Page 102 of Bewitch

“Behind Pamela,” I say with a grin.

“I’ll be first in line to buy,” he corrects, laughing.

I grin. “Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome. Thank you for being a valued member of the gym community.”

I nod, stand, and shake his hand before leaving, after giving Pamela a thumb’s up sign on my way out. I’ll talk to her about the details later.

But by the time I reach my car, my good mood has all but evaporated. Will Lucas come back? What if he’s trying to quit or has offered his two weeks’ notice?

What if I never see him again?

CHAPTER30

Apart of me hates myself, and I can’t tell you how hard it is for me to not drown myself in food. It’s my default when I’m depressed, and that is exactly what I am.

Depressed.

And it’s all my fault.

But I refuse to overeat. Instead, I’m trying to do my best and not eat at all. I’m not hungry, though, and I know that this is playing with fire, that it might come back to bite me in the ass, and I might end up bingeing at one point, but I’m not the only one who has issues to deal with.

The other girls. I want them to feel safe here on campus, and before, I worried about baking the protein bars and going to the gym and all of that, but no more. I mean, I’ll still go to the gym, but I’m not going to call Lucas. Not right now. Instead, I’m going to focus on Carl Fetto and find out what ammunition I can take to my mom. At the very least, I’m going to ask if he can be assigned other buildings than ones that are heavily trafficked by students, which, honestly, I guess that would mean the teachers’ office buildings and that’s pretty much it. I don’t want the guy fired if all he is guilty of is just looks, but the looks could be his way of trying to work up to something else. That’s my fear.

When Monday rolls around, before my first class of the day, I head over to that building where Eliza has her classes and where Carl is supposed to be working. I have a paper I can work on. One of my professors said we could skip class if we want to work on it, and I do plan to, but I can write it here in between observing Carl. Kill two birds with one stone and all of that.

It sucks, though, because it’s raining hard. I’m drenched by the time I arrive. More students than not don’t have umbrellas either, and they’re rushing to their classes faster than ever, not dawdling or hanging out in the hallway until the last minute like they normally do.

I spot Eliza right away. She’s shivering, as wet as most everyone else.

And then there’s an umbrella, a large black one. I spy it long before I realize who is carrying it.

Carl.

The janitor almost slams the umbrella into Eliza’s stomach. “Here you go,” he offers.

“No, thank you,” she says, trying to walk forward.

But the umbrella is in the way.

“I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold,” he insists. “Go on. Take it.”

“It’s… I’m fine,” she says.

“You need this umbrella,” he says rudely. He shoves it at her.

She pushes the umbrella away from her. “Look around! I’m not the only one who is wet. Why do I need the umbrella more than anyone else?”

“I only have the one,” he says.

“Then you need it.”

“But I want you to have it,” he says. “Please. I don’t want you to get sick from the rain.”

“What about…” Eliza glances at her watch. Although she’s bristling and clearly doesn’t want to take the umbrella, she does.

No. No way. This is going way too far. For her to accept this, a gift, he’ll feel like he’s entitled to her all the more.

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