Page 84 of Savage Elites

Dread rumbled through my belly, and I pulled myself to my feet. Sebastian grabbed my arm and asked if I wanted him to come, but I shook my head and wrapped my arms around my middle.

If Mr. Byrd was here, complaining about the bonfire of his blood money, I would report him to the police for bribery and harassment.

The caretaker scampered out of the lecture hall and around to the other side of the building. As we stepped out, I turned to Cormac and whispered, “I don’t think I can be polite to Geraldine if she snipes at me.”

“And I fully expect you to fight your corner. She might be the love of my life, but she’s wrong about you on several counts.”

I glowered at the pair of self-styled queens walking ahead of us with synchronized steps. How could Cormac tolerate such a vicious little poser?

“Do you know what it could be about?” he whispered.

I shook my head. “There are so many things going on, it could be anything.”

When we reached Mrs. Benazir’s office, Cormac motioned for me to follow Geraldine and Bianca inside. I gave him a grateful smile and stepped through the doorway.

The headmistress sat at her desk, opposite two familiar-looking police officers. Geraldine and Bianca stood to one side with their arms linked.

“Go on.” Mrs. Benazir waved her hand at the female officer. “Tell them.”

“Neither of your DNA matches the samples we took from the forensic medical exam. We need a list of girls who were at this…” She glanced down at her notepad. “Initiation.”

Bianca batted her lashes. “It was just the two of us and Ashley.”

“There were about twelve girls,” I snapped.

“Their names, please?” asked the officer.

Bianca and Geraldine turned to me, each giving me the kind of smug smiles that made my fingers itch to slap their faces.

“They weren’t in my year or taking any of my classes.” I ran a shaky hand through my hair. “But I can point them out.”

Mrs. Benazir slammed her palm on the table. “I’ve just lost a dedicated deputy headmistress, a valuable source of legal advice, and now you wish to turn my dining room into an identity parade?”

“We wouldn’t ask the girls to form a line,” said the police officer. “Willow can walk around and ask those girls responsible to—”

“To hand themselves over for DNA testing and police interrogation?” Mrs. Benazir folded her arms across her chest. “What you fail to realize is that we’re now victimizing girls aged sixteen and under for the benefit of one girl who I’ve already bent over backward to accommodate!”

Rage burned through my veins. “All of this could have been avoided by stamping out bullying.”

“We had a deputy headmistress who battled the bullies, but your accusations drove her out!”

An awkward silence stretched out through Mrs. Benazir’s office. From the way she twisted things around, it was my fault for getting abducted in the middle of the night, nearly killed with alcohol, and then sexually assaulted. I’m sure she would have given me a nice eulogy if I had kept my head down and endured the taunting until the bullies finally drove me to suicide.

Mrs. Benazir drew in a deep breath through her flared nostrils. “I apologize for the outburst. Recent events have made my job four times as stressful.”

I held back my comments. The headmistress had only recently recovered from her food poisoning, appearing pale and over-inflated with stress. Any more, and she’d probably burst.

Geraldine placed her hands on her hips. “Since we’ve been proven innocent, may we leave?”

“You may go.” The headmistress waved them away.

“What about obstructing the course of justice?” I turned to the police officers. “If this crime was about money, you’d make them reveal their accomplices.”

The officers exchanged glances, and I balled my fists. Why was it so difficult to do the right thing?

* * *

After Advanced Calculus, Prakash and I walked down to the first floor. He’d been glancing at me throughout the lesson as though wanting to ask a question, and I finally asked, “What’s wrong?”