Judy''s POV


    "You look as if you haven''t slept in days," Nan points out as I join her in the coffee shop near the school campus. I felt gross; I didn''t bother showering and knew I had dark circles under my eyes.


    "I haven''t," I admitted. "Not since my date with Gavin."


    "You still haven''t heard from him?"


    I shook my head.


    "I texted himst night after Matt left, but he hasn''t even opened it. His phone''s been off..." I told her.


    "That''s odd," she said. "Maybe you are right... Maybe something happened. Did you talk to Beta Taylor?"


    "He won''t tell me anything. He gets weird when I bring up Gavin," I told her, my heart pounding in my chest.


    "Has Matthew said anything?"


    I thought back to my conversation with Mattst night.


    "He asked me if I still liked his father," I told her. "Like if we were still friends... then he mentioned something about his perception being wrong. He didn''t get to finish his thought, though, because Taylor came to pick him up."


    "I wonder what he meant by that," Nan said thoughtfully.


    I took a sip of my coffee, my hands trembling as I brought the cup to my lips.


    "I don''t know, Nan... I don''t know what to think. Is he ghosting me? Did he decide he wanted nothing to do with me during the date?"


    "Judy, I don''t think that''s the case," Nan said gently. "You didn''t see the way he was looking at you. That man was falling in love with you."


    I blinked as I looked at her.


    "Falling in love with me?" I asked.


    She nodded.


    "The way he was looking at you, Judy. It was a look I had never seen before, not even with Chester. Ethan had never looked at you like that before. This was different..."


    "I don''t know what to think anymore," I admit, nibbling on my lower lip. The anxiety was bubbling inside of me, and I hated the feeling. I took another sip of the coffee and sighed as I leaned back on my booth.


    "Well, how about we don''t think about it?" she told me. "We are graduating soon, Judy. This is huge. We have to focus on our finals... not men with poormunication skills."


    I nodded, knowing she was right. This could make or break my future. I knew that I had already secured a spot in the Elite Force because I had won the Gamma Competition, but having a degree would mean the world to me, and it would open the doors to other opportunities.


    After we left the coffee shop, we walked to the campus. We spent some time studying in the student lounge before we had to go to our sses.


    Lukas was already in ss when I got there. I took my seat beside him and got my notes ready. He was trying hard to pretend I wasn''t seated right next to him, which aggravated me.


    "Eventually, you''ll have to stop acting like I don''t exist," I told him. "We are ssmates, Lukas."


    "We are ssmates, not friends," he replied simply, his eyes fixed on his own notes as he prepared them for ss.


    It annoyed me that he wouldn''t even give me the time of day. He was so worried about getting on Gavin''s bad side, and Gavin probably wouldn''t even notice if he did talk to me or not. It''s not like Gavin was talking to me anyway.


    My stomach knotted at the thought.


    As ss started, my mind went into focus mode. I pushed all thoughts of Gavin to the back burner and tried to make the most out of my ss time. By the time ss was over, my brain was feeling utterly fried.


    "Judy, Dean Griffin wanted to speak with you in her office," Professor Rivers told


    me.


    I frowned, my heart pounding against my chest.


    "Dean Griffin?" I asked. “Is everything okay?"


    She shrugged her shoulders.


    "I''m not entirely sure. But it''s best if you head there right now. I just got a phone


    call from her, and it sounded kind of urgent."


    I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded.


    "Okay, thank you."


    I made my way across the campus and towards the Dean''s office. Dean Griffin was new as of this year; the former Dean, the one who nominated me for the Gamma Competition, retired over the


    summer and was reced by a new,


    younger dean. I''ve only seen glimpses of her before; she was pretty and looked extremely intimidating. I would be lying if I said. I wasn''t nervous about meeting her for the first time, and even more so that she wants to speak to me in her office.


    As I approached the faculty office, I used the elevator to reach the top floor. I stepped out of the elevator and walked over to the receptionist''s desk.


    Mrs. Connolly sat at the desk in her normal fashion, typing away on herputer. She had been the receptionist for years, and even in her old age, she refuses to retire. She''s so old, she can''t even shift into her wolf anymore.


    Her eyes lifted from herputer when she saw me, and a small smile yed on her lips.