Page 129 of His Reckless Freshman

If some guy did that to her, I’d want to end him.

41

JOLIE

Ben told me not to worry so much about this. He told me to let it go. He reminded me that it’s probably just a rumor.

And there’s a chance it is.

A friend of a friend. Not to mention the fact that I heard all this from a complete stranger.

That has gossip written all over it, right?

Yet I can’t seem to let it go. Something about the story is eating away at me. I even had a dream about it last night. I was in my dorm and woke up in a cold sweat after picturing myself on a bed, little video cameras recording me from every angle as some guy thrust into me. It wasn’t Ben. I didn’t like it. In fact, it hurt, but I didn’t know who was doing it to me, and I woke up with a racing heart and this icky feeling all over my body.

Checking the time, I saw that it was only three in the morning and didn’t see how I could ever get back to sleep after that, so I snuck out of bed, trying not to wake Nylah as I crept into the hallway. Taking my laptop down to the common room, curled up on a couch and tried to get some studying done.

But I couldn’t study.

That dream haunted me, to the point that I am now walking to class with every intention of sitting next to the girls I was with last Friday. I find them near the back of the room and walk right up to them, forgetting all common curtesy as I plunk myself beside them. “How’s your friend of a friend? Any update on her ‘situation’?”

The girls frown at me, their expressions screaming, “Who are you?”

I point at my chest. “Jolie. I was sitting in front of you last week and heard you talking about that poor girl who was recorded having…” I glance around me, then lean forward and mouth, “Sex.”

“Oh, that.” The one beside me raises her eyebrows. “I haven’t heard any more.”

“Well, do you know her name? Do you know if I could talk to her?”

“Why would you want to do that?” The one on the right eyes me up suspiciously.

“I just… I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to help her.”

The girl bulges her eyes at me. “She doesn’t want people to know about this.”

“But you told…” I point at her friend.

“Yeah, because we’re besties. We tell each other everything. You were just listening in when you really shouldn’t have been.”

I shrink back and mumble, “Sorry. It was hard not to hear, and I’m just… I’m worried for her. If I found out some guy did that to me? It’d be eating me up inside.”

“Yeah, well, I think it might be eating her up too,” the girl on the left murmurs.

“What do you mean?”

“Claire.” Her friend tries to shut her up.

“What? She’s gone. It’s not like it’s going to matter.”

“She’s gone?”

The girl on the right sighs. “Yeah. That’s what I heard. She couldn’t take it, so she packed her bags and left over the weekend.”

Packed her bags and left.

Images of my old roommate, Julia, rushing to get her stuff together and leaving so abruptly whistle through my head.

That didn’t happen to her… did it?