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“From this point forward, please email all final projects as well as turn in a hard copy. I suggest you carry this new practice into your other classes as well. There are many students and faculty alike that would love to create a dark slash against the reputation of the Montgomery name.”
With that, he turns and walks away. Leaving me dumbfounded in an empty lecture hall. Embarrassment, gratitude, and relief all war inside me for dominance. I’ll take his words to heart though. If those assholes were willing to go this far to ruin me, they’re only just getting started.
Fury pushes out everything else I’m feeling as I once again pack up my bag.
I’m fuming by the time I reach biology and shove through the door, heading straight for where I know Ashton and Elias always sit.
“Ruining my reputation and trying to sabotage my relationship is one thing,” I spit out as soon as I’m close enough to them. “But this?” I slap the crumpled up paper on Elias’ desk. “It’s too far. Hate me all you want, but how dare you try and take away my future too.”
He sneers as he raises a brow at me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Ashton leans back silently in his seat, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of us. I can’t bring myself to look his way. Haven’t been able to since he caught me after that breakfast date with Carson.
Anger rides me hard, my temper getting the best of me. “If you didn’t want to go to school with me then you shouldn’t have followed me here. I haven’t done anything for you to work so hard at getting me expelled.”
His responding laugh grates against my skin. The chilling, hollow sound mocking my words and my anger. “If we did something,” he emphasizes. “Don’t you think you would have earned it when you got us arrested.”
My chest constricts. He isn’t wrong, but fuck if that means he’s right. I’m too angry, too hurt, too fucking exhausted to care anyways. I don’t recognize the sound of my own empty laugh at his words. The edge of hysteria that I never knew I would be capable of creating. It shocks both of them too. They don’t recognize me anymore than I recognize them. I guess we all kept parts of ourselves hidden and just lied to ourselves that we were close.
“Use that big brain of yours, Elias,” I taunt, not even thinking about the consequences. “If I wanted you in jail, wanted to ruin your lives, don’t you think I could have?” He doesn’t back down but I can see my words registering in Ashton’s mind. “You weren’t arrested. You were detained. Didn’t know you were such a drama queen.”
He seethes, his own rage rising to meet mine. I watch as Ashton grips Eli's forearm, nodding his head to the class filling with students and immediately he backs down.
“Pathetic,” I whisper harshly before turning my back on them and taking an open seat across the room. Other students slowly start to fill the classroom, throwing cautious looks in both of our directions. At least no one overhead this head to head. I can only imagine the fuel it would add to the fires already burning up my reputation.
I resist the urge to hang my head in my own shame. I gained nothing from that interaction. Nothing at all. Even my last insult wasn’t directed at either of them but myself. I truly am pathetic. The jealousy that rose like a monster under my skin at that simple touch between the two of them. It’s so easy to remember how calming and soothing Ash’s presence could be. A hug from him would be sure to settle the whirlwind of anxiety, resentment, fear, and guilt that are tearing me apart from the inside out.
I debate all through class if I even have the mental energy to make it through my last class of the day. Especially because it’s one I share with Zaiden.
Fuck it. I can’t afford to screw up my own education when they’re already doing such a damn good job of it. Like everything else, I just have to push through.
Grabbing an iced coffee and a wrap on my break helps give me the energy to keep moving forward. I put my headphones in my ears and select a playlist to drown out everything about my surroundings I can’t stand. When I finish eating, I toss my phone in my bag and head across campus towards my afternoon class. Just one more to get through and then I can return to the dorms and be free of this day.
I tug my headphones off as I near class and hear the chatter of students surrounding me as I walk, but I force myself to ignore whatever they are saying. Praying for once it isn’t anything about me. Those prayers only last so long when I reach the hall my math class is held in and find Zaiden leaning casually on the doorframe of the entrance. I guess it’s time for round three.
Inhaling deeply, I keep my steps firm and my head high as the whispers of the other students finally start to register.
Whore.
Slut.
Bitch.
Cheater.
The last one is the only one that catches me off guard as it bounces around inside my head. Cheater. What the hell do they mean cheater? I look up and find Zaiden watching me process and he sees the moment it all connects and smiles smugly. No, they didn’t, surely what happened with the professor and my paper isn’t circulating, it can’t be. But as I listen to those taunts once more I feel ice roll over my skin. This is really happening.
“I really thought cheating would be beneath you, Sunshine,” Z drawls, winking at a couple of girls who walk by and swoon under his attention. “Which isn’t exactly a compliment considering my opinion of you is in the gutter.”
I march towards him and push him in the chest as hard as I can. “What the hell did you do?”
He stumbles, caught off guard by my outburst but his smile only grows. “What's the matter, Sunshine? Has Carson's stick up your ass turned you into a boring little housewife already?”
“Zaiden, I swear if you don’t stop messing with me, I’ll…”
He erases the space between us. “You’ll what? Betray me, stop talking to me, have me arrested?” His eyes turn darker with every word as he leans in and drops his voice to a whisper. “You’ve already done all that, so go ahead tell me what you’re gonna do to me, Sunshine. I’d love to know.”
His proximity to me is as intoxicating as it always was and I feel my heart in my throat and I have to force myself to swallow. “Just stop all of this, please. You guys have had your fun, but it’s time to move on. Just end this before it goes too far.” I don’t care that I am begging, I’d get on my knees here and now if I thought for a second he would truly listen, but of course my words are a waste of my breath. “This ends now.”
