"I’m sorry," I said, my voice was too low. "I didn’t mean to…"
"It doesn’t matter what you meant," the woman snapped without looking up. Her eyes stayed locked on the card stack, her fingers pressed down on it like she could fix it with anger alone.
My chest tightened. My heart was pounding now, making my hands shake a bit.
Stupid. Stupid. Keep your hands steady. Mara.
I reached for another card so I could continue what I was doing, but my fingers betrayed me.
"Stand up," the woman ordered. "If you can’t handle a pen. Then I’m putting you on cleaning duty now. Until light out."
"Light out?" Cecilia cut in before I could move.
The hall went quieter.
Cecilia didn’t raise her voice. She just stood there, arms crossed, blocking the woman’s view of me like a wall.
"She’s new," Cec
