Page 111 of Ivory's Ruin Romance

Avril nodded, excitement in her eyes. “Yeah, it’s in two weeks. I can’t wait to ditch this place and forget about school. You don’t have plans?”

“I usually just go back home.” Ivory shrugged. She’d completely lost track of the semester schedule. If spring break was in two weeks, then she’d have to start making travel arrangements. Her house was only an hour away, but she didn’t have a car and always had to ask one of her parents to pick her up.

Unless…she asked Adrian to take her. She’d already met his family, and they had plans together this weekend, so why not invite him to stay at her house over break?

Her parents hadn’t cared when she brought over boys before. Though she had a sinking feeling her mom wouldn’t be impressed by her daughter showing up on a motorcycle. Sooner or later, they would figure out Adrian didn’t fit into the prim and proper life her mom had mapped out. Then again, she hadn’t fit into it lately, either.

“Hey guys, guess who’s here?” a bright voice called from behind her shoulder. Ivory turned as Serena dropped her pink bag on the table and flashed a beaming smile. “Have room for one more?”

“Yeah, of course we do.” Avril made quick introductions for the rest of the group.

A rush of joy eclipsed Ivory’s thoughts, and she slotted her spring break plans away for later. Serena had decided to show up, after all. Ivory hadn’t been sure she’d accept the invite, but she did. It’d been too long since they were all together like this.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Ivory said, arranging her maze of notes off to the side to make room on the table. “Feels like old times.”

“Damn, you’re right. I miss last semester.” Serena sighed. “To be honest, I need a study group, bad. Frat boys know how to party, but I don’t get much work done at the house.”

“How’s that going? Didn’t you move in with them?” Avril asked. “I thought girls weren’t allowed.”

Serena flipped a strand of blonde hair away from her face. “They made an exception because I agreed to clean up after parties and other dumb shit.” She scoffed and dismissed her statement with a wave. “Anyway, I’m past all that. Back in the dorms and working on a place of my own next year.”

“What about Jace?” Ivory asked. It wasn’t a topic she’d planned to bring up, but if Serena had moved out, did that mean something had happened between the two of them?

Serena caught her eyes, and for a split second, her guard lowered to reveal a trace of vulnerability, but then she looked across the table at Avril and threw her head back with a laugh. “You haven’t heard? Girl, do I have the story for you.”

Everyone else looked over, including a few students nearby, but that didn’t deter Serena in the least. Garnering attention had probably been her plan from the start.

“Jay almost went to jail.”

“No way,” Avril breathed, neglecting her notebooks to plant an elbow on the table. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“No one got hurt, thank God.” Serena paused for effect. “But apparently, drinking as a passenger is illegal. Did you know that? I wasn’t even the one driving!”

“I’m pretty sure they covered it in the alcohol safety course during orientation,” Ivory chimed in. “But you aren't the legal drinking age, either.”

Serena rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I was trying to get caught. I’d barely gotten tipsy when Jewelle missed the stop sign, and I was in the backseat, so I thought I could play it cool, and the cops wouldn’t see the damn can. Jay didn’t notice because he was busy arguing on the phone with his brother about some secret family nonsense—” She cut off and flicked her eyes over to Ivory before launching on. “After that, the cops came and…”

Serena’s words got muffled as Ivory’s fingertips went numb, the pen falling from her grip. She looked down at her notes, the lines all blending together.

Jace must have been the one who set up Riley. When he found out Jun would face backlash for it, what would happen next?

Her stomach twisted in knots, and she could barely focus on the rest of the conversation.

“—Apparently, the Mercedes is Jun’s car, and we all had to go to the station,” Serena continued. “Then they found drugs in Jewelle’s purse, and she got arrested. Took up the whole damn night. The worst part is Jace blamed it on me, then said we were finished.” She crossed her arms and huffed, more irritated at her ruined night than breaking up with Jace.

“Wow. So what’s gonna happen?” Avril prompted.

Serena shrugged. “I have to go to a hearing about it. Guess I’ll find out then, but they said because I’m so young the judge will probably go easy.”

“That’s some scary shit,” Avril hummed.

Serena nodded. “Yep. Jewelle has it the worst, though. They searched her purse and found a stash of pills. I didn’t even know she carried half that shit on her.”

“The same drugs used on Caspian?” Ivory whispered, looking up at Serena.

Her eyes widened, shock crossing her face. “Oh, damn…you’re probably right. That means Jewelle lied to us about it all along.”

Ivory nodded. “Yeah.” They were a little late to catch on, but at least it was out in the open. Maybe Caspian could even press charges now.

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