Bradford Bastard (Bradford Bastard 1)

The student office is swarming with bodies, and as I stand in line to check in with the lady at the desk, someone calls my name from down the hall. “Brielle,” I hear a feminine tone and turn to find Miss Harper half hanging out of a doorway, presumably Principal Dormer’s office. Dread fills me. This is about the essay. “We’re ready for you.”

Shit. We’re? They’re going to tag team me, work me from both sides until I crack. Just great. Who doesn’t love a little double penetration on a Tuesday morning?

Nerves eat at me as I make my way down the hall and step through to Dormer’s office. It’s huge, but modest—a little fancy but not over the top as I was expecting. He’s an older man with a bit of a silver fox vibe going on, and if he didn’t look so serious, I’m sure girls all over the school would be calling him daddy.

“Welcome, Miss Ashford,” Dormer says, indicating to the chair opposite his desk as Miss Harper stands off to the side, a copy of my essay clutched in her hand. “Please take a seat. We only need a moment of your time.”

“I, ummm …” I start, hesitantly making my way across the room and nervously glancing toward Miss Harper. I drop down on the very edge of the seat, a fight or flight tactic for a speedy getaway. “If this is about the essay, I can explain—”

“This is about your essay,” she confirms, cutting me off before I can get lost in a lengthy, ranting explanation about how I was wronged in the most humiliating way. “However, you are not in trouble. We’ve brought you here to let you know that Tanner Morgan put in a call last night. I don’t know how he found my personal cell, but that is beside the point. He explained everything and took full responsibility.”

My eyes bug out of my head. “What?”

She nods, stepping forward to hand me the papers. My gaze drops and quickly scans over the words, finding the essay I’d written with a big A+ drawn in the top right-hand corner. “Tanner emailed me your original essay. It was inspiring, Brielle. I am thoroughly pleased with your work. You demonstrated a sound understanding of the concepts discussed and it’s clear to me that you take your work very seriously.”

My head snaps up, meeting her impressed stare, still reeling with the fact that he called her to make it right. “I do, I take my workload very seriously,” I tell her. “I don’t have the luxury of paying my way through college as many of the other students do. My grades are the only thing I can count on to get me noticed for a scholarship.”

“I assure you,” Dormer cuts in. “From the feedback I've heard from your teachers, you should have no issue securing a scholarship.”

I give him a tight smile, still feeling weird about this meeting. “Thank you,” I tell him before looking between the two of them. “If I may be so bold, I don’t understand why this meeting needed to be held under the guidance of the principal. I mean no disrespect, but it seems like this is something that could have been quickly discussed during class time.”

Principal Dormer smiles. “It was my decision to bring you here this morning. When Miss Harper shared with me the events of her evening and discussed the grades for your essay, I wanted to meet with you face to face. I believe you are a very bright student and with the right guidance, there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to get into the top college of your choice with a scholarship. However,” he continues, his expression darkening, “I don’t think it would come as a surprise to you to know that young men like Tanner Morgan, while incredibly talented and one of the top performing athletes of this school, spend many hours in my office. You are new here and I am sure you are still learning the ropes and figuring it out as you go. I think it would be a wise decision for you to distance yourself from the likes of Tanner Morgan and his friends. They are bad news, and while I understand you are in a peculiar situation living next door, it seems that Tanner has set his sights on you. I have seen it many times over the past few years, bright students being torn down by his tactics, and it would be a shame to see the same happen to you.”

Uhhhhh … is this guy really trying to warn me away from Tanner? Is that even allowed? More so, how am I supposed to respond to that?

Miss Harper gives me a firm nod, making it clear she agrees with Principal Dormer’s judgment, and I quickly nod as well. “Thank you, I’ll take that under advisement,” I say, sounding way too formal and making me cringe.