Page 62 of Good Girl

“On it, Boss.” Matt yawned, and I retreated back to the bedroom. The other two fell faster than I did, but as I crawled into bed next to Charlotte and gathered her in my arms, I knew that it didn’t matter who fell when or how hard.

The important thing was wecared. And I was going to take care of her in every way I knew how.

The next morning, however, was not as kind. Charlotte had woken slowly and we had kissed gently in the early hours. I had planned a lazy breakfast and a slow day for her, considering everything that had happened the night before, but those plans had shattered the moment Charlotte sat up and looked at her phone.

“I have to go,” she said hoarsely, and she flew out of bed faster than I had ever seen her. “I have to gonow!”

“Charlotte?” I leaned up, my heart beginning to race in concern, and I pressed my lips firmly together. “What is it? What’s happened?”

“I’m sorry—fuck, I have to go, I’m so sorry!”

I was still tangled in the duvet by the time she threw on her freshly washed clothes and fled. I scrambled after her, calling out, but the front door slammed by the time I made it to the kitchen and I stood there, heart hammering and acid rising in my gut.

What on earth had been on her phone?

30

CHARLOTTE

My heart thundered in my ears, my stomach ached like an angry nest of snakes fighting one another in my very gut, and each breath I managed to drag into my lungs was scarcely enough to keep me going with the tight band offearencircling my ribs.

By the time I raced back to my dorm and threw open the door, nausea had its acidic claws in my throat and I was seconds away from spewing my guts up on the floor.

“Haley...”

“Well, well, well, look what the raggedy cat dragged in.” Haley reclined back on her bed, resting on one elbow as she lazily checked over her manicure like everything was normal. Her text was burned into my mind with a laser, and just thinking about it had the acid crawling another inch up my throat.

[Haley]You fucked off with that teacher and left me! What’s so important about him, huh? Don’t tell me he’s who you’re spending all your time with?

“Haley.” Her name felt like a curse, and I closed the door, struggling to gather my breath while I stepped further into the room.

“Yes?” She turned sharp eyes to me, and the ground under my feet became unstable.

“What you saw—”

“What Isaw, Charlotte, was you fucking off last night with one of theprofessors.” Her thin lips pressed together, bleeding all color from them. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“It’s not what you think,” I began. “He’s just—”

“What?” She cut me off sharply. “Did you think I wouldn’t know he was a teacher? Of course, I do, Charlotte. Paul doesn’t shut up about him or how much of a dick he is in that Ethics class. I’ve seen him around campus enough to know. But what I don’t know...” She leaned up and placed her hand on her knee, fingers tapping in a rhythm. “Is why he came to a club to seeyouand you both left together?”

“We didn’t...” I tried weakly, but words failed me. My mind raced with a million excuses, but none of them seemed strong enough to stand up under Haley’s scrutiny.

“Where were you all last night, Charlotte?” she asked. “Because I have a pretty good idea, but I can’t believe that mybest friendwould go fucking around with such a tyrant of a man. Do you know how he treats Paul? Do you even understand how much of a colossalcuntthat man is—”

“He’s not!” I snapped heatedly before I could stop myself. “And you’re one to talk. Paul only gets so much shit because he made up all those stinking lies about Derek because he’s toothickto get through a basic literary course on his own!”

Haley’s face tensed into anger, and her jaw sharpened when she ground her teeth, then her brows rose and her face melted from angry to cruel as my heart plummeted into my gut.

“Derek?” Haley hissed. “Just how many teachers are you sleeping with, Charlotte?”

“Sleeping?” I choked out the word with as much indignation as I could manage, but the fearful tremble in my voice weakened that attempt. “I’m not sleeping with anyone—any teacher!”

“Fucking hell, it all makes sense!” Haley rose from her bed and began to pace, pointing a well-manicured, red-tipped finger at me. “You said you were all fucked up over a boy but it wasn’t anyone I would know, because you didn’t think I would ever look at a teacher, but with how you’ve been acting, staying out late, and—fuck, I knew your good grades weren’t just a fluke.”

“What?” My cheeks flared suddenly as if Haley’s words had physically struck me. “My grades are my own hard work.”

“Bullshit.” She rounded on me and stalked forward. “No one’sthatstudious. You’re fucking the teachers for good grades, and no fucking wonder. I bet they take pity on the fat chick, right? Get up to all sorts of freaky stuff because you’ve got absolutelynothingelse going for you but marks on paper. Gotta squeeze something out of your life, right?”

---