Page 1 of Cruel Devotion

1

HALEY

The minute hand on the clock over Professor Blume’s podium ticked by slowly. And slower yet. Staring at the small lever, I willed it to circle faster and get me out of here.

Sitting through the last class of the day always wore on my nerves. After a grueling week of a full load of lectures and labs, I grew impatient to just get out of here and go home. Unlike the majority of my classmates here who had dorms or apartments near campus, I had to wait even longer to get home—to the house I shared with my Aunt Cindy.

My Aunt Cindy who would be so annoyed to wait even longer in the parking lot.

I sighed, trying not to fidget and endure the last blithering drivel Professor Blume wanted to ramble on and on and on about. He wasn’t my favorite teacher, not like the two or three I had in elementary and high school who motivated me to want an education degree and be a teacher myself.

But didn’t the stuffy old man ever listen to himself?

Couldn’t he see all the bored students practically falling asleep in this lecture hall? British Lit could be such an exciting course, but he turned it into medieval torture.

Glancing up at the clock, I played a game with myself, estimating that three whole minutes had passed since I’d last looked up and checked the time. I lost each round, making me wonder if we’d entered a black hole in here and time had actually stood still.

At last, it was over. Professor Blume gave a heavy sigh, as he always did, like it was such a tragedy that he couldn’t ramble on any further.

“Well, I suppose that’s it for today, unfortunately,” he said as students shot out of their seats, rushing out of here en masse.

No. It is with great fortune that we can get out of here.I stood and straightened my pile of books to slide back into my bag. Professor Blume was one of those tricky ones who hated to update the online agenda and would sneak in an assignment to write down at the very last minute. It appeared he was in a merciful mood today, not tacking on any additional reading or homework.

Shuffling down the row of seats, I made sure not to make eye contact with my peers. It wasn’t fair that a collective effort of bullying followed me from high school to college, but I was so used to it, so familiar with the need to just keep my head down and stay off everyone’s radar, that it came as second nature.

“Haley,” Professor Blume called out before I reached the aisle.

I tensed.

“Haley Feldstone,” he repeated, as if I hadn’t heard his dry, booming voice.

“Yeah?” I glanced up, avoiding the smirks and smiles from the two jerks closer to the front of the auditorium-style lecture hall.

Preston West stood and flicked his thick black hair back from his brow. His smug grin couldn’t bode well for me—ever.

As I walked over the outdated and thin carpet on the aisle’s walkway, I paid attention to Professor Blume seeming to wait for me at the podium.

“Mr. Young,” he intoned instead of explaining why he’d called me out.

“What’s up, Prof?” Eli replied from the other end of the row that I walked past.

I didn’t dare glance atMr. Popularover there. Striding past Preston, I had to be super-aware and bracing for anything. I’d argue that sticking your foot out to trip someone going down the aisle was juvenile bullshit that immature kids did when they were younger, but this was Preston. Once a bully, always a bully.

“Both of you, in my office.” Professor Blume turned his disapproving glower to me. “Now.”

Oh, dammit. You’ve got to be kidding me!Right when I was nearly drooling at the chance for this day, this week, to be done, he expected me to delay getting out of here.

I pressed my lips together, wishing I could tell him no, thanks. I’d done nothing—nothing wrong to warrant his giving me that haughty, snooty look like I was a delinquent. I hadn’t done anything necessarily awesome to potentially earn his wanting to praise me or anything like that.

Since I was a Feldstone and my family’s reputation would never, ever leave me, I knew for a fact that all I’d done here was blend in. Pass. Do the bare minimum and succeed without calling any attention to myself.

“I saidnow,” Professor Blume said when I slowed down.

Pausing would be out of the question. Telling him that I had a ride waiting for me wasn’t happening either. If I wanted to avoid making any waves, my only option was to see what he wanted.

“What’d you do this time, Haley?” Preston taunted as I stepped onto the lowest level of the room.

Ignoring his question, I followed the prof through the door that led directly to a hallway that opened into the maze of the English department’s offices. Eli fell into step behind me, also following, but I refused to glance up at him and acknowledge that he was near. Ifeltthe disdain. His stare never went unmissed. And like every other time he wanted to stare at me and make me feel off-kilter and uncomfortable, I resisted the urge to make eye contact.

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