Page 438 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

“Sorry, Jude,” he murmurs. “But rules are rules.”

“Rules?” I feel disorientated, my mind all fogged up. When I look around, a lot of the faces I remember seeing are gone.

But Dad is still here. He has an ice pack on his face and a haunted look in his eyes. Rosie and Diana are gone...but Harper decided to stay behind. As soon as we lock eyes and I see the sparkle in hers, Iknow.

“You,” I growl, glaring at her across the locker room.

Dad’s frown deepens. “Keep quiet,” he says. “You’re only making this worse for yourself.”

His words echo back to me, and I realize I said them to Harper just the other day. Or a variation of them, anyway. I want to laugh, and I guess Dad sees some of that rue on my face because his lips twist in disgust.

“I can’t believe you, Jude,” he says quietly, as if the words are meant for my ears alone. But we’renotalone. Sean and Eric are still hanging around. Perez, Principal Heller.

Harper.

I force myself not to look at her. I know I’ll start ranting and raving like a fucking lunatic if I do. So instead I focus every ounce of attention on Dad.He keeps my gaze. Maybe it even empowers him, because he lifts his chin and drops the hand with the ice pack at his side. There’s a dark bruise on his jaw, someswelling. I didn’t know I hit him that hard. I didn’t know he’d still be able to take a punch like that, either.

“How long for the results?” Dad asks, not breaking eye contact with me.

“I’ll try and rush them,” Perez says. “But latest Wednesday.

“And if it’s positive?”

Perez sighs, some of that warm breath washing over my arm. The school nurse—a middle-aged man with thinning hair and crazy thick bifocals—caps the syringe and slips it into a plastic sleeve.

“We’ll see,” Coach says, sounding as if it’s the last thing he wants to do.

That’s when he finally lets me go. I push to my feet, and suddenly everyone in the room is on edge. Everyone except Harper. She just keeps staring at me with wide eyes, the gleam in them making it obvious just how much she’s enjoying this.

I look away before anyone can notice. “This is bullshit. It’s not mine.” The nurse tries to put a cotton ball and a band-aid on me, but I pluck my arm away and press my thumb hard against the sore spot.

As that dull ache spreads through my arm, it all comes together in my head.

And if it’s positive?

If it’spositive?

“Jude is suspended effective immediately while we wait for the results,” Heller says. “If the test comes back positive, then he’ll be expelled.”

“Expelled?” Dad faces off with the principal. “You can’t honestly?—”

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for drugs,” Principal Heller says. “If you have an issue with that, you can take it up with the board of trustees. Good morning, gentlemen. Miss Dearth.”

With that, the principal leaves. Dad turns slowly to me, arms on his hips, concern drawing deep creases in the corners of his eyes. “Jude?”

I don’t know what to say. Fuck, I don’t even know if I can speak. My chest feels like it’s being crushed in a trash compactor.

“I’m going to the car,” Harper says in a wobbly voice.

I don’t even want to look at her, but what fucking choice do I have? As soon as our eyes lock, she makes a pathetic little mewling sound and blinks, setting free two tears to race down her mottled cheeks.

And then she’s running out of the locker room, her boot heels clapping on the floor.

That’s all I need to shut down. Those big, fat, fake tears drain every last ounce of willpower from me.

Well played, Harper. Wellfuckingplayed.

Chapter 47

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