Page 84 of Science Project

I peered over for a brief moment to see a video of Principal Vaughn sitting naked in an abandoned warehouse. Vaughn trembled in fear as someone shot a bottle of water off his head, then a couple of trophies. Then, a masked man came on the screen.

My eyes widened, and I returned my gaze to the field to try to spot Nicole again. But it was too dark. I dropped my hot dog and soda on the ground and jogged toward the bleachers. Something was about to go down.

With a voice enhancer to block the real sound of their voice, someone came over the intercom. “Redwood Academy, your principal has been jerking off to hundreds of recordings of naked Redwood students in the locker rooms.”

Throat drying, I scanned the field. Nothing.

Where is Nicole?

I had a bad feeling about this. I didn’t know the first thing that was happening—maybe something that had to deal with Allie and Jace walking out of Principal Vaughn’s office the other day … maybe something Nicole was a part of. Fuck if I knew.

“Is this who you think is fit to lead your school? Is this who we’re giving thousands of dollars to every year? Is this someone you think deserves to live?” the man said, every word growing angrier.

Whispers erupted through the stadium. I didn’t know what was happening on everyone’s phone screen, but I could tell that it wasn’t good as everyone sucked in a collective gasp, a couple of students in the Bird’s Nest muttering inappropriate things about Vaughn’s dick.

“That’s not the only punishment that the Redwood rich will receive for their sins. Over the course of the next few months, all the lies, all the secrets, all the scandals that have run this town will be exposed. Nobody is safe from the truth!”

The lights turned back on, and my eyes slowly adjusted to light.

I finally spotted Nicole standing alone to the right side of her team, arms crossed over her chest and eyes wide. From out of nowhere, a ball bounced to the right of Nicole and onto the field. Once. Twice. And then she began screaming at the top of her lungs.

My eyes widened slightly as my gaze followed hers.

It wasn’t a ball, but Principal Vaughn’s head.

“Welcome to the end, Redwood.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-SEVEN

NICOLE

After grabbing my purse on the side of the field, I sprinted toward the exit. Panic erupted in the bleachers, and football players ran to the locker rooms. Except Jace. He ran toward the panic, desperately scanning the stands for Allie.

My phone buzzed, and I fished around for it.

Dad: Get out of there now.

Dad: If I find out that you had something to do with this …

Anxiety rushing through my body, I stopped and scanned the crowd, spotting Jace.

“Jace!” I shouted, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. “We have to get out of here, Jace. My father is?—”

When I grabbed his hand, he pulled it away. “Stop it, Nicole! We’re not dating. We were never dating. Learn your fucking boundaries and don’t fucking touch me again. I don’t have the patience to deal with your fucking ass.”

While it stung to hear those words—because I had never tried to make him uncomfortable, though I knew that I had—I grabbed his wrist tighter and pulled him toward the exit. “My dad texted me and told me to leave. I think he’s going to blame you for this. He knows that you hate Vaughn because of how much he hated you.”

But Jace wasn’t even listening to me.

“Jace, listen to me!” I shook him. “We have to go!”

“I need to find Allie first.” He shoved me to the side. “When I find her, we can talk.”

“Jace!” I shouted again.

Once I decided that he wasn’t leaving, I continued my sprint to my car. Thankfully, because I hadn’t been in the Bird’s Nest, I got to my car in the student parking lot before many people made it there. After fumbling with my keys, I slipped into the car and reversed it at full speed.

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