"WHEN THE WORLD AROUND YOU IS BURNING, LOOK AT THE STARS."
Transfer student Minni Lee has a premonition. Not all is right at Newhurst University. Between a hateful blog post and the strange death of campus mean girl, Somin, exists a tangled mystery...
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"EVERYONE'S LOOKING AT YOU."
Jisoo wore an almost smug smile, half-hidden by her strawberry smoothie.
Minni was laid down belly first on a blanket in the grass, suddenly self-conscious as she picked at the meager remains of her sandwich. She hardly had the stomach for it now. Jisoo, however, was practically glowing.
Min had almost forgotten how much Jisoo thrived under conditions like this. Like a finicky flower, she bloomed bright and beautiful under positive attention. She reveled in it now, soaking it up like the sun above.
It was easy to map where her mind was headed. Minni's new and unwanted rise in status meant invitations to exclusive parties and rich-people socials that, for whatever reason, even Jisoo had been barred from. It meant the natural reclamation of a spot in a hierarchy she'd been excluded from.
Min stopped looking at her friend to do a quick sweep of the open patch of grass, pointedly ignoring the Nameless General statue for the feelings it evoked in her.
Jisoo was right.
Eyes found her from across the quad, quick to look away when caught. Be it a handful of scholarship students studying at a picnic table or some knuckled-headed Gamma Iota guys tossing a ball back and forth, people were casting glances her way like she was the morning news.
Her face warmed inadvertently, hands lifting to pick apart her curls. The movement made the itchy cashmere sweater on her shoulders shift, and again, she was reminded of what a fraud she was—lip gloss softening her scowl, eyeliner darkening her lashes. Painted into the vision of someone she was not, a girl she'd never be.
"Ugh. Do I look okay?"
"You look like a goddess," Jisoo said softly, reaching out to twirl a curl around a finger like she so often did, gently tugging at it until it snapped back into place. "I told you, you're pretty."
"You only said that because you wanted something." Min argued just because she could. Just because it felt better than admitting how much she felt the opposite.
Jisoo shrugged. "Doesn't make it any less true. It's probably why half of these people are so...." Her head swiveled in a quick survey of the lawn, a giggle escaping her. "Blatant."
"I don't get what's so interesting. We're just eating."
"You're new, you're cute, and you've been seen hanging around the most important people on campus. They're measuring you up. Trying to see if you're easy prey or not."
