It’s a good job I’m sitting because there’s no way I could stand right now.
There’s a reason Dan oversees the Hargreaves Hotels’ social media accounts. He’s ridiculously clued up on the ever-changing algorithm and even more talented with graphic design.
An eight-second clip humiliates me for all eternity.
Ashley shakes her head in disgust. Shame seeps over every inch of my skin, crawling beneath it, tainting me from the inside out. Words refuse to form, because let’s face it, there aren’t enough to sum up this shitshow.
‘The board of governors called demanding answers.’ Ashley sucks in the right side of her cheek. ‘The secretary has been inundated with parent complaints already.’
My fingers pull the ends of my hair to the point of pain. Although, no physical injury could come close to the hurt slicing my insides right now.
‘I can’t believe it.’ But I can.
Dan warned me he’d ruin me. With his arrogance, family money and connections, he was never going to be the type to take being dumped lying down.
‘It’s not your fault, Holly. But that doesn’t change things.’ Ashley’s solemn tone is drowned out by more vibrating.
One word lights up my screen. ‘Mother.’
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
When I don’t answer, she rings again. And again.
‘Switch it off,’ Ashley suggests.
My hands are shaking so badly, Ash reaches across the desk and switches the damn thing off for me.
‘I know this feels like the worst thing in the world right now, but it will blow over.’ My friend’s sea-green eyes bore into mine. ‘I’m going to be honest with you, though, Holly. I’m coming under serious pressure to fire you. This is a Catholic girls’ school. What happened on Saturday night was not your fault, but it’s not the kind of example we’re supposed to set for our students.’
‘What am I going to do? Who will ever take me seriously again when the whole world has seen my boobs? He’s made me a laughingstock.’
‘You mean, what arewegoing to do?’ My friend rubs her palm across my shoulder as I faceplant her desk. ‘You’re not in this alone.’
‘I’m going to demand a full inquiry, which will mean suspension rather than an immediate dismissal. I’m not sure if it’s an offence to film you like that without your permission because it’s a public place, but I will make damn sure the world knows you did not consent to it. By next week, someone else will be filmed doing something humiliating, which will go viral, and this will be yesterday’s news. Until then, you need to lie low. This too shall pass, I promise.’
Ashley’s desk is cool against my flaming cheeks. Her words are kind, but they do nothing to ease the burning humiliation pricking me from the inside out.
A bell shrills through the building, signalling the end of the period. One final class to go before the end of the school day.
‘Come on.’ Ashley gently ushers me to my feet. ‘Let’s sneak you out the back door before the parents descend on the school gates for collection.’
An image of the wealthy, entitled parents of St. Jude’s stringing me up on a cross for a crucifixion is enough to get my jelly-like legs moving.
‘Take these.’ Ashley hands me an old pair of sunglasses and a black woollen bobble hat from her desk drawer. ‘Tuck your hair up under the hat. I’ll walk you out.’
I do as she says and grab my bag, following her through the oldest nooks and crannies of the building and out into the car park.
My cute Victorian end-of-terrace house is only a five-minute walk away.
‘I’ll come over as soon as I finish up here.’ Her grim expression suggests she knows she’s in for a gruelling few hours.
Thank God she and Sav aren’t visible in the video. Or we’d all be up shit creek. Well, Sav wouldn’t, I suppose. In fact, it probably would have done wonders for her ‘Single Sav’ image.
Speak of the devil. Savannah arrives like an angel descending from heaven. Her blonde hair blows behind her as she jogs across the school yard in a pair of knee-high boots and slim-fitting jeans.
‘That dirty bastard, Holly. He won’t get away with it.’ When her warm arms embrace me, the tears start. Huge, wracking, heartfelt wrenches rip through my body.
‘I need to go into hiding,’ I hiccup through the tears.
