Page 3 of Cruel Devotion

“You don’t have a date for it, do you, Haley?”

“No, Eli,” I replied wryly. “I don’t. Nor would I want one. It’s a stupid dance and a dumb tradition for idiots who want to cling to their high school days and not grow up to act like adults.”

He whistled softly. “Someone’s prickly about the idea of a simple dance.”

I looked up at the ceiling, debating again to just walk out of here. “Then you tell me. WhyshouldI care about this dance?”

All I cared about was graduating and moving out of here to live with my sister in the city.

Professor Blume had yet to call either of us in, and I gave up. I quit. He could email me about this so-called evidence of my cheating. When he did, he’d see that he was wrong.

I got to my feet and walked out, leaving Eli and his teasing, Professor Blume and his unfounded concerns. I’d had enough for today.

Not stopping until I got outside, I kept my eyes on nothing but where I’d put my feet in this hasty exit. A chilly breeze hit my face the second I was exposed to the wintry air, and I tightened my coat around me a little more.

There she is.I spotted Aunt Cindy’s rusty minivan and jogged toward it. She was idling in a no-parking zone, so I rushed to open the passenger door and dive in. Stale, warm air blasted at my face in a whiplash of temperatures compared to the frigid air outside.

“Took you long enough!” She didn’t waste a second shoving the gear into drive and speeding away. “I was standing around for fifteen minutes. That damn parking guard came by and told me to move it or I’d get another ticket. I’ve been circling the lot all this time.”

“Sorry, Aunt Cindy.”

“What took you so damn long?” She shook her head, making her frizzy gray hair bounce with the motion.

“Professor Blume asked me to come to his office after class.”

“Oh, God.” She groaned. “Don’t tell me he’s some pervy asshole trying to take advantage of you just because you’re a Feldstone.”

“No.”Ew.But I knew why she’d assume that. My mother—and my sister—hadn’t really given anyone in Marsten a reason to have rosier opinions of us. “Preston West accused me of cheating on an exam and?—”

“Come on, Haley. You know better than to mess with the West family.” She slowed at a light, and the van juddered and grumbled at the lower RPM.

“I know better than to mess with anyone, Aunt Cindy. I don’t go looking for trouble, ever.”

“You'd better not.” She faced me while waiting for the light to turn green. “Because I swear, Haley. I can’t handle it if you screw up. Whatever you do, please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t make my life harder than it is.”

“I won’t,” I promised, like I had many times before. “But it’s not my fault. They pick on me and bully me and?—”

“Then you ignore it,” she advised. “You don’t let the West family even notice you’re there.”

Ignoring the jerks and brats who bullied me wasallI did. And I hated how my aunt never believed that I was the victim in all of this.

“I shouldn’t have to remind you that everyone in our family has had a bad past with the Wests.”

“No,” I answered glumly, looking out the window as the snow-covered scenery blurred by. “You don’t have to remind me.” Sometimes, I felt like everyone had a bad past here. Marsten could’ve been called quaint and cute, but its citizens were too closed-minded.

I sighed, refusing to be down about this.

This is the last semester.

Just tough it out and graduate.

I was almost out of here, and I couldn’t wait to start the rest of my life elsewhere—on my own terms and without any small-town prejudices making my existence more difficult than necessary.

2

ELI

Professor Blume didn’t take long.

---