Page 10

I ’M A LITTLE LATE FOR almost all my classes because I have to wait for the hallways to clear before going anywhere. Everyone is still busy talking about Victor’s shirt and about me.

As I stride down the hallway as fast as I can, a girl gets in my way.

“You’ll never be like us,” she sneers.

“Well, thank god for that!” I snap back at her, and she scoffs as if she’s surprised I dared to say anything back.

What’s wrong with all these people? Are all the Emberwell students robots who only look human and share one mind? Does everyone want to be Victor’s friend?

Maybe everyone who’s suspicious of Victor’s story keeps quiet because they don’t want to deal with the idiots who think I’m a slut or some lowly organism not allowed to be in their presence and breathe the same air.

Just as I enter the classroom, Victor and everyone else look straight at me. Yep, robots. All of them.

The only good thing is that Victor won’t be sitting next to me anymore, or maybe not, because I need to talk to him. The whole morning, I’ve been trying to come up with a way to approach him so I don’t make any mistakes.

And I think I need to do it after this class. It’s the last one, so he won’t be in a rush to get somewhere else. He isn’t supposed to have practice until later. Now the only thing left is to make sure his friends aren’t around him when I talk to him. Or anyone else.

I don’t want anyone recording us or listening in on us so they can spread more fake news about me. Victor has to take the whole thing back and say it was a joke and not real. Then everyone will go back to ignoring me and forget about the whole thing.

I feel Victor’s gaze on me as I take my seat, and I glance at him. His lips actually pull up into a sly smile. I grind my teeth together. Ugh! He’s not even a tiny little bit sorry about what he did.

But he will be.

***

I LEAVE THE CLASSROOM first, which is easy because my seat is closest to the door anyway. As I get out into the hallway, I lean against the wall and wait.

As students trickle by, I tap my foot against the floor with impatience. At least no one seems to be paying attention to me, but that’s only because I’m standing across from the door and a little behind it, and they’re all going in the opposite direction.

Social media is still burning with Victor’s stunt from last night. After what seems like a century, Victor finally walks out. He’s laughing about something with his friends and doesn’t even look my way.

“Victor!” I yell, glaring at him.

His gaze finds mine, and there’s a smile on his annoyingly handsome face.

“We need to talk.” I cross my arms.

Vanessa and Greg hesitate, looking at Victor, but he waves them off. Vanessa shoots me a glare over her shoulder as she and Greg leave.

“What do you want?” Victor eyes me carefully once everyone’s gone.

“Whatever it is that you’re trying to do, it ends now.” I stare into his eyes.

“And what exactly are we talking about?” He steps forward, getting so close to me that we’re only inches apart.

The wall behind me doesn’t allow me to back away, and I don’t want to. But Victor’s proximity is distracting. I’m trapped between him and the wall, and my heart rate quickens. He tilts his head, and my gaze falls on his mouth.

“You know what I’m talking about.” I lift my chin. “I don’t want anything to do with you. Use someone else for your stupid, childish games and leave me alone.”

He presses his lips together, leaning forward. Ugh, he smells so damn good. How is that even possible?

“Or what?” he asks, placing his hand on the wall right next to my face.

My heart skips a beat.

“Or...” I swallow hard, my mouth suddenly as dry as a desert. “Or I’m leaking all the videos I have.”

His eyebrows shoot up as he chuckles. “What videos?”

“The videos...” I reach out and press my fingers against his side, right in the spot where I’m sure one of those guys punched him yesterday. “The kind that your dad won’t like if they come out.”

He winces, flinching away from me. But his face turns deadly serious, his eyes even colder than before.

For a few moments, he just stares at me, as if he expects me to crack and confess that I’m bluffing. But I won’t back down. I only have that one video, but who knows what else he might have been doing?

Since he isn’t laughing, it looks like I’m on to something, which is good. It’s not like I have to show him any proof, and if he insists, it’ll be the video from yesterday. All I need is for him to stop tormenting me.

He moves his hand off the wall. Then he slams his fist right next to my head a moment later. I gasp, my pulse in overdrive.

Sebastian’s face flashes in front of me, and I close my eyes. But a punch doesn’t come. No pain. No contact. So I open my eyes.

“You’re threatening me. Seriously?” he says, his voice low and dangerous.

“I guess I am.” I hold my breath as I look into his icy eyes. “Just leave me alone and nothing happens.”

“You’re playing with fire.” He lifts his finger in front of my face. “And you’re going to get burned.” His voice lowers to a whisper as he bends his head, his lips almost brushing my ear. “I hope your parents have enough money for your coffin. And if they don’t, it doesn’t matter because there won’t be anything left of you to bury. I’ll ruin you.”

I gape at him, but before I can say or do anything, he storms away from me. Dread fills my stomach.

It’s just a scare tactic. He wants me afraid so I wouldn’t reveal anything, which means there are probably worse things he’s done.

I take a deep breath, but it doesn’t chase away the jittery feeling. If he’s not bluffing, then I’m so, so screwed. He’s psychotic, and his family must be the same. Why did I even think I could easily stand up to someone like him?

But all he has to do is leave me alone. Why is that so hard for him? I don’t get it. I force my legs to move, but my whole body feels heavy and numb.

Is Victor really like Sebastian? A guy who can’t handle someone else having an upper hand over him? I don’t want to deal with that again.

The only thing I can do is wait and see what happens. Maybe he’ll just leave me alone and pretend it’s for some other reason. And if he doesn’t, I’ll try to come up with something else.

But I have to be careful. Victor is very dangerous, and I can’t let myself forget that and let his pretty face fool me.

Reporting him to someone probably wouldn’t do anything. His family is rich and can make it all go away, or nothing will happen. Maybe I should transfer to another college, but that’s complicated and expensive.

And I don’t want Victor to win. I really don’t. He thinks he can do whatever he wants to me and suffer no consequences. That’s just disgusting. But I guess that’s how he was raised. People like me are nothing more than dirt to him. Just toys to play with.

My threat must’ve rattled him because he didn’t expect it. He thought I’d bow down to him like everyone else, so he snapped.

But if he doesn’t like how I’m acting and reacting, he might leave me alone. I hope that won’t mean he’ll move on to someone else, but most kids here have powerful parents too, so maybe that helps. And if he starts pestering someone else, I can try to report it since it won’t involve me directly.

I don’t even know why he’s pretending that I’m the one after him, but I guess that’s because he needs something to humiliate me, and he believes he’s out of my league because I’m not rich like him. It’s all so stupid.

Maybe things will calm down. He can’t drag out that story forever because people will realize I want nothing to do with him and they’ll get bored of the whole thing. Besides, if anything happens to me, people will know there was something going on with the two of us.

Making someone disappear isn’t easy, and not everyone is bribable, especially because there’d be a lot of attention. A non-problematic scholarship student going missing at Emberwell?

Yeah, the press would be all over it. People would be looking for me, and I don’t think Victor’s family would risk everything just because Victor got upset. His family probably isn’t the mafia or anything like that.

I sigh. If Victor isn’t bullying me, then he’s constantly on my mind.

Victor.

Victor.

Victor.

Everything is always about him, and it’s getting annoying.