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“Aster, why on earth would you, of all people, be suspended?”
I took a deep breath because I needed to admit it to her. She’d believe me. She’d understand. Or at least, I hoped.
“Because I deserved it.” I sucked in the air, feeling my chest cave in a little. “I cheated.”
I gulped, waiting for her to yell at me, but it didn’t come. When I opened my eyes, she was just watching me, waiting for more of an explanation.
I can do this.
I have to do this.
Because if I couldn’t explain it to her, how the hell was I going to get anyone else to believe me? Although did it matter if I got people on my side when there was concrete evidence for it?
“Technically, I didn’t cheat, but Connor, that hockey player I dated and tutored for a couple of months, did. He’d been cheating the whole time I was tutoring him, but to be honest, his papers were so bad, I didn’t pick up on it. I’d hate to think what his papers would have been like if he wrote them himself.”
“How did you find out?” Well, she wasn’t yelling at me, so that was a good thing.
“I was studying with him, and I wanted to check something on his laptop while he was in the bathroom. I found an AI program open, and a heck of a lot of prompts about writing essays for his classes.”
“Did you report him when you found out?”
I shook my head. “No. When I confronted him about it, we got into a huge argument, and he stormed out. A couple of hours later, he texted me and asked me to meet him at the sorority house. I did and walked in on him and Rachel kissing.”
“Rachel?” There was surprise and strain in her voice. “I didn’t think she was like that.”
“Yeah,” I drawled out. “She’s not as nice as I’m sure she makes out to be at those alumni zoom calls you like to attend.”
“But it doesn’t make sense. Why is Connor cheating coming down on you?”
“Because there’s more.”
“Oh,” Her voice fell flat.
I didn’t let her think about it for too long and quickly added, “but they aren’t true. I don’t even know how anyone would come up with such a ridiculous lie. But it’s bad. It’s terrible, actually.”
“Aster, just tell me. I can’t help you if I don’t know.”
“Someone started a rumor that I’m having an affair with one of my professors.”
“Aster,” my mother said calmly, but I could tell by the pinch of her lips, she was anything but calm. “Can you please explain to me why you didn’t start with that?”
“Because it’s so untrue, it’s laughable. The professor is in his fifties and has five kids.”
“Which Professor.”
“Professor Murphy.” I gulped down the bitter taste, because I knew this was going to get harder.
“You mean the Professor that wanted you as his student TA next year?”
“Yup. The one and only.”
“Is there definitely no truth in the allegations?”
My own mother was questioning me. I was screwed. I should just kiss Tanner goodbye now because he won’t believe me. Rachel would have gotten everything she wanted.
No Tanner. No sorority. No college degree.
“There is no truth. The only person I’m dating is Tanner, and I would never have an affair with one of my teachers.”
