I contemplated throwing the coat off me. I did tell him not to bother but the cold made me think twice.
“I may be Madam Beatrice’s worst student but I think I learnt better than to let a lady freeze beside me while I held on to my coat.” I felt warmer now but a hundred times more self-conscious.
Why it bothered me that his clothing had his scent on it annoyed me. His new behaviour started to weird me out. I didn’t know how to react to him when he was being nice. I could think of a comeback in a second when he behaved like someone raised with no manners. The comebacks had been gathered for years, a collection of things I never said but wished I could to the people who made my life hell. The bullies and the random jerks on the street. They were the insults the real me could never use f
