Page 34 of Baby Duke

My mouth pops open. Is he saying itisa weed brownie? Hell, who cares if it is or isn’t? It’s fucking chocolate, and my body needs some sugary emotional support right now.

I snatch the slice from his hand and take a very un-lady-like bite. Holy mother of chocolate titties! I groan. "This is the best thing I have ever tasted," I groan, eyes shuttering closed. When I open them a moment later, Mr. Foster is watching me intensely, all hints of his softened face disappearing under the sudden sharpening of his features. He looks furious, almost. A nerve in his sharp cheekbones ticks incessantly. I gulp my mouthful down.

"Uh, Sir? Is everything ok?" Hell, if he didn’t want me to eat the damn brownie so badly, he shouldn’t have offered it in the first place.

He blinks, eyes softening to their familiar warmth. "Everything is fine, Roe. I apologize. You just have some chocolate by your lips. Here," he reaches forward as if to wipe it off with his fingers. Slightly uncomfortable and 100% embarrassed, I hurry to raise my own hand and wipe my mouth.

"That's ok, Sir. I'm bound to make more of a mess before I'm finished anyway." I take another ungodly mouthful, knowing full well I have smudged it around my mouth again. I smile at him through the chocolaty goodness.

Mr. Foster, who had dropped his hand hastily, blushes and awkwardly shuffles some paperwork on the side of his desk.

We sit in silence for a moment as I polish off the brownie in record time, my limbs feeling weightless as my mind calms and wonders. Yeah, there was definitely marijuana in that slice. Good shit, too, if my current state is anything to go by.

"Was it consensual?"

I stiffen, my high easing somewhat at his words. I know what he is talking about and it is not the photo. I play dumb.

"Did I consent to have my photo taken during such an intimate moment? No," I say, brushing crumbs from my uniform.

"Video," he says.

"What?" my heart stutters. "There’s a video too?"

Mr. Foster stiffens. "I apologize. I do not know for sure if there is a video circulating as well, but the quality of the photo tells me it is a screenshot, not an original photo. I can't see why the person who's spreading these images of you would use a bad-quality screenshot over an original."

My stomach is in knots all over again; my high completely evaporated. Someone recorded me. Someone made a video of me getting finger fucked by Baby Duke while the other two had their hands on me. A video is so much worse than a photo.

Before I can say anything, the door slams open, and a furious East storms in.

"I'm going to rip their tits off!" she seethes.

"It could have been a guy, E." A slender, athletically built boy follows close behind East. He carries a drink tray with three Styrofoam cups. His fingernails, I notice, are painted pitch black, and his eyes are shadowed with a thin layer of black eyeliner. His left eyebrow is pierced as well as the bottom corner of his lip.

"Then I will rip their balls off!" East frowns.

Reaching me, she grabs my hand and pulls me unceremoniously to my feet. "Mr. Foster," she says without looking at him, tugging me along.

When she pauses to grab my bag from where I had thrown it earlier, I take a second to look back at Mr. Foster's easy smile and raised eyebrows.

"Thank you, Sir," I say over my shoulder. "For… well, everything."

He nods, smile in place. "I'll see you in class, Ms. Nixon."

East storms at an unforgivable pace, which I am forced to match. The cute emo boy follows a few steps behind.

The cafeteria is mostly empty, seeing as classes are about to start, though a few people linger at the coffee shop. Westop at the table that we had seemingly dubbed ours and I plonk into my seat with a deep sigh.

East stares at me, mouth opening and closing as she goes to say something, then thinks better of it. In the end, she just growls something indiscernible and puts her face in her hands.

The emo boy clears his throat at this. "I'm Felix," he says, holding out his hand to shake with a kind smile.

I shake his offered hand with a smile of my own and go to introduce myself back to him when he cuts me off.

"No need. I knowallabout you, Roe Nixon. The feisty new girl who likes picking fights with the Dukes. With the face of an angel, the temper of a demon, and the body of a siren, you, Roe Nixon, are the talk of the school."

I blush under his scrutiny and compliments. "Good to know my reputation proceeds me," I say with a wink. "So, Felix, why has it taken so long for us to meet?"

"I was on holiday with the 'rents and they decided to stay a few extra days, soak up the Fijian sun a little longer, you know?"

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