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“Is that all?” I ask, desperate to escape his office. It feels like the walls are closing in around me, and I’m worried he might start quoting motivational words at me next.
“For now.”
I grab my bag and make my way to the door, but his voice gives me pause.
“Oh, and Kennedy?”
“Yeah?”
“Miss Jones will see you in detention after school.”
“But I thought you just said—”
“We have a zero tolerance policy for violence at Sterling Prep. I expect you to check in with her every day after class. It’ll give the two of you a chance to talk.”
Gritting my teeth together, I yank open his door and step into the hall.
Just when I thought that maybe, just maybe, this place wasn’t as bad as I thought, he goes and drops that bombshell.
Fuck my life.
Chapter Ten
Conner
The second I step foot into school, I'm summoned to Principal Vager's office. I'm hardly surprised, but everyone is talking like I killed someone, not just skipped out on a day. I wasn't even the one who hit anyone.
His door is closed, and I'm instructed to sit and wait. Only, I'm too restless to do so, so instead, I pace back and forth in front of his assistant’s desk, much to her irritation if her burning stare is anything to go by.
Nothing I did last night helped to shift the big black hole of regret and confusion that swirled around me from our conversation.
My fists clench as I think about what she said about me walking away from her. I'd never fucking walk away from her. Everything I've done has been for her. Every-fucking-thing. I ripped my own heart out, thinking that I was doing the best thing for her, and all it's resulted in is her hating me.
My teeth grind and my jaw ticks as I continue pacing.
It was all for her. All of it. And all I got in return was a message telling me to stop contacting her after all the years that had passed between us.
All I ever wanted was for her to be happy.
Vager's door opens and I pause in my pacing right as Kenny emerges. She looks exhausted. Her bruises from New Year are almost gone now, although she has fresh scabs on her cheek from her fight with Lylah yesterday. But what makes my he
art sink is the darkness of her eyes. Did she sleep at all last night?
Our eyes hold for a beat before I step toward her. I reach out, ready to take her cheek in my hand, to connect with her in some way, but her body tenses and it's like she puts up an impenetrable wall between us.
My hand drops to my side and my shoulders slump. "Ken—"
"Don't," she snaps. "We've got nothing to talk about."
My chin drops at her cold words. She makes the most of my shock and takes off. Her arm brushes mine as she passes, but even in my state, I still feel that spark of electricity when we touch.
"Mr. Jagger. Shall we?" Vager says, breaking through the silence and the blood that's rushing past my ears at her dismissal.
Regretfully, I follow him to his office and fall down onto one of the seats. I haven’t been in here since the day we started. Shit, that seems like a million years ago now.
"I expected better from you, Conner," Vager reprimands as he lowers to his chair, rests his elbows on his huge mahogany desk, and steeples his fingers.
"Well, then maybe you don't know me very well."
