Page 474 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

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Epilogue: Harper

3 Months Later

Jude Dearth, my stepbrother, stops walking, his wide shoulders braced. He’s never looked more handsome than he does now in his letterman’s jacket and slim-fit jeans. A gust of wind musses his black hair, and he reaches up absently to smooth it back.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” he says, his dark eyes latching onto mine as I come to stand beside him. “I wanted to get out of this fucking town, not commit to living here another four years.”

I weave my arm through his, giving him a quick squeeze before pulling away. “AndIcan’t believe you’ve already declared your major. Way to lean into it.”

Jude shrugs. “Might as well make the most of Pembroke’s deal.”

We’re standing in front of the large, double doors of Cinderhart Academy’s front entrance. The building is enormous, dark, and intimidating as fuck...especially for someone with high school transcripts as sparse as mine.

Someone already took our bags to our new rooms. Unfortunately, the Academy doesn’t have any co-ed rooms available, but we had our ways of working around that in Camp Joy. If anything, it’ll be even easier to sneak around here. I hear they treat their students here like people with actual human rights.

“Let’s go check out where we’ll be living,” Jude says, not sounding in the least pleased.

“Hey, you should be happy we got into such a prestigious university,” I tell him, giving him a playful punch as he pushes open the school’s door. The Cinderhart crest—a rearing stag—splits down the middle to let us in.

“Guess I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Jude says, cracking one of his rare smiles. My stomach flutters when he glances at me, and I reach to take his hand.

Ahead, someone clears their throat. “Dearth?”

I pluck my hand away guiltily from Jude’s. We agreed that we’d have to keep our relationship on the down-low in this place. It’s kind of frowned upon for siblings to date around here.Which makes Jude’s sacrifice that much more meaningful. He would have been fine anywhere—he certainly has enough money and with his father’s influence he could have gotten a job in any business in the city. But I’ve never had an opportunity like this before. I applied to thirty universities across the country. I was even starting to consider going to community college just so I had a chance to landanyfucking job...but then Sean Pembroke’s father contacted us.

I blink as I stare at Eliza Jackson.

Oh God no.

“The fuck are you doing here?” Jude snaps.

Eliza twitches a sandy eyebrow at him. “Getting an education. Is that okay with you, Dearth?” She gives us a chilly smile. “Dearths.”

I roll my eyes at her and Jude says, “Get out of the way.”

“Yeah, sorry. But I’m like your guide.” Eliza flips her blond ponytail over her shoulder. “I have to show you where everything is.”

“This is bullshit,” Jude mutters.

“What are you wearing?” I ask her, not just to change the subject but because I genuinely don’t understand what’s happening with her outfit.

“This?” Eliza plucks at the skirt of a black, silver-trimmed sheath dress. “School uniform, losers.” She gives me a quick scan. “Don’t know why you’re complaining,Harpy. Academy sluts look good in this.” From her tone, it’s obvious she doesn’t think of herself as one of those.

She turns on her heel before I can think of a come-back, and I barely manage to hold Jude back when he surges after her. Fuck knows what he’d do if he got hold of her, and I’d really like to last more than seven minutes before being expelled.

“Drop it,” I whisper as we follow behind Eliza. “She’s not worth it.”

He grunts, and then slides a hand over my ass and gives me a squeeze. “She’s right, though. You’re going to look sooo good in that little dress.”

I slap his chest, gasping. “Are you calling me a slut, Jude Dearth?”

“Hell, yeah.” He stares straight ahead, his mouth barely moving when he murmurs, “But you’remylittle slut.”

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