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“Sienna?”
I lifted my head and looked at the door. Was he back?
There was a brief knock before a muffled masculine voice spoke up again. “Sienna? You in there?”
It was Tate.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I headed over to the door and opened it to let him in. Michaela was standing next to him, holding a bag of mini Toblerone bars.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” she asked, eyes widening as she took in my undoubtedly dismal appearance. “We’ve been texting and calling.”
“You didn’t answer all day. We were worried,” Tate added.
I opened my mouth to speak. I could tell them what I did earlier, couldn’t I? They were my best friends. They wouldn’t judge me, would they?
Oh, come on. Don’t be fucking stupid, the logical part of my brain told me. Of course they’d judge me. Harshly. After all, I’d done the stupidest possible thing.
“I… I got expelled,” I said, finally letting them in on my other shameful truth instead. “I have to leave after the semester is over.”
Tate’s brows shot up. “What?”
“Are you fucking serious?” Michaela said at the same time. “It wasn’t even you on the tape!”
“I know. But the dean made up his mind before I even got there,” I said, dejectedly padding back over to my bed. With a heavy sigh, I sat down and slowly shook my head. “I still can’t believe it.”
Michaela sat next to me and slung an arm around my shoulder. “I’m so sorry. This is fucked up. I’m going to get my parents to call the dean’s office and complain. They’re major donors, so they might have a bit of sway.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I murmured. “But thanks. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys. I’m just so embarrassed.”
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” Tate said, face darkening. “You did nothing wrong. Someone is out to get you, and it’s working.”
“It has to be Paxton, right? Like we talked about the other day?” Michaela said, cocking her head. “He obviously wants revenge for what Sienna did in high school.”
Tate grimaced. “Almost definitely. He’s popular. Well-connected, too, given that he’s a hockey star. He could’ve figured out ways to pull off all this bullshit.”
Michaela turned back to face me. “I’m so sorry we didn’t believe you at the start of the semester when you said you were worried about being on campus with him,” she said softly, rubbing my arm. “We were horrible. Acting like you were just paranoid when you actually had every reason to be afraid.”
“No, it’s fine.” I smiled weakly. “I understand. I probably seemed a little nuts to you guys.”
“Well, that’s no excuse for us being shitty friends.” She gave me a tight smile in return. “Let us make it up to you. Please.”
“Yes, you have to let us do something. We aren’t going to let you wallow and suffer,” Tate added. “So, here’s the plan. Michaela’s parents will contact the dean and appeal the decision. You can arrange that, right, Michaela?”
“Yup. Of course.”
“I’ll get in touch with your dad and tell him everything, seeing as he’s refusing to listen to your side of the story,” Tate went on. “We’ll also make some sort of collaborative evidence folder where we can try to put together the whole story. Everything that’s been happening, everything that could possibly prove it, witness statements… stuff like that.”
My brows rose. “Witness statements?”
Tate grinned. “Guess I still watch too much crime TV, huh? But seriously, I mean stuff like… uhh…” He paused and rubbed his chin, eyes narrowing with concentration. “The security guard you reported the tunnel incident to, for example. That report is still there, and I’m sure he’ll remember you. That’s proof that someone was stalking you, and it was reported weeks ago, so it shows a pattern.”
“I know a couple of girls who hook up with hockey guys, too,” Michaela added. “If I grab drinks with them soon, I might be able to convince them to sneakily hit up Paxton’s friends for information. See if he’s mentioned his plan to destroy you to any of them.”
“You really think we can go up against the campus hockey god?” I asked, brows furrowing. “Everyone loves him.”
Michaela snorted. “He’s just a hockey player. Not the king of the world. He could stand to get taken down a peg or two,” she said. “Trust me, he won’t be so popular when people find out he’s been terrorizing an innocent girl.”
“Except I’m not so innocent, am I?” I said, knitting my fingers on my lap. “He has a good reason to hate me, right?”
