The library is bustling with students, which makes me think this is a terrible idea. I should have gone back to our rooms to do my work, but the idea of spending more time with only Bryce for company was too much, and I'd come here instead.
I tap my tablet, pulling up one of the reference books that's supposed to be required reading for my next class. Unfortunately for me, it's a dull one, detailing a lot of unnecessary things about the history of our world. I don't see why I need to know there was a rumour in the early nineteen hundreds that the royal family were shifters. It's ridiculous.
"Why is any of this relevant?" I ask out loud.
"What?" Bryce asks, not looking up from his own tablet, nor pulling his attention from the apple he was munching on.
"Why do I need to know about rumours about the royal family? Ones that were proved wrong less than five hundred years later. Isn't that a blink of an eye in vampire time?" I demand.
Bryce shrugs. "Isn't that what coming to academy is all about?"
"Useless information?"
"Precisely. You're here to gain a qualification in useless," he quips, seeming more impressed with himself than he had any right to be.
I narrow my eyes, trying to gauge what he's thinking, but he's turned back to his tablet.
A girl drops down into the seat next to me. "This one isn't taken, is it?" she asks.
"Even if it was, you've not left me much room to say no," I point out.
Bryce snorts, but says nothing. It turns out. He's not much use as a bodyguard then. At least I'm finding that out now and not in a life-threatening situation.
She chuckles. "True. But if I didn't, you could say no even though we're both aware no one would be sitting there."
"Perhaps there's a good reason for that," I mutter.
"Oh, no doubt there is. Probably because you're a human and you don't want anyone to get close enough to rip your throat out."
I shrug. "That doesn't worry me." I scroll down the book on my tablet, trying to give her the impression I'm ignoring her, while I watch her as closely as possible.
"Then you're either reckless, or a fool," the girl says.
"Aren't they the same thing?" I scribble down a fake note, hoping it'll get her to leave me alone.
A smirk lifts the corner of her lips. "But which are you?"
I lean in, and put on the sweetest smile I can manage. "Neither," I whisper.
Bryce is watching me, even though he's pretending not to. Hopefully, I'm better than that when I'm trying to look busy, because he's fooling no one.
"That's not possible."
I sit back in my chair and cross my arms. "It is."
"Why are you even here?" she asks.
"The same reason you are, I assume. To get a qualification in useless."
Bryce cracks a smile at my use of his own words. I squash down the triumph inside me.
The girl chuckles and holds out her hand. "I'm Emma."
"Lily." Wait, should I be using my real name? Perhaps an alias would have been better. Oh well, it's too late for that now.
"And your boyfriend?" she asks.
"I'm not her boyfriend," Bryce grumbles.
"He's right, but you can ignore him, he's grumpy all the time."
"Ah, my ex-fiance is like that," she says, trying to make a joke out of it, despite the pain in her eyes.
I want to ask her more about it, but that may imply I care, and I don't want to give her the impression.
"You know, I think we're going to be good friends," Emma observes.
I raise an eyebrow, but don't correct her. She can go on believing that if she wants. I'm not here to make friends. Especially not with girls who look as perfect as Emma does. Even if it takes revealing who I am, I'll put her off. She won't want anything to do with me by the end of the term.