Page 28 of Unspoken Truths

“I understand your friend, Mr. Reyes, is on the Debate Club, but I don’t think he’s rubbed off his logic skills on you,” Professor Richardson growls. “No matter what time period this happened, Miss Thomas is sixteen, which means Colton Baal raped her.”

“Rape,” Jared says slowly, shaking his head. “That’s not what the article said.”

“Now I know you’re an idiot,” my statistics professor grunts.

Someone pokes her head into the room, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Miss Thomas, you’re here,” Mrs. Hartwell says, her shoes announcing her even if she chose not to speak. “We’ve all been looking for you.”

Wincing as I shift in my seat, I nod. “I’m right here,” I remind her as if I attended all of my classes today.

Professor Richardson hides a smile, his thumb rubbing his lips. “Indeed, she is. Do you need her, Mrs. Hartwell? I need to get my class started,” he says.

We are gaslighting people left and right apparently. It’s almost amusing to see the way Mrs. Hartwell startles.

“Oh, of course,” she says. “Miss Thomas, I’m sure Professor Richardson won’t mind you missing his class, considering what happened this morning. Am I correct in that assumption?”

Oh look, she’s learning. Putting my things away, I raise my brow at him, awaiting his answer. I know exactly who’s in charge in this classroom, and it isn’t Mrs. Hartwell.

“You are in this one,” Professor Richardson says with a smirk.

Standing, I take a breath to make sure my steps are steady. I haven’t had anything to eat or drink since breakfast, and I think it’s just one of many things hitting me hard. Walking across the room to the assistant principal, I attempt to ignore everyone else. Except, Jared is like a dog with a bone.

“Rachelle, is that true? Was it rape?” he asks with a growl, reaching out to grab my wrist.

Professor Richardson’s attention is pulled to Mrs. Hartwell, so he doesn’t notice what’s happening.

“Why does it matter now?” I ask dully. “I’m just the slut who looks for any cock she can bounce on, right?”

“If only that were true,” he mutters, releasing my wrist.

Twisting away, I walk to the assistant principal, following her to the administrative office.

“Mr. Lee is waiting for you in his office,” she says. “He’s aware of what happened today, and wants to get to the bottom of things.”

The last thing I currently want to do is sit in an office with a man, but I nod anyway. Everything has been decided without me, my words don’t matter in this space.

Mr. Lee is a tall, heavy set Irish man who waits as I enter his office. Mrs. Hartwell closes the door, which makes me twitch uncomfortably.

“I don’t bite, Miss Thomas,” he grumbles. “Please sit.”

I’ll be the judge of that.

Keeping my snarky inner monologue is starting to get difficult, simply because I’m grumpy and not feeling so hot. Sitting sounds like a good idea, actually.

Sitting on the edge of the chair, I squeeze my thighs together, hoping the blood will clot again. I can’t just patch myself up in front of the headmaster’s watchful gaze, so I hold my hands in my lap, all the while feeling the blood slide down my skin.

“I wanted to apologize on behalf of the school about this little stunt, however, I think it’s clear that this may not be the right place for you,” he begins, making my blood freeze in my veins.

“Excuse me?” I breathe.

“We have very strict moral clauses, and you broke every one of them,” he continues, beginning to pace as he glares down at me as if I did something wrong.

If they have these moral clauses, then I don’t believe they’re well enforced since I watched Jared get sucked off at lunch yesterday. There’s very little morality at this school, if at all. However, let’s please throw out the new girl when she’s the one who’s being victimized.

“I’ve done no such thing,” I interject. “The last time I checked, I did not participate in the sexual assault that Colton Baal is still in prison for.”

“Uh-uh,” the prick says, shaking his head. “Blaming the victim isn’t fair.”

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