“No.” Her eyes were wide with alarm. “No,” she repeated softly.
“I will nail the fucker to the wall, I promise.”
Quinn nodded as she drank more of my coffee. “Don’t tell them I know,” she whispered to me before she headed into the sports building to go to her first class.
Finishing my coffee, I tossed the cup. I was right to tell her; she needed to know.
Checking my phone, I grinned when I saw the social chat for the sports teams. There were already about a hundred messages and comments aboutmyscreamer, and as I read some of them while heading into class, I chuckled at the more ludicrous ones.
Ava quite obviously hated the spotlight. She wasn’t an Elise, desperate to be seen. She wasn’t like Quinn, who ignored the attention she received because of her looks and who her friends were. Ava actively went out of her way to avoid notice. This was going to be hell for her; she was going to get hit on by every guy who thought she was an easy lay, and every girl would be ready to rip her to shreds forbeingan easy lay.
Whistling as I headed into my class, I knew I’d enjoy seeing her reaction to the attention she was about to receive.
It was shaping up to be a good week.
Chapter 22: Ava
Professor Matson was in full flight as she presented her class that afternoon. Her enthusiasm was rubbing off on me, and I had caught myself leaning forward a couple of times, engaged in her lecture about the self-destructive tendencies of Romeo. But leaning forward, I stuck my head out of the row I was in, and at the very end of that row, perched like an Angel of Death, sat Jett Santo.
He never looked my way. He made no effort to catch my attention, but I was acutely aware of him. There had to be about ten or eleven people between us, but it felt like I could reach out and touch him. I wasn’t sure he knew I was in the same row as he was, but I no longer believed in coincidences when it came to Jett.
My week had been torturous hell. Almost every person was accusing me of either being a thief or a slut. At first, I’d been confused, and then I heard that I was apparentlybegginghim to sleep with me, and he kept saying no. He or his psycho family had told people I was a whore, a desperate whore, who was begging to be with him.Bastard.
Mia had advised we ignore it and pretend like it didn’t matter, and I had, but it was hard. The beginning of the week was terrible, so bad that I ended up hiding in the library. On Tuesday, the dark-haired girl from the class Shane and I had — who I now knew was called Elise — spilled her smoothie all over me in the cafeteria, and when I had jumped to my feet amid all the laughter and insults, I’d looked up at his table to see him and his brother laughing along with everyone else. He’d had the audacity to wink at me before I turned and almost ran from the cafeteria, before I either burst into tears in a temper or punched his smirking face in.
But I couldn’tdoanything because I was on probation. Dean Porter had confronted me about my side hustle with Wade’s band, and after he had lectured me, he looked over all my records. He even had emails from my professors about my performances in class. Professor Windsor, or Joe as I would happily call him now, had sent a really supportive email, which seemed to have impressed the dean. However, the fact of the matter was, I’d been stupid and careless with the gift that was my scholarship. The dean had me on a six-month probation, so I couldn’t afford to put a foot wrong, which is whyElisedidn’t get a smack in the mouth.
There was no escape, though. Today, I’d had a few comments already flung my way this morning, asking if being chased was my turn on and how many dicks I was willing to suck at once.
It was unnerving. I was the girl who blended in. One night with Jett and then a sprint across the greenawayfrom him, and I was suddenly desirable . . . and it wasn’t in a complimentary way. It meant I was a cheap lay. Funny, I never heard any comments from anyone asking Jett if he was willing to chase them. Double standards. Unacceptable in this day and age. Yet, still it was present. I was a cheap whore, and he was a conquering god. Pathetic.
Ducking my head back out of his line of sight in case he looked my way, I settled back in my seat. I couldn’t even accuse the fucker of spreading the rumors, as I had no proof. As always, a Devil was blameless.
“Hey, hey, you.”
I froze and turned to the guy behind me. “Me?”
“Yeah, you, whatsyername?”
“Why?” I whispered suspiciously as I took in his smug grin and his friend, who was also watching me.
“Is it true what you did when you got caught?” he asked with a sly grin.
Ugh, enough with the bullshit. “No,” I snapped as I turned around again.
“That’s not what I heard,” he continued to whisper behind me. Inching forward in my seat, I edged away from him. “Heard you blewtheDevils. Both of them. Like they tag teamed you.”
I tried to focus once again on the professor. I had been in that building for five minutes. How the fuck would I have done both of them? Realizing this wasn’t the point, I furiously did my best to ignore the whispers behind me as they got more and more derogatory and preposterous.
“You been double dipped?” the guy asked a little louder, causing several answering snickers, and that was it, I’d had enough. A girl could only take so much, and I had endured aweekof this.
“Quit it!” I was on my feet, and I was so angry I didn’t care that I had once again stopped Professor Matson’s class. “You repulsive dick, what gives you the right to talk to me like that?” I demanded with my hands on my hips.
“Is there a problem?” Professor Matson asked curiously, and when I met her enquiring look, I realized she recognized who I was. “You . . . again?”
“Sorry.” I turned back to the guy behind me when I heard his snigger. I didn’t recognize him, but that meant nothing. “Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll shove my hand so far up your ass it’ll beyourtonsils that are getting tickled. Do you feelme, asshole?”
The lecture room was silent for a brief moment before the class erupted into laughter. My face was red from temper, whereas his was red from embarrassment. Turning back to face forward, I gave the professor an apologetic look, who acknowledged it with a slight incline of her head. I could feelhimstaring at me, and almost like a magnetic pull, I turned my head to look.
