The moment Croft left, the classroom detonated into noise—chairs scraping, people shouting names, half the class suddenly acting like they were assembling a team for world domination.
Nora and I didn't bother joining the stampede. We simply moved one desk forward, stepping into the territory where Kent and Annalise were sitting.
Kent looked like he'd already aged five years just thinking about group politics. While Annalise looked like she was silently calculating every possible combination of team members and trying to decide which one would ruin her life the least. Nora just leaned onto her, draping herself over Annalise's shoulder like she was her childhood friend, which, to be fair, she was not. As if a vixen like Annalise could have childhood friends.
And me? I sat right on the desk in front of Kent, arms crossed, surveying the battlefield like a man ready to conduct an intervention.
I took a slow look at each of them, letting the silence stretch.
