Page 50 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

How long will it take before a single phrase like that doesn’t stab icicles through my heart?

Another month? A year?

Maybe never.

However long it’ll take I can handle.

Because, honestly…how much worse can this possibly get?

Chapter 17

Trinity

Despite its awful start, my day seems to take a good turn. I made progress with Jasper today. Heck, we might even be able to get along after all.

I’m still buzzing on that high when I get to my first class. English—taught by the very severe and very dry Sister Sharon. I never knew someone who could suck the fun out of literature as much as she could. But I’m determined to get through the lesson with a smile on my face.

Until I see who’s sitting in my chair.

“Cassius, please return to your usual seat,” Sharon says.

I’m pretty sure I would have remembered if the handsome sociopath of a hallway monitor was in my class.

Nope. Definitely a first.

“I don’t think she’ll be able to see over my head,” Cassius says. He sounds one-hundred percent genuine in his concern, but there’s a gleam in his eyes that makes me wonder what the hell he’s up to.

Surely he should have graduated last year already? He looks at least a year too old to be in my grade.

I stand at the front of the class, gripping my books like a lifeline as I wait for the situation to resolve itself.

“I suppose you’re right,” Sister Sharon says. She turns to me and then points to the seat in front of Cassius. “Take a seat Trinity. You’re holding up the class.”

Me?

I narrow my eyes at Cassius, and in response he slides an inch lower in his seat, props his elbow on the table, and leers at me like I’m a pork chop he’s been salivating over since his last meal. Feeling overly exposed in my ill-fitting dress, never mind every eye in the class watching me again, I make my way to the seat in front of Cassius and sit down.

Tryto sit down.

At the last moment, there’s a flash of movement under Cassius’s desk. The chair isn’t there anymore.

Of course Sister Sharon had turned her back on the class to write something on the board.

Of course I lose my balance and land on my ass with a very comedic ‘oomph’ while my books and notepad go flying.

Of course everyone starts laughing.

And, of fuckingcourse, Sister Sharon looks back as Cassius rushes over to help me up.

“Quiet!” Sharon whacks the edge of her desk with her wooden ruler. Then she turns shrewd eyes on me. “When you’re ready, Trinity, I’d like to start class?”

The fall must have knocked out my senses, because I don’t even struggle when Cassius kindly grasps my elbow and helps me to my feet. Or when he slides the chair under my ass like he’s seating me for a dinner date.

“New Girl’s a bit of a klutz,” he says, loud enough that everyone can hear.

I glare at him.

His fingertips trail along the back of my neck as he moves around his desk and takes his seat.

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