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“No, what you’re doing is making this worse. She needs you.”

“No,” Sebastian said, shaking his head, “she doesn’t.”

“God, you’re such an ass,” his brother said, shaking his head in disgust as he stood up and walked away, leaving Sebastian sitting there, struggling not to look at Mikey again, knowing just how easily he would break if he did.

She deserved better than someone that was just going to ruin her life. Without him in the picture, she had a chance to fix everything and he wasn’t about to take that away from her. Her parents were going to fight the expulsion and they’d probably win, especially since he planned on writing a letter taking full responsibility for everything that happened.

Hopefully that would be enough to keep the private schools interested in her, Sebastian thought only to frown when his iPad alerted him to a message. Surprised that his parents hadn’t taken this away from him last night, he swiped his fingers across the iPad and–

Felt the air rush out of him when he saw the two emails waiting for him. The first one was from the exam center. Knowing that it wasn’t going to make a difference, Sebastian opened the email and saw his score.

150 out of 150 possible points.

Of course, he’d get a perfect score, Sebastian thought numbly as he hit delete and moved on to the next email, noting that it was from the high school. Slowly exhaling, Sebastian opened the email and found himself numbly staring down at the proof that he’d screwed everything up.

He–

“What do we have here?” Braxton asked, sounding amused as he snatched the iPad out of Sebastian’s hands only to laugh a few seconds later when he read the email.

“Give it back,” Sebastian said as he reached over to snatch the iPad out of Braxton’s hands only to have the jerk pull it out of his reach.

“You got rejected from a public high school?” Braxton asked, laughing as Sebastian slowly became aware that everyone at the party was looking at them. “How do you get kicked out of a school that you’re not even in? That’s pathetic.”

“I’m not playing with you, Braxton. Give it back to me,” Sebastian said as he moved closer, reaching to grab it again, but Braxton wasn’t done.

“Dear Mr. Sebastian Bradford, we regret to inform you that we will be unable to allow you to attend next year. You are welcome to enroll in the virtual alternative, please see the link below. We would also like to remind you that you are not eligible for any extracurricular activities or allowed–”

“Enough,” Mikey said, snatching the iPad out of Braxton’s hands before he could finish, but the damage had already been done.

His family watched him with pity in their eyes while Braxton’s family looked at him with disgust. Having had more than enough of this party, Sebastian turned around and–

“Aw, come on, don’t you want to know what you’re not allowed to do?” Braxton called after him in a mocking tone.

“Go to hell,” Sebastian said, forcing himself to keep going, wondering just how soon his parents could ship him off to military school and get him the hell out of here before he–

“Give it back!” Mikey snapped right around the time that Braxton said, “Don’t forget your iPad.”

Before Sebastian could turn around, he watched as his iPad soared past him and landed on the driveway ten feet away with a sickening crack. He watched as his iPad broke in two with the back breaking off and skidding several feet away, leaving the shattered screen behind.

“What is your problem?” Mikey yelled, drawing his attention back in time to see Braxton shove Mikey out of his way and…

That was it.

He was on Braxton less than a second later, pulling back his fist and punching him, knocking him on the ground. Sebastian didn’t wait for Braxton to get up, he followed him down, punching him as soon as his knee hit the ground, barely aware of the blows that Braxton was landing and not giving a damn about anything else other than shutting him up.

He’d had enough.

He was sick of everything, sick of screwing up all the time, sick of the way that everyone looked at him, and sick of…sick of…everything!

“Sebastian, stop!” Mikey said, trying to grab hold of his arm but he pulled it free and hit Braxton again and again until someone grabbed hold of him and dragged him off, but not before Braxton landed a kick, hitting him in the gut and knocking the wind out of him.

“Sebastian, calm down!” his father yelled as he pulled him back, but he was done.

Yanking his arms free, Sebastian shoved his father away, ignoring the startled look on his father’s face and stumbled toward the driveway, grabbing his ruined iPad and shoving it in his sweatshirt before he got the hell out of there.

Chapter 39

“Mikey!”