As Alex says the words, movement out of the corner of my eye drags my stare away from Theo.
A growl rumbles in my chest as Sloane’s annoyingly shiny hair and flawless face appear from the crowd.
She’s clearly got a fucking death wish, because after shooting me an amused grin she walks right up to Theo and finds herself at home in the space between his thighs, placing her hand dangerously high on one of them.
“Oh, shit’s about to go down.” Alex’s words barely register in my head before I’m moving.
“Hey, Sloane.” If I didn’t know I was speaking, I would think it was someone else, because my voice doesn’t sound like my own as my anger at this bitch’s audacity bubbles over.
Silence ripples around the room as I wait for her to turn, which takes a whole lot fucking longer than it should.
“Emmie,” someone warns behind me, but I’m too lost to the red haze that’s descended around me to even register who it is.
When she fucking finally turns around and faces me, it’s with a smug-as-fuck grin on her full, light pink lips.
“Ah, Emmie,” she sings, her voice sickly sweet. “Thought you’d still be nursing your holiday hangover. We all know how much you like to over—”
I don’t even manage to restrain myself long enough for her to finish her sentence.
My fist flies toward her face.
She registers the move a second before my knuckles collide with her perfectly straight nose. It explodes the second we connect, sending blood gushing down over her lips and onto her white shirt.
“You fucking bitch,” she wails, tears already streaming from her eyes as she holds her nose.
She turns into Theo, expecting him to… what? Comfort her?
To be fair, a part of me expects him to as I shake my hand out.
Fuck, that feels good.
But the second she tries to get a reaction from him, he does the opposite and pushes her aside, hopping down from the table and closing the space between us.
Fire burns in his eyes and it makes my stomach flip over in a way it shouldn’t around him.
We hate him. HATE HIM,my brain reminds my body.
But it’s pointless, it always has been. This war between the two has been raging since the first moment I laid eyes on his irritatingly beautiful face.
“Em—”
“Emmie Ramsey,” another voice cuts Theo off. “My office. Now.”
All the air rushes out of my lungs as I realise that wasn’t just witnessed by the entire sixth form at Knight’s Ridge College but also our head of sixth, Mr. Davenport.
Fuck, Dad is going to kill me.
She deserved it, though.
“Emmie, wait,” Theo calls after I turn around, ready to take my punishment like a man.
“No, Theo,” I shoot over my shoulder. “We’re done. Look after your little bitch.”
With my head and my shoulders thrown back, I follow Mr. Davenport and slip into his room when he holds the door open for me.
Happy New Year, sir. What a great way to start.