Sweet Deadly Lies (A Dark Academia Mystery) Watty Winner ✔️

Twenty-Eight

The back of my neck prickles with sweat. I bolt from my chair and careen through the cafeteria towards Xander and Drew. They're both holding trays, the rectangle platters gripped at their sides like primitive weapons.

This is the first I've seen Drew since finding out about Kate. He looks terrible. Dark circles beneath his eyes, blond hair bedraggled and uncombed. There's a wildness about him, like he's possessed by something evil.

"I don't want any trouble from you, man," I hear once I'm within earshot.

The voice comes from Xander, though it's nothing like what I've heard from him before. It's a warning, his tone low and dangerous.

Drew's eyes narrow, the muscle clenching in his jaw. "Then why don't you watch where you're going?"

"Are you serious?" Xander retorts back. "You bumped into me."

"Just get out of my face!"

Neither of them move.

My stomach squirms as I peer through a throng of guys silently watching their stare down. Finally, Xander attempts to swerve around him, but Drew bumps him with his chest. "What are you even doing here?"

Xander doesn't flinch. Instead, he hikes his art bag higher onto his shoulder. "I'm just trying to get lunch."

"Not here in the cafeteria," Drew sneers. "What are you doing at Maliseet Bay? You don't fit in—you never have. You're like a ghost, always sneaking around campus like you don't want anyone to see you."

"I sneak around campus?" Xander's expression tells me there's something more he wants to say. But before it comes out, his shoulders bow in defeat. "What does it even matter? I mind my own business and stay out of everyone's way. Why do you care what I do?"

"Because it's weird. There's something wrong with you, dude. You're not normal."

"The only thing wrong with me is that I'm hungry. Now, if you'll excuse me." Once again, Xander tries to move past, but Drew blocks him before he can. This time, it's with his tray. He shoves it into Xander's chest like a shield of armor.

Xander backs away. "Fuck! What's your problem, McKenzie? I'm trying so hard to be nice here."

Drew attempts a bitter laugh. "Sorry, man—it was an accident. I just lost my girlfriend. My head must be somewhere else. I'm sure you can understand," he mocks, pushing fingers through his mop of unkempt hair.

Something changes in Xander's expression. "I'm sorry about Kate."

"Are you?" It almost sounds like a challenge.

But Xander doesn't take the bait. "Yes. You're not the only one who knows what it's like to lose someone special."

A tendon jumps in Drew's jaw. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Xander hesitates, his gaze flicking over the crowd. When his eyes connect with mine, the breath lurches from my lungs. I can't read the look on his face. I don't understand it.

And it scares me.

When he turns back to Drew, all the caution in his stance, the careful way he's tried to control himself, is gone. In its place is something else. Something threatening. "What do you think it means?" Xander says slowly, enunciating every word. "You don't want to do this. Not in front of an audience."

"If there's something you want to say, Lim, why don't you come out and say it?" Drew steps closer, his chin jutting forward in defense. "Stop dancing around the topic like a little bitch."

The words hit Xander like a grenade. "Where were you last night?" His voice is low. Too low.

My heart flip flops against my sternum. Oh God, Xander. Don't do it. Please don't do it.