CHAPTER 14

JAYDEN’s POV

By the time I got back to the dorm after stalling to avoid talking with Zander tonight, the hallway was dead quiet, probably because everyone was tipsy as hell. I finally stopped in front of the dorm door and unlocked it. The only light in the room came from the moon reflecting through. I shut the door as quietly as I could and looked toward the other side of the room when I heard shuffling.

“Zander.” He was turned away from me, curled up beneath the blanket with his back facing the room. It looked like he had fell asleep moments ago. For a second, I just stood there.

I couldn’t tell if he was asleep or pretending to be so I finally shifted gaze to scan through the room.

My hoodie and most of my stuffs were sprawled on my bed.

I frowned.

“He’d moved all my stuffs from his side of the room, huh?” I said as I felt myself get a bit irritated by the thought of it.

I picked it up the hoodie, brushing my thumb over the sleeve before tossing it onto my chair.

“Guess this means he really doesn’t want anything belonging to me near him.” I sighed.

I changed in silence, the room feeling far smaller and suffocating than it had ever been before. Tonight, there was nothing. There was no arguing, no joke, no banter—just absolute silence.

I climbed into bed, staring at the ceiling.

The image of him crying outside the club flashed through my mind before I forced it away with an annoyed sigh. I still didn’t get why he’s so pissed. That guy had his hands all over him.

“What was I supposed to do?” I turned onto my side, facing the wall. “Just stand there and watch?” I felt more irritation.

If he wanted to be pissed at me, fine. I wasn’t going to apologize for protecting him and saying the dirty truth to his face.

    The sound of drawers opening pulled me out of sleep. I groaned, squinting my eyes, as the sun was burning directly on me. I shifted my gaze till it landed on something.

Zander.

He was already dressed, stuffing a notebook into his bag.

I pushed myself up on one elbow.

“Zander.” I called out his name.

He didn’t even look at me. He just zipped his bag shut and slung it over his shoulder heading for the door.

“Hey.” I tried calling again.

Nothing.

He walked past my bed like I was some nonexistent leech. A knot of irritation settled in my chest because who did he think he was to ignore me?

“Are you seriously going to ignore me because you expect some sort of apology from me?”

His hand rested on the doorknob and for a second, I thought he might finally turn around and say something. Instead, he opened the door.

“Stay away from me, Sinclair.” His voice was cold.

The door clicked shut behind him.

“Those words again.” I stared at the door for a long moment before letting out a frustrated breath and dragging a hand through my hair.

“Seriously? I was the bad guy now?” I fell back onto my pillow with a scoff.

He’d cool off eventually.

By the time I got to sculpting class, almost everyone was already there. I walked in without sparing anyone a glance and headed straight for my seat and directly opposite me sat Zander.

“Great.” I mutter sarcastically.

He didn’t bother looking up at me, neither did he try to even acknowledge presence. He basically acted I didn’t even exist.

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes.

The professor walked in a few minutes later, carrying a stack of papers under one arm.

“Good morning, everyone.”

“For today’s class, we’re not sculpting just yet.” He placed the papers on the table at the front. “Before you can create something, you need to have a vision. I want each one of you here to sketch what you’ll be sculpting.”

A wave of groans spread across the room.

He chuckled. “A good artist starts with a good vision.” He passed sheets of paper and pencils round the room.

I twirled mine between my fingers. It had been a while since I sketched or did anything practical relating to art.

For a second, all I could think about was my mom.

She’d spend hours in front of a canvas, humming softly as paint stained her fingertips. I’d always pretend I wasn’t interested, sitting nearby with my headphones on, or scrolling through my phone.

She never believed me. “If you’re going to watch me,” she’d laugh, “you might as well learn something.”

So I’d sneakily hide and learn from her—following all the basic movements she made.

The corner of my lips twitched before I lowered my pencil to the page and started.

The classroom disappeared into nothing. All I could hear was the soft scratch of my pencil against paper. The lines came naturally like this was what I was born for. I felt like all my problems was been taken away with each line I made on the paper. Before I knew it, shadows and depth replaced blank space, every stroke flowing into the next without a second thought.

“Time’s up.” The professor’s voice snapped me back.

“Huh?” I blinked, looking down at the page. “Guess I got carried away.”

One by one, he walked around collecting our sketches and when he reached mine, he stopped.

His brows lifted.

“Well….”

He picked it up without saying anything else and continued collecting the remaining papers.

A few minutes later, he stood at the front of the class, flipping through each sketch while offering comments.

“Zander” He called out while raising the sketch up.

I was shocked by how uniquely detailed it was. Zander’s sketch was really alluring in as much as I’d hate to admit it.

The professor smiled. “Excellent composition. You’ve always had an eye for detail and this expresses it more. I can’t wait to see how you bring this sketch to life.”

Then he reached mine and the room fell strangely quiet. He stared at it for several seconds before slowly looking up.

“Who drew this?”

A few heads turned.

“I did.” I answered.

The professor held my sketch up for everyone to see.

“This…” He smiled. “This is beautifully sketched.”

“No way…” whispers spread around the room.

“Jayden drew that? I thought he didn’t care about class.” I rolled my eyes at how dramatic and weird they were acting.

“Don’t hide your talent,” he replied before placing it carefully on his desk

I gave a mindless shrug because this sketch wasn’t really anything to me. “It was just a sketch after all.”

The whispers didn’t stop so I continued ignoring them.

Instead…my eyes drifted across the room and it landed on Zander. He looked up at the sketch for a brief moment then lowered his gaze back to his notebook as if nothing had happened.

Nothing from him?

For some reason… that really bothered me more than it should have. Something twisted in my stomach, but I pushed the feeling inside and left the class.