No.
“They could’ve changed their mind. They know I’m a princess.”
“That doesn’t matter, Mera. I couldn’t bring myself to call Antoure. I think you should start packing your bag.”
My breath stills in my chest.
“Please, Mother. Let me come home.”
“No,” she says firmly. “I told you not to screw this up. I told you if something happened you’d be on your own in the U.S., and you will. If their decision is to expel you, we’ll block all your cards and you’ll be on the street until you figure out something. You won’t be coming home until four years are up, regardless if you’re in school or not.”
“But Mom. People know who I am. What if something happens to me?”
“You should’ve thought about this more. I told you not to drink. You even walked around the school in nothing but your underwear! You enjoy embarrassing us.”
“That wasn’t my fault!”
She completely ignores me and continues on, “I told you to focus on your classes. You didn’t have to get involved with that boy. I realize that old friendships are hard to break but–”
“I just wanted to have fun for my first sorority party. You act like I wanted this to happen,” I exclaim.
“You just don’t make good decisions, Mera. Cate has never gotten in trouble during her time in college–”
“Stop!” I yell. “I don’t want to hear about Cate!”
There’s a moment of silence. “Fine. Call me when you get the verdict.”
“As if you care,” I scream and hang up.
After I hang up, I stare at the phone, waiting to see if her name pops up again. But it doesn’t. She really doesn’t care.
Father never sticks up for me so he must be just as disappointed.
That’s all I ever do. Disappoint them.
The tightening feeling starts again. When I feel like I can’t breathe. I tug at the collar of my t-shirt and lay back.
Everything is so quiet. I wish Brandie and Jamie were here. There’s no one else in the sorority but me. Peyton and Scarlett have gone home for the holidays too.
I need to eat something to make myself feel better.
Running down the stairs, I go to the kitchen and pull out a few vanilla ice cream cones with chocolate encrusted from the freezer and eat them at lightning speed.
Ding ding.
What’s that?
Ding ding.
It sounds again.
Is that a doorbell? Our doorbell?
I’ve been here for three months and I’ve never heard it before. The door is always open.
But who could that be? Did someone order something?
I rush to the door, opening it to find a mess of orange hair.
Why the hell didn’t I look through the side window first?
“Hi!” Ginger says brightly.
I glance behind her and raise an eyebrow. “Hi?”
“I just came to tell you that you’re going to be expelled.”
“How do you know?” I ask, feeling a panic rise from my chest.
“My dad is on the board. He told me every single member voted for you to be expelled.”
My stomach drops. No. She can’t be right.
“The funniest thing is, the dean didn’t even vote. Callan was the final vote. Somehow he showed up in place of his father and told everyone in the meeting that you’re the reason Heath is dead.”
What?
“Wait, I thought…”
She pokes her bottom lip out. “Oh you thought, didn't you? You thought Callan paying you extra attention meant something. You thought he’d help you get out of this? I thought you were stupid before, but you’re dumber than a box of rocks if you thought Callan doing all of that meant something.” She starts cackling and the sound grates on my nerves as every second goes by.
“Go fuck yourself, Ginger.”
“Oh don’t get so upset, princess,” she says in a baby voice. “Truth is, you don’t have any friends at all. Every person I’ve seen you with signed that petition. Even our sorority officers. Gemma, Ashlynn, Luella, and of course Collette signed.”
My stomach starts to twist angrily and I gasp as my chest tightens.
“Oh, you didn’t know? Your roommate and her friend Jamie signed it too. But the most priceless thing is those first two bozos you were with. Peyton and Scarlett, right? They were the ones that put the petition at five thousand. Their votes were the last two!” She laughs loudly. Every laugh from her mouth sounds fainter and fainter.
The blood in my veins is rushing to my head so quickly and I can’t deal. Gasping, I clutch my chest.
“Pathetic. You’re absolutely pathetic. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you the good news. Callan isn’t the only one who played a great game with you. Enjoy the plane ride home, princess.”
With blurry eyes, I see the orange in my vision leave. Stumbling backward quickly, I close the door and collapse against it.
I breathe quickly and deeply, clutching my head at the rising headache.
I should’ve known not to trust or believe in anyone. Blinking slowly, I let the tears fall down my face. Before I came here, I was fine not having friends. Now, I feel completely empty and used. I was fooled real well. I guess I can’t sense betrayal as easily as I thought.
Slowly, I walk up the stairs back to my room. I grab my phone and call my friends, but neither of them answers. Some of them sending me straight to voicemail. I just need one of them to answer. Just one.
I wait a while for either of them to call me back, but none do. They must be busy with their families.
Maybe Ginger was bullshitting me about them signing it. I shouldn’t just take her at her word. In lightning speed, I log onto Booksmarter and find the petition. There’s a lock on it now of course, but every single name is listed.
Hours later, I’ve gone through every single name and my eyes are burning from looking at my screen for so long. Sure enough, they’re all there. Peyton and Scarlett
I sit like that on my bed until the sunset seeps through my blinds.
I guess the only real person I could count on is dead. And he’s not coming back.
My parents are disappointed. My sister hasn’t called me once.
My friends secretly despise me. I was wrong in thinking they’d overlook what I said when I was drunk on those videos. I was wrong to think I could get a new start.
Maybe I don’t deserve a new start at all.
Maybe…I should give the person writing the notes what they want.
The moment I think about it, that thought is stuck in my brain.
In a flash, I strip off my clothes leaving me in my underwear. I turn my phone off and leave it on the nightstand.
The walk to the lake is a short one because I barely think about it.
It’s perfect because I almost died here almost a month ago. This time there’s no Kane to save me. He’s with his family. Everyone is.
The campus is a ghost town. I don’t see one soul on my way to the lake.
And when I get there, it’s peaceful. Nothing but the sound of the animals hiding in the bushes. The occasional bird or two. The smell of the lake water fills my lungs with every deep breath.
This is a pretty place to go.
Strolling around the perimeter, I look for a big rock that’s still possible for me to carry.
It takes a while, but I eventually find one and start back to the other side of the lake. If I go in on the side that’s shallow, I might lose my nerve. I need to go off the deep end.
I step up to the dock and slowly make my way across the rotting wood to the end.
One jump and keep ahold of the rock. A few minutes of pain and this will all be over.
My parents won’t have to feel disappointed. My friends won’t have to lie. My sister won’t have to worry about her bratty sister.
Everyone will be better off.
It only takes a few steps.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I take a
deep breath, clutch the rock to my chest in my arms tightly and take a running start until I drop into the water.
The temperature is overwhelmingly cold. Colder than it was that night. Then again, the temperature outside is colder than it was on Halloween. It’s so close to winter.
Oh. I’ll miss my favorite holiday, Christmas.
I’d be homeless though, so I guess that really doesn't matter.
This is the right decision.
It feels like my body is sinking faster, but I don’t want to open my eyes to check. I don’t want to see the vastness of the water in front of me. I don’t want to see the leaves, branches, and other debris. But it doesn’t take away from feeling all of it brushing against my skin.
All of a sudden, I realize I’ve run out of air.
This is it. I open my mouth and let the water rush in. The water is freezing cold in my chest yet my lungs are on fire. I can’t hold the rock anymore.
I let it go, and feel the whoosh of the water as it sinks down past me.
Please let this be enough to end this.
All of a sudden, something grabs me around my waist, making me pop my eyes open. My hair falls in front of my face as I’m pulled backwards.
No.
Reaching down, I feel a strong, toned arm.
No, I don’t want to be saved! I want to yell.
But it’s too late. The water gets lighter until my head breaks the surface. Coughing hard, I expel all of the water that built up in my lungs. Fuck, that hurts. The disorienting feeling of seeing the now dark forest around me instead of the silent water makes my head feel dizzy.
But who would even be around to save me?
The arm doesn’t let go all the way until we’re on the shallow end, dragging me to the rocky shore.
My body shakes as I cough and cough, little bits of water escaping every time.
After taking a few deep breaths, I finally turn around to face my unwanted savior.
“Callan? Why would you?”
He crouches down next to me, getting up in my face. “Why would you?” His brows are furrowed and there’s a scary rage in his normally emotionless eyes. One that’s threatening to burn me.
“That’s none of your business! You had no right to do this.”
“No right?” He grabs my chin. “I have every right. You don’t get to die, Wil.”
He lets go and runs his hand over the back of his sopping hair. “Fuck! You have no idea how much that took. I…” He breathes deeply, inhaling and exhaling quickly and pacing around.
I glance down to find he’s still wearing his shoes. My eyes travel up to his clothes sticking to him. Especially his short sleeved shirt.
“Why would you try and do that? Tell me right fucking now.”
My eyes start to fill with tears. “I was so close,” I murmur.
His eyes darken. “You’re never coming to this lake, ever again,” he says in a threatening tone. “And you’re not going to die any time soon. Whatever is going on, it can’t be so bad that you’d just want to end it all. Where’s the fight in you Wil? That stubbornness in you. I know it’s there because you use it against me all the time!”
Every single word he says is a shot to my heart. I don’t want to hear him talk any more.
I use my hands to push myself off the ground and start walking back to the sorority. I’ll just have to do this another day when he isn’t around.
“Are you listening to me?” he yells.
Hard arms circle my body and I feel myself being lifted off the ground.
“Let me go!” I shriek.
“No. Not until you listen to me.” Defeated, I let myself lay across his shoulder with his hand on my ass.
He brings me straight to the sorority keeping one hand firmly locked around my wrist. He grabs one of my bags and starts tossing clothes in before moving to the bathroom and forcing me to point out my toothbrush. He tosses that in along with my hairbrush and makeup bag. “If you need anything else, speak now.”
“My phone.”
With a grunt, he grabs my phone and tosses it to me and finally grabs my bag in his hand. He forces me out the front door, locking it behind us.
He leads me out of Sorority Row to Fraternity Row and stops in front of AAA where his Lambo is parked.
He shoves me in the passenger side and tosses my bag on my lap. After he gets in, he starts the car. His signature scowl is once again on his face as we take off.
I stare out at the road ahead of us, watching as he gets on the highway, oh wait, freeway. I don’t know where we’re going, but California at night on the road is so different from Kardenia. The lights are glittering and the rushing of the vehicles are hypnotizing.
Callan zips in and out of lanes, coming extremely close to clipping numerous cars. I clutch the door, hanging on for dear life until he finally exits the freeway.
He zips down a few streets with tall modern looking buildings until he stops in front of a gate. He hits the buzzer and a voice comes on. “Mr. Goldsworthy, good to see you.”
Callan grunts in response and zooms in the moment the gate is fully opened.
In the blink of an eye we go up a hill and around, passing mansions as we go, until he pulls into the driveway of one of them.
It’s like a mini castle.
He yanks me out and I haul my bag along with me. The whole house is glass and dark wood. The tile I step on is a beautiful marble, but I don’t have much time to admire any of this because I’m being dragged up the stairs, of which there are no railings, and to the first door on the right.
The moment I walk in, I spot the huge bed agains the far wall.
“Leave your bag on the ground.”
“Your house is pretty nice.”
He sighs. “I didn’t bring you here to show you my house. We need to talk about what happened.”
“What’s there to talk about? You ruined it.”
“Of course I ruined it!” he explodes. “You’re in that much pain that you felt the need to end it?”
Changing the subject, I eye my bag. I feel gross. I can’t stay in this underwear. “Can I change?”
His mouth thins. “Fine. Hurry it up.”
I grab my bag off the ground and move to the other side of the room where it looks like the entrance to the bathroom is.
He moves quickly, blocking me from getting any further. “No, you’ll take it off here.”
My face heats up and he smirks. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
Of course. Why would I think he would let me go off and change. He loves to watch me squirm.
I squeeze my eyes shut and pull off my underwear and bend down to find a shirt and another pair of underwear and shorts.
“You know, I brought you here to talk, but maybe we’ll do something else too.” I glance over my shoulder to find him perched at the end of his bed, eyes planted right on me, specifically, what’s between my legs.
Heat starts pooling in my stomach so I rush like a madwoman to find any pair of panties and throw them on, and then any old shirt.
My face is on fire as I flop next to him.
There’s a long pause. I don’t want to be the one to break it so I stay quiet. I’m fine with not telling him anything. “Talk to me, Wil.”
“I just realized that the world would be better off without me. My parents should’ve stopped after Cate.”
“Fuck off with that. If they didn’t care they wouldn’t have shipped you here. And your sister cares I’m sure.”
I wish he’d just stop talking. “No. In fact, I haven’t talked to her since the night of the third round of hazing. I’ve left numerous messages and they’ve piled up to the point that I can’t even leave any anymore.”
He frowns. “Don’t you find that strange?”
“She’s in her last year of college and attending all of those fancy events with my parents. She’s probably up to her ears in work. She can’t even check on me for one minute.”
“Fine. Let’s ju
st say they don’t, but what about Tall Boy and Red?”
“What the…” a laugh escapes my mouth as I realize he means Scarlett and Peyton. Slowly it dies in my throat as I remember exactly why I know they don’t really care about me.
“Did you look at the names on your petition?”
He groans. “I told you I didn’t fucking make it. Why would I look at it?”
“Because their names are the last two on the list. They fucking signed it!” I cover my face with my hands. “I thought they were my friends.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “Well, you have that roommate of yours, Brandie right? And Jamie?”
“They signed it too.”
In a low tone, he says, “Impossible.”
“Check it yourself if you don’t believe me. Enjoy those few hours it takes to go through all those names. Even Gemma, Ashlynn, and Luella signed it. Not that we’re close but...”
He grunts. “Collette might have forced them to. They follow her lead, after all. But that doesn’t mean they hate you. It doesn’t mean you should kill yourself.”
I take a deep breath and blurt, “I’m out okay. I’ve been expelled. Whatever you did or tried to do, whatever. It didn’t work.”
“The fuck are you talking about?” he says in a scary low tone, so low that I have to look away from him.
“No.” He grabs my chin and forces me to look into his eyes. “Talk. Now.” His eyes are blazing with anger again.
“I heard from a source–” I start.
“Not a fucking reliable one,” he inserts.
“–That every board member voted yes on me being expelled.” He lets go of my chin and my heart thunders in my chest.
“Okay, partially reliable, but it doesn’t matter because the most important vote said no.”
“What do you mean?” I say, feeling a surge of hope at his words.
“My plan worked perfectly, princess. I fucked with my dad’s car and stole his phone. He wasn’t able to get to the meeting. I stood in for him and voted no. His vote can overrule every other vote, and that’s exactly what happened.”
I cover my mouth as I muffle the gasp, but I can’t stop the tears of relief from welling in my eyes.
“There’s no one in the office this week so you won’t get the decision until they’re back. But you’re not going anywhere.”
The Princess and the Bully (Goldsworthy University Book 1) Page 17
