Page 87 of Zero Chance

“She’s never going to speak to me again,” Alec lamented, watching Xander out the window as she crossed the quad in the direction of the library.Smacking my arm, he demanded, “Why the hell did I let you talk me into this?”

“Because you’re an idiot too,” Hudson told him matter-of-factly before he took a bite of his spaghetti, only to wince.“Jesus.Who seasoned this shit?Seriously.No one loves oreganothatmuch.”

“Tastes fine to me,” I said with a shrug, and I stuffed my own mouth with a heaping forkful.Ivey sent me one of his haughty chef glances and began to pick at his salad.

“And Girl Union’s just jealous she didn’t think up the idea first,” I told Alec, unconcerned by everyone’s concern.“Because it was a great idea.”

Alec glanced at me, then grimaced.“Oh God.Iaman idiot,” he realized.

Hudson nodded sagely.“Admitting it is the first step to recovery.”

“What the fuck ever,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.“We did nothing wrong.”

And Faith tipped her head toward Hudson, saying, “Clearly,he’llnever recover.”

As they laughed together, I sent them a dry glower.“I’m going tosoenjoy watching you two eat your words when this plan actually works.Because she’sgonnarespond.I know it.”

* * *

Eight hours later,Mystery Girl had not responded.

“The fuck?”I muttered, running a harassed hand through my hair as I stormed into my bedroom and moodily smacked the door shut behind me.Why the hell hadn’t she replied?Or retaliated.Or something!

There was no way she hadn’t at leastheardabout the flyers.Everyone on fucking campus had heard.Even the academic integrity board.I’d been called into the dean’s office this afternoon and had to sit through an hour-long lecture about what I’d done.

I’d walked away with my first warning.Two more, and he said it could be grounds for academic dismissal.Grounds fordidn’t necessarily mean I would be kicked out, but still… Not cool.Yet, all the while, I remained steadfast in the belief that what I’d done was totally worth it.

If Mystery Girl actually replied to my summons, that was.

I’d gotten nearly fifty spoof replies so far, but not a single one of them was legitimate.

Dropping my backpack on the floor next to my door, I trudged across the room so I could tumble miserably onto my mattress and stare moodily up at the ceiling.

Resting a forearm against my brow, I heaved out a depressed sigh, only to mumble, “Maybe she doesn’t evengoto Haverick.”

But still.Even then, she’d have to have connections with someone from our university to even know to come to our party in the first place.And whoever that tie had been had probably passed on word about the Cinderella panties.

I tapped my fingers restlessly against my abdomen and bit my lip, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why someone would want to avoid me this hard.

I mean, she’d liked me enough to give me a blowjob and sit on my face.Why hide afterthat?

Thinking I could glean some answers from her underwear, I removed the arm resting on my brow to swing it toward the desk next to the bed.I’d left the panties sitting there, on the corner, within reach of where I slept.So when I patted my hand blindly around the top, I expected to encounter cloth within moments.

Nothing.

My fingers bumped into some kind of thick paper instead.Frowning, I took hold of that and brought it up above my face to blink at an envelope with a fancy letter M, written in some Old English font with one of those special calligraphy pens and framed within an angry circle where the ends never met but slashed right past each other in a rush.

“What the hell?”I swiped my thumb over the M and then sat up slowly.

Glancing toward the desk, I found the pair of Mystery Girl’s panties gone.

“Son of a bitch!”I cried, leaping to my feet.

Still holding the envelope in one hand, I took a few minutes to search around my desk, opening all the drawers, getting down on my hands and knees to see if they’d fallen underneath, ripping down the sheets to see if they’d fallen onto my mattress at some point.But the panties were gone.

My attention returned to the envelope.

Holding my breath, I wedged my finger into the back flap that had been sealed and I ripped it open.

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