By the time the lunch bell rang, the Humvee and the parking lot incident had grown fangs, claws, and at least three totally made-up subplots.
As Gabriel and I stepped into the cafeteria, I could feel it—the way conversations hushed just a fraction too long, the way eyes tracked us from table to table. Someone even tried to discreetly snap a picture of us walking in, like we were rockstars strolling into an afterparty.
We grabbed our trays like it was any other day, but the moment we sat down, one of the freshman whispered loud enough for the next table over to hear, “I heard the new guy tried to hit Thane and woke up in the nurse’s office.”
“That’s not what happened,” another cut in. “My cousin said he looked Thane in the eye and just… dropped. Like, fainted.”
“No, no,” a third chimed in, leaning in over their pizza. “He growled at him and the guy’s nose started bleeding. My brother swears he saw it.”
Gabriel had to bite down on his sandwich to keep from laughing, shoulders shaking. “You hear that?” he whispered to me. “We didn’t even need to drive the Humvee in tomorrow—by lunch I’ll bet they’d believe we came in on wolves.”
I smirked. “Let ’em talk. Every good legend grows on its own.”
Halfway through lunch, I spotted the jock in question at a table in the far corner, looking like he wanted to melt into his seat. His buddies weren’t teasing him, though—just stealing glances at me like they’d rather chew glass than cross paths again.
Gabriel noticed too. “He’s not gonna try anything again,” he said under his breath.
“Not unless he wants an encore,” I replied, letting just a hint of a growl thread the words.
It wasn’t long before someone from the sophomore table wandered over—a kid with too much curiosity and zero filter. “Hey, uh… did you really make him… you know…” He trailed off, face reddening.
Gabriel leaned forward, sunglasses still perched perfectly in place, and said with mock seriousness, “You wouldn’t believe it if we told you.”
The kid’s eyes widened, and he scurried back to his table—fuel for another round of embellishments.
By the time the bell rang, I’d heard at least two more versions of the story: one where I supposedly picked the guy up by the throat, and one where the Humvee had a mounted machine gun on top.
Gabriel was still grinning when we stepped into the hallway. “Best. Monday. Ever.”
I couldn’t help but agree. And from the way the hallways parted for us, I had a feeling this little ripple was going to last a long time.