What a fucking way to become famous.
“I didn’t take the picture,” I whisper, as if it matters.
“It’s a picture of you falling,” he says. “You obviously didn’t take it, but I would be willing to bet that you know who did.”
“I don’t,” I say drily. I’m not a damn snitch, much as I want to be. Word around Crescent Academy spreads fast, and nobody likes a tattle. Admitting that Gavin is trying to sabotage me would be even worse than letting it play out on its own.
“Really?” He says. “That surprises me.”
“Why’s that?”
“You’re a very observant student. You have perfect grades. You volunteer for every event we host.”
“I just like being busy,” I lie. I hate being busy. I only commit to things because it keeps me from dwelling on what happened to my dad or thinking about what my mother did after. Keeping myself busy is the only reason I’m still alive and walking free: not locked away in a mental institution for the criminally insane.
Principal Davis isn’t buying what I’m selling. He’s a smart guy, but he has to be. He’s the one who keeps Crescent Academy running as smoothly as possible. He has to deal with some of the richest and most dickish people in the state. If he wasn’t clever and shrewd, he’d have been replaced years ago.
“I’m going to ask you again,” he says. “This is a real problem, Emilia. We’ve already petitioned the app to remove the picture since it’s quite private and was obviously shared without your permission.”
“Okay,” I whisper. “I still don’t know who it was.”
It’s a lie and we both know it. I’ve never been good at lying. I’ve never been good at any of this stuff.
He’s disappointed in me, and it shows. He sighs and shakes his head.
“I don’t know why you’re protecting him,” he murmurs, but it’s almost more to himself, than to me.
Chapter 2
Gavin
I’M WAITING OUTSIDE of the office when she emerges looking like a ray of fucking sunshine. I hate how perfect she always looks. Her eyes are swollen and it’s obvious she was either crying or she’s fighting back tears. The sight makes my dick hard again, and I discreetly adjust myself, irritated that I even have to.
It’s not fair that Emilia has this effect on me. None of this is fair. Then again, what happened to us wasn’t fair, either. I’m not so st
upid that I think she wasn’t affected by everything we went through, but I still blame her and her family. If her father had just stuck to the story, everything would have been okay. If he’d just been able to keep his facts straight and his out of his ass, then maybe my father would still be here.
Maybe I wouldn’t be growing up at some stupid boarding school because my mother can’t stand to look at me.
I look too much like him.
I know that’s the reason.
As soon as I hit puberty, she stopped looking at me. She stopped wanting to be around me. She constantly made excuses for us to be apart. Oh, she had a business trip out of the country. Oh, she booked a summer camp for me to go to. Oh, excuses, excuses.
And now I’m living at Crescent Academy with the one person who never should have even been permitted to come to this damn school.
I eye her suspiciously as she leaves the office. She doesn’t notice me at first. She stops just outside of the door and seems to be collecting her thoughts. What happened during her meeting with Davis? She was obviously talking with him about the photo. What else could he have asked to see her about? There’s no way Wilson has even looked at her test yet, and Emilia is a picture perfect student. Everyone loves her.
Adores her.
Everyone thinks she’s just so fucking sweet.
Well, not me.
She starts walking down the hallway and I push myself away from the wall and sidle up to her. I sling my arm around her shoulder without a word and match her pace. She tenses for a second, but doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t push me away. She doesn’t resist. She just keeps walking.
“I see you had a meeting with the principal,” I say.