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My mum is going to kill me, Inej thought as she settled in the uncomfortable metal chair in front of the headmaster’s office.
Okay, maybe she was a bit dramatic. Her mum, nor her dad, would not kill her, but the ballet coach that she had the pleasure of being trained by certainly would if she was late to practice. And she will be late to practice if Headmaster Van Eck makes her wait even few minutes longer, or worse — gives her detention.
She flexed her right hand, knuckles slightly bruised and starting to swell. Inej let out a sigh of small pain and embarrassment — she was pretty sure at least twenty people saw her squeak out shit after punching Rojakke.
Inej had hoped that her parents would understand why she had to give this jerk a lesson and not give her another very long talk about how much they sacrificed for her education in Ketterdam. She loved both her mother and father so much, and always remained grateful for what they’ve done for her future, but good lord, it was getting old sometimes.
In her defense, the guy was asking for it, really. Inej and Rojakke were somehow cordial with each other, as they had mutual friends, but he took things too far with getting his hands on her.
And Inej did not take disrespect quite well.
So, it was a quick situation — he wrapped his arm around her waist and she retaliated him with a punch in the face. Inej swore she heard something crack, and it was probably his nose.
Inej was well aware that the world was filled with jerks like this — boys who thought that they had the right to girls’ bodies, sympathy, consent. The thing is, she’d never had to protect herself with fists, in the middle of her school’s hallway while everyone was watching. Usually, it was a smug boy on the street looking at her as she was walking back home or a catcall from an older pervert.
Not her own friend.
She shook her head, praying quietly in her mind that her parents would not make a big deal out of this. Inej punching someone was probably low on their list of things they should worry about — well, surprise.
On top of today’s unpleasantries, she had to talk with Headmaster Van Eck. He was rude, classist and had a wife that was not much older than Inej herself.
In short, he was a dick with a receding hairline. She felt bad for Wylan’s beautiful locks in the future.
Her train of thought has been interrupted by the sound of someone taking the seat in front of her, metal chair squeaking in protest. Inej looked up at the said person, her dark eyes assessing his from and recognizing it immediately.
Messily cut dark hair, sharp jawline, broad shoulders and a knee brace.
Kaz.
She’d known him from around the school, but to be fair, everybody in Ketterdam High knew Kaz Brekker.
He was one year older than Inej and terrifyingly intelligent, but way too much of a troublemaker to be taken seriously by the teachers. Kaz was rude, smug and aggressive — he provoked the football team into fights, pickpocketed rich kids and was the reason for at least six smoke detector alarms this semester alone.
To put it briefly, he had a reputation and it wasn’t a good one.
Inej had never talked to him in her life — there was this one time where a boy was making fun of her dark skin, so Kaz bumped into him so hard the guy’s shoulder dislocated. He didn’t stay around long enough for her to thank him and she didn’t look for him to do so.
So, they weren’t friends, colleagues or even acquaintances. She wasn’t sure he even knew that someone like her was attending this school.
She was fiddling with the end of her braid, looking down on her bouncing knee and glancing at the clock every three seconds until he asked her a question.
“What did you do?”
Her wide eyes snapped up to his face, cold and collected and she just stared at him for a moment. It was rare of Kaz Brekker to ever reach out to anyone except for if he wanted to steal their wallet.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“What did you do?”
Inej continued looking at him, not knowing if he was asking her for real, or if it was even real. Why would he care about what she have done? Did he need some sort of entertainment or what? It was none of his business, anyway.
Kaz was playing with a watch in his hands, body leaning comfortably into the cheap chair and hair falling slightly into his dark eyes. Somehow, his nonchalance made her want to say something, to give him all the answers he needed to crack the case.
“I punched a guy,” she’d blurted out and his eyebrows shot up, eyes snapping up to meet hers.
“You punched a guy?”
“I punched a guy.” To prove her point, Inej showed him her slightly purple hand, knuckles swelling.
His eyes lit up slightly, bitter coffee shade changing into a warm, dark tea in the afternoon’s sunlight. It was clear he was amused — she could see it in the small quirk of his lips.
“And, pray tell, why did you punch him?” her eyes fell down on her lap as she fiddled with her hair once more, twisting the braid in between her slim fingers.
“He couldn’t keep his hands to himself.” She said quietly, a hint of anger and disappointment in her voice. The light in his eyes disappeared quickly, but she looked up before they became too dark once again. “I think I broke his nose.”
Flash of a smile, more of a smirk, adored his lips, quiet snort leaving his mouth. Inej wondered how his true laugh sounded like, honest and happy.
“Good job,” he answered and Inej flushed softly with pride. She scolded herself for it silently not more than a second later — Kaz was not the kind of boy about whose opinion Inej should care about.
“Thank you.” She’d murmured anyway, looking down so as not to show him that he affected her mood in any shape or form. If he noticed her cheeks getting softly painted with red, he didn’t mention it.
There’s been a minute of silence in between them, Inej tapping her foot against the creaking floor as Kaz played with the watch in his hands.
“Nice watch.”
“I stole it.”
“Wait, what?”
He simply shrugged, brushing some stubborn strands of hair from his forehead.
“It’s Van Eck’s.”
“And you’re doing what with it, exactly?” Inej furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
“Giving it back, like a decent student.”
“Why? You’re not a decent student.”
Kaz pretended to feel wounded for a split second.
“There’s a cash prize for finding it.”
“You stole it.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
She tried to answer him, she truly did, but his audacity was so baffling that even Inej could not find a retort to that.
“It was stupid. And against the rules.”
“Well, you’re the one who got into a physical fight, so...” Kaz shrugged with a smug smile on his face. Her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance and he seemed to light up even more. Inej glared daggers at him.
Idiot.
The clock on the wall announced the arrival of her practice hour, but there was no trace of the headmaster. Which meant she was completely, utterly cooked.
“Sports?” he’d asked her again, leaning his head on the wall behind him. Why was he so curious about her all of a sudden?
“Ballet.” She lifted her chin up proudly before asking back. “How about you?” Inej only realized after she’d spoken that it was completely stupid and insensitive. Saints, Ghafa, he’s disabled. Read the damn room.
He didn’t give her a chance to apologize.
“Oh, yeah, figure skating. You should see me on the ice.” Kaz said sarcastically, wanting to make her frown again, to see the little crease in between her brows as she got mad at him.
“Shut up.”
“Friends say I’m quite graceful.”
“I said shut up,” Inej couldn’t help but smile in fond annoyance. It was impossible to be truly mad at him when his smug smile was so utterly, dangerously charming.
Van Eck finally opened the door to his office, looking in between the two teenagers. Kaz hid the watch in his pocket, clearly wanting to make a more of a dramatic entrance with it later on.
“What are you two doing?”
“Talking as we’re waiting for our educational conversations with you, sir.” Kaz answered the headmaster with a mock politeness, putting on an innocent voice. Inej had to put a hand over her mouth so as not to giggle out loud.
The man stared at them both, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
“Both of you, into my office, right now. Let’s kill two birds with one stone, I don’t have the time for this.”
They stood up and Kaz let Inej walk into the office first, toying with the watch in his pocket. He whispered for just her to hear.
“Ten kruge that I can steal his wedding ring as I’m giving him back the watch?”
She turned to him, scandalized for a moment.
“No!” she chastited him with a fake glare.
“Make it twenty.”