Page 82 of Make Me Scream

Rush’s nostrils flare. He points his finger, fist shaking.

“Don’t turn this back on me, Lane. It’s my school, I’ll do with it as I please. That does not give you license to do the same. I don’t need you driving away any more of my students.”

“Oh fuck off. You’re the one trying to drive her out.”

Rush recoils, jaw open in dismay.

“Excuse me?”

Chips on the table, I guess.

“Gwen told me you threatened to take her scholarship. Forced her to drop her street art. Was she lying?”

“No,” Rush admits, centering himself. “That’s true. But I did that to save her education, not end it. I want what’s best for my students, and compromising the reputation of the school will jeopardize their futures.”

“Please,” I mutter, crossing my arms in front of my chest. “Save that shit for theTimes. Just admit it. You want her for yourself.”

Rush can’t resist a smirk. He’s not going to say it; he doesn’t have to, and I can’t make him.

“I want her to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by enrollment in this school. I want her to fulfill her potential as an artist. If she’s distracted from her education, then I’m failing her as a teacher. As are you.”

“You’re so full of shit.”

“I’m going to make you choose,” he replies. “Or Ms. Carpenter can choose, but I worry she’d choose wrong, so I’m asking you to do the right thing. Break it off with her, or resign.”

“Don’t, Rush. As a friend, I’m asking you to let this one go. I wouldn’t ask if she wasn’t important to me.”

Rush sighs, leaning against the wall, letting his umbrella dangle back and forth.

“That’s not possible,” he says.

Yes it is, you motherfucking piece of shit.

“In fact, I’m tempted to expel Ms. Carpenter regardless. Between this and her idiotic, wannabe Alistair Rat stunts, I have ample grounds. I wouldn’t have selected her if I’d known he was such a big influence over her.”

There it is. The real truth. He’s punishing her for her taste. What a petty fuck. He wants to kick her out just for that, forget all the rest. When he eventually tries to coax her into his bed, he knows full well she’ll refuse. Then he can claim he has no choice but to rescind her scholarship. He’ll have given her every opportunity to save it, but she had to choose her art — and her dignity.

So, who does he want to save more? A student who aspires to make art Rush considers beneath him, or his long-term colleague and former protégé? He’s not looking to end my career, he’s looking to either get laid or remove an unwanted student.

He could be bluffing, hoping I won’t take a chance. He’d be wrong.

“If you kick her out, I’m gone too,” I say. “I don’t need this job that bad.”

Rush laughs.

“Okay, I admit I’m surprised. I wouldn’t have believed that the world’s foremost critic of Alistair Rat could fall for a Rat acolyte. In hindsight, I get it now: the despised critic sticking it to an innocent fan to assert dominance over Rat in a show of primal superiority.”

He pauses, waiting for me to share in his humor. Yeah, I get it. The anti-Rat persona I’ve built would get a kick out of hate-fucking a hot little Rat fan. Rush has no idea how far he is from the truth about me. Whoever blinks first here now, I’ll always have the satisfaction of knowing he couldn’t crack my code.

“I care for her in spite of her taste in artists,” I say.

“It must add quite a spark to your encounters.”

We’re not talking about that.

“If you kick us out, I will pay for Gwen to attend another school. I’ll make sure she’s taught by someone who understands her vision, and I’ll get her work in front of the masses. I’ll make her a success, and her story will be that she found her voice notaftershe left the Mundell Academy, butbecauseshe left the Mundell Academy. Your reputation will suffer, as will your school’s.”

Rush turns to the exit.

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