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“Brock… Brock,” Simone continues to call out to me as I continue to walk away from her.
Reaching my study area, my mood doesn’t improve. If anything, it gets worse. Kassidy is at the table in our assigned area, but she isn’t alone. The Jolly Green Giant is with her. Since my feet have stopped moving, Simone has had the opportunity to catch up to me. She hasn’t noticed yet that we have an audience.
“Ooh, you sly boy,” she says from behind me. Her hands wrap around my waist, trying to work the button on my jeans. Before I get the opportunity to remove her hands, a throat clears, halting her movements.
Keeping her arms around my waist, she looks around my body. Simone goes rigid, seeing Kassidy and Callum sitting there. She releases her hold on me like my body is suddenly on fire.
“Oh,” she starts before clearing her own throat. “Hi, Callum,” Simone says stiffly. Ignoring Kassidy altogether, she addresses me. “Brock, I will, ah, catch up to you later, huh?” Not waiting for a response, she turns on her heel, leaving an awkward silence hanging between the three of us.
Setting my bag on the table, I stand there, eyes bouncing between the two unhappy people staring at me. Callum sits with his arms crossed over his chest and an eyebrow raised injudgment. Kassidy’s cheeks are flushed as she diverts her gaze to the surface of the table.
Heaving out a breath, it’s time to start groveling. Despite already setting my bag on the table, I remain on my feet; my words are laced with apprehension.
“First, I want to apologize for yesterday. It is none of my business what any of you do.” Chancing a glance at Callum, both of his eyebrows are now raised in question. Since it isn’t him that I have to work with, I continue my apology to Kassidy. “Second, Simone was not invited here. She ambushed me as soon as I entered the building and followed me, misunderstanding why I walked away from her.”
The words sound weak to my own ears. Callum has remained still as a statue, his expression giving nothing away. Kassidy finally looks at me, an undecipherable look on her face.
“Brock, you don’t have to explain your actions to me. I am not your keeper. I do expect to be treated with respect and that you extend the courtesy of being professional during our tutor sessions. What you do outside of our scheduled time is your business, just as mine is none of yours.” Kassidy’s voice holds no emotion.
For some reason, her lack of emotion hurts my pride. Deciding to push the hurt feelings aside, I take a seat at the table and get this session started, doing my best to ignore the glares coming from Callum.
Tutoring goes well, although the tension in the room is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Kassidy made up a study guide for me. She also reached out to my professors to get extra credit assignments arranged. The extra work is going to kill me with my schedule, but if it keeps me playing ball, so be it. I have no choice but to make it work.
As soon as our time is up, Callum stands. Kassidy starts to put her things away as he waits patiently. Starting to clean up myown work, none of us utter a word. As soon as Kassidy is ready, Callum leads her away, not waiting for me. By the time I step outside, the pair is nowhere in sight.
Making my way to the frat house, my mind spins. The need to do something for Kassidy is almost overwhelming. Inside the house, the noise is loud. A small party is going on, and once I am spotted, my name gets called out in a wave, moving from room to room. Resigning myself to having to put in an appearance, I head to my room to drop off my backpack.
Slowly descending the stairs and heading to the kitchen, a plastic cup is thrust into my hand as soon as my feet cross the threshold. The clear liquid gives off a pungent scent, causing my nose to wrinkle in disgust. Not thinking too much of what is in the cup, I quickly toss it back. My chest burns as the liquid makes its way down. Coughing and punching myself in the chest, I stare at Darius Jackson, left fielder on the baseball team.
“What the fuck did I just drink?” My voice is rough, still trying to catch my breath.
The asshole laughs at me. “Moonshine, it’s one-hundred-ninety-proof,” he says with a smirk.
“Warn a guy next time, fuck.” My throat and stomach burn. Tossing out a fist, I catch him in the arm with a solid punch. Darius is fit, but he doesn’t have the muscle mass I do. He winces as the punch connects with his bicep.
Deciding to throw caution to the wind, wanting to relax after a tense evening, I hold the cup out for a refill. With a shake of his head and a laugh, he puts twice as much in my cup this time. Silently daring me to down the contents, I accept his challenge.
My alarm goes off, and the ringing echoes through my head.
“Shut it the fuck off!” Zanko shouts from the other side of the room, throwing a pillow at me to emphasize his annoyance.
After silencing the alarm, I toss my feet over the edge of the bed. My vision is blurry, and the room spins. Giving myself a moment, it takes several attempts to get to my feet without puking. Grabbing a bottle of water from the mini-fridge, I crack it open, chugging all of it in one go. My stomach threatens to revolt against the liquid but it manages to stay down. Grabbing a second bottle and finding some painkillers, I pop a couple of tablets and grab my workout gear.
“Dude, you are a masochist,” a muffled voice says.
Looking over my shoulder, Zanko is still in bed, a pillow wrapped tightly around his head.
“I don’t have a choice,” I speak softly so as not to aggravate my already pounding head.
Once dressed and after finishing a second bottle of water and grabbing a third bottle on my way to the gym.
CHAPTER NINE
As I make my way to the dining hall for lunch, Simone, Danica, Cecelia, and Trish, all seem to be waiting for me outside the door. It looks as if they want to confront me, which doesn’t come as a surprise.
“What do you think you are doing, Mouse?” Simone sneers.
Playing dumb, knowing full well they are referring to Brock, my spine stiffens. “What do you mean?”
