Page 24 of Darkest Obsession

“Hm. You might not want to say that.”

He stuffs his stuff into his backpack and starts walking toward the door. I hurriedly shove my notebook into my bag and follow him. What the hell did he mean by that?

“What the hell does that mean?”

I struggle to keep up with his long stride as I follow him out of class. Thomas turns to look over his shoulders with thick brown hair cascading in gentle waves down to his shoulders.

“Got your knickers. Hoe’s knickers.”

How the hell did he end up with my underwear? I was ready to beat Kit Barclay’s ass, but Thomas is about twice his size and pure muscle.

“That’s not funny, Thomas.”

He grins and sticks his hands in his pocket. I cringe. That’s probably where he has my underwear.

“Later, Clover…”

I lunge towards him and try to reach into his pocket, but he deftly avoids me, looking completely self-satisfied at the signs of my distress.

“Give those back, right now.

“Sure?”

I try to sound as menacing as possible and come out sounding about as forceful as a chihuahua.

“You know what? I will see you later Thomas.”

I turn the opposite direction and storm away. Great. He catches me off guard and I show up with the worst comeback I’ve ever come up with in my entire life. I could sink into the ground, but I don’t have time because of classes.

I look over my shoulder at Thomas one more time before he disappears. He’s… weird. I don’t know. We got along today in class, but then he had to make that stupid joke about my underwear and I remember everything that happened earlier. How could that be the same person? Ugh.

Kola meets me in the hallway to our next class together. At least no one will force me to think about monogamy in Biology & Human Anatomy. Sylvia isn’t taking any science classes this semester, so we’re alone here. Kola’s dancing in the hallway with her headphones in until I approach, moving her hips and giving absolutely zero fucks about who sees her busting a move in public. I wave her down and she stops dancing and turns her music off.

“What took you so long?” Kola asks, grinning and still jamming to a beat she can’t hear.

“Talking… class…” Change the subject Clover. “How’s Sylvia?”

“Girl, she’s freaking out. With everything that happened to her sister, she thinks someone’s trying to kill her.”

“I don’t blame her,” I said. “Who steals an entire underwear drawer and then writes ‘die bitch’ in lipstick on someone’s mirror? It’s crazy as fuck. Whoever did it had to have snuck in when she was asleep which is even creepier.”

“She doesn’t remember waking up,” Kola says. “We drank too much.”

“We can’t blame ourselves for having fun. We just need to help her find out who did this. She can sleep in my room until they sort this out. Molly won’t mind.”

I never asked Molly, but all the girls are gossiping about what happened, so she’ll probably hear about what happened soon and welcome Sylvia into our dorm room. I make a mental note to text her after class.

“Is everything okay?” Kola asks me. “I heard something happened in the dining hall with you and the crew team this morning.”

But she didn’t hear details, so maybe my reputation survived my public humiliation because it was too early for more people to be awake. I shrug.

“It’s no big deal. I can handle it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sylvia needs us right now. We just need to get through class so we can support her.”

Kola nods in agreement and then the classroom door swings open. Kola and I walk into bio as our professor Ann Hubbard, a tall woman with a short ginger bob, allows us inside. Her poodle sits in the front of the class, standing at attention like a fellow teacher.