Chapter 3 3

Bode's eyes searched Scarlett's face. He looked for the desperate, obsessive girl who used to follow him around the campus, whose cloying perfume he could smell from a hallway away.

He found nothing. Her eyes were clear, cold, and calculating. She looked at him the way a buyer inspects a cheap piece of merchandise.

"Physical contact required," the system urged in her head. "Task progress failing."

The corner of Scarlett's mouth twitched upward in a mocking smirk. She raised her right hand.

Bode's pupils dilated. His jaw clenched. His muscles locked tight, expecting her to strike him just as she had struck Tanya.

Scarlett's hand did not form a fist. Her fingers lightly brushed against the collar of his uniform jacket. She flicked a small, dry leaf off his shoulder.

As she moved, a scent drifted up from her skin. It was a sharp, clean smell of cedar wood mixed with crushed mint.

The scent hit Bode's nose. His lungs seized.

The smell violently dragged him back to a memory he had buried. The bottom of a swimming pool. Water filling his lungs. The fading light. And the girl who had pulled him out, her face a blur but her scent-that sharp, clean, life-saving scent-burned into his memory. It was the scent of the real Scarlett, the one from before.

Bode's rigid control shattered.

He dropped the clipboard. His large hand shot out and clamped around Scarlett's wrist. His grip was bruising.

He spun her around. He shoved her hard against the marble monument behind them.

The crowd of students gasped. They stumbled backward, terrified by the sudden violence from the usually composed Head of Discipline.

Bode leaned his forearm against the marble, trapping her. His chest heaved. He gritted his teeth, his face inches from hers.

"Stop playing these sick psychological games with me," Bode growled. His breath was hot against her skin. "Who are you? What have you done with her?"

Scarlett's back throbbed from the impact against the hard stone. She did not flinch. She did not show a single ounce of pain.

She leaned forward slightly. Her lips almost brushed the shell of his ear.

"You look ugly when you lose control, Bode," she whispered.

Bode jerked back as if he had been burned. He released her wrist. He took two rapid steps backward. His face was pale, his breathing ragged.

"Task complete," the system chimed. "Target emotional fluctuation critical. Affection level decreased."

Bode bent down and snatched his clipboard off the ground. He did not look at her again.

"Ten credits deducted," he said, his voice tight. He turned around and walked away fast. It looked like a retreat.

Scarlett adjusted the collar of her suit. She ignored the staring crowd and walked straight toward the academic building.

She pushed open the heavy wooden door of Class Z. The loud chatter inside the room died instantly.

Dwayne Boggs, a massive guy who played linebacker for the school team, stood up from his desk in the back row. He was Tanya's current obsession.

Dwayne stepped into the narrow aisle. He crossed his thick arms, blocking Scarlett's path to her seat.

"You think you can touch Tanya and get away with it?" Dwayne sneered. "I'm going to make your life in this class a living hell."

Scarlett stopped. She looked down at Dwayne's desk. A heavy, custom-made iridium fountain pen lay on top of his notebook.

Her hand moved in a blur. She grabbed the pen and ripped the cap off.

Before Dwayne could blink, Scarlett drove the pen downward.

The sharp iridium nib pierced the paper right between Dwayne's resting fingers. It buried itself deep into the solid wood of the desk with a loud thunk.

The metal barrel vibrated. The nib was less than a millimeter from Dwayne's skin.

Dwayne's face drained of all color. His knees gave out. He collapsed backward into his chair, his chest heaving with panic.

Scarlett leaned over the desk. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her fingers.

"Move," she said.

The entire class sucked in a collective breath. Scarlett walked past Dwayne's trembling body and sat down in the empty seat by the window.