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Donny’s nostrils flare. “That’s defamation. I could sue you.”
“It’s only defamation if it’s a lie. Maybe you’d know that, if you paid attention in PSHE instead of texting all of your mates about the imaginary handies I gave you in the loo.”
“It’s blackmail,” he counters, but his voice wobbles.
“Sure,” I say evenly. “Doesn’t make much of a difference to you though, does it? Either way, whenever anyone looks up your name online, the first thing they’ll see is a long list of all the disgusting, illegal things you did as a teenager. I doubt they’ll help your chances in the next election, will they?”
Donny swallows. He’s breathing hard. Sweat is beading on his forehead. “I’ll drop the charges,” he says eventually, his voice rasping.
“And make the statement,” I repeat patiently.
His face darkens. “And make the statement.”
I pat his cheek. “Good boy.” I nod at the sad little party. “Was that so hard? You can go play with your friends now.”
He turns to go, then hesitates, his eyes fixed on the floor.
“Yes?” I ask patiently. “Do you want something else?”
“I’m, like.” He rubs the back of his head, his mouth twisting. “Sorry. Or whatever. It’s not… it had nothing to do with you, like, as a person. You were just… there. You know? Everyone was doing it.”
For a second, I’m taken aback. I didn’t expect him to apologise, no matter how terrible the apology is.
But honestly, it’s much too little, much too late.
“You want to know the truth?” I ask. “I really, truly don’t care. I don’t care about any of you anymore. So piss off and leave me the Hell alone.”
Tossing one last glare over his shoulder, he goes to rejoin the rest of the group, his head dipped low. As he walks away, it feels like a weight is being lifted off my chest.
A warm arm wraps around my waist, and a soft beard tickles my cheek. “You’re so scary,” Zack says into my ear. “Where’s the bathroom? I need to jump out the window to get away from you.”
“Most of my dates feel a similar urge. Breathe deep, it’ll pass.”
“You did amazing,” Josh agrees, coming up to my other side and taking my hand.
I look up at him and smile, leaning back against Zack’s chest. “Thanks. Can we go get some real food now? Revenge is exhausting.”
Josh tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “Of course. I think Luke is almost done yelling at Amy.”
My eyebrows raise. “He’s yelling at her? Seriously?”
He points to the corner of the room, and I turn to see Luke in a very heated argument with Amy. His cheeks are flushed red as he gesticulates furiously. She looks like she wants to crack his skull open.
I wince. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I should’ve told you what a harpy she was before your brother married her.”
Josh shakes his head. “Even if you had said something, he wouldn’t have listened. Rob can handle himself. He has a very low tolerance for BS.”
As we watch, Luke breaks off the argument, turning on his heel and stalking back to us. Amy shoots daggers at his back.
“Let’s get out of here,” he demands when he reaches us. “Before I start punching people.”
I pull a face. “That bad?”
“They haven’t even been logging student welfare complaints!” He bursts out. “I thought Emery had a low exclusion rate because there weren’t any issues with bullying here. But they’ve just been sweeping everything under the rug, because they don’t want to make the school look bad!”
He wipes a hand over his face. “I should’ve done this so much earlier. The way this place is being run is disgraceful.”
I reach up and rub at the frown lines between his eyebrows, smoothing them out. “You’re doing it now,” I remind him. “Now, finally, those students have someone who cares about them.” I link our fingers together. “And so do I.”
