Page 7 of Lords of the Campus

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The clang of metal on metal rings through the gym as I work out, pulling the bar down to my chest over and over again. The intensity clears my head as I process everything.

So she’s definitely here. Zane confirmed it after running into her a second time. Who would have thought Lyric would show her face again after everything she fucking put us through? Bitterness rises up in me and I scowl, yanking the bar down harder.

Fucking bitch.

She ruined our lives. She ran to the police first thing, just waiting for an opportunity to screw us over. We’d always been able to talk our way out of anything the three of us got into before, but this time was different.

This time, no amount of talking could get us out of the situation. Military school was hell. The only good thing to come out of the whole experience was getting stronger and more determined to stay on top.

Lyric has no idea how lucky she is that we’re only now finding out she’s attending the same school. If it weren’t for her, wewould have had an amazing senior year and coasted into college. We should have been going to parties every weekend, sneaking liquor from my parents' bar and driving down to the beach for a good time…

Instead, our days consisted of waking up at the crack of dawn every morning, taking cold showers, running a 5K before breakfast, then class, followed by military training, homework time and then bed. We barely had time to breathe or think, let alone enjoy our last days of high school.

It isn’t enough that Lyric gets to walk around unscathed like she didn’t betray us in the worst fucking way possible. She doesn’t deserve to show her face after what she did to us.

Despite how hard I’m working out now, my blood is boiling even hotter. I need to step away before I hurt myself. Dropping the bar with a clang, I stand up, scrubbing a hand over my face.

I hit the showers, washing off the sweat I worked up, my mind churning with a need to pay Lyric back for all the hurt she caused. It wasn’t enough to send us to military school. She also destroyed our relationship with my parents.

They couldn’t look at us the same after what we did. They barely wrote to us, rarely visited and the abandonment felt like a sharp knife to the gut. It was more than just missing out on our senior year. It was everything. Losing our status in the town we grew up in, having everyone look at us like we were criminals and beingtreatedlike criminals…

I want to make Lyric suffer just as much as we did. I want her to feel as alone as we felt.

I want revenge.

Once I’m changed, I head back to the frat house and storm up to Levi’s bedroom, where he and Zane are playingMaddentogether.

“We need to do something about Lyric,” I say, tone flat. They both look up, and Levi pauses the game.

Zane’s lips quirk up. “What is it you want?”

“I want revenge. I want her to feel as shitty as we felt when she betrayed us,” I say, narrowing my eyes. “She doesn’t deserve to walk around like nothing happened, like she didn’t rip out our hearts and stomp them into the ground.”

Levi strokes his chin. “We need leverage.”

“Yeah, we need to find some dirt on her,” I agree. “Levi, can you get into the school’s records? And Zane, I want you to look into her social media and see what we can find out.”

“She doesn’t have much social media presence,” Zane says, scrolling his phone. “Last post on Instagram was a couple of years ago.”

“Keep digging,” I say, gritting my teeth. “She’s got to have something we can use!”

“She’s here on scholarship,” Levi says, pointing to his screen, where he’s pulled up her profile on the admin directory. “Full ride.”

“No wonder,” Zane murmurs. “I didn’t think she could afford to come to a place like this.”

A grin blossoms on my face. “That’s perfect. We can use that.”

“If she doesn’t want it taken away, she has to do whatever we ask,” Zane says, his eyes lighting up. He rubs his hands together. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted this.”

The three of us make plans to confront her later that day after we figure out her schedule. She has a break in between classes this afternoon, which gives us plenty of time to plan.

We figure we’d make it easy on her at first, make sure she knows what the playing field looks like when it’s been leveled.

Zane, Levi, and I head to the quad where she’s walking, head down, along the path.

Stepping in front of her, she nearly bumps into me as she looks up, eyes widening in shock.

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