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I had bumped into him no less than three times between classes today, and each time he’d given me that beautiful double-dimpled smile, asked me how my day was going, and then told me he’d catch me later.
I could feel his eyes on me right now from across the room. And it terrified me.
For the first time in my academic life, I had been given a beautiful cloak of invisibility at Tommen. Johnny Kavanagh threatened to take that from me, and I wasn’t nearly brave enough to let him.
All the goodness of last night had been sucked away by my father’s threats and my fear of Bella’s wrath. Now, I was afraid again.
Of Bella. Of my father. Of the other girls at this school. Of my feelings. Of Johnny.
Of my own damn shadow.
“And she had the nerve to call you a slut,” Lizzie continued to rant, with me and Claire looking on helplessly. “She’s the one straddling Cormac Ryan over there.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I quickly told her, praying for her to just let it go.
“It does matter, Shannon,” Lizzie snapped. “No one gets to do this to you. Not here. Not again!”
“Liz,” Claire said in a low warning tone. “Leave it alone, okay?”
“We’re getting our holidays Friday,” I whispered, more to myself than the girls as I desperately tried to calm myself down. “Two weeks of no Bella.”
“Exactly,” Claire offered gently. “Everyone will have forgotten about it by the time we come back.”
“I can’t believe you,” Lizzie snapped, glaring at Claire. “How are you okay with that bitch talking crap about our best friend?”
“I’m not okay with it,” Claire replied evenly. “I just know that making a scene is the last thing anyone needs.”
“Do you know what everyone is saying?” Lizzie demanded, and then continued before either of us had a chance to respond. “They are all saying Shannon is having sex with Johnny Kavanagh.”
“Great,” I groaned and dropped my head in my hands.
Claire placed a soothing hand on my shoulder. “Well, it’s not true.”
“I know that,” Lizzie huffed. “But Bella’s been going around saying that Shannon’s the reason her and Johnny are finished,” Lizzie hissed. “Because of that bitch and her lies, everyone in school is talking about our friend and saying that she must have a golden vagina to turn that big eejit’s head—”
“Don’t!” Claire hissed. “Don’t repeat it.”
“I’m going home,” I blurted out, pushing back my chair, ready to bolt.
“No,” Claire replied calmly, pushing me back down in my seat. “You’re not.”
“Like hell you’re going home,” Lizzie growled. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Wrong or not, I wasn’t staying here.
Shaking off Claire’s hand, I shoved my chair back and stood up.
“I’m sorry,” I choked out, glancing at my friends. “But I can’t do this again.”
“We’ll come with you,” Claire called after me. “Shan, just don’t run—”
“No, it’s okay,” I mumbled. “You guys stay. I’m just…I’m going to go now.” Swinging around, I pushed past the tables and chairs blocking my way and bolted for the exit.
However, I did not anticipate the hand that snaked out from the rugby table at the doorway and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to an abrupt stop.
“What’s wrong?” Johnny was sitting on his chair, with his hand wrapped around my wrist, looking up at me with a concerned expression. “Shannon?”
Shaking my head, I pulled on my hand but Johnny didn’t let go. Instead he pulled me closer to him, making this so much worse.
