Me: Tell me.
Liam: Brace yourself.
Liam: Apparently, they said they saw us having sex in my RAV4 and are asking if she knows how their dads can screw you, too, to give them a better grade.
Me: Oh. My. God. I think I’d remember if that had happened.
Liam: No kidding. They’re just making stuff up now.
Me: I’m mortified.
Liam: I know. It’s bad.
I stand up, glancing around my desk, trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing.
Me: I’ve got to go talk to someone about this. I don’t know what to do.
A wave of nausea has me stumbling toward the trashcan at the side of the room, and I literally lose the lunch I’d just consumed. My stomach continues to heave until there’s just nothing left.
When I’m finally able to stand, I take a slow, deep breath. I grab my phone and hurry as quickly as I can across the hall. I’ve got twenty minutes left in my lunch period, and all I can think to do is grab Sophia and go talk to Zoey. I feel like I should be heading this off somehow, explaining myself. I scoot into Sophia’s room and head straight for the workroom door, huffing out a breath as I give it a quick knock.
“Come in!” Sophia’s cheery voice encourages from the other side. I open the door and see her sitting next to her fiancé, then her smile falls, right along with Heath’s. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I’m about to have a breakdown.” My breath hitches. “Can you come with me? I need you.”
Sophia glances at Heath, and he gestures that she should go. “It’s fine. We’ll talk later.”
My head drops into my hands. “I’m so sorry, guys.”
“No. Don’t. You’re more important than anything we were talking about.”
Heath calls out to us as we are leaving. “Hey.” He bites his lip. “Q, whatever is going on, it’s going to be okay.”
I wish he could guarantee that.
Sophia and I rush down the hallway arm in arm while I try to wipe the tears from my cheeks. When we get to the office, we make a beeline for Zoey’s door. Sophia waves at the secretary, her teeth clamped together. I barely notice.
Zoey bolts out of her chair when she sees us coming. “Oh no. What’s going on?” She rushes around her desk, waving me into the office and maneuvering me right into a seat.
My face crumples. “Everything is falling apart. You wouldn’t believe what’s being said.” With a sniff, I pull my phone out of my pocket. “Here.” I slide my finger to open my phone and hit the text message icon, pulling up Liam’s messages. “Look at the last few.” I slide it across the desk to Zoey. Sophia leans over the desk to read upside down.
“Here.” Zoey pushes a box of tissues in my direction as she scans the messages. “Oh, crap.”
Sophia clears her throat. “Well, that got out of hand really quickly.”
Zoey’s gaze connects with Sophia’s. “I think we need administrative help. Or something. Though, I’m not sure what they can do.”
“I’m beyond mortified. And I feel terrible for Olivia.” Between blowing my nose and wiping at my eyes and my ruined makeup, I’m going through about a billion tissues.
My heart tugs in my chest. All I want to do is curl up to Liam and feel his strong arms around me and have him make this all go away. But I can’t, because we’ve put a halt on our relationship in hopes this will all blow over. Right now, I feel like I’m drowning in this mess.
“Should I get Mi—Mr. Steele?” Zoey asks. She murmurs, “Oops,” when she almost uses his first name. Again.
I nod. “I think we have to.”
“Okay. And don’t worry, I’ll pull Olivia out of class to talk to her.” Zoey pats my shoulder. “I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you.”