#Chapter 53 – Exhaustion

Jesse is really nice to me for the rest of the morning, slinging his arm around my shoulders and cracking jokes all the way to breakfast. Even I can’t help laughing, even as a deep pool of dread forms in my stomach, because I have absolutely no control over how Luca is going to react to any of this. My mind keeps running through scenarios – is he going to storm in demanding answers? Is he going to declare to the entire Hall that I’m a girl? Is he going to just pull me aside and – “Hey,” Jesse says, using the arm around my shoulder to tug me incrementally closer. “Whatever it is, Ari? It can’t be that bad.” “What?” I ask, looking up at him as we walk, glancing at Rafe, who chats amiably with Ben as they walk down the hall ahead of us. “Whatever drama went down last night in your little dream state?” Jesse says, raising an eyebrow at me. I gape at him – how did he…!? He just laughs at me, my face making the admission even if I don’t confirm with words. “Seriously, Shrimpy, it can’