“I think you know what this is about—I’m just surprised you made it this far without getting caught.” He narrowed his eyes.
“I—I have no idea.” I tried to swallow a lump that rapidly formed in my throat.
“Plagiarism, Ms. Abernathy.” He picked up two sets of papers and threw them down in front of me.
“I’ve never plagiarized anything!” I shook my head back and forth as panic swept through my veins.
“Then explain how that paper right there has your name on it—and the one next to is from one of those websites where you can buy research papers.” He leaned forward. “They’re almost identical.”
“What!?” I grabbed the first set of papers, which was my assignment, and quickly skimmed it before picking up the other set. “No sir, I didn’t plagiarize this. It looks like we used the same sources—but it’s an assignment on Picasso. How many sources are there!?”
“Enough for me to believe this is no coincidence.” He growled under his breath. “You’re suspended—until your academic hearing.”
“Dean Richart, I swear! I didn’t plagiarize this paper! Please, you have to believe me!” My hands started trembling—my breathing was so hurried it felt like I was going to pass out.
“It’ll be up to the academic committee, Ms. Abernathy. We will need a few days to review the rest of your work and see if there are any other in
stances of plagiarism before we make a final decision, but this is a violation of the honor code.” He leaned forward a little more. “It’s enough to get you expelled.”
“Oh my god…” I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
“That’s all, Ms. Abernathy. My secretary will call you when we have a date and time for the hearing—until then, you are not allowed to step foot on campus.” He leaned back in his chair.
I wanted to crawl under the chair I was sitting in and die—or fall on my knees and beg Dean Richart for forgiveness—forgiveness for something I didn’t even do. I managed to keep my composure long enough to leave his office before the tears started to fall—but I had to walk down the hall in front of the other students with them streaming down my face. It didn’t even register until I was outside of the building that my suspension was Alexis Devereaux’s second gift—she got my mother fired and she was going to have me expelled from school.
I had no idea how I was going to face my mother and tell her that I had been suspended—or that I was about to be kicked out of school. If Alexis was behind my suspension, then the hearing was just a formality—my time at Carson Cove University had come to an abrupt end. I wasn’t going to graduate. I probably wouldn’t even be able to find another school to take me—I definitely wasn’t going to get credit for any of the classes I had taken that semester, which meant all of the money my parents spent was literally wasted.
My mother doesn’t need any more stress—but I can’t lie to her…
I walked to my car, and as I approached, I noticed something was wrong—it was tilted to the right. I started walking faster, and when I ran to the passenger side, I got another surprise—probably another gift from Alexis—both of my passenger side tires were flat. There were huge gashes near the wheel where someone had slashed them with a knife. All of my despair just formed a tight ball in my chest—my tears dried up—every bit of emotion left my body, and I just went numb. I opened my driver’s side door, sat down in my car, and screamed—I screamed as loud as I could—so loud that people stopped to stare—but I just didn’t fucking care.
“You bitch! I fucking hate you! I’m going to fucking kill you, god damn it, I will not…” I threw my head back against the seat and screamed louder—so loud that I didn’t even hear my phone buzz, but I saw it light up with a text message.
The same number as last night…
Unknown: Did you enjoy my second gift?
Taylor: Fuck you.
Unknown: That’s not very nice.
Taylor: You went too far.
Unknown: Oh? I thought my second gift was quite charming. You’ll have plenty of free time to spend with your mother—after you find a way home, of course.
Taylor: Go to hell, you fucking bitch!
Unknown: My third gift will be even better if you don’t end things with Bryant.
Taylor: Do you really think that’s going to happen now? You got my mother fired. You ruined my life. What do I have to lose at this point? Don’t even think about threatening my sister. This is between you and me—and one of us isn’t going to see the fucking sun come up.
Unknown: You’re such a nasty, horrible girl. It’s unladylike.
Taylor: You’re going to see how unladylike I can be real soon.
Unknown: End things with Bryant and this will all go away.
Taylor: It’s too late for that.