She aggressively turned the screen around, thrusting it right into Lena’s face.
Lena’s jaw tightened, ready to push the phone away, but her eyes locked onto the screen.
Her breath died in her throat.
Staring back at her from the photo was a girl. The girl had a wealthy, flawless aura, their red hair was perfectly the same, but Lena’s is longer and the girl cut to a bob length. They had the same laugh. In the photo, Gemma was laughing as she leaned against a younger, smiling Alpha Christopher in an intimate way.
But the face was identical in a way that didn’t say ’lookalike’ or twin sister, rather her!
Lena fell dead silent, her fingers tightening around the strap of her uniform bag. The math completely stopped adding up.
"It’s not even her," Julian muttered, squinting closely at the screen before flopping back against his pillows. "I mean, look at the jawline. The skin. Gemma looks way better. Like a completely upgraded version. I honestly don’t get why everyone in the hallway is losing their minds thinking this is the Gemma. Not just any random Gemma. The It girl of Sanatio Academy, Gemma."
Lena stared at the phone, her fingers tightening around Kaelen’s jacket. She hated to admit it, but she completely agreed with him.
The girl on the screen had her exact face, but there was a polished, effortless perfection to her that Lena didn’t possess. If this Gemma was a better version of her, then Lena was just the rough draft.
Khloe let out a shaky breath, finally stepping back. She sniffed loudly, wiping the dampness from her cheeks with the back of her hand.
"Oh, come here." Julian slid off his bunk and gave her a brief, comforting hug.
Over Khloe’s shoulder, he shot Lena a look and whispered, "She’s just emotional right now."
Lena didn’t answer. She walked over to the opposite bunk—the only one that looked empty—and sat down, desperately needing to take the weight off her bruised ribs.
Once Khloe stopped crying, she turned around, her swollen eyes fixing on Lena with a watery smile. "Hi. I’m Khloe."
She extended her hand, but Lena deliberately avoided taking it, keeping her arms crossed tightly over Kaelen’s jacket. "Hey."
Khloe let her hand drop, completely unfazed. She pointed a manicured finger toward the other bunks. "That’s Julian. And the statue over there is Nyx."
Nyx didn’t even blink, her eyes remaining glued to her phone screen under her earphones.
Khloe sniffed one last time, walked over, and sat right next to Lena on the edge of the mattress. The sudden proximity made Lena instantly uncomfortable. She stiffened, subtly adjusting her posture to slide a few inches away.
"Are you okay?" Khloe asked, tilting her head.
"I’m fine," Lena said flatly.
Khloe chewed her lower lip, scanning Lena’s closed-off expression. "What’s that look on your face? Am I overstepping? People always say I overstep, and I really don’t want to overstep with you on your first night."
"It’s fine," Lena lied smoothly, looking for any excuse to change the subject. She glanced over at Julian. "I’m just... there’s a guy here."
It was a total lie. At first, when she had spotted Julian sitting on the bunk, her instinctual reaction had flared up–why is there a male in the female quarters?
But the exact second he had opened his mouth to critique her stylist, that threat level had dropped to zero.
Julian burst into a loud, dramatic laugh. "Oh, honey. I know it doesn’t show, but I’m gay."
Lena stared at his perfectly coiffed hair and the sleep mask. "Right."
"Besides, this is an Ascendant dorm. Tier-two rooms are co-ed because the Academy expects us to be mature enough to handle it."
He paused, his expression turning sharp and calculating as he looked at her fresher bag. "The real question is... why the hell did the housing office put a Tethered fresher in a Rank Two room? You’re legally outranked by everyone in this room, Lena. If Nyx or Khloe decide to make you clean the floors, no one would lift a finger to help you."
Lena stared at him, a cold knot forming in her stomach. Perhaps they had made a mistake sending her here?
Lena’s jaw tightened, muttering. "Right. Let them try."
Julian let out a low whistle, clearly amused by her demeanor. "Oof. A fresher with claws. I love it, but honey, pride doesn’t heal a broken nose."
He flopped back onto his pillows, pulling his mask down over his eyes. "Wake me up before the sun, Khloe. If I don’t get some premium serum on these fuchsia roots, I’m going to look like a literal clown for Saturday field training. And you know my secret bias will be there."
Khloe didn’t move from the edge of Lena’s bed. She looked at Lena’s defensive posture, her gaze softening. "He’s right, you know. Christopher’s house is brutal to lower tiers. But I won’t order you around. As long as you have that face... I couldn’t bear to see anyone hurt you."
"I can take care of myself," Lena said, defensively. She wasn’t sure why she was suddenly cautious around these wolves.
"I know," Khloe whispered, finally standing up and climbing up to the up bunk. "Just... be careful tomorrow. Saturday training with the Quad isn’t really a lecture."
The room finally went quiet. Khloe clicked off the main lamp, plunging the dorm into a dim, shadow-stretched darkness lit only by the faint moonlight filtering through the high window like shadow claws.
Lena lay back on the thin mattress, putting Kaelen’s uniform jacket tightly over her front, mainly for the scent. Her bruised ribs throbbed a painful rhythm, but she refused to let a single groan escape her lips.
She stared up at the wooden planks of the top bunk, her mind spinning.
The silence stretched for what felt like hours. Beside her, Khloe’s breathing finally slowed into a deep sleep, and Julian was snoring loudly from the corner.
Lena decided to check her phone to distract herself. She wondered how Kourt and Martha would react when they heard she finally had a cell.
She knew their Pack House line from memory; she could try ringing to check in?
She tried to dial, but the network was locked to the school’s internal intranet. Instead, a series of aggressive notification pings lit up her screen.
Someone had already forced her into the Sanatio Academy student forum.At the top of the trending page was a pinned thread: Alpha Christopher.
Lena’s blood turned to ice as she scrolled down. Staring back at her was a looped, unauthorized GIF of her ass.