“Avyaane.”

“Nothing,” I repeated, and he didn’t push it, not because he believed me but because he seemed to choose a different fight. “Stay where I can see you.”

“Is there anywhere I could stand where you couldn’t?” I asked.

For one heartbeat, the harshness in his eyes cracked. “You have a talent for standing where I’m not,” he said, so quietly I almost missed it.

He left before I could answer.

By lunch, the school was a rumor mill running on gasoline. I could feel ...