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“Yeah,” I repeated, not wanting to go any further. I had been in a lot of horrible situations throughout my life—Felix had even been responsible for some of those moments. But at Woodman, the boys had never done anything to put me in actual danger. It wasn’t in them. That wasn’t something they wanted to do, no matter how much they acted like they hated me.
They’d never rape someone. Anyone.
Tommy wasn’t just a bully.
He was a monster.
“Look,” I said after a moment, dropping my hand from the back of his head. “I need to go see Pierre. Something happened to him.”
Felix’s brow scrunched up, and he looked concerned, but said nothing. Instead, he nodded, and let his arm fall from my shoulders.
“You need me to walk you there?” he asked. I nodded, pressing a smile onto my face. “You sure? Are you okay? For real?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I sighed, trying not to think about having to run into Tommy or Derrick again. Or that two-faced bitch, Cassidy. Psycho. “Besides, it’s probably better that he doesn’t see you right now. But thanks.”
Stepping away, Felix smiled, and gave me a short salute. “Well, then. Guess I’ll see you again back at home.”
“Yeah,” I said, waving bye to him. “Good luck with your dad.”
With that, Felix stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned on his heels, giving me one last tiny glance over his shoulder, a smile lingering on his lips. I watched him walk away a few yards before turning away.
One breath in, one out.
I was lucky.
Too lucky.
The first thing I wanted to do was go find some tiny corner of the world to hide in, somewhere I could be by myself, process my feelings, and never come out.
But before that, I had to see Pierre. Maybe even if I was with him, I could do just that.
Sucking in a deep breath, I started walking toward the health center, a low-brick building across the quad—but not before looking over my shoulder.
Okay.
I was okay.
As I started across the quad, I kept my eyes down, feeling like every time someone passed me by they were glaring into my skull, snickering, forming assumptions in their head, as if they knew me, as if they had seen everything go down themselves.
Suddenly, I stopped walking. I forced my head up.
No. No one was looking at me. No one even noticed I was there. If anything, in their eyes, I was just another student wandering around campus like any other day, trying to pretend I was cooler than I knew I was.
But that didn’t matter.
Even if people had been looking, that was no reason to keep my head down. I was Kathleen fucking Silver. I was strong. I went through tons of shit and still kept coming out alive.
That thought made me smirk. Instead of letting my gaze fall back to the ground, I lifted my eyes to the sky.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder—how did Tommy know about my “relationship” with Elliot and his buddies? Sure, whatever Vivian had told him was a skewed version of the story, but even she didn’t know about the deal I’d made with them. A deal that I thought no longer mattered.
And why the hell was Felix summoned here by his father?
Shaking my head, I focused on the path ahead of me, and saw that I was nearing the building. Just before I reached for the door, I stopped, and took in a deep breath.
Most of all, how was I going to explain all of this to Pierre?
Whatever.
I’d cross that bridge when I got there. Right now, my sole mission was to make sure Pierre was okay, and get both our asses back home before anything else could happen to us.
And then …
Then we’d have a talk. A long, heartfelt talk.
And I’d make sure that everything would be okay.
