Page 10 of Pretty Girls Never Lie (St. Mary’s)

I slowly shift my eyes from the back of Isla’s head to the headmaster as he pops into the classroom. Everyone in the room turns to look at me—excepther.

“Can you please come with me for a moment?”

Mrs. Carter chimes in, “And turn your test in before you go.”

I glance down to the answers. I usually don’t care about tests and homework,butconsidering all my friends are about to head off to college and I’m sitting in summer school, I actually put forth effort.

My strides are lazy as I walk in between the desks and absentmindedly brush Isla’s arm. I smirk when she refuses to move it and keep the smirk plastered to my face until I’m in the quiet hall with the headmaster, who just so happens to double as a father figure to the Rebels and me.

“I have good news.”

Headmaster Ellison looks like a kid in a candy shop. He’s been that way ever since Gemma, to be honest.

“You found me a way out of summer school?” I reply.

His brows furrow. “No. But it does require you to graduate. Tell me you actually studied for that test, Brantley.”

I roll my eyes. “I did.”

“Good, because you can put a pinky amount of effort in and probably get an A. You’re smart.”

I turn my head at the compliment. It makes me itchy.

“What do you need, Tate?” I act bored, but I am interested in why he pulled me out into the hallway and interrupted my staring contest with Isla’s head.

“I got you into a college for the fall.”

What?

“How?”

Headmaster Ellison’s eyes brighten, and there’s a twinkle there that I’ve only ever seen a handful of times. “Does it matter? Just make sure you keep doing the work to obtain your actual diploma and you can be off with your friends and my…daughter.”

Not all my friends. Some of the group is going in different directions after graduation, but I know Isaiah is following Gemma, and Shiner will be close by too.

The smallest seed of hope plants itself in my chest, but I quickly let it die.

Headmaster Tate grins. “I can tell you’re excited, even if your face is remaining the same.”

I scowl when the bell rings, and he chuckles. Students start piling out of the classroom door, and although the headmaster is laying out the details of this college I’m supposed to attend, I can’t hear him.

My gaze is locked and loaded on Isla and how she pushes her hair behind her ear to show off the soft curve along her neck. My mouth waters, remembering how close my lips were to the delicate skin the other day inside her room. Her pulse thrummed against my fingers, and my dick was harder than I care to admit.

She stops dead in her tracks when she looks past my shoulder. I ashamedly want her to meet my eye, but she doesn’t.

“Are you listening to me?” Headmaster Ellison’s face pops into my sight, and I shift to lean against the wall.

“Yeah, keep going.” I seem engaged, but I’m not.

Isla’s sight is set on a woman at the end of the hall, and I can’t help but ask the question. “Who is that?” I inch my chin in her direction.

“What?” When he glances at Isla and the woman, his shoulders bundle with a clearing of his throat. “Oh, that’s our new school counselor.”

“Why is Isla talking to her?”

His arms cross, and he raises an eyebrow. “Oh, are we on a first-name basis with her now?”

If only he knew.

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