Page 58 of Colton

The rivalry — the hatred — between Sophia and Soren isn’t anything new. It’s been there since they were children, and the two have a knack for pissing the other one off. But this? Everyone and their mother knows how much Sophia values her academic career, and I’m not sure how, but Soren’s behind this.

Soren Ford is about to lose his head, and he doesn’t even know it yet.

22

Let’s just say that the past two days have been… insane.

Sophia, of course, was nothing short of outraged by the fact that she had gotten all bad grades. To make matters even worse, she was called to Colton’s office. After she came out, she was raging and it wasn’t until later that day, that we got the full story.

She stormed off to the boy's dormitory, ignoring the looks from everyone, she broke Soren’s TV, called his mother a whore and insulted his entire bloodline, all in one breath. There was some choking on his end, and overall, it hasn’t been good.

Soren bribed people to say they saw Sophia cheat. Not only did Sophia not cheat, but the thought never even crossed her mind. In her eyes, cheating on an exam is basically cheating in life, and she is not the one to do that. If she is going to win, she is going to do it all on her own and without anybody’s help.

However, because of the number of people who supposedly saw her cheat, Colton had no other option but to suspend her. The only good news is that she’s being allowed to retake her exams.

“Are you doing okay?” I ask, glancing at the scarf that hides the bruises on her neck. Sophia, to her credit, seems unperturbed. She fixes her hair, applies her lipstick, then turns to look at me.

“I’ll be better when I see his head on a stick.”

I snort, and Grace outright laughs.

“Relax, everything will be fine,” I say, trying to prevent her from actually committing murder.

“Oh, I know,” she smiles, but I’m terrified of that damned smile. “I don’t solely blame Soren. I blame his mother, too.”

Grace chokes on air. “What did she do to you?”

“Oh, nothing to me. It’s just her fault that her son turned out to be a spoiled son of a bitch. He put his hands on me! She should’ve raised him better.”

“To be fair, you once broke his knee with a sledgehammer. Didn’t he have to re-learn how to walk?” Grace points out, and she barely holds back from bursting into a fit of laughter.

“That’s completely different!”

“Oh, how so?” I ask, quirking an amused brow.

Sophia glares at me. “Because I did it and he deserved it.”

“I’m sure he did,” I roll my eyes. “You can still report him, you know.”

“No,” she shakes her head. “I have better plans for him.”

“But, oh!” Grace beams. “It’s my turn to ask questions. Ava, where did you disappear off to last night?”

I freeze.

After the exams, there’s always a party at the library. It shouldn’t be happening, sure, but it happens every year. After two tequila shots, I snuck out to go see Colton. Now, it’s my fault for not getting his phone number, or checking with literally anyone to see if he’d be in his office. Yeah, I may or may not have kissed the door.

So, I retreated to my room to sleep.

“I was just tired.”

Grace gives me a skeptical look because she can assume where I was, or rather, where I was headed. On the other hand, Sophia is clueless.

I’m not ready to tell them about Colton just yet. I’m not ashamed of it, and I don’t think they’d rat us out. But as of right now, this thing — whatever it may be — between the two of us, is too precious to me to be shared. The secrecy of it all is alluring, and I’m content keeping it all to myself.

“You haven’t been sleeping well,” Sophia murmurs. “I have some sleeping meds if you need them.”

“I’ll be just fine, thanks.”