Private 06 - Legacy (21 page)

Lance said. He was right. No one had even noticed us standing there yet. But right then, as if Lance's whisper could have carried all the way across to Cromwell's ears, the headmaster lifted his head and looked right at us. His expression was one of unadulterated ire, and I felt it to my very core. "He knows," Gage said, still drunk and therefore stating the obvious. "Oh crap, he knows."

Instinctively, I looked at Noelle. She was still. Grim, but still. And every other person in our dingy, bedraggled crew was looking at me. Stepping back. Leaving a good, safe circumference around me. That's when I knew for certain. This was on me. It was all on me.

I should have seen it. Should have known all along. The blessing of the Billings presidency was nothing but a curse.