I clenched my jaw. “And what point would that be?”
His eyebrow lifted. “You wanted to show her, and me, and maybe even yourself that she was wrong. That you do have control.” He chuckled, throwing his hands up with astonishment. “She was right. That’s exactly why you act out.”
“No, it fucking isn’t.” My temper was rising. My fists were clenching around the arms of the chair as I dug my nails into the same crescent-shaped marks that were already there.
My uncle took a deep steady breath, running his hands through his unkempt hair once again. “Isaiah.” His green eyes wrinkled at the edges. Fuck. This was it. He was kicking me out. I wanted to pull my own hair out. I felt very unstable at the moment, completely unsteady in my seat, even though my feet were planted firmly on the ground.
“Spit it out, Uncle.”
“This is your last chance. Do you hear me?” My hands unclenched slightly. “I want to help you. I do. Stop fucking up on purpose, because I can’t keep turning my head at the big things. I’ll lose this school, and that’s the last thing I or anyone here needs.”
I said nothing, and we stared at each other for far too long. We were having an unspoken conversation about all the things our family was mixed up in—neither one of us wanted to speak of it. He got out, but it wasn’t that easy for me.
“Isaiah,” he repeated
I held my hand up. “I hear you.”
His stern gaze that resembled my father’s all too well fell. “You do have a choice. You know that, right?”
I scoffed, pushing myself back into the chair forcefully. “You don’t truly believe that, do you?”
My uncle looked away, thinking for a moment before shaking his head and standing up hastily. He walked around his desk, as I sat lazily in the chair in front of him, and propped himself on the edge. Leveling my chin, I locked onto his gaze.
“This is your last chance, and as much as I don’t want to say those words to you…I have to. If the SMC finds out about this or anything else you impulsively do, they will likely expel you, and then your father will get involved.” He pushed off the desk and began walking past me toward the door.
Silence filled his office as I stood up, keeping my back to him. I peered up at the large, framed map that was plastered to the wall behind his empty chair. How easy would it be for me to just walk away? To flip my father the bird and leave the family name behind like my uncle?
But it wasn’t that easy for me. There were casualties to that.
Like Jack.
I wouldn’t do to him what Jacobi did to me.
I wouldn’t leave him in the dark to fend for himself. I didn’t feel much these days, other than anger, but I knew, deep down, Jack meant the most to me.
My uncle's voice hit me from behind. “You could make the same choice I did.”
I spun around quickly and glared at him. My rebellious, rule-breaking, gave-zero-fucks persona had vanished like quicksand between my fingers. “I won’t do that to Jack.”
His hand was on the doorknob, but before he twisted it, he sighed. “Then get it together, because the SMC will eventually get tired of my excuses for you, and they will go straight to your father to let him know you’ve been expelled. There will be no more chances.”
I scoffed again, ready to walk out the door and push this conversation away. “So what are you saying exactly? That I should stop fucking teachers?” I laughed under my breath, trying to get back to my calmer state.
His jaw was tight. “Yeah, Isaiah. That’s exactly what I’m saying. The SMC is already breathing down my neck.” The green in his eyes hardened to stone. “If you are expelled, there will be nothing I can do to help you. And that’s if they let me keep my job after saving your ass over and over again. You do know where your father will send you, right? He’ll send you right to the Covens. Tell me you understand. If you think St. Mary’s is bad, you’ll be in for a rude awakening there.”
I didn’t think St. Mary’s was all that bad, but I didn’t say that. Instead, I grumbled, “I get it. I know what the Covens is.”
“Good.” He swung the door open and grinned. “Now, as your punishment, you’re going to take our new student, Gemma, to her room—322—and give her a tour of the school while I go do damage control.”
I rolled my eyes. That was it? That was my punishment?
Before I walked past him and into the hall, he pulled me back by my shirt and whispered, “She’s a good girl. Take her to her room, show her around, and then leave her alone.”
I snickered when he let go of me. “Don’t worry. Good girls aren’t my type, Uncle.”
Chapter Three
Gemma