Page 68 of Bad Blood

I crawl into bed and he covers me with a blanket, then plants a kiss on top of my head.

“I’ll be back to check on you,” he mutters, tapping the top of my wrist.

I nod and he leaves, then I close my eyes and fight the images that haunt me.

I fall asleep somehow and it’s only when I open my eyes that I realize I was sleeping.

It’s night now. I’ve been asleep all day and I’m almost sure Cal must know what happened to me by now. The first thing he would have done was call the school.

This occurrence wasn’t just some prank amongst students. A teacher saw it, too.

Everybody in biology class saw my naked body and my naked pussy with me touching myself, looking like I was in a cheap porn video.

I sit up, allowing my feet to touch the fluffy carpet, accidentally knocking over one of my science books that was already leaning on its side.

Fucking science. Fucking everything.

Fuck me.

I’m a mess.

If I were a drinker, I’d drown my sorrows at the bottom of a bottle. I can just imagine everyone at school knowing what happened and talking about me again.

Reaching for my bag, I dig for my phone to see if maybe Isabelle messaged me—if she still wants to be friends.

I get my answer when I look at my phone and find twenty missed calls from her in addition to a hundred missed calls from a number I don’t recognize.

I have a few messages from the same number. When I click into my inbox and open the first message, I see it’s from Chad.

Billie, it’s Chad. Call me when you get this.

I guess the unrecognized number does tend to suggest he did have his phone taken, but I don’t know. My mind is torn between wanting to believe him and wanting to protect my heart.

Honestly, he’s the last person I want to speak to and I wish I could go back to that first day of school when Isabelle essentially warned me not to get involved with him.

Because I didn’t listen, all of this happened

This is my hell.

No matter what I felt for him, if he weren’t such an asshole, he wouldn’t have recorded the video in the first place or blackmailed me.

I find ten messages from Isabelle, so I read them quickly. Each of them asks me to call her.

God bless her heart for her kindness. I get the feeling, though, she’s saying that to calm me because the situation is bad. The kind of bad I’m sure Raventhorn Academy doesn’t want associated with their school—no matter who my mother is or my stepfather-to-be.

As much as I would love to speak to Isabelle, I can’t call her now. There’s no way I can speak to her. Not yet.

A little knock sounds on my door and my back goes ramrod straight. Whoever that is—whether Mom or Cal—it’s not going to be good.

I shouldn’t have come back here.

Now I’m stuck and God knows what’s going to happen.

“Come in,” I call out, my voice sounding hoarse, as if I haven’t spoken

for a thousand years.

The door swings open and both Mom and Cal are there.

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