Page 53 of Evil Queen

“First of all, you’d have to pay off all the other teachers to go along with it. Hix is gonna have to sign that diploma, and if he sees hers come across his desk, he’s gonna come straight to me.”

“I can do that,” I said.

“Paid,” D.J. said. “No threatening people’s kids or jobs or anything.”

“It’s like I said. I’m over that. I’m just trying to get out of here.”

“As for me,” she looked up to the ceiling as she thought, then her eyes came back to me. “I’m in the process of buying a house. It’d be nice to use the money I currently have earmarked for the down payment for my renovations.”

“So you want me to pay the down payment for your new house?” I asked.

“Is it too much?”

“How much is it?”

“About fifty grand.”

It was like a punch to the gut. Fifty grand was no small amount of money to take out, especially not without raising some questions, but it was my family’s money at the end of the day, and it was for Cherri. If that was what I’d have to do, then that’s what I’d do.

“Done.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Really?”

“Really. I’ll get her teachers all paid off, and I’ll need the name of your loan company so that I can send the money over,” I said. “Can you get it to me by the end of the day?”

A smile rose to her face. “I’ll have it for you by the end of the hour.”

After that, I went home. I was sure to send a group text to all the members of The Royal Court so that no one panicked or thought I’d disappeared, and then I went straight home to sleep. I probably would have slept through the night if my alarm hadn’t gone off to remind me of my therapy session that evening. I needed it more than ever, so as much as I hated it, I dragged myself out of bed and went.

Ever since I admitted to Nicole that my favorite sweet treat was oatmeal raisin cookies, she’d always had a plate ready when I arrived at therapy. I helped myself to a few before we even started speaking, and she accusingly raised her eyebrow at me.

“What?” I asked.

She crossed her arms like a disapproving mother. “Have you been eating?”

“I ate yesterday,” I said back.

“You should be eating every day, Nathan,” she replied. “You also seem sick.”

“I don’t feel great today. I had a rough weekend.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

“Nikita is mad at me. I heard from my brother, but we got cut off, and he never called back,” I said.

“What happened with you and Nikita?”

“More Cherri stuff,” I replied. “They got into a fight, a bad one, and when the principal asked me to take sides, I took Cherri’s.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Honestly, I don’t really know. It was dumb. My reasoning at the time was that I thought Cherri would get in more trouble than Nikita did, which turned out to be true, but I don’t really think that was why I did it.”

She hummed. “More guilt?”

“If I’d taken Nikita’s side, Cherri would have gotten expelled for sure. I couldn’t be the reason she got expelled.”

Nicole sighed. “You know, Nathan, being in a position to prevent someone from suffering the consequences of their actions does not make when they see those consequences your fault.”

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