The one thing I’ve always done is kept my clothes on, even when I’m hammered to prevent embarrassing my parents completely. Guess that’s out the window now.
A story like this is bound to go viral.
As I turn the corner of the hall, I bump into someone going my direction.
“Sorry,” I say quickly.
The person looks up from their phone and I find a familiar face. Gemma!
“Oh, hey Mera. Whoa.” She looks me up and down. “Is there a fashion show I’m not aware of?”
I shake my head. “No. This is the work of Callan Goldsworthy.”
The words leave my mouth before I can stop them. Shit. She might go run and tell Collette about this and I’ll get slapped again.
I can’t let her get the wrong idea. “It’s not what you think, though. I didn’t let him do this.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Oh. So like what happened with the third round of the hazing?”
A few guys walk past me, obviously staring at my assets.
I nod quickly and she nods. “Okay, then let’s go to the bathroom.” She pulls me by the arm and down the hall. Laughter follows us until we’re in the mostly quiet bathroom.
The few girls inside, gossiping in the corner give us the evil eye and Gemma sticks her tongue out the corner of her mouth and pushes her nose up to make a piggy nose. She makes oinking noises and the girls, startled by the weirdness, hurry out.
With an accomplished smile, she pulls her bag away from her back and digs inside, pulling out a shirt.
“This will be way too big for you, but I always keep an extra shirt with me. In case of, you know, food spillage. It’s easier than walking all the way back to the sorority house.”
“You’re a lifesaver!”
She places the shirt in my hands and I set my bag down to put it on.
“Don’t thank me yet, you can’t leave this building without something on your legs.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and makes a call.
Oh God, if it’s Collette she definitely wouldn’t do anything to try and help me.
“Lu, you haven’t left the ZDB have you?” She pauses. “Great, bring a pair of pants to the Lit building first floor bathroom near the side entrance. Mm, they’re for a friend. Just bring them and quick.”
She hangs up the phone and smiles. “Problem solved. And don’t worry, Luella won’t mind. She has an afternoon class in the Science building so she was on her way out anyway.”
“I owe you big time.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it. You helped me during the party so I kind of owed you.”
My stomach churns at that. “Wait, I helped you?”
“Oh.” She winces. “Coll did say you forgot the party. One of Callan’s friends, you know the one who carried me during the final round, well he asked me out.”
Oh right, the flirty guy who goes after any woman he sees.
“I told him no in front of everyone and let’s just say he didn’t take it well. He wanted to drag me off and talk to me privately. I wasn’t sure what to say so you stepped in and told him to fuck off.”
I cover my mouth and giggle a little. “Oh shit.” That sounds like me.
“He looked so embarrassed. I don’t think any girl has ever told him no. That was the last time I saw Heath too.”
My jaw drops. “What?”
“Yeah, Heath came out of nowhere and I got this urge to make it clear I wasn’t interested so I told Heath in front of him that I’d rather go out with Heath. You should’ve seen the look on his face. And then Heath of course brushed me off because he had you.” Gemma gets quiet and bites her lip. “Sorry. Thinking about Heath must hurt.”
I touch her shoulder. “No, I’m glad you told me. Thank you.”
She smiles. We stand there in a comfortable silence for a little while when the door opens. Luella walks in with a cautious smile. In a soft voice she says, “Here I come, to the rescue.” She holds up a pair of beige pants. “But you might not even need these pants.”
Someone out moves from behind her.
“Ashlynn, you came too?” Gemma pipes up.
She glances at her and nods slightly and then looks at me. “Are these yours?” She throws my jeans and gray t-shirt at me.
“They are. How’d you find them?”
Upon closer inspection, they’re a little dingy now. I can’t complain though because I never expected to get these back.
She points her thumb behind her. “Some guys out there were showing them around to everyone who’d look. Apparently someone told them they were yours and they wanted to make a pretty buck off of them. Buuuut…I snatched them away. You’re welcome.”
“Thanks.”
Out of the three of them, I’ve had the least interaction with Ashlynn. Luella and I have bumped into each other a few times around the house so we’ve exchanged some awkward hellos.
Luella holds the pants out. "I think you should still wear these. Your clothes should be washed again before you wear them.”
I glance down at them in my arms. Do I really want to wear clothes that some random guys have been drooling over?
Nope.
“Yeah you’re right. Thanks. I’ll be sure to give them back once I get back to my room.” I turn toward Gemma. “And you too.”
“No rush,” Gemma says. “Hey, want to get lunch with us?”
There’s a small noise from Luella and I watch her and Ashlynn share a look. Eventually Ashlynn nods. “Yeah, come have lunch with us in the dining hall.”
“Sounds good,” I agree with a nod.
After pulling on the pants and picking up my bag, we leave the bathroom, with Gemma and I following Luella and Ashlynn out.
Since we went out the side entrance, we have to walk to the front to start down the path that leads to the dining hall.
Luella and Ashlynn slow down so they’re walking side by side with Gemma and I.
“You know, you guys didn’t have to help me, so how about we make it my treat?” I offer.
It’s the least I can do.
“Great. Barbecue sounds good. What do you guys think?”
“Girls?” a voice rings out from behind us.
God, it’s her.
I follow their leads and turn around to see Collette with her hair pulled back in a bun and a bluish purple tutu on. “What are you three doing?”
“Going to get lunch,” Gemma pipes up.
“With her?”
Luella clears her throat, twiddling her thumbs together. “Well, she did offer to buy.”
“It’s just this once, Coll,” Ashlynn says.
Collette rolls her eyes and sighs. “If you guys wanted me to pay, all you had to do is ask. Come on.”
She moves past us and continues down the path we were going. It’s clear her invitation isn’t extended to me.
Ashlynn squares her shoulders and keeps walking. Luella throws me a sympathetic look and rushes to catch up.
Gemma looks between us, with indecision on her face. I don’t want her to lose her space that she worked hard to get so I clasp her on the shoulder. “It’s okay. Go ahead.”
She grabs me in a hug. “I’m really sorry. This is the correct choice for now.” She races off and in the distance, I see her fall into step with them.
Is that what true friendship is? Whoever you hate, your friends hate no questions asked.
I guess I can understand that.
All of a sudden, I’m missing Peyton and Scarlett. I almost wish I could go back to the freshman dorm for the night. No one took my bed so we can have a sleepover.
Yeah, that sounds great.
I send off a quick message to Scar to let her know I’ll be over. I’m about to lock my phone when I see my sister’s name in my contact list.
It’s been a month and I still haven’t heard from her. Mom and Dad said they’d get her to call me. I wonder if she’s just busy with her last year at Uni. No. She still would’ve called me about something like this.
I click her name and just as it did a month ago, it goes straight to voicemail. Her phone is still off?
I check social media to find that she hasn’t made a post for a little over a month. That’s really not like her. Did something happen? Something my parents haven’t told me?
I click to call Mom, who answers the phone after a few rings with a yawn. “Mera? We were just about to go to sleep. Is there an update in the case?”
“No, I’m not calling about that. I was actually wondering why I haven’t gotten a call back from Cate.”
Mom stays quiet and in the background, I hear Dad ask what’s wrong.
“Mom?”
She sighs. “I’m sorry, dear. Cate is busy with her studies right now. You know she’s putting everything into school and the clubs and everything, along with keeping up with her princess duties. She’ll call you when she can.”
“Okay, but you can’t put her on the phone right now? Even just to say hi?” I plead. I need to confide in someone about these notes.
“No, I’m afraid not,” Mom replies firmly. “Good night.”
She hangs up and I pull my face away from my phone to look at it.
Whatever. I can do this. I’ll get through all of this. The notes, Callan, Heath’s disappearance.
Those notes might be even worse than dealing with Callan. They’ve only sent three notes. Either it’s my fault he’s dead, that I’m a whore for letting his brother carry me, and that they’re watching me.
It’s had me losing more sleep than I’d like.
I get back to my room in the sorority and find it empty. Brandie must still be at her midmorning class. On routine, I reach under my pillows, checking for a note and find another one. Wait. No there’s two?
I smooth the first one out and it chillingly reads
Are you ready to die too?
My heart drops and I sink to the floor at the thought of this person just casually being in my room. Who could be writing these? I already asked for permission to put up a camera outside the door but I was denied when I couldn’t tell Collette the reason why.
I stuff the first note in the drawer with all the other ones and open the second one, dropping the note the minute I read it and jumping off the floor to my dresser. No way. How could I have missed that?
I go through every drawer. Throwing out all of its contents, but I still can’t find it.
My pink hoodie. It’s even bedazzled Princess M on the back.
Fuck!
I stride back to that spot on the floor and pick up the note.
Where’s that pink hoodie of yours?
How long has it been gone? I only wore it a few times here. Who’d want to wear a hoodie when it’s in the 90s during the day? The perfect weather to wear it is only just coming up now. Shit. I collapse face down across the width of my bed and sigh.
Fuck my life.
“I don’t want to go.”
“Come on, we’ve already had several football games and you haven’t even been to one. You need to experience it at least once, right Peyton?” Scarlett asks, elbowing Peyton to her right.
Peyton grunts. I don’t think he exactly wanted to come either.
“You guys, this is an exciting one. We get to play MGU!” Scarlett yells with a tiny jump.
"MGU?” I ask.
“Yeah, well this is only one of Goldsworthy University’s campuses. The other one is Mid Goldsworthy University.”
“It’s always a close call even with Heath, right? I doubt we’re going to win,” Peyton says as we round the corner from the ticket booth to the stands.
“Hey Mera, you actually came!” a familiar voice from above yells.
The stands are filling up fast so I look around to find the source when I see someone stand up and wave enthusiastically. Brandie. And it looks like Jamie is with her. She points to the empty space on her left. Just enough to hold the three of us.
“You guys okay with sitting with them?”
We’ve only eaten breakfast with them a few times with their boyfriends. Scarlett always gets weirdly quiet around them. I don’t blame her for it though. Brandie can be a lot sometimes. Her enthusiasm can come off as being annoying. Jamie balances her out as she’s more reserved and happier with her head in a book.
Peyton nods and Scar flashes me a small smile. “At least it’s not the top.”
We get to their seats in the middle and Brandie locks me in a tight hug. “I’m so glad you came, Mera. Now you can see our boys in action. Right Jamie?”
Jamie nods and blushes. “Emerson is amazing on the field.”
“Not as good as my Brett,” Brandie squeals with a happy sigh, letting me go.
She cranes her neck around. “And it’s good to see you guys again too, Scar and PeyPey.”
I snort and Peyton clears his throat. “Well that’s a new one.”
The three of us sit down and chatter with them as we wait for the game to start.
As it’s about to begin, I spot a familiar head that turns to scan the crowd. Oh God, it’s Callan. Behind him are his three buddies that he’s always with.
I’ve seen them around, but not Callan. He hasn’t come to class at all the past two weeks. He missed turning in the outline for the history paper.
Though, if my sister was missing I’d have a hard time focusing on school too.
God, what do I care? He can miss as many classes as he wants. His father owns the school for God’s sake.
Somehow, I’ve managed not to run into him on campus. Very, very lucky of me.
They take a seat on the last part of an open bench near the bottom.
I should wait a while before leaving in case he has any ideas of containing that fucked up game of his after this.
The game seems to fly by, and before I know it, we’ve won, and just barely. Most of the visiting team shakes hands with our team.
Jamie and Brandie stand up quickly and Brandie touches my shoulder and looks at the three of us. “Thanks for watching the game with us. We need to do this again. It’s much more fun with five people. We’re going to go wait outside the locker room for them. Later!”
Maybe I will come to another game. It wasn’t so bad. I do feel glum seeing Heath’s replacement on the field, but he pulled it together for them. Heath must have been great.
“Dane played great today,” Scar murmurs, making it super clear how interested she is in his backside.
“I didn’t think you knew any of the visiting team by name.”
She shrugs. “How could anyone not know Dane Goldsworthy?”
I turn my head back to the field just in time to see the edge of his face as he follows the team off the field. “Heath’s cousin.”
“Yep. His father is the Dean of MGU. They’re trying to keep it hush hush, but I’ve seen a few posts online talking about how Dane’s older sister is missing. And I think they mentioned some kind of fire at Northern Goldsworthy University.”
“What?” That’s the first time I’m hearing about this.
Could Dane’s sister’s disappearance be linked to Heath’s somehow? Maybe this can help exonerate me fully.
And then maybe they can find Heath and…put him to rest.
“Hey, don’t look so down. Why don’t we go out and get dinner off campus?” Scar runs a comforting hand down my back.
“Sooner or later, the person behind this will be revealed. Just watch and see, Mera,” Peyton says reassuringly.
I nod and glance around, specifically at the bottom benches in the stands. No sign of Callan anywhere. “Let’s go, then. I have to use the bathroom first though, so you guys just go wait in the car and I’ll meet you there.”
“Are you sure?” Peyton asks. “We don’t mind waiting for you.”
I don’t want to force them to wait for me. “Nah, it’s okay. There will probably be a long line of people.”
They leave after a little more reassuring.
Now I just need to find where the bathroom is. Shit, maybe I s
hould have asked them if they knew.
I walk around the area between the ticket booth and the stands, until at the very end of the field, I spot the bathroom signs.
Bingo.
There’s a surprising amount of stalls inside, making a wait time nonexistent. I do my business and quickly wash my hands.
When I walk out, the moon has fully come out and I can make out a few stars. The cool night breeze almost reminds me of the night of the hazing.
“Can’t believe we fucking lost. That bastard isn’t even here and they still managed to beat us.”
I eye a trio of football players, holding jerseys in their hands with MGU’s colors of blue, white, and gold. I slow down so I don’t accidentally cross into their path as I’m about to walk by.
But my slowing down seems to have its own consequence when they spot me.
For once, I’m hoping people don’t know my face. I am not Wilhelmera. I’m just a normal college girl.
“Hey, dude, isn’t that the princess?”
Fucking hell.
I straighten my back and go to walk past when I feel a hot sweaty hand touch my arm.
“Hey, aren’t you Heath Goldsworthy’s girl?”
I lock eyes with the man holding my arm and find arrogance reflecting back at me. “That’s right.”
He sneers. “Well I guess you’re free now aren’t you?”
Another guy jeers behind him, “Yeah, why don’t you hang with us?”
The last voice shouts, “Come on, don’t you feel bad for us? Show us some pity, pretty princess?”
I wrench my arm away with a frown. I don’t like where this is going. I need to get back to the car, right now.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” After flashing them a smile full of fake sincerity, I start walking toward the entrance where the ticket booth is.
The guy who grabbed my arm suddenly steps into my path, forcing me to try and go around him. “Can’t say we didn’t try and be nice. I’m not a guy who takes no for an answer though.”
Ugh, what a fucking asshole. Just like Callan.
Suddenly, his friends grab each of my arms in a tight grip and carry me back with the original arm grab guy getting a twisted smile on his face. “Yeah!” he yells excitedly and rubs his hands together.
The Princess and the Bully (Goldsworthy University Book 1) Page 10
