CHAPTER 14: CLARICE'S POV
1103 Words
The second half of my classes moved slower than usual. Normally, I could breeze through lectures with half my brain switched off, but today everything felt… too loud. Too bright. Too heavy. Every time Dimitri shifted somewhere in the room or walked past the hallway, my wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin.
By the time the afternoon sun slanted across the courtyard, painting everything gold, I felt mentally exhausted.
I stepped out of the building and took a deep breath.
The air was a little cooler now.
My wolf finally settled into a calmer hum.
I was halfway down the steps when someone called out...
“Clary!”
I turned and found Adrian walking toward me, hands tucked in his pockets, looking annoyingly perfect in the late sunlight. His expression was relaxed, like he’d been waiting for me to finish class.
“There you are,” he said with an easy smile. “I thought I’d walk you out.”
“You didn’t have to,” I said, but I couldn’t stop the tiny smile tugging at my lips. He was… comfortable to be around. Safe. Predictable.
“Yeah, well,” he said, stepping beside me, “you vanished right after the morning class. I thought maybe you escaped through the window.”
I snorted. “I’m not that agile.”
“You say that now,” he teased. “One day, I’ll see you do something outrageous and I’ll remind you of this conversation.”
We fell into our usual rhythm light teasing, calm conversation. It was easy with Adrian. Too easy sometimes.
We walked toward the courtyard, where students lounged under the trees, talking, laughing, and enjoying the last hour before everyone scattered for the day.
“So,” Adrian said as we reached one of the shaded walkways, “what did you think of the new transfer students? Half the campus nearly fainted.”
I stiffened slightly but tried to look normal. “They seem… fine.”
“‘Fine’?” Adrian echoed dramatically. “Clary, half the girls said they ascended to heaven when they walked in.”
I rolled my eyes. “People exaggerate.”
Adrian glanced sideways at me, amused. “But you didn’t seem like you cared at all.”
“I didn’t,” I said honestly. “New students aren’t exactly unusual anymore.”
He studied me with a strange expression thoughtful, almost curious but didn’t ask further.
That was something I liked about him.
He didn’t push where he wasn’t invited.
We reached the vending machine area. I bought water, he grabbed a can of iced tea, and we stood by the railing overlooking the small garden.
“So,” he said casually, “any plans after this?”
“Just heading home.”
“Want company?”
I hesitated. Adrian wasn’t clingy, but he enjoyed our walks. And honestly… I didn’t mind them.
But today… something felt off.
Heavy.
Charged.
“Maybe not today,” I said gently. “I’m a little tired.”
He nodded instantly, no sign of offense. “Alright. Want me to wait with you for the bus?”
Before I could answer, something shifted in the atmosphere not around us, but behind us.
I felt it before I saw him.
A ripple.
A presence.
That same heavy, unfamiliar weight from this morning.
My wolf snapped awake in an instant.
Dimitri.
He walked into the open courtyard with Rylan beside him. Students turned, whispering, staring openly. Dimitri walked with cold confidence, unaware or uninterested in the attention. Rylan, however, seemed to make the whispers worse — he had a lively energy, sharp eyes that darted around like he was cataloging everything.
I felt my heartbeat quicken.
Adrian noticed immediately.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
I forced my voice steady. “Yeah. Fine.”
But the moment Dimitri’s eyes shifted in our direction, something inside me lurched.
He didn’t glare.
He didn’t smile.
He simply looked sharp, direct, and unreadable.
But something changed subtly in his expression when he saw Adrian standing close to me.
A flicker.
A tightening of his jaw.
A shift in those cold eyes that felt almost… heated.
Not anger.
Not recognition.
Something else I couldn’t name.
Rylan noticed too. He leaned slightly closer to Dimitri, murmuring something I couldn’t hear. Dimitri didn’t respond with words he simply kept staring for an extra second before looking away, expression shut tight again.
Adrian followed my gaze and narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Ah,” he said slowly, “the new guy.”
“Two new guys,” I corrected automatically.
“I meant the one glaring daggers at me,” he said, raising a brow.
“He wasn’t glaring,” I lied.
Adrian let out a soft laugh. “Clary, he looked like he wanted to break my iced tea can with his mind.”
I didn’t know what to say. A strange swirl of confusion and tension twisted inside me, and my wolf paced again not aggressively, but almost anxiously. Like she didn’t know whether to run or approach.
Rylan, on the other hand, looked curious. He nudged Dimitri again, this time more obviously, and whispered something with a smirk. Dimitri didn’t react, but his shoulders stiffened.
Adrian watched all of this with mild fascination. “Interesting.”
“What?” I asked quickly.
“You,” he said. “Them. The way they look at you. Something’s… odd.”
I swallowed. “You’re imagining it.”
“Maybe,” he said softly, though his eyes didn’t seem convinced.
The tension around us thickened, but I forced myself to stay calm.
“Anyway,” Adrian continued, pushing the mood back to normal with surprising ease, “I’ll walk you to the gate then head out. You look like your mind’s somewhere else today.”
“It’s just… a long day,” I repeated.
He smiled gently. “Then let’s end it quietly.”
We walked out of the courtyard. Behind us, I could feel Dimitri’s gaze following for a brief second heavy, sharp, lingering before it disappeared again.
At the gate, Adrian waved.
“See you tomorrow, Clary.”
“See you.”
As I walked toward the bus stop, the sun warm on my back, I could still feel the strange weight of Dimitri’s presence.
Still feel the unsettling reaction of my wolf.
Still feel the shift of something that didn’t have a name yet.
Today didn’t end dramatically.
No strange event.
But something had changed.
And even though I didn’t understand it yet…
…I knew life was about to get more complicated.
- Writer
