The class settled back into an uncomfortable silence after the exchange, the air thick with unspoken tension. Jackson slouched in his chair, arms crossed, his lips curling into a smug grin, clearly pleased with the chaos he had caused. Everyone else was just waiting for the bell, eager to escape this place, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about Catherine was... off.
It wasn’t just her perfect composure, the way she moved with the grace of someone who knew exactly what they were doing. No, there was something else—a calculated intensity in the way she observed us, as though she were playing some intricate game and we were all just pieces on her board, moving at her will. I felt like I was being drawn into her orbit without ever having agreed to it.
I glanced over at her ag
