“Mm-hm,” I reply, not really listening. I’m trying to puzzle out how my few belongings take up so much of the space available in my new home.
Call me crazy, but I thought a room at the most expensive private high school in the city might have included ample shelves for textbooks, clothing, the school-issued laptop, and a bed. However, as I hold my rugby kit and try to work out how the hell I’m going to squeeze another few items of clothing and shoes into the impossibly small space, I’m forced to rethink.
“There’re drawers under the bed,” Gareth says, kicking what I thought were plain pine planks to keep the single mattress off the floor. “And quit avoiding the question.”
“There was a question?”
“Yeah. The question was how someone of such dubious origin as yourself shagged some gorgeous totty like Esme Black.”
My head snaps around as I finally make the connection. “Where the fuck did you hear that?”
I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop since the moment I left the health clinic. Whatever Esme and the doctor were chatting about when I re-entered the room looked far too serious to be the bog-standard wrap-it-up message.
The doctor’s expression had been sombre while Esme looked young, lost, vulnerable. Barely able to meet my eyes where five minutes before she’d been needling her way into my psyche in a way I’d think impressive if it weren’t directed against me.
A sliver of concern had crept past my antagonism, then she took back her tease about the anal swab and it transformed into fear for myself.
When the student housing clerk called me to say my room was finally ready, I saw the school number on my phone and freaked, thinking it’d be one of their burly security officers, ready to tell me exactly why I was being expelled.
Once the keys to this room were in my hand, my overactive mind quietened far more than with my internal reassurance. Now, hours after I concluded it must be my imagination, Gareth is referencing the very same thing I dreaded.
If he’s offput by my less than polite questioning skills, G hides it well. “There’s a video going around.”
I wait and when he doesn’t volunteer any more information, I wind my hand like a crank. “And this video is of…?”
A salacious smile stretches his lips wide. “You and Esme. What the hell else did you think?”
My skin turns cold as I think of how quickly she agreed to my demands the night of the party.
Did she set me up? Did she film me doing something illegal while I thought I had the upper hand?
“Who filmed it?” I blurt with zero chill.
“Nice.” He whips a phone out and sends a quick text, then tries to slide it back in his pocket. I knock his arm out of the way and grab it. “What d’you mean, nice?”
His last outgoing message is in some weird slang or code. Useless to me. I still keep hold of his phone, jerking it out of reach when he tries to take it back.
“Simmons said it was a deep fake, and I had money down it was real. Nice to hear I’m richer, that’s all.”
I let him take the phone this time. “How much?”
“Friday night special for the next month.”
He’s talking about some drug thing, and I lose interest. With my scholarship dependent on sporting ability, losing form to have a good night out isn’t top of my agenda.
“Can you send me the footage at least?”
“Shit. It was just Thursday, my man. Your memory really that bad?”
I glare at him, hands on hips, rapidly losing patience. But I can’t afford to get offside with anyone here. This placement took a load of hard work to win. To throw it away before I take my first class would be a blot on my record I’d never live down. Not to mention, a gigantic waste of an opportunity.
Esme might have been the impetus that got me looking at Kingswood College but the school itself is a ticket out of the life I thought I was bound to. The one where you dream small and still lose out because there’s no limit to how low the bar can go.
If I can keep my place, the connections I make could open up a new world.
So, I keep my tone casual and remind my jaw not to clench, my teeth not to grind together in frustration. “Just want to make sure whoever released it put my best work out there.”
He snorts with laughter, sending a link. “Like anyone’s staring at you, man.”
