Page 108 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

Shit.

I had to call her.

Tristan watched as I slid my phone from my pocket, and he nodded, understanding. He didn’t want to talk about my sister, and I wasn’t going to force him.

From the corner of my eye, I watched him step into the amphitheater just as someone else stepped out of it.

“Dad.”

It was Kira. And she was upset.

My gaze snapped to her as she held her phone up. And then my stomach dropped.

“Why were you kissing Miss Walker?”

Chapter 43

Mia

“There’s a picture of you with Mr Hudson in a bookstore.”

Principal Rutton was calmer than I gave her credit for, given the way she barged into our staffroom.

We stood in her office now. The last time I was in here, I was told not to–and I was paraphrasing here–fuck things up.

Well, so much for that.

I watched Rutton point at her monitor as Lilly fidgeted beside me, nervous. I felt like absolute shit for putting her in this position.

But a picture with Theo could have meant anything. Maybe she was just mad that I didn’t listen to her. She told me to stay away from Theo because he kept yelling at me in front of the students. Maybe that’s all it was. Maybe we weren’t doing anything wrong in that picture.

“And you’re kissing,” Rutton finished, and my hopes crashed to the ground.

“They’re kissing?” Lilly asked, and Rutton turned her monitor around.

There we were, Theo and I. His big hands were wrapped around my waist, my body pressed against his. We were surrounded by shelves and shelves of love stories as his mouth smiled against mine.

Objectively speaking, it was a great picture. But it also left little room for doubt.

I didn’t handle confrontation well. Lilly was right when she called me a bulldozer. Right then, all I could think was: What asshole would take a picture of us like that?

Wasn’t everything about consent these days? I didn’t consent to this.

And even though I knew I was here for a verbal beatdown after making out with a parent in public, all I could ask was, “Who sent you this?”

“That’s not important,” Rutton snapped. She looked at Lilly, and with the same sharp tone, asked, “Did you know Mia was seeing Mr Hudson?”

Lilly straightened, put a hand on her stomach, and opened her mouth.

I blurted out, “No,” before she could say anything. “Lilly didn’t know. This just happened. It’s not like I’ve been with him all term.”

Rutton’s glance was razored so thin, she could have cut me with it. “I hope not. Otherwise, the two of you would have an extremely dysfunctional relationship.”

I twisted my lips to the side, like I’d just sucked on a lemon.

“Lilly didn’t know,” I repeated. “And she shouldn’t be punished for something I did.”

Lilly’s gaze whipped to me. “Mia, you can’t just–”