that thing again?”
The notebook was suddenly ripped from her hands. Cait jolted as she was met with an angry Vi inches from her face.
“I am not a little science project for you to take notes on, Kiramman.”
Yep. Definite mood swings. “The notes are to track your change-“
“Fuck the change!” Bracing both hands on the hardback cover, Vi ripped the notebook clean in two. She slammed both sides to the ground, huffing and panting.
Moments passed, Vi’s heavy breathing gradually slowing down and guilt beginning to seep into her features.
“Cait,” She sighed, “Look, I’m sorry, I-“
“Sit. Down.” A stern finger was pressed harshly into her chest and she was forced back until the backs of her knees hit the foot of Cait’s bed, forcing her to sit.
Blue eyes, cold as ice glared down at Vi. Caitlyn’s arms folded across her chest, standing straighter, and Vi thought she looked frighteningly similar to Cassandra.
Once she was sure Vi wasn’t going to move, Cait nodded sharply before turning to pick the pieces of her notebook from the floor.
“Cait, I’m really sorry-“ She tried.
“Just sit there and be quiet while I think.” Vi shut up.
The two sat in silence as Caitlyn pulled out a needle and some twine from a lower drawer before beginning to stitch the notebook back together.
She wasn’t nearly as good as her father was at needlework, but she knew the basics. Vi sat patiently while Cait worked, idly bouncing her leg.
Vi was now displaying 21 out of the 27 symptoms - 22, if Caitlyn’s hunch of the sudden hair growth being a symptom Vi had, but was too embarrassed to disclose was true - and things would only get worse from here.
Textbooks described how werewolves grow more and more agitated as a full moon approaches. The symptoms listed would grow stronger, more apparent. Their behaviour would shift, they’d become more animalistic. More angry. More violent.
Somehow, Caitlyn felt the last part didn’t apply to the other student.
Somehow, due to either misplaced trust or a complete lack of preservation, Caitlyn didn’t think Vi would hurt her.
She couldn’t even imagine it. It was part of the reason she’d been helping the girl.
If Cait had thought even for a second that Vi might turn against her, she would’ve left.
But that was the thing; she didn’t.
Vi was infallibly selfless. To a fault, even. Throwing herself on the line to win games, to save what was practically a stranger.
Even in the brief period they’d known each other, Caitlyn couldn’t possibly picture Vi of all people turning into a homicidal beast.
But that’s what the Textbooks dictated. That’s what every lesson, every quiz, every teacher told her would happen.
Cait’s mind went back to Professor Viktor. Not all of them.
If the author of that time had been married to a werewolf, surely that meant they didn’t all turn into monsters?
From what Caitlyn had read of the tome so far, there had been many cases where werewolves were perfectly docile around humans, only to lash out when they were provoked first.
There had been cases where turned wolves seemed to remain fully in tact with their human side. Fully capable of assimilating back into society with no one ever knowing they had been turned.
These cases were described as anomalies by textbooks, but the author of the tome suspected this was far more common than people believed.
The specifics didn’t really matter much, Caitlyn decided, if there was a way to prevent Vi from losing her humanity, she would find it.
“We need to find out more about anomalies.” She stated, cutting the extra piece of twine with a pair of scissors before tying off the knot. “If they were all turned wolves who managed to keep their humanity, then we-“
Vi blinked at Cait who had cut herself off.
“. . . We what?”
“Nothing, just- your eyes have gone back to normal.” Vi reached up to feel at her face. Her thumb went to touch the bottom of her canine and it felt sore, but normal.
Her heart jumped for joy as she looked to her hands and saw fingernails. Not claws, but normal, human fingernails.
“Oh thank fuck.” Vi breathed out, letting herself fall back onto the bed with a soft fwump. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I was starting to panic there, Cupcake.”
“I noticed.” Caitlyn said drily, Vi barked out a laugh.
“You’re funny sometimes.” The other student smiled at the ceiling. Maybe it was the fact she couldn’t see the other girl, or it was the relief stemming from the fact that she wasn’t gonna be stuck in a half shift for the rest of her life that was making her more honest. “You should lighten up a little more.”
“I wasn’t joking.” Cait said, because she wasn’t, but that only made Vi laugh more.
Whatever it was that caused the candour, it made Cait’s face feel hot and she looked down to the floor.
She’d never really been described as funny before.
Off-putting? Sure. Brutally honest? Yep.Creepily serious? Multiple times.
But never funny.
It made a strange feeling turn Caitlyn’s stomach, and she shook her head in an attempt to refocus on what she was saying.
“If anomalies are all turned wolves,” She repeated, mentally chasing her train of thought. “Then there must be something they have in common that differentiates them from the others that lose their humanity. We find out what that is,”
“We stop our sticky situation from getting any worse.” Vi filled in, eyes still glued to the ceiling.
“Hairy situation.” Caitlyn tried.
There was a beat of silence.
Caitlyn began to regret the day she was born.
“Holy shit,” Vi choked out between laughs. “That was fucking awful, Cait.”
“Shut up.” Caitlyn grumbled, face pink because why, oh why did she try making a joke? She was terrible at jokes.
This was all Vi’s fault. She decided. She’d emboldened Cait, raised her confidence too much.
“Forget everything I said before,” Vi propped herself up on her elbows to grin at Caitlyn. “You’re hilarious. We should hang out more.”
Cait hesitated. She knew when someone was making fun of her. She’d experienced it enough times to recognise the clear signals in tone, body language.
Vi didn’t seem like she was making fun of her. She seemed like she was being genuine. Like she really wanted to spend time with Caitlyn outside of being forced together in class or because she was the only person who knew what Vi was becoming.
Which was . . . Weird.
“I’d like that.” She declared softly, and Vi’s toothy grin turned into a softer smile.
“Me too, Cupcake.” Caitlyn grumbled.
“Moment ruined.” She huffed.
“What, why?”
“Because of Cupcake.”
“Oh come on, it’s not even bad! There’s a lot worse things I could call you.”
“Oh yes?” Caitlyn levelled Vi with an intimidating glare. “Like what?”
“Uh,” The other student averted her gaze. “Nothing- nothing comes to mind.”
“Good.” Cait turned back to her notebook, snapping it closed and sliding it, the ball of twine and the scissors back into the drawer. “We’ll reconvene in the library tomorrow after final period. I’ll get some supplies, and we’ll discuss how we’ll handle the full moon.”
“Woah, you’re kicking me out?” Vi frowned. “I thought we were getting along.”
“We were.” Caitlyn said. “Are. But I’m tired and you exhaust me.”
Vi laughed at that, and Caitlyn felt a matching smile tug at her lips as she stood and strode over to her bed.
“Well, you don’t have to be such a flatterer.” The pink haired student rolled over onto her stomach, legs coming up to kick in the air and chin coming down to raise in her propped up hands.
Vi fluttered her lashes daintily.
Caitlyn tried and failed to suppress a snort at the image, making Vi preen with satisfaction. She tugged her blanket to no avail.
“Violet, move.”
“Stop calling me Violet.”
“Only when you stop calling me Cupcake.”
Vi seemed to ponder the words for a moment, legs ceasing their kicking and Cait wondered for a second if she’d finally gotten through to the girl.
She shrugged. “Violet it is.”
“Urgh.” Cait huffed. She had already been wearing her pyjamas, consisting of a satin set of a heather purple chemise and shorts, so with effort, she just slid into bed.
She tried to tight blankets once more, but they remained stiff under the extra weight.
“Move.” She glared at Vi.
“Can we have a sleepover?” Vi grinned at Caitlyn.
Groaning, the other student just shuffled as far down as she could go, shoving her feet extra hard at the weight preventing her from fully stretching out in her bed.
“It’s not fair.” Vi complained. “You’ve got this whole room to yourself. I got two roommates that like to get it on when they think I’m sleeping.”
Caitlyn did feel a little bad at that. Her parents had paid extra for her to have a private room. She wasn’t always the most well liked and after previous experiences with bullying, she didn’t want to deal with roommates prying into her personal belongings for some laughs.
It wasn’t like Vi could shell out a couple grand just for a private dorm.
“Cait,” The other student frowned. “Are you ignoring me?”
Caitlyn kept her eyes and mouth shut, hoping the other girl would just get bored and leave.
“Cait.” Vi said. “Cait.”
“Caiiiit,” She stretched the syllables of her name. “Caaaiiiiiiiiiit.”
“I’ve had annoying siblings before, I can do this all night.” Vi threatened.
Silence followed, and Caitlyn half wondered if the girl had given up when she felt a finger poke at her foot.
She jerked it away. Her cover blown, she sat up and glared at the interloper. “Out.”
“I thought you were asleep.” Vi gasped mockingly.
“I will lace my doorway with silver.”
Now Vi was glaring. “Too far, Cupcake.”
Try me, Cait’s expression read. Vi sighed over dramatically, rolling off the bed to stand up.
Caitlyn huffed, lying back down while finally being able to tug the blanket around herself. She heard the door being pulled open.
“Good night, Cupcake.”
“Good night.” Cait grumbled.
“Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
Cait didn’t respond.
“Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
No response.
“Say it back, Cait. Or do you want the bedbugs to bite me-“ A water bottle from Caitlyn’s bedside the table smacked into the bedroom door as Vi rushed out to avoid the projectile.
————————-
Vi perked up from where her chin had lay, resting against the heel of her palm. She waved a hand in the air at Caitlyn, ignoring the strange looks she received from fellow students.
Unfortunately, she had a super hearing which meant she couldn’t ignore the whispering of ‘She’s sitting with Kiramman?’ ‘Since when were they friends?’ ‘They’re both outcasts. They’re perfect for each other.’
‘Dykes.’ Vi’s head whipped around, eyes scanning furiously for whoever said that
She was met from smiling faces from most tables, conspirators whispers behind hands, faces peeking and disappearing behind bookshelves. It’d be impossible to decipher who it was but Vi was determined to try.
Who the fuck-
“Vi? Are you ok?” Caitlyn was frowning at her with concern.
She huffed out an angry breath through her nose, feeling restlessness thrumming through her veins once more.
The smell of lavender rose from Caitlyn as she seated herself at the table and Vi eagerly breathed it in to calm herself down.
When, why, or how Caitlyn’s smell had become a calming one for Vi was of little importance to her right now. All that mattered was trying to reduce the pounding in her chest and agitation in her body.
She jumped when Caitlyn slammed multiple thick books onto the table.
“This is your pile.” She said, pushing the stack towards Vi who gaped at her.
“You expect me to read all of this?” Vi put the side of her hand to the table, then placed the side of her other hand on top of the first and yep, the stack of books was taller than both her hands on top of each other. “In one day?”
“Yes.” Cait said simply. “We also have the books for the daytime of tomorrow, but seeing as we’re on a bit of a time crunch, I’d like to get the more important ones out of the way first.”
“There’s more?” Vi gawked at the other student. Then she glowered. “Where’s your books?”
Caitlyn stood up, leaving the table to go talk to the librarian.
Vi regretted speaking the moment Cait had left. Without her presence, it felt like all the overwhelming noise had gotten louder. The whispers and the laughs and the insults.
The smell had gotten far more intense as well. With the absence of overwhelming lavender, Vi could smell the appealing scent of new books and fresh parchment, but it was coupled with the stench of the guy behind her’s morning breath, and the Cheeto’s someone was crunching on loudly a few tables over and the sweat from the girl who’d pulled an all nighter to cram for her exam and the stench of coffee breath and-
Wheels squeaking broken out of her spiral and she picked her head up. She hadn’t realised her head had come down to press against the backs of her forearms during her little episode.
Caitlyn was rolling a two tier grey metal book trolley towards the table, stuffed to the brimwith textbooks and Vi once more gawked at the other student.
The blue-haired student settled into her seat with a soft sigh, turning to select a decently sized book from the trolley and settling it on the table. She flipped it open to page one before noticing Vi’s lack of movement.
“. . . What?” She asked, accent lilting on the ‘t’ with brows furrowed as the Lacrosse player merely stared at her.
“There’s no way you’re gonna be able to finish all of those, Kiramman, are you kidding?”
“Not if you interrupt me.” Cait huffed, turning her attention back to the book.
Vi continued to stare blankly. Waiting for Caitlyn’s gaze to turn back up and for her to say ‘haha, just messing with ya Vi, I’m only gonna read like, probably two and you don’t gotta read that stack. Here’s a summarised version that’s only like, 200 pages!’
But she didn’t. She just kept reading.
So with nothing else to do, Vi picked what looked like the smallest book from her pile - which was still a decent size - and flicked it open.
‘The Psychology of Anomalous Lycans’ was not an interesting or entertaining read in any way. It was filled with technical jargon and background information of historical events that had no relevance to the actual topic.
In essence, it used over 500 pages to say, ‘We don’t actually know what anomalies think because we kill them before we can study them,’ which, didn’t exactly instil Vi with a lot of hope.
All in all, it was a complete waste of Vi’s very limited focus.
She found herself frequently getting distracted as she read. By movement in her peripherals, flickering of sunlight through the library windows, the sounds and smells that came through every time the door opened and closed.
It wasn’t uncommon. For as long as she remembered Vi had found it difficult to sit still and focus on something for long periods of time.
This time was different though. It was a feeling of general unease, almost paranoia. Like something was coming and everything felt wrong.
It was reminiscent of that feeling you got when you were waiting outside the Dentist’s office. The sinking, dreadful feeling of not wanting to wait anymore while simultaneously being willing to wait a lifetime to avoid what was coming.
Vi had been trying hard not to think about the implications of her situation.
Back in Marcus’s office, she had felt her body physically react to his prodding. Felt the pain in her canines, the strange feeling of them extending downwards was a knife like stab to the gums. It’d felt like someone used pliers to pull the claws from beneath her nail beds.
The half shift had hurt, bad, and she was also trying not to think about how bad a full shift would be.
More often than not, since the meeting her mind had been drifting back to her sister.
Powder. Marcus had said there was a chance she was still alive.
He could’ve just been trying to get in her head, get her to spill the beans before saying ‘whoops, sorry, I was talking about a different Powder.’ It wouldn’t be the first time someone had manipulated her like that and she doubted it would be the last.
The situations are almost identical. He’d said.
What did that mean? Vi had seen the wolves drag Powder and Vander off the bridge that night. She’d seen it.
Their jaws wide and gaping, filled with sharp teeth. Jaws that dug into Vander’s stomach, his leg, his arms till he went limp. A mirror image to how her parents had looked a different night years ago on the same bridge.
Powder had screamed so loud when one bit into her wrist. Blood had spewed everywhere and Vi didn’t know what to do she couldn’t- couldn’t think it had happened so fast-
They were dragging her- dragging Vander away and she was crying and someone was grabbing Vi’s shoulder, pulling her away from her sister- her, her sister-
Thump.
Vi jolted from the memory, her breathing harsh and quick. She blinked back the burning in her eyes.
“I got what you asked for.” A guy’s voice announced.
“Thank you, Deckard.” Caitlyn had looked up from her book, regarding the blonde stood at the edge of there table with a polite smile. “Your payment has already been transferred.”
Something in Vi’s stomach twisted at the way blondie was looking at Caitlyn, a disgusting smirk painting his thin lips.
“No probs, Kiramman.” His hands tapped absently on the sides of the cardboard box he’d dropped on the table. Cait and Vi shared a quick glance when the student lingered uncomfortably. “And you don’t have to be so formal with me, you know? We’re friends.”
A low growl came from the other side of the table.
Caitlyn’s wide eyes snapped to Vi’s, Vi’s snapped to Cait’s.
“Did you hear that?” Deckard was looking around, confusion clear on his features.
“I- I’m just a little hungry.”
“She needs to crap.”
Cait’s face erupted in pink as she blushed furiously, shooting daggers at Vi. “I do not.”
“The fuck?” Deckard had a look of mild disgust on his face, coupled with the same intense confusion.
“Yeah, she’s just too embarrassed to tell you.” Vi leaned back in her seat, levelling Deckard with an impassive look. “You should probably leave before the smell hits.”
“VI!”
“You’re fucking gross, Lanes.” Deckard snarled. After giving Cait one last, more subdued look, he turned and left.
“Oh my god,” Cait’s face was so red she felt like she was about to explode. “That was mortifying.”
“Well it worked, he’s gone.”
“He would’ve left without you taking such-“ Cait sputtered, “Drastic measures.”
“Saying you tooted counts as a ‘drastic measure?’”
“I didn’t toot!” Cait slammed her hands on the table, shrinking in on herself when she caught some weird looks.
“Well it didn’t seem like you were doing anything to make him leave.” Vi retorted. “Maybe you wanted to catch up with your friend.”
“What are you talking about, Violet?” Caitlyn sighed tiredly. “We’re not friends. I hardly know him.”
“He knows you.” Vi muttered bitterly, arms folded across her chest. “Enough to wanna get in your pants, anyway.”
The raging blush that was just managing to calm reignited on Cait’s face with a vengeance. “You’re being crude.”
“He’s the one being crude! The guy was practically slobbering all over the table.” Vi scoffed. “What did he even bring? A box full of condoms?”
“I’m not playing this game with you.” Cait hissed angrily. Vi just looked off to the side with an irate look, leg bouncing idly. “Do you want to know what’s really inside? Or do you want to keep being an arsehole?”
Vi said nothing, clenching her jaw.
“What’s gotten into you?” Caitlyn asked incredulously. When Vi didn’t respond, she just sighed, standing to pull the box into the centre of the table.
“I’m gonna need your help carrying these to my dorm room.” She began tonelessly. The full moon was coming, even if Vi was being shitty, she didn’t want them going into it unprepared.
“What are they?” Vi finally asked after her curiosity got the better of her.
Caitlyn ripped the tape from the lid of the box, pulling it open. Vi peeked inside from her seat.
Chains. Long piles of large, glinting metal chains.
“They’re reinforced with silver, so there’s no risk of them being broken.” Cait resealed the box once Vi got a good look. “We’ll hole up in my room for the night, use them to secure you, and then we’ll just wait it out.”
“So the plan is to just . . . What, tie me up and hope for the best?”
Caitlyn huffed. “Well if you phrase it like that then obviously it’s going to sound like a bad idea.”
“That’s because it is a bad idea.” Vi stood up to see Cait over the top of the box. “If those things don’t hold up, you’re gonna be alone with a-“ She cut herself off, suddenly aware of how many people were around.
“First of all, it will hold up.” Caitlyn said petulantly. “And second, it’s not like we have a lot of choices here, Violet. This is our safest bet-“
“Caitlyn,” Vi half-growled. “You are not staying in the same room as me tomorrow.”
“Violet,” The other girl mocked, “Yes, I am. We need someone to monitor what happens and to make sure you don’t get out and cause any damage.”
“So you do think I’ll get out?”
“It’s just a precaution-“
“Well if that precaution fails, you’re gonna be the first person there and if something bad happened- if I-“ Vi’s features turned pleading. “Just- it can’t be you. I’ll be fine on my own.”
Caitlyn bit her bottom lip, considering. Low whispers caught her attention and she looked over to see the two girls at the table next to them avert their eyes.
“Let’s talk in private.”
—————————
The walk up to Caitlyn’s dorm room was mostly quiet. Save for the clinking of the chains in the box and their footsteps echoing through silent hallways.
A few groups of students were still straggling, murmuring as they passed by.
Caitlyn could only assume what they were saying. A Kiramman slumming it with the scholarship student certainly made for good gossip material.
By the time the two reached the room, and the door was firmly closed behind them, Vi had worked herself up enough to burst.
“If we’re doing this, you’re not staying in the room with me.” She slammed the box down on Cait’s desk, turning to face her with a fire in her eyes. “That’s a non-negotiable.”
Caitlyn pursed her lips but the look Vi wore told her she was serious. “Fine.” She relented. “And where exactly-“
“I’ll give you my key. You can help chain me up and then go stay in my room. I’ll tell my roommates you lost a bet.” Vi had thought about this on the way up, that much was clear. “This way if something happens, you have a higher chance of being alright.”
“And would you like to tell me what that was about with Deckard?”
Vi’s gaze was suddenly far less determined. Her jaw clenched as she looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Violet. You growled at him.” Cait snapped. “Growled. We’re lucky he didn’t question things.”
“Deckard’s dumb as a pile of rocks, he’s not gonna question shit.”
“And if other people heard?” Cait retorted. “We can’t take risks like this. You can’t be so open about what you are, it could jeopardise both of our futures.”
“Oh, spare me.”
“Vi-“
“We both know that if anything got out, I’d be dead and you’d recover in less than a week.” Vi spat. “So I don’t wanna hear ‘the both of us’, okay Kiramman? We’re not an ‘us’. Never have been, never will be.”
“Do you have something you’d like to say?” Cait snapped, brows furrowed, staring at Vi like she was a dog that had gotten into the trash. “You’re acting like a complete arse-“
“Then maybe you should go hang out with Deckard. Maybe he’d be better company than the scholarship kid.” She muttered bitterly.
“Are- are you kidding?” Caitlyn laughed humourlessly. “That’s what this is about? Bloody Deckard?”
“It’s about everything, Cait!” Vi exclaimed. One hand came to push back her hair while the other stretched out in a sweeping gesture. “We aren’t compatible, and we’re the only ones acting like we don’t notice. You- you should hear what people have been saying about us, about you-“
“Violet, I don’t care what people are saying, we have bigger things to worry about.”
“It’s easy not to care when you don’t have to fucking hear it!” Vi snarled. “I can! I can hear every fucking thing they’re saying and I hate it! I hate this! I should’ve- I wish I hadn’t-“
“Vi . . .” Cait trailed off. The other girl was panting, breathing heavily. Her shoulders shook and there was water brimming in her big blue eyes and Cait felt her heart sink at the image.
She looked so . . . Vulnerable.
So lost, so scared. So much like the 16 year old she was instead of the adult she tried to be.
Caitlyn hadn’t put much thought into how much this must’ve been affecting Vi. She gave it the cursory attention, understood how tough this must be but because Vi had always acted so unbothered she’d just-
What? Assumed she’d be fine with it?
How could Cait be so clueless?
She made to take a step forward, but then Vi was scrubbing her arm over her eyes and snatching the box from the desk, shoving past Cait.
“Vi,” The girl didn’t turn. “Vi!”
The door slammed behind her.