Free Crossings: A Sovereign Guardians Novel by Susan Collins

chain again, his fingers rubbing across the silver. I wondered why I'd never noticed the nervous gesture before today. And there was something about that chain. It definitely reminded me of something I'd seen before. I was sure of it now.
    "You need to calm down, Pagan." Granger's voice pulled my eyes away from his chain, and I was staring at him again, the full force of my anger directed straight at him.
    "Don't tell me what to do," I snapped. "We should both be in detention right now and you know it, but instead I'm surprised we're not sitting with the principal having lunch at his personal table. He seemed that enthralled by you."
    Granger crossed his arms, and the look he gave me clearly said he thought I'd lost my mind even if he wasn't saying the words.
    "You are totally overreacting, Pagan. Can't you just be glad we aren't in trouble?" He tilted his head to the side for a minute like he was considering something, and then the corners of his mouth turned up in a lopsided grin.
    "Wait a minute." I could almost see the wheels spinning in his head as he drawled out, "Maybe you're not as upset about what happened with McNeely as you are that our moment alone was interrupted."
    The smirk he wore looked like some move Keller would make, and my reaction to it was identical. My hands curled into fists. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stomp off and leave him there alone or attempt to knock that smirk right off his face.
    "You," I spoke through gritted teeth, "have a very high opinion of yourself. Even if we had stayed where we were for whatever reasons we were there, I assure you that you were as close to me at that moment as you are ever going to get. You think the principal interrupted us? You've got that all wrong. The principal saved you from making an idiot of yourself."
    Deep inside I knew the words weren't true, but it felt good saying them. If my words could stop the I know you're lying look that was all over his face, I would be even happier.
    "Alright."
    Granger's voice was quiet now, and I almost didn't hear him. "You're absolutely right, Pagan."
    I was so ready for a fight that his sudden affirmation stopped me in my tracks.
    "You're right, and I'm wrong."
    His hand was beneath my elbow, and I found myself being expertly guided into the library.
    An apology was always great, but I wanted clarification.
    "What exactly am I right about?" I asked as we entered the crowded room. I might have been glad he was agreeing, but if he was only saying it to make me be quiet, then it wasn't what I wanted at all.
    "Principal McNeely was acting strange. I simply took advantage of his behavior to try and get us out of trouble." He held up his hands in a gesture to show he was as confused as I was that things had all worked out in our favor.
    I frowned at his explanation. "But, it felt like when you were talking to him that you already knew we weren't going to be in any trouble."
    "Be reasonable Pagan. There's no way I could have known that.
    "Exactly."
    "What are you accusing me of? Be specific, if you can."
    The problem with our conversation, other than the utter weirdness of it, was that we were in a library full of people now and the situation did seem surreal. Maybe I had blown it all out of proportion. But something had happened. I just wasn't sure enough what it was to keep arguing. And I knew arguing my other point, the fact that I wasn't about to let him kiss me, was an argument I was likely to lose.
    It hit me in that moment how little I actually knew about Granger. Faith had told me her entire life story in the first two days I'd met her. I knew Keller worked for my grandmother, and she would never hire anyone she didn't trust or feel was an asset to have around Fairvue.
    But Granger?
    Granger was a mystery to me.
    I needed to remember that and put some distance between the two of us.
    "Why don't we just go ahead and register for next year? After all, Mr. McNeely said a lot of the favorite classes fill up early."
    Granger