Bookshelf Boy

four.

a/n: Band-Aids are called plasters in the UK , just in case you get confused

I KNOW SOMETHING is off immediately the next day when I leave my dorm. Some students are walking across the quad either to get to class or to grab something to eat, and every single one of them gives me a dirty look or stares at me like I'm a bug under a microscope.

It only gets worse when I enter the main building where all our classes are. It feels like everyone's eyes are on me as I make my way through the hallway. One person even glares at me before they slam their locker and walk away. A group of girls my year huddled next to the Science room whisper hastily to each other and shoot glances at me. When I catch their eyes, they hurriedly scuffle away from me, still murmuring to each other.

What the hell?

"Nora!"

I turn to see Marie, and my shoulders fall in relief. Finally someone who isn't shooting daggers at me. She's wearing a septum piercing, which, paired with the slit in her eyebrows, makes her look badass. It's against the rules to wear accessories and she always gets dress coded for it, but that never stops her.

"What's going on?" I say when she reaches me. "Why is everyone looking at me like I've just killed their entire family?"

She punches me lightly on the arm."Oh stop it, there's no point in playing dumb, mate!"

"What?"

"I should've known that you were top of our class," she barrels on. "I can't say I'm not jealous, but you've always gotten higher marks than me, and you've always got your head buried in a textbook."

It takes me a full four seconds to process what she's just said. She knows that I'm top of the class. How does she know?

"Who told you?" I demand.

"Tyler Wielding in maths. He said he heard from Sam, who heard it from Erin, who heard it from Tamara, and I'm pretty sure she heard it from Ellie..."

I zone out by the tenth name. So basically the entire school knows. Fantastic.

She follows me to my locker. "And don't even get me started on Eden. I cannot believe that out of all the boys, he's the one that's top of our class. The boy looks like there's a hundred other places he'd rather be than here, and I don't think I've ever heard him talk about schoolwork once."

I make a noncommittal sound, but to be honest I'm only half listening as I spin at my locker combination, still completely frazzled by all of this.

My locker pops open just as I hear someone call our names. Marie and I both look to see Emerson hurrying towards us, pushing through the throng of people. Her backpack is only half zipped and hanging off her arm like she couldn't be bothered to even put it over her shoulder.

"Well look at you," Marie muses when she's near enough, then claps me by the shoulder so hard I stumble a bit. "Let me guess, you're here to celebrate our dear friend for being the study machine she is and kicking all of our arses."

But Emerson doesn't look like she's in a celebratory mood. She looks worried.

I frown at her. "What's wrong?"

"I just got out of orchestra practice and everyone's talking about you and Eden. I mean, Tamara's pissed, not to mention Hatherall is entrusting you guys instead of her to lead student council. Plus, no one else seems to particularly like that they weren't chosen to be Head student. It's like there's a bounty on both of your guys' heads," she says this all in one breath, then takes one long inhale. "This is bad."