I gasp. It’s always games upon games with these people, isn’t it?
“And she can get re-enrolled?”
I can practically hear his smile through the receiver. “Not without a price, but in all likelihood, yes.”
I glance back to Claire, eating a sundae, tear stains still on her cheeks.
She has a boyfriend; she told me all about him. It doesn’t matter to Keller, I saw as much yesterday. Frankly, it doesn’t seem to matter too much to Claire either.
I exhale slowly.
She will likely have to agree to terms she’s not comfortable with, but she fucked up last night, and she’d have to pay for it. This is how things work in Rothford. The sooner she learns that, the better. If she’s not cut out for it, it’s probably best she leaves sooner rather than later.
“All right.”
“Was there anything else, Lily darling?”
I flush, my treacherous mind replaying his mouth against my clit. “Yeah. You’re a fucking dick for leaving me hanging.”
Cross chuckles. “Now you know how it feels.”
He hangs up and I grumble the world asshole, pocketing my phone.
So that was about my botched blowjob from last year, wasn’t it? Except mine was truly awful. What he did with his sinful tongue was far worse, because he made it clear just how good he was, before stopping.
I can’t decide who’s more despicable.
14
LILY
“Excuse me?” I turn to find a short, round woman adjusting her glasses as she shyly looks at me. “Lily Trueman?”
I haven’t seen her around. Plain, in her early twenties, she stands out in Rothford, where most girls tend to lean towards the typical California girl—except for my friends and me.
Still stressed out about Claire, though I heard she was reinstated, my mind’s barely even here. I’ve been in the library for two hours, trying to focus on my work, and failing miserably. I’m grateful for the distraction, so I smile at the stranger. “That’s me.”
“I’m Marina Towell,” she introduces herself. “I runRothford Weekly.”
“Oh.” So she’s even more of a nerd than I am. “Nice,” I lie.
“Well, you see, a lot of our members have graduated last year, and it’s a bit of a struggle to find new ones. I was wondering if you’d be interested?”
I’m considering how to say no thank you politely when Marina launches into a pitch, taking my silence as a show of interest.
I mostly tune her out, because yes, it would likely be good for my CV, but I really don’t want to spend hours writing for a stupid college newspaper no one reads, until she says, “And it might help with your scholarship, too.”
I blink. “How so?”
If she’s already explained, she doesn’t seem to mind doing it again. “The faculty loves when students participate in clubs. Say if you were short of the grade or rank you needed to reach; it wouldn’t matter if you were an activeRothford Weeklyeditor. They’refarmore lenient with people who are busy with Rothford clubs!”
“Seriously?” So, if I’d been part of her stupid club last year, I wouldn’t have lost my scholarship when I ranked lower than I should have?
“Oh yeah. I’m a scholarship student too. It’s in the college handbook.” She already has her phone in hand, scrolling through it until she finds what she’s looking for. “There.”
She hands me her screen, zoomed in on one clear sentence in black and white.
Active members of demanding clubs may be exempt from ranking requisites.
