Page 63 of Forbidden Lessons

And the cocoa.

Would have been better without the booze though. XD

I add a silly face emoji at the end, and almost delete the entire message when Melissa walks back into the room with a tray.

“Hope you’re okay with the floor. I don’t want ants in the bed.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” I glance down at my last message, and hit send.

“Grab those cushions.” She points with her chin as she bends to set the tray down on the patterned rug. I grab two scatter cushions from her bed and hand her one as I come to sit in front of her.

There’s a can of orange soda, a can of diet cola, and three bowls of snacks on the tray. Oreos, pretzels, and popcorn.

“Thanks,” I say, grabbing an Oreo before I can second guess myself.

“There’ll be proper food soon,” she says, dismissing the snacks with a wave. “Let’s see what fresh hell Professor Rooke has cooked up for us.”

I giggle at that, and she flashes another one of her micro smiles as she fetches her envelope out of her laptop bag. Must be university stationery, because there’s a small AHC logo stamped near one corner.

“Oh, I got one too.”

She waves a hand. “Probably the same.” Then her eyes go wide. “But we’ll check, after. Because Rooke, right? Fuck.” She says it in that same way, drawing out the word into a groan.

I frown at her. “Okay, what am I missing?”

She shrugs as she tears open her envelope. “That he’s fucked in the head, but so smart and good looking, no one cares?”

I laugh, but the sound is uneasy.

“Ugh, this is going to take long.” She shakes out the folded paper. “Cruel Consequences.” Rolls her eyes. “He’s so dramatic.”

She scans the page, grabbing a pretzel to nibble on while I try not to die of curiosity. Thankfully, she’s a fast reader.

“Oh, okay. So it’s like a twist on Truth or Dare.” She hands me the paper and then upends the envelope on her palm. A set of laminated cards fall out, bound with a red elastic band, slips of paper, and a red sticker.

I skim the instructions.

We roll a die—not included, thanks Professor—to see who starts. Then we draw a card and have to decide to enact a Cruelty on our partner, or suffer the Consequence. Then we move to the next card and repeat the process.

If either of us refuses to do a card, we both fail.

If we don’t turn in the video, we both fail.

And finally, if we don’thave fun with it, we both fail.

“We have to record this?”

“I guess it was that or doing it in front of the class,” Melissa says, already glancing around for a place to set up her phone.

I don’t know whatthisis, but she’s right. We’re not exactly BFFs or anything, but at least Melissa and I have said a few words to each other. Standing up in front of a class full of strangers would have been terrifying.

And then there’s Kai, of course…

And Professor Rooke.

“Yeah, this is much better.”

Melissa sets up her phone on the dresser, aiming it toward the floor where we’re sitting. “Okay, ready?”

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