1
PANDORA
“Hey, Pandora,” a male voice calls out.
I stop just outside the bio lab and turn to face whoever thinks it’s a good idea to bother me.
I don’t know the guy’s name, but I recognize him as one of my biochemistry classmates. I think he’s actually a chem major. Medium height, medium weight, acne scars on his cheeks, short brown hair. He’s average in every single way.
“I hear you like it rough,” the guy says with a grin.
I keep staring at him, not saying anything, until his grin shrinks and he shifts uncomfortably.
“Y’know. Really rough,” the guy continues. “And with a lot of guys at once. I have some friends who?—”
I snort. “You have friends? Are you sure?”
His face turns red. “I do! I mean, more friends thanyouhave, you slut.”
I very pointedly roll my eyes at him. “Oh nooo. I’m a slut! How dare I sleep with a bunch of different men.”
I spot some students shuffling closer to us, clearly eavesdropping. I guess they want to enjoy some drama.
I can give them drama.
I grin and step closer to the guy. “Fine, I’m a slut. I like it rough. What’s your name?”
The guy swallows hard, clearly surprised by this turn of events. “Uh, Pete.”
I trail my hand over his cheek. “Well, uh, Pete, I hope you like it rough too.”
Before he can react, I knee him in the crotch. He cries out and doubles over. While he’s down, I stomp down hard on his hand. He yelps again.
“You—you bitch!”
I sigh loudly. “Come on, at least add ‘crazy.’ Didn’t everybody tell you that part about me?” I glare at the other students. “And unless you all want to join Pete on the floor, I suggest you mind your own fucking business.”
The students quickly scatter. None of them tries to help Pete—but none of them tried to helpme, either.
That’s the kind of people who attend this school.
“If you ever get within ten feet of me ever again, Pete, I’m not going to kick you. I’m going to cut you,” I warn him. “Got it?” I add a kick to his side, and he gasps hard.
Steel-toed boots do help with the violent kicking thing.
“You fucking crazy—” Pete wheezes.
Yeah, yeah. Like I haven’t heard every iteration of that before, on a near daily basis for the past week.
You’d think these losers had never seen a bit of violent revenge porn before, with how excited they all are about it. Every single guy who sees the video feels the need to approach me about it.
I leave Pete to suffer on the floor, hefting my backpack over both shoulders. I check my phone again, and I’m happy to see this little diversion didn’t waste too much of my time.
I also have new texts from Papa, but I ignore those. Not that I want to ignore Papa, but he’s been texting me a lot, andmostly it’s him pretending not to be worried about me while he is completely worried about me. I’ve typed back the requisite few sentences that I’m fine and he shouldn’t worry. Now it’s up to him to deal with his feelings on his own.
Just like I am.
I reach into my pocket, but of course my charm isn’t there to soothe me. River still has it. Is he taking good care of it? I’ll never forgive him if he tossed his finger.
