by L. A. Sable
Maybe Charlie is right. I am about to fuck all of this up.
I’m so lost to my own thoughts that I don’t notice that we’ve reached the school and stopped at the front entrance until someone is opening my door.
When I look up, the stern face of Dean Felton is staring down at me. “Ms. Murphy, I need to see you in my office immediately.”
I scramble out of the car and take the overnight bag that the driver is holding out to me. “Can I run to my room really quick and drop off my bag?”
“No.” Dean Felton abruptly turns away and marches up the steps toward Bellamy Hall, not bothering to look back to check that I’m following him.
A streak of fear moves through me. This is the first time that the dean has ever spoken to me directly and he doesn’t look happy. I glance behind me to see Charlie getting out of the other side of the car. Her expression is wide-eyed as she raises a hand and motions me forward, mouthing the word Go!
Dean Felton doesn’t bother to hold the door open for me and it nearly slams shut in my face as I hurry after him. The sound of clipped steps echoes down the deserted hallway towards his office. Charlie and I had come back early so there’s nobody around yet. Most of the other students won’t be back on campus until later in the afternoon. What could the dean possibly need to speak to me about this urgently on the Sunday morning after break?
My heart sinks when he pushes open the door to his office and I see Chloe sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. She smirks at me when Dean Felton’s back turns to her as he makes his way around the desk to sit behind it on the leather office chair. As soon as he is facing us, her expression changes to one of exaggerated sadness.
What has she done?
“Ladies, I apologize for the abrupt nature of this meeting,” Dean Felton says as he steeples his fingers and rests sharp elbows on the desk blotter in front of him. “But some troubling allegations have come to light, and it is important that we address it immediately.”
Chloe turns on me with eyes as wide as a porcelain doll’s, but also just as empty. For all her play-acting, I can see the satisfaction burning in her gaze. “I’m so sorry, Lily. I know you begged me not tell, but I just had to do it, for your sake.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, looking from the smug expression that Chloe barely tries to hide to the dean’s stern countenance. “What is going on?”
“It has come to my attention that a member of our faculty has been acting inappropriately with female students.”
I just stare at him blankly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“C’mon, Lily,” Chloe says casting me a look of faux sympathy that’s such a clear manipulation I can see through it better than a piece of glass. “You don’t have to protect Mr. Cardill anymore.”
“Mr. Cardill?” And then the reality of it crashes into me like a ton of bricks. I turn to Dean Felton, ignoring the viper with a pretty face beside me. “What did she tell you?”
The dean narrows his eyes, gaze roving over me in a way that isn’t entirely friendly. “Chloe has come forward and admitted that Mr. Cardill engaged in an inappropriate relationship with her in exchange for an improved grade. She has also disclosed that she witnessed you with him in an empty classroom while you were serving Saturday detention.”
“She didn’t walk in on anything and I seriously doubt that Mr. Cardill would touch her with a ten-foot pole. This whole thing is a fantasy.”
“I can appreciate that your feelings are confused, that’s part of what makes it so wholly inappropriate. Your teacher took advantage of your ignorance.” Dean Felton picks up a pen and impatiently taps it on the table, as if he’s eager for this to be done. “And Ms. Devlin is not the only student who has come forward with an accusation.”
I roll my eyes so hard that they nearly fall out of my head. “Let me guess, Chloe convinced some of her friends to make up lies too. Ocean Foley or Maisie Howard, maybe.”
“Ms. Murphy—”
“They’re making this up!” I’m nearly yelling at this point and have to force myself to calm down. “None of what Chloe is saying is true, Dean Felton. Bring Mr. Cardill in here and he’ll tell you the same thing I have. They’re making it up.”
“We cannot allow even the appearance of this sort of activity at Black Lake. As such, Liam Cardill has been terminated from his position here, effective immediately.”
“So you’re not even going to investigate,” I say, incredulous. This can’t be happening. I’m not so naïve as to pretend there was absolutely no sexual tension between me and Liam, but he never touched me and now he’s lost his job. “You’re just going to take Chloe’s word for it and fire him. This is crazy. You’re crazy.”
“If you would be so good as to leave us, Ms. Delvin.”
Chloe gets up slowly, body language full of contrition that I know damn well she doesn’t feel. The girl is a monster, and she doesn’t care that she’s ruined the life of an innocent man just to get to me. I have to sit on my hands to keep myself from wrapping them around her neck as she brushes by me, letting her dark ponytail slap my face as she turns.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Lily.” Chloe stops at the door to throw one more dig before leaving. “If I can do anything to help, please let me know.”
The only thing Chloe Devlin would ever help me do is jump off of the nearest building. “You can help by telling the truth.”
“I guess I’ll just go then. I hope you can see how much Mr. Cardill has warped your mind with his deviant behavior.”
She closes the door before I can spit out another retort.
I turn back to face Dean Felton, part of me still convinced that I can make him see the truth through Chloe’s deception. “So you’re just going to act like I don’t know what I’m talking about, even as I’m telling you the truth. If you can’t see through Chloe’s act, then you’re blind as a fruit bat.”
“Just this once, I’ll forgive your tone given the emotional nature of the circumstances. Whether you can admit it to yourself or not, Mr. Cardill took advantage of you and it is my job to protect you from that.” Dean Felton leans over to rustle in the drawer next to him. “I’ve compiled some information on sexual assault that I would like you to review. I will speak with your mother about this incident as we have a meeting planned after convocation. I have also made arrangements for weekly visits with the school counselor.”
“Are you literally shitting me?”
“Language, Ms. Murphy,” Dean Felton replies mildly. “Unless you would like me to discuss that with your mother as well.” He waits for a response, so I just shake my head and look away. He’s already decided what he’s going to do, having me here is a formality at best. “Since you are the victim in this situation, there will be no negative consequences. But I suggest that you give some serious thought to what it means to behave appropriately.”
He says it like he’s already decided I’m the sort of girl who needs reminders about appropriate behavior. That, combined with his expression, makes it clear precisely what he thinks about me.
“You’re making me go see a counselor, how is that not a punishment? Does Chloe have to go?”
“I will not discuss confidential information about another student with you. But I will say that Ms. Devlin has been much more forthcoming about the situation, I have to take that into consideration.
“I guess that’s a no, then.”
Dean Felton purses his lips. “If you require any additional assistance, my door is always open.”
“Yeah, great.” I push up from the chair.
“Shut that behind you.”
Irony is alive and well at Black Lake Prep.
When I get out of the dean’s office and out into the main hall, the first person I see is Chloe, leaning against the wall. The already large smirk on her face only gets bigger when she sees the tears streaming down my face.
“What’s the matter, Goldie?” she says, pushing off of th
e wall to come towards me. “Sad there’s one less dick at this school for you to go after?”
My hand goes up on instinct, flying through the air to slam across her cheek with all the force that I can muster. I can tell immediately from the look on her face that Chloe has never been hit before, which is amazing considering how punchable her face is in general. I don’t even care that my hand stings and I’m almost certainly going to get myself expelled. That shocked and pained expression on her face is worth whatever consequences are coming my way.
Chloe makes a sort of shrieking sound and launches herself at me. But before she can claw my eyes out, Jayden is stepping between us, gently but firmly pushing her back.
“That’s enough of that,” he says, glaring at Chloe. “Aren’t you late for ruining someone else’s life?”
The size of his body is enough to keep her physically at bay, but Chloe still spits at me. “I’m going to destroy you, gold-digging bitch.”
“Not today.” Jayden pushes her back hard enough that Chloe has to catch herself on the wall behind her. “Get out of here before the dean comes running. Even you aren’t above getting demerits for fighting.”
Chloe straightens her blazer and glares at both of us, but her eyes glow with true hatred when her attention turns to me. “This isn’t over. How many more people will you take down with you before you get the hint and leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I tell her, deciding then and there that no matter how bad it gets at Black Lake, I’ll stay just out of spite. Chloe isn’t going to just get away with this. “You can’t scare me away, you fucking monster.”
Chloe comes at me again and I brace myself, ready to knock her into next Tuesday. But Jayden keeps us apart and pushes her down the hallway. “Enough!”
“Fine, but he won’t be around to protect you forever.” Chloe backs slowly down the hallway, expression malevolent as she regards me. “We’ll finish this later, Goldie.”
Before I can think of a retort, she’s already disappeared down a hallway and is gone.
I lean against the wall, suddenly exhausted as the adrenaline drains out of me. “She’s going to report me.”
“No, she won’t,” Jayden assures me. “That isn’t how things work here, we don’t involve the faculty. She’ll be gunning for you, though.”
“You mean she isn’t already?”
“Fair enough.” He touches my arm hesitantly before pulling away as if unsure whether he should try to comfort me or not. “I’m sorry about Mr. Cardill. He actually made math class not a completely tortuous experience. I know you liked him.”
“I liked him as a teacher,” I clarify, even though the truth is lost somewhere in a shade of gray. “How have you already heard about it?”
Jayden shrugs, expression sheepish. “News travels fast around here, and bad news tends to move at the speed of light.”
“Chloe made it all up to spite me, you know.” Even though I’ll probably never see him again, I feel like I have to defend Mr. Cardill’s honor. “He never did anything inappropriate with me.”
“I believe you. It’s a dirty move, even for Chloe.”
“It just makes me so angry that she thinks she can just mess with people’s lives like this. It’s not fair.”
“Life never is.” Jayden gives me a reassuring smile. “Mr. Cardill will land on his feet. You’re the one who’s stuck here dealing with Chloe.”
“You should have let us fight. I would have wiped the floor with her.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it. You’re Lily from the block.”
My eyebrows go up, amused in spite of myself. If there’s one thing that Jayden’s good at, it’s putting people in a good mood even if it’s impossible to know what he’s really thinking. “Are you making fun of me?”
He gives me the same smile that has been stopping hearts since he was twelve-years-old. “Maybe just a little.”
“Look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t think this school would be a better place if Chloe Devlin got the ass kicking she deserves?”
“Absolutely,” Jayden agrees without hesitation. “I only put up with her because she and Lukas have been hooked up since the cradle.”
“That’s a relationship that I will never understand. Lukas isn’t exactly the friendliest guy I’ve ever met, but he doesn’t seem like evil incarnate. What can he possibly see in her?”
“Chloe is super hot.” Jayden says it like that it’s the most natural thing in the world to ignore everything about a person because of how they look. Although, he has spent most of his life in Hollywood, a place where everyone is judged pretty much exclusively on their appearance. His perception has to be a little warped. “Plus there’s some arrangement between their families, I think.”
My eyebrows go up. “What, like an arranged marriage or something?”
“Not exactly, more like an understanding. I get the impression he’s under a lot of pressure to make it work.”
I will never understand rich people for as long as I live. “If you say so.”
Jayden looks suddenly eager to change the subject as he glances down the hallway. “Where are you headed now?”
“I haven’t been back to my room yet.” I kick at the overnight bag that’s resting on the floor next to me where I’d dropped it before going after Chloe. “Dean Felton ambushed me as soon as the car pulled up.”
“Yeah, he can be a dick like that when he wants to be.” To my surprise, Jayden reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing it softly before letting go. “How about we meet up for lunch after you get settled?”
“Like, just the two of us?”
He shrugs like it’s not a big deal, but his eyes burn into mine. “If you want.”
I know he had told me back at the house that he was throwing his hat in the ring, but I hadn’t really taken it seriously. Jayden Heart is world famous and so hot that his face doesn’t look out of place on billboards. It’s hard to believe that he would be at all interested in me. “Yeah, sure. Just give me a bit and I’ll meet you in the dining hall.”
“Anything for my biggest fan.”
I can’t stop the furious blush from rising in my face. “Are you ever going to let that go?”
He smirks, bringing out the dimples in his cheeks. “Maybe, in a couple of years.”
“Okay, I’m leaving now.” I pick my bag up off the floor and sling it over my shoulder. When I risk another glance at his face, there’s still a wide smile stretching his full lips as if he’s holding in laughter. I don’t know how much of this I can take. “See you at lunch.”
I can tell without turning back to look that he watches me go.
Chapter 17
Both Kai and Jayden are waiting for me in the mostly empty dining hall when I’ve finally pulled myself together enough to head to lunch. There’s not much time left before they stop the lunch service, so I’m a little surprised to find them there with empty plates in front of them.
“You didn’t have to wait for me,” I say as I sit down. “Have you been sitting here for long?”
“Not too long,” Jayden assures me before casting a wry glance at Kai. “This one insisted it would be rude to start without you. Just like he insisted on coming in the first place when he found out I was planning to meet up with you.”
What almost looks like a blush briefly touches Kai’s high cheekbones. He makes a point of shaking out his napkin with a sharp flick and laying it over his lap. “What, I’m not allowed to eat lunch?”
“You were complaining about starving to death over an hour ago,” Jayden points out with a frown.
“Maybe I wanted company.”
“Very specific company, seems like.”
“If you want me to leave, you should just say so.”
“I want you to leave.”
“Both of you are welcome,” I interrupt, holding up my hands as they glare at each other. “Let’s just eat before they stop serving. We’re all friends here.”
“Just friends
?” Jayden asks, waggling his eyebrows. It’s impossible to tell from his tone how serious he is, if at all. “Even after I asked you out for lunch? I thought this was a date.”
“Maybe that’s why she only thinks of you as a friend,” Kai responds with a scoff. “What kind of date can you have at the dining hall?”
“Well, I don’t exactly have limitless options here.”
“You’re also an idiot.”
The waiter comes by to take our orders with a bored expression on his face. I use the break to surreptitiously look at both of them, trying to figure out how I ended up here. Are we really friends? How the hell did that happen?
“I heard about Mr. Cardill,” Kai says as soon as the waiter is out of earshot. “That whole thing smells like shit.”
“It was Chloe and her posse. I still can’t believe that she would go after Mr. Cardill like that. I always thought she liked him.”
Jayden shrugs. “And she knew that he’s your favorite teacher. She saw an opportunity to hurt you and she took it.”
“And she doesn’t care that a good teacher just had his career ruined.”
“Dean Felton got rid of him fast to keep the scandal quiet,” Jayden points out calmly, as if this sort of thing happens all the time. “Mr. Cardill will have a job somewhere else by the end of the semester.”
“That girl is the devil in a dress, I swear.”
“She can’t do anything to really hurt you,” Kai reassures me. “Let her think she’s won for a bit and things will die down.”
That sounds suspiciously like the advice adults always give to ignore your bullies until they go away. And that advice never works. And I might be one more greased up diving board away from a broken back. “If you say so.”
“Maybe I can get Lukas to talk to her for you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “You really think he’d do that?”
“Probably not, but it can’t hurt to ask.”
“Unless Chloe finds out you’re making moves behind her back,” Jayden points off. “She doesn’t need more reasons to go on the warpath.”