Page 151 of You + Me – Against the World

***

Right now though, we have to go to this party. We can’t have rumors start spreading. We’ve already learned the hard way how quickly gossip travels on campus. If we’re going to fight for Vadim Arcadi, it starts today.

On campus, the students gather around the kegs set up for the occasion. A sound system blasts out the biggest hits of the year. Red paper cups pass from hand to hand. Some students are stealthily adding alcohol to the soft drinks provided by the college. A few professors have shown up too; I don’t know if they’re here to celebrate the end of the school year or to play chaperone. I already want to get out of here.

“Congratulations, Frenchies! You survived!” Timothy Wallace calls out to us as he arrives, accompanied by his whole crew.

“What the hell are you doing here? You’re not even freshmen,” Clémentine says.

“Don’t worry, we’re not sticking around. We have a party to go to somewhere else, where we’ll get something other than Coke in our cups,” one of the basketball players replies.

His buddies burst into laughter, and Clem and I exchange an uneasy glance.

“We just wanted to confirm something we heard about Arcadi…”

“What?” I bark.

“Well, you probably know better than we do, Alma,” Tim answers, pretending to be uncomfortable. “That he’s gone back to prison.”

“And this time, he’s not getting out!” one of Tim’s buddies chimes in.

“He’s never even been in prison before. You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Still, how do they know?

“Hey, guys, you’re becoming quite the gossip queens, aren’t you?” Clem cuts in with a sly smile. “You sure you’re all okay? Is your masculinity handling it alright? You know, you sink a little lower every day.”

“You know, you’re a lot more bitter than you used to be, D’Aragon! I guess that’s what happens when you never get laid,” Cassius Banks, one of her exes from the beginning of the year, fires back.

“Leave them alone! Come on, get out of here!” My brother shows up behind us and tries to take control of the situation.

“Well, look who it is—Lancaster’s brother! Are you the one banging Arcadi now, or are you having threesomes with your sister?”

They nudge each other and laugh coarsely. Ignoring them, Basile takes me by the shoulders and steers me away from the circle that has formed around us. Clémentine spits a few more insults at the jocks before she joins us.

“Alma, you’d better go home.”

“Why? I have nothing to feel guilty about. Neither does Vadim.”

“Is what they’re saying true?” my brother asks me in a low voice. “Is he in prison?”

“No, he got arrested, that’s all!” Clem practically yells.

She immediately realizes her blunder and brings her hand to her mouth, which is hanging wide open.

“Fuck, I told you that you couldn’t trust him! He isn’t right for you, Alma. You need to put an end to this right now. Before it gets even more serious.”

Basile strokes my arm, but I jerk it away. For once, I’m not crying. Fury zips through my veins and starts to rumble in my throat.

“And to think that Vadim stood up for you! He stopped those guys from walking all over you and Isaac! He pushed you to accept yourself. But it turns out, you’re just as much of a coward as they are, Basile! You make me sick! And you know what? I’m never going to leave him. NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!” I roar those words loud enough for the whole campus to hear.

Then, I start running toward the exit.

***

I don’t recognize the number showing on my cell phone, but I answer it anyway as I continue down the street.

Hearing Vadim’s voice takes my breath away.