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Her smile fades.
“Only someone like you would take that as a compliment, McKinley,” she instantly shoots bitterly.
Excuse me?
I know what professor Byrne is trying to say, and no matter from what perspective you see it from, it sounds unbelievably bad. The truth is that there wasn’t a place for various interpretations. She’s falling into the same trap that everyone else has, instead of evaluating me from my progress as a student and person.
“Professor, I truly don’t understand why we’re here.” Bree brings the attention back to the same topic, trying to get her to go straight to the point.
“Someone gave me an anonymous report that you guys have been copying each other during the whole semester. Cheating is frowned upon by Moss University. You should know that by now.” She smiles when my face goes pale. “I’ve discussed the options with the dean and the president. They’re evaluating your case. This institution doesn’t have a place for incompetent people who take the easy way out.”
“An anonymous report?” Bree inquires, keeping her posture. “Sounds like a grave accusation without fundaments.”
“Funny that you mention it. I have a whole archive of evidence: all of your assignments, and the partial test.”
I feel sick. Nausea rolls through my stomach, and I start sweating under the fabric of my hoodie. The temperature stays the same, but it’s like it has gotten twenty degrees hotter.
“Coincidences happen, professor. I think there has been a misunderstanding. I’d even dare to say that you’re judging us without having substantial proof,” Bree defends us, stepping up when I’ve lost my voice.
I’m grateful that she’s here because I don’t have the guts to confront this situation with ease. I’m close to having a mental breakdown.
“You can take it however you want, Miss Pierce. The dean is handling the situation and will let us know his decision before the finals begin,” she expresses coldly as if she didn’t care that she’s threatening our futures. We’re walking on a tightrope because she chose to be incompetent. “I’m sure that they’ll be communicating with you, but I’m letting you know beforehand. During the process of evaluation, you’re both suspended from any extracurricular activities, associations, and sports.”
My heart falls to my feet with her words.
During a full minute, I forget how to breathe as I see my future shattering in front of me with a simple sentence. It took less than twenty words to destroy me. I’m not even capable of processing whatever she says next. I see her lips moving, but no sound enters my ears. Everything is spinning, and my brain drowns out every sound surrounding me.
There’s only one thought in my mind.
Without the team, they pause my scholarship. With that accusation, every financial aid that I have is gone. It invalids my eligibility for the scholarships, for everything that I’ve worked so hard to keep.
It’s over.
Today it’s the only moment where I regret accepting Bree’s proposal, and I don’t care if it brought us together. Deep down, I know that I can’t treasure the breaking point of my future. I can’t appreciate what’s ripping me in half.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Stanley avoids me the rest of the day in which I feel like a ghost mourning for everything that won’t be part of my life anymore. He spiraled and fled after the Harpy stopped talking to us. Without looking at me. Without even hearing what I have to say. Stanley only walked away from me.
In a way, I can’t blame him for his behavior. He’s not like me. My parents have a fund for my degree, and with my choice of major, I can make a name for myself without going through the protocol of graduating. There are a lot of options that I can have. Stanley needs his diploma to achieve his goals. Without the team and with an accusation like that on his file, there’s no chance that he can keep living here. He’s not going to be able to apply to any college.
His future is shattering into a thousand pieces, and there’s nothing that he can do about it. Somehow, it’s my fault that this happened. I’m sure that Stanley would’ve found a way to pass the class without cheating. I gave him the key to the easy path. I offered him to use it.
Guilt settles in my stomach, and it doesn’t allow me to eat the whole day. I won’t be able to forgive myself if this turns out to be worse than we thought. If Stanley loses everything because of me—
I don’t even want to think about it because the single thought makes me sick. I’ve been repressing nausea and the need to cry my fear away for hours. When I spot Ryder on campus, I do everything in my power to resist the urge to burst out in tears as I jump over him, hugging him so hard that my arms become numb.
“Bree, what happened?”
“There’s something that you need to know,” I tell him, my voice squeaking as the lump in my throat grows stronger, suffocating me.
I fill him in with the information that the Harpy told us, and he takes me to his apartment, hoping that Stanley is there.
I’m terrified, almost wheezing as the air refuses to fill my lungs. I’m not sure what kind of crisis I’m going to be witnessing when I finally find him. If he’s not here, I can’t think of a better place. The apartment is the only place that I can think of, or maybe Mantra. But it’s too early to visit the rooftop, and he hadn’t borrowed Ry’s car to get there either.
I’m scared that the consequences of this are going to be the end of us. I’m afraid that Stanley and I are a match that burned too fast, that we don’t stand a chance of staying alive when the fire goes out.
Pushing the ajar door with my hand, I peek at the mess. Most of his books cover the floor, spread in different positions, showing they were thrown with anger and frustration. The shut curtains leave the room in dim darkness. I repress my tears when I find Stanley sitting on the floor in the middle of his disaster, with his knees pushed to his chest, his elbows resting on his knees.
