Treacherous

“Those were my thoughts exactly. But no, he didn’t get expelled. In fact, he didn’t get so much as a slap on the wrist. Apparently, everyone involved covered for each other and since no one is talking, they had no way to prove that it was Oliver and Tiffany who aired the video.”

“Are you kidding me?” Her voice vibrates against my ear.

“I wish I were.”

“What about his dad? Certainly he’s not that stupid.”

“No, I think Paul knows it was him—even though Oliver swore to him and my mom that he had nothing to do with it. I’ve never seen Paul so angry. When I got home I could hear him yelling all the way from his study at the back of the house. And my poor mom. I’m not sure if she was more embarrassed of me or for me.”

“Why would she be embarrassed of you?”

“Did you miss the part where I touched myself in the video?” I say flatly.

“Yeah, but hello, what teenage girl hasn’t touched herself? Besides, it’s not like you were full on masturbating, right?”

“God no. My hand barely grazed the outside of my underwear,” I say for a second time. “But the video cuts off in a way that makes you think more is about to happen. It’s so bad, Savannah. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to show my face at school tomorrow.”

“Wait. You’re going to school tomorrow? After what happened today?” She seems as surprised as me by this news.

I don’t know why I agreed to show my face back in that building so soon after the video. Maybe because Zayden asked, and for whatever reason I couldn’t tell him no. Or maybe it’s because I know he’s right. Hiding is letting them win, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m way too damn stubborn to roll over and hand them a victory that easily.

Maybe that makes me stupid. Maybe that’s me asking for more trouble. But it’s the only way I know how to defend myself at this point.

“I have to,” I tell her after a long moment has passed. “It’ll only be worse if I stop showing up for a while. I can’t let them think that they’ve won.”

“You are a bigger person than I, Rylee Harper. I think I’d drop out of school and leave the state if something like that happened to me.” She pauses. “I still can’t believe Oliver would do that to you. Don’t get me wrong, I believe it, given everything else you’ve told me, but I don’t get it. You would think he’d want to get to know you before he tries destroying you.”

“It has something to do with his dad and my mom. It has to. There’s no other explanation.”

“But what does he hope to accomplish if that’s the case?”

“Maybe he thinks if he does something drastic enough my mom will leave his dad…. I don’t know,” I admit.

“You think he hates you guys being there that much?” she questions.

“He must. Otherwise he wouldn’t be going through so much trouble. I just wish he would talk to me, ya know? Maybe if he would he would know that I’m no happier about being here than he is about having me here. He’s so convinced that we’re money hungry, free loaders out for his dad’s money.”

“Your mom is a freaking brain surgeon, for goodness sake. She makes plenty of money for herself,” she objects.

“Exactly,” I agree. “Honestly, I don’t have the mental capacity to try to break down why he does the things he does, and what he hopes to accomplish by doing them. Clearly his issue isn’t with me, but for whatever reason I’m getting the brunt of his anger.”

“Not only his anger, but all his little minions’ anger, too. Zayden was in on it as well, I assume?” she asks, already knowing I’ve had my fair share of issues with him.

“I don’t think so,” I tell her truthfully. “In fact, he’s the one who kind of rescued me after everything went down.”

“What do you mean he rescued you?” she asks, and I can hear the smile in her voice.

Savannah knows I’ve had a serious crush on Zayden since the first time I saw him. Now granted, I also hated him because of how he’s treated me—or at least I claimed to—but that hasn’t stopped me from mentioning his name every time Savannah and I have spoken over the last couple of weeks.

I spend the next several minutes filling her in on everything that transpired after I left school with Zayden. She hangs onto my every word like she can’t get enough—meanwhile, I’m having trouble grasping any of it as I recount the events that took place this afternoon. I know it happened because I was there, but it feels more like a dream than reality. In what world would a guy like Zayden Michaels be interested in me? Especially when up until today he’s treated me more like a nuisance than anything else.

“I knew it,” she announces after I’ve finished.

“Knew what?” I don’t try to hide my confusion.

“That you two were gonna end up together.” She giggles. “I could tell just by the way you talked about him. No man kisses someone the way he kissed you in that hallway if he’s not interested.”

“Um, no,” I cut her off before she can go any further. “One, we are not together. And two, have you not been listening to anything I’ve told you over the last few weeks?”