“I want you to drop this internship, or I’ll send this photo to your internship advisor,” Sara said.
My eyes shot wide open as I stared at her in pure shock. How could she stoop this low? If I dropped it now, I couldn’t walk the stage. I would have to wait for next semester and complete a whole other internship.
“Please don’t. This is my last credit,” I tried to plead with her, seeing if she had any sort of mercy in her heart. Hell, I didn’t even know if she had a heart.
Sara’s expression didn’t even waver as she glared at me.
“Walk away, or I’ll tell everyone about you and the boss,” she told me sternly. She wasn’t budging.
Hopelessness loomed over me like a dark cloud, and there was no escaping the depressing shadows that it cast. I was stuck with another hard decision. I didn’t want anyone to find out about Tyler and me, especially since I had to tell him about the baby. Things would just blow up even more, and my internship would probably be stripped away from me. I would be ridiculed, and people would think that I slept my way through my internship.
It wasn’t like that! I loved Tyler. I respected him. I didn’t mean to fall in love, but who can truly control their feelings? I just wanted to let myself be happy, so I fell into the feeling. Now, I was falling off a cliff.
“Don’t tell anyone. I’ll quit the internship,” I finally said. Saying those words felt as painful as swallowing glass. All of my hard work just went to waste, and I couldn’t even graduate now. In a snap, everything was ruined, and I was still left with my little secret.
“Stay away from Tyler,” Sara snapped at me.
“What?” I protested. She couldn’t possibly make me stay away from him. I had things to talk to him about. I needed him right now. He was the father of my child, and I couldn’t just walk away from him after last night when things were perfect.
Sara shrugged her shoulders as a smirk played out on her lips.
“You ruined my internship and my chances with him, so I’m going to ruin your relationship too,” she replied. “Do you know how much trouble he would be in if this,” she held up her phone with the photo of us kissing, “made it to the board? Or the press?”
I could hardly wrap my head around how evil she was. Down to her core, she was vile, only caring about herself and what she wanted. It amused her to torture me like this, and all I could do was submit at this point. If I fought against her, she would expose everything. I couldn’t handle that right now.
“I’ll stay away from him,” I said quietly, feeling my eyes burn with hot tears. I wanted to see Tyler so badly right now, to fall into his arms and let him comfort me. Now, I couldn’t even do that.
“Good,” Sara quipped, looking pleased with herself. “I want you to drop the internship by the end of today.”
I blinked my eyes a few times, trying my hardest to keep my tears at bay. I didn’t want to cry in front of her, but she was ruining my life. She had taken away my graduation and my boyfriend all in one swoop. I was too afraid to go against her because I knew that she would send that photo to everyone just for kicks.
“Okay,” I whispered, lowering my eyes. There was nothing else to say. She had me right where she wanted me, and I had nothing to use to fight back against her.
Sara laughed. “Aw, don’t be so sad. I bet Brandon will give you an internship for next semester,” she told me.
Brandon was the last person that I wanted to intern for, and this was the last situation that I wanted to be stuck in. My back was up against the wall, and there wasn’t any escape for me.
“Please delete that picture,” I said, not wanting anyone to get their hands on it. It was a bomb waiting to explode, and I didn’t trust her to keep it.
“When you quit the internship,” Sara replied firmly.
She had no empathy. She did all of this because Tyler didn’t give her a second look. As angry as I was, it didn’t match up with the heavy sadness that weighed my entire body down. I was trying to do as much damage control as possible, but it felt like I was hurting myself even more.
“I will,” I said. I was going to do what she asked, even if it killed me on the inside. I had no other choice to make, and I didn’t want to make things harder for Tyler either.
“Good,” Sara replied, looking satisfied. She then patted my arm as she walked past me to head to work. “I’ll comfort Tyler when he hears the news.”