I nodded.
He’d believed it. So, I did too.
And standing in the hallway now, the accusation from Principal Morales, still ringing in my ears. I realized neither of us had kept that promise.
It was hard to reconcile that bright, stubborn little girl with the student staring my way with flat gray eyes. Not affected in the least by the thought of ruining a man’s career with unfounded lies.
I collected my things and headed toward the exit when voices drifted out of the counselor’s office.
“…I’ll take responsibility,” A male voice said casually.
I slowed.
“You understand what you’re saying?” Bob, the counselor, asked.
A laugh—low, unconcerned.
“Yeah,” the voice replied. “I do.”
I stopped at the door of the office.
“That’s a serious academic violation,” Bob murmured. “We were looking at someone else. Your name hadn’t even been mentioned.”
“I’m mentioning it now.”
I recognized his voice now. Beck Maddox. I peered inside.
“Why the sudden confession?” Bob took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
Beck laughed, “I’ve felt so guilty I’ve barely been able to sleep. So here I am.”
Bob snorted in disbelief. “Sure,you did. I’ll draft an admission of guilt that you’ll have to sign.”
Bob began typing, then his printer spat out the form.
“Is that all?” Beck asked, signing the paper with a flourish.
“You’ll probably be expelled for this.” Bob shook his head in disgust.
Beck merely grunted and exited the office, paying no mind to me leaning near the door.
Taryn didn’t make the accusations against me to get out of trouble for the bio test. She’d somehow convinced Beck to take the fall. That meant she’d done this to me purely out of spite.
That fucking little brat.
She wasn’t the girl she’d been, but neither was I the boy she’d known.
The parking lot was nearly empty when I caught up to Beck standing by his motorcycle.
“Hey, you,” I snapped. “A word.”
Beck turned slowly, his eyes flickering curiously in my direction. The shithead was intimidating, for sure, to most people… but not to me.
I had many sides I kept hidden.
“You confessed to taking the bio exam?” I growled out.
“Yep. I did it.” He smirked in amusement.
