Page 266 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol 4

I didn’t feel like I was going crazy though. Because Rob turned to him and gave him a strange look, like he was trying to figure him out too.

“You’re here,” Charlotte said and put her hand on my desk. “The Caldwells are here.” She lifted her hand above my head. “So why are you even attempting to speak to him?”

“Because we’re friends,” I said, more to the back of Matt’s head than to her. And despite the fact that I believed it, the words came out as more of a question than a statement. Because right now I could really use a friend. And Matt? He was ignoring me like what Charlotte was saying was true.

Matt ran his fingers through his golden hair instead of agreeing with me. But I noticed the way his shoulders were moving up and down a little faster like he was breathing hard. Was he holding back laughter?

He’s trying not to laugh at me.The realization hit me like a ton of bricks.He actually agrees with her.

Rob looked at him and then turned around. “How about you just leave her alone, Charlotte?” he said. “You’re acting like anyone here actually likes you when all you are is Isabella’s minion.”

She glared at Rob. “This is between me, her, and Matt. It has nothing to do with you.”

“It does if you…”

“Nope.” Charlotte popped the “p” in nope. “She’s a loser. No one would be friends with her, including you, Rob. So don’t even pretend to be her knight in shining armor when we both know she’ll never deserve one.”

More students started laughing. I could feel the tears prickling the corners of my eyes.

She turned her attention back to me. “How about you go back to whatever public school you came from?” she said. “Nobody, and I meannobody, wants you here.”

The pencil in Matt’s hand snapped in half.

“Isn’t that right, Matt?” Charlotte said. “Don’t you wish she’d just…disappear?”

The way she said it made me swallow hard. What did she mean by that? I wanted to think it meant nothing. But I was pretty sure people as rich as her had the means to make people disappear without a trace.

“Poof. Gone.” She snapped her fingers.

“Shut the hell up, Charlotte,” Matt finally said. His words were like ice and I felt frozen in place. But he didn’t turn around to look at me or her. He just kept looking straight ahead at the board.

“What…it’s true,” Charlotte said. “He’ll never go out with you, Brook or whatever your name is. He’ll never even speak to you again. I’m positively sure of it.”

“Brooklyn. My name is Brooklyn.” I wasn’t sure why that was the only thing I’d decided to defend. Like suddenly the only thing I knew for sure was my name.

“Class has started, Miss Sanders,” our teacher said and tapped his chalk against the board. “How about you turn to page 27 of your book like everyone else has and read the section about innovation aloud?”

Charlotte snickered.

I felt my face turning red. Was Mr. Hill really calling me out for talking? All I’d said was my name and Charlotte had been antagonizing me for the first few minutes of class. Kennedy had told me that there were rumors about Mr. Hill hating scholarship students. That he sucked up to the rich kids so they'd invest in one of his crazy entrepreneurship ideas or something like that. I'd initially thought about dropping the class, but then it was the only one I had with Matt. And Mr. Hill had seemed okay until...this moment.

“Now, Miss Sanders. Or would you like to spend the remainder of class in the principal’s office?”

I opened up to the page he’d written on the board and started reading.

Mr. Hill tapped his chalk against the board again. “I said the section about innovation. You’re three paragraphs too high. Pay attention.”

It seemed like everyone was laughing at me now. Matt’s shoulders were still moving like he was holding back laughter. But my eyes landed on the broken pencil on his desk and suddenly it didn’t seem like he was laughing. He seemed…angry. The rage was rolling off his shoulders. I could feel it.

I wanted to stop staring. Because the only person he had to be mad at was himself. Despite what Charlotte thought, I didn’t need a knight in shining armor. All I needed was a friend, and he’d failed pretty hard in that department.

“Last warning, Miss Sanders.”

Screw me.I’d been staring at Matt instead of reading. I started again three paragraphs down. With all the giggling around me I kept stumbling over my words, making their mockery significantly worse. I kept waiting for Mr. Hill to tell me I could stop reading out loud. But the reprieve never came. He made me recite page after page until the bell rang.

Thank God.My throat was on fire. I wasn’t sure I’d ever talked so much in my life. And my ears were ringing with the students' laughter. I was barely holding back my tears.

“Next time don’t talk during my class, Miss Sanders,” Mr. Hill said. “You’re all dismissed.”