WRENLEY

The eviction notice is taped to my door, so I take it down again for the third one this month.

I fold it into quarters and shove it into my pocket with the other two. At this point, I should probably start a collection.

“Fuck,” I cursed silently as the alarm for practice goes off. Swimming has always been something I was good at but winning the Olympics was a new found dream that was way better than being married off to someone I have met only twice.

Despite Coach Diaz's ongoing campaign to turn me into a cyclist, I still prefer walking. It requires less coordination and fewer opportunities for public humiliation.

I manage to make it with four minutes to spare, which means I walk onto the deck still pulling my cap on, and Coach Diaz looks at the clock instead of at me. Apparently being four minutes early still counts as late in his personal religion.

"Vale. Lane four. We're doing two hundreds on the three."

"Got it." I tug at the tape wrapped around my secret. A secret so big, it was sure to endanger my family if someone ever finds out.

Lane four is the slow lane. He intentionally put me there in week two, after I won the trial too easily and didn't know yet that winning easily is the most suspicious thing a person can do in a building full of people who've spent their whole lives trying to win hard.

So I watered down my abilities, intentionally making mistakes and letting Elise take credit.

Practice ends the way it usually does. Elise gloating about how she's swim dynasty which isn't true by the way and her minions hovering over her like mindless idiots. God, I can't stand them.

“Hey weirdo,” she called out positioning herself to block the only exit out of here.

“What crisis are we manufacturing today?” I asked, my face in a tight frown.

“Stay away from my boyfriend,” she spat.

“That's unfortunate.” I shrug which makes her blink.

"What's unfortunate?"

"That you thought this conversation was necessary.”

“Why you little…” her hand comes in my direction, but I hold it hard. “Don't think I haven't noticed the way you look at you.” she fumes while trying to free herself from my grip.

“Did the water perhaps go to your brain?” I asked calmly before releasing her hand. “I would never want anything to do with that meatheaded boyfriend of yours. In fact, your relationship warns me never to fall in love.” I reply, brushing her shoulders while I continue walking.

“Why you…” she scoffed but I was already out the door to care about her nonsense.

Why would anyone want to be with Aurel Castell? Sure he's handsome, has nice abs that he may have caught me staring at and the number one defenseman for the Ice Bears but that doesn't make him my type.

I came here to win not to engage in college romance that ends in nothing but heartbreak.

Tess finds me in the dining hall at noon, which is unusual, because Tess and I aren't friends, exactly.

She's the only person on the team who talks to me like I'm a person and not a problem, which is kind of suspicious if you think about it but she has consistently found a way to exist in my space so much so, I don't mind anymore.

She drops her tray across from mine like empty tables are a personal insult. "Hey, what's up? You look like someone canceled your birthday."

"I don't have a birthday." I mumbled but she heard me.

"That's not even possible,” she chuckles. “Everyone has a birthday."

"Well I don't.” I dropped the sandwich in my hands a little too fiercely.

“If you don't want to talk, I can go…” she said getting up.

"Sit down."

She paused.

"I'm having a bad day. Don't make it worse by looking guilty.” I resumed biting into the sandwich.

“Well, I have just the thing to cheer you up,” she giggled.

Of course she did. Tess treated every problem like it could be solved with enough enthusiasm.

She leaned in, both elbows on the table. "Well, the hockey team won last night."

Great. That meant another week of people acting like they personally won the championship.

"You're going to have to translate that into a language I care about." I replied not sharing in her enthusiasm.

"It means there's a party on Friday at one of the seniors' houses, the nice one near campus, and the whole athletic department's going to be there." She grins like she's personally responsible for the existence of happiness.

I have been here for a while now and I still don't understand why putting skates on a man automatically lowers everyone's IQ by twenty points.

“Congratulations to them, I guess.” I say, taking another bite. “I have plans.”

“You? Have plans?” She scoffed, crossing her arms. “What plans? Because you're not going to escape this time.”

Fuck, I knew it was only a matter of time before she saw through my excuses.

"Wrenley." Her voice drops. "I've been on this team for three years. Three years. And I have never once been invited to a thing like this. You've been here six weeks and you don't even want it, which makes you the perfect person, because you won't peel off the second someone shinier shows up. I just…" She stops, picking at her tray. "I need a wing-woman who isn't going to abandon me. That's the whole pitch. That's it." She sulks.

And there it is. She has done this a thousand times now and the answer is always the same. Saying no would have been easier, unfortunately, Tess looked hopeful.

“Fine.” I say and Tess immediately lights up. "Don't make that face," I warn. "I already regret this.”

"I already picked something for you. It's going to look incredible on you and you're going to hate it."

"Can't wait.” My tone suggests the exact opposite.

"Oh thank you so much for this," She's already standing and gathering her tray like she's afraid I'll take it back. "I'm coming to your place at eight. Don't pretend you're not home, I'll know."

I watch her leave without another word because unlike her and everyone in this school, I have exactly one year to achieve my dreams.

Just like every other night since I arrived, I don't sleep.

“Who the fuck messages someone at four in the morning?” I curse when the message notification pings. It's from coach.

“Scouts coming to the invitational in three weeks.”

Fantastic. Exactly what my life needed. More complications. But I won't stop reading.

“Real ones. You hold back any more than you already are and I'll know, and so will they. Decide what you want, Vale.”

Now to just anyone, this message is the perfect opportunity to showcase one's talent but to me, this is a disaster.

Because the moment I swim faster than I already am, my secret will be exposed and I can kiss my dreams goodbye.

AUREL

I've been holding the same cup for an hour so people stop handing me new ones.

“Hey dude, great game,” some guy that I've never met before says while shaking my hand. “You really were fire out there.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, soaking in the praises as the room erupted in my chants. Everyone except a certain purple head.

I don't think I've seen her before but the frown on her face intrigues me. It sits on her face and piercing blue eyes call out to me. She's in a red dress that shows a good portion of her thighs and boobs but she keeps trying to drag it to her feet.

"You're doing that thing again," Finn says, dropping down onto the arm of the couch beside me.

"What thing?" I turn to my best friend and housemates. One of the perks of being an only child is that you get absolutely anything you want including a mini mansion.

"The thing where you smile at everybody but your eyes go completely dead. It's honestly kind of disturbing,” he sips his drink. “But somehow people eat it up." He nods at the beer pong table across the room like it owes him money. "You know you've said 'great game' to like nine different people in the last twenty minutes?"

"You're counting now?"

"Somebody has to keep track of how weird you're being."

I don't argue, because he's probably right. I take a sip just so I have something to do with my face when the thoughts of my worst nightmare hits me.

I've got a Con Law paper due in eleven days and I haven't written a single word. I read the same forty pages three times last weekend and none of it stuck. The words just kind of slide off before they mean anything, and I can't tell a single person that, because everybody already decided a long time ago that I'm the pre-law guy.

My dad told my uncle who in turn told half the church and once they knew, my dad threatened to cut me off if I mess up. A threat that hunts me in my sleep.

I cannot survive without my trust fund, the thoughts of getting a job is something I cannot wrap my head around so I have to figure out a way for me to pass this stupid course.

"You should break up with Elise," Finn says and I nearly choke on the beer.

"Where did that come from?"

"You heard me, she's too toxic for you."

"We're at a party, man."

"That's exactly why it's a good time to bring it up. You can't turn it into a big dramatic thing when you can barely hear me." He shrugs like he's done me a favor. "Look, she's been talking about you like you two already broke up. It's all 'Aurel used to be more fun' and 'we're figuring things out.' Nobody says they're figuring things out unless they already figured it out."

I don't say anything to that, because the thing about Finn is that he reads people before anybody else does, and he's basically never wrong, and I hate it.

Elise and I have been off since September, I just never actually did anything about it. It's easier not to. As long as you don't say the words out loud, you don't have to be the one who ended it.

The last time we broke up, my parents were already filing for divorce and the thought of being alone scared the shit out of me.

"It's complicated," I tell him.

"It's really not. You just don't want to be the bad guy, so you're waiting around for her to do it for you."

That's a little too accurate as his words find their landing in my heart so I stand up. "I'm gonna go get some air."

"You've still got a full cup." He mocks.

I set it down on the speaker and turn to leave, and that's when I see her again.

This time, she's standing by the kitchen doorway. She's got one shoulder against the door frame, this look on her face like her mind is a hundred miles away, and it takes me a second to figure out what's actually strange about her.

She's bored.

Everyone in this house is trying so hard to look like they're having the time of their lives, and she's just standing there, openly bored out of her mind, not even trying to hide it.

"Who's that?" I ask, pointing in her direction.

“Oh now you need my help?”

“C’mon man, I'm serious.”

He cranes his neck. "I believe she's the newest addition to your girlfriend's team.”

"I should go talk to her, you know introduce the star of the show,” I brag. “I don't think she has had a tour of campus yet.”

“You fucking bastard,” he scoffed. “Out of all the girls that literally throw themselves at you, you decide to pick the one that looks like she has zero fucks to give. You are insane."

“What?” I grin. “I love a good challenge. Besides, no one can resist the charm of Aurel Castell.”

I turn my attention back to her just in time to see the mean look she gives to a guy that's obviously trying to hit on her.

I've never seen anybody turn down a free drink like they're shooing away a bug.

"Don't," Finn says. “You already promised your mum a drama free semester.”

"Don't what? I'm not doing anything."

He finishes the last of his drink. "You've got a girlfriend, dude. You better break things off with your crazy girlfriend before you drag another girl to this. Remember last time?”

How could I forget? Elise had turned to a feral beast the last time she heard I was seeing someone else. She even tried to harm herself and her mum called begging me not to hurt her daughter because she was mentally ill.

But because the Castell men act before they think, my legs are already moving before I've decided anything.

She watches me come the whole way over, and she doesn't smile or fix her hair or even try to push off the door frame like most girls would.

She just watches, like she's already bored of whatever I'm about to say.

"Hey, Red."I say flashing my perfect set of teeth.

She blinks at me, slowly. "What did you just call me?"

"Your dress." I gesture at it, which doesn't help, because now I'm a guy gesturing at a girl's dress. "It's red. I like it."

"That's the worst thing anyone has said to me all week, and I had a conversation with Elise Beaumont this morning."

I laugh before I can stop myself, which surprises both of us. Even though she doesn't laugh back, something in her face moves.

"You're on the swim team," I say. "With Elise right?"

"Yes. Your girlfriend has made it her mission to remind me about that every day.”

"I'm Aurel." I extend a hand that she doesn't take.

"I'm aware of that too." She looks at me for a second longer, and I get the strange feeling she's deciding whether I'm worth one more sentence. "Everyone in this house is aware of that. They've been chanting it for an hour."

And that's when her eyes leave me.

They go over my shoulder, somewhere toward the far end of the room, and her whole face changes.

I watch as the bored thing drops off completely. She looks, for one second, like a person who just saw something she wants.

I've been talking to her for two minutes but she hasn't looked at me like that once.

I turn around to see what she's looking at but don't catch who it is because the room is crowded tonight.

“Hey Red, who has your attention when I'm here trying to talk to you?” I asked, still trying to find who she has her eyes on.

When I turn back, she's already pushing off the door frame.

"It was nice meeting you, Aurel," she says, in a voice that means it was not particularly nice and then she's walking past me, toward whatever it was.

For the first time in my life I walked towards the room for a girl and she walked toward someone else.

WRENLEY

His name is Jerry.

That's all I got at the party before Tess dragged me to the snack table and started narrating the social standing of everyone in the room like I'd asked.

I remember leaving there feeling things I never thought was possible. Meanwhile, Aurel has been trying to talk to me all week but I avoid him.

The thought of Jerry fills my head until I can't think of anything else which is a problem, because I have several actual problems that deserve the attention more.

“How do you get a guy to like you?” I blurt out to Tess one afternoon. The second the words leave my mouth, I consider throwing myself through the nearest window.

“Oh my, look at you having your first crush,” she teased, bringing her chair closer to mine.

"I regret asking already.” I muttered with a hand over my face. We had just finished class for today. “Who is he? Is it Aurel?” She gave me a light shove. “I saw the way he looked at you at that party.”

“Ewww, no. I rather be married to a dog than him. I'm talking about that marine biologist graduate. The one who helped us in practicals.”

“Oh,” her happy expression changes. “Well I guess the best people to ask are the guys.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They are guys. If anyone knows about winning guys, it's the guys on the hockey team.”

Yeah right. As if I can just walk up to one of them to ask for dating advice.

“Why can't you advise me?” I asked.

“Me? What does my single ass know? I've been single ever since I was born so I know nothing.”

“Fair point,” I replied.

As luck would have it, I overheard Aurel and his coach discussing his poor grade in law and the possibility of him not playing if he doesn't get it back on track.

An hour later, I find Aurel in the basement of the athletic complex, at a long table with a textbook open in front of him that he is very clearly not reading.

He has the look of someone who's been on the same page for twenty minutes and has started to take it personally.

I sit down across from him without being asked.

He glances up. "Red? What are you doing here?"

"Don't you dare!" I glared at him.

"What? It's a really catchy name."

"I hear you're failing." I say it flat, and his eyes go wide.

"Where did you hear that from?" he asked, and his right hand twitched on the table before he stopped it.

People don't shake like that over a bad grade. They shake over what happens after the bad grade.

“Elise complains about it like it's something you're doing to her personally." I lied, hiding the fact that I totally eavesdropped the conversation he had with his coach. It's not like she's going to find out anyway.

"And here I thought you came down here for my company," he said with a sad face.

"I came down here to make you a deal." I put my hands flat on the table. "I'll tutor you for free. As much as you need, until the grade's fixed and you keep your spot."

He leans back. Now he's interested, and trying not to look like it. I look at his hands that are no longer shaking while he asks. "What's the catch?"

"You help me with something." The words cost me more than they should have. “Unfortunately, it requires talking to you.”

I never thought a day would come where I would ask him for help not to talk of dating advice.

"Okay, that shouldn't be hard, what's that?"

This is the part I rehearsed and it still comes out wrong.

"There's someone I want. A guy. I don't…" I stop and start over, plainer. " I don't know how this works, the talking, the… whatever you people do before you decide you like someone. But you do. You're good at it, everyone says so, it's apparently your entire personality. So you teach me that, and I teach you Con Law, and we both get what we want."

For a long moment he doesn't say anything.

"Who's the guy," he says finally.

"Does it matter?"

"It might. If it's somebody I know I can tell you if you're wasting your time."

"Jerry?" he blurts out halfway through my description.

I stop. "You know him?"

"Sure, uhm Jerry is a great guy. I can totally help you.” He tries to sound cheerful but his furrowed brows give him away.

"You don't sound like you want to." I pitched in.

"I want to pass Con Law." He pulls his textbook closed and looks at me, with a smile on his face.

"Deal. You teach me the commerce clause, I teach you how to get the guy. When do we start?"

"Now. Or else you're going to fail before we finish negotiating."

In the last two hours of our study session, I've come to realise that he's not so stupid after all. Everyone talks about Aurel Castell like he's a nice golden retriever who happens to be good at hockey, and he lets them, but when I make him explain the cases back to me in his own words instead of reading them, he gets there fast.

He just couldn't make the course stick to his memory.

It's almost ten pm when my phone buzzes. I almost don't look.

It's an email, forwarded from the property manager, and I read the subject line twice before the words go in.

NOTICE OF UNIT ENTRY; LOCKS TO BE CHANGED 6:00 AM.

"Hey." Aurel snaps his fingers in front of me. "You went somewhere. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I lock the phone and stand up too fast, gathering my things, my notebook, my one good pen. "Same time Thursday. Read the next chapter before you come or I'm not explaining it twice."

"Wrenley."

It's the first time he's used my actual name. It stops me for half a second, which I hate.

"I'm fine," I say. "I'll see you Thursday."

I leave before he asks me another question.

I have until six in the morning to figure out where I'm going to live, with three trash bags' worth of a life I built out of nothing, and no one on this entire continent I can call.

I have never once, in any world, been this alone with a clock running