I didn’t really have a choice when I said, “Tell me how to sign out one of those.” Since Xander made no moves to get up, I did. I walked to the cameras, finding a few digital ones left, one of those huge ones with the big lens, and, from what it looked like, a polaroid sort of camera.
Saying nothing, Xander moved to the edge of the counter, picking up a clipboard, the pen attached by a string. He handed it to me, dark eyes watching, waiting, as if he expected me to explode. Or implode. Either way, he was going to be disappointed. I wasn’t that girl anymore.
The teacher was on the far side of the room, chuckling to himself, probably because of some cat video on Facebook. Since he was so preoccupied, I let myself say in a whisper, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but stop.”
“Stop what?”
I began filling out the sheet on the clipboard. “Stop watching me like you think I’m going to break.” When I signed my name in the last column, I couldn’t help but do it with a hard flourish. If I had an i in my name, I probably would’ve poked through the clipboard as I dotted it. As I set the clipboard down, I took a step towards him, angling my face up to him. Out of the three of them, he was the closest to my height. “If you have something to say to me, say it to my face, for once.”
Xander glanced down, slowly drawing his gaze up my body. My posture, my looks—no, I was worlds different than the Elle Payne he knew. “I don’t have anything to say to you,” he muttered before turning away.
Not the words I would’ve said if I were him. If anything, the bastard should be on his knees apologizing for what he helped do to me. But that would make this too easy. Hell, I was prepped for the hard way. I wanted the hard way, because that meant when I finally stood above the Dick Squad, my victory would be that much sweeter.
I made an unimpressed sound as I reached for the digital camera I’d signed out. If this was the best Xander could do—if this was his real personality now and wasn’t a show, it would be all too easy for me to knock him down a few more pegs. When I was done with him, I wanted him crawling on the fucking floor.