Her voice was lodic with a slight rasp that made everything sound vaguely suggestive.
I activated Snake Eyes on pure reflex, and the information appeared imdiately.
AURORA FITZGERALD
BUST: 34D
RANK: SILVER
ATTRACTION: 15%
Fifteen percent baseline. Just from bumping into her in a sculpture garden.
The charm effect activated automatically once I’d looked at her long enough, the invisible connection forming between us, pulling her attention toward even though I was objectively still overweight and not particularly impressive.
Her smile widened slightly, like she’d noticed sothing interesting but couldn’t quite na it.
"You gonna stand there staring, or are you gonna apologize properly?"
"Already apologized," I said, finding my voice sowhere beneath the distraction her entire existence presented. "You want it in writing?"
She laughed. "Oh, you’re funny. I like funny."
Aurora shifted her weight, one hand on her hip, the other holding what looked like a bag of candy. She pulled out sothing that looked like a lollipop and unwrapped it slowly while maintaining eye contact.
"You’re lost," she said, not a question.
"Aggressively lost," I admitted. "I was trying to get lost on the road of life, but I think I just ended up in Zone Two."
"Zone One, actually." She gestured behind her with the lollipop. "You walked past three buildings and a fountain. Very thorough lostness. Impressive commitnt."
"I contain multitudes."
"Clearly." Her eyes traveled down my body and back up, assessing. Not cruel about it, just honest. "First year?"
"That obvious?"
Her expression lit up. "Oh good. Blair’s class. This just got interesting."
The way she said Blair’s na carried history. Not friendly history.
"You know her?"
"Everyone knows Blair Davenport." Aurora put the lollipop in her mouth, her lips wrapping around it in a way that was definitely intentional. "I outrank her by thirty spots. She hates that."
My brain processed that information. If Aurora outranked Blair at number two, that ant—
"You’re Elite Ten," I said.
"Number twenty-three, actually." She pulled the lollipop out with a soft pop. "Not quite the top ten yet, but I’m working on it. Aurora Fitzgerald. Second year."
She extended her hand.
I took it, and her skin was warm and soft, her grip surprisingly firm.
"Jace Monroe. First year. Professional liability."
"Self-aware. I like that too." She didn’t let go of my hand imdiately, holding it a beat longer than necessary. "What’s your ability, Jace Monroe?"
"Touch-based sensory manipulation."
Her eyebrows went up. "That’s a fancy way of saying sothing dirty, isn’t it?"
"Depends on context."
"Everything depends on context." She finally released my hand, and I imdiately noticed the absence of contact. "You hungry? I was heading to grab sothing before my next class."
I checked my phone. 11:24. Still had ti before Vale.
"Sure."
We started walking, Aurora leading the way back toward what she claid was the actually correct path to the dining hall. She moved with confidence, her whole body language screaming that she owned whatever space she occupied.
"So what’s a first year doing wandering around like a lost puppy?" she asked, glancing at sideways.
"Thinking."
"About?"
"Whether to spend my money on a weapon now or save them for later when I have a bigger budget."
She whistled low. "That’s a lot of spare thinking for a first year."
"I’ve been motivated."
"By what?"
"Not dying."
Aurora laughed again, that sa genuine sound from before. "Fair motivation. Very relatable." She paused at an intersection, considering. "You should spend a little bit for a good reliable weapon now and save for a top tier weapon later. The gap between low level and mid level is much less than mid level to high level."
"Spoken from experience?"
"I’m ranked twenty-third despite having an ability that most people think is useless in direct combat." She turned those green eyes on fully. "I’m here because I’m fast, hard to pin down, and I know how to make people question their own senses."
We walked in comfortable silence for a bit, the dining hall coming into view ahead.
"You got a girlfriend, Jace Monroe?" Aurora asked suddenly.
The question landed like a grenade.
"Why?"
"Just curious." She pulled out another piece of candy, this ti offering one. So kind of fruit chew. "You’ve got that look. Like soone who’s recently discovered girls are soft."
I took the candy. Strawberry.
"I’m seeing soone."
"But it’s complicated."
"Extrely."
"The best ones always are." Aurora’s smile turned knowing. "Let guess. She’s nice, you’re not, and you’re trying to figure out if you’re using her or if it’s real."
I stopped walking.
She stopped too, looking at with those sharp green eyes that saw too much.
"How—"
"I’m good at reading people." She unwrapped her own candy. "It’s literally my job. And you’ve got guilt written all over your face whenever you think nobody’s watching."
Fuck.
She was good.
"It’s real," I said, surprising myself with the honesty. "But I’m still figuring out what that ans."
Aurora studied for a long mont, then nodded once. "Good answer. Keep figuring it out. Girls like honesty more than perfection."
We started walking again, and I found myself relaxing slightly despite the fact that this gorgeous upperclassman had just psychoanalyzed in under five minutes.
"You’re dangerous," I said.
"Extrely." She grinned. "But I’m also fun. You should co find soti when you need a break from being serious."
"Why would you want to hang out with a first year?"
"Because you’re interesting, and interesting is rare around here." She bumped her shoulder against mine, casual and warm. "Plus I think you’re going to cause problems, and I love watching problems unfold."
We reached the dining hall entrance, and Aurora paused at the door.
"This is where I leave you. My food’s in a different direction." She pulled out her phone. "Give your number. I’ll text you soti when I’m bored."
I rattled off my number, and she typed it in with quick fingers, then sent a ssage imdiately.
AURORA: dont forget about freshman 🦊
"Cute emoji," I said.
"I’m a cute person." She winked, actually winked, then turned and walked away, her orange hair catching the light as she disappeared around the corner.
I stood there like an idiot, watching her go, my brain slowly rebooting.
What the fuck just happened.
My phone buzzed with a notification.
SYSTEM ALERT: NEW TARGET IDENTIFIED
AURORA FITZGERALD - RANK #23
TIER: SILVER
ATTRACTION: 22%
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