My brows crinkled, my eyes slanting. One tip of his chin and the flicking of his eyes to someone standing beside me caused me to finally shake myself free.
“Gemma?” the headmaster’s voice sounded from behind me. I glanced up at him quickly in horror, seeing him staring at Isaiah disapprovingly, like the other day when I’d first arrived at St. Mary’s. I slowly glanced around the dining table, wondering how much time had passed. Sloane’s lips were smashed together as she stared at me. Her short black hair was tucked behind both diamond-studded ears. Mercedes’ eyebrows were shot straight up, her fork frozen in mid-air with a piece of lettuce dangling off the side.
There was a hush that came over the table as the headmaster bent down to my level. “I need to see you in my office, please.”
A blinding white light flashed before my eyes. The floor underneath my feet felt like slippery mud. My limbs were trembling as I shot straight up from the table, banging my knees off the bottom ledge.
I couldn’t even bring myself to look at Sloane, and definitely not Isaiah, as my shoulders caved in on themselves. My feet shuffled along the shiny floor as I felt every ounce of freedom I'd managed to grasp slip through my fingers.
This was it.
It was over.
My one chance was gone.
Chapter Twelve
Gemma
I counted each and every square on the checkered floor as I followed the headmaster. Nothing but our breathing—his leveled and mine erratic—sounded in the long hallway, and before I knew it, we were walking into his office.
Ping-ponging my attention back and forth from one end of his office to the next, noting almost instantly that we were alone, I found myself relaxing a fraction.
Richard wasn’t here. Yet.
“Gemma.” The headmaster bowed his head to the chair at the foot of his heavy desk.
Shuffling farther into his office, I lowered myself down onto the leather seat, grasping onto the arms for dear life. Fear like no other crept over my shoulder, whispering dreadful things in my ear. Every time I shut my eyes, I could see nothing but a dark, wet concrete floor and chains swaying from the ceiling.
“He’s coming to get me, isn’t he?” I whispered, feeling myself tighten. Shit. Shit. Shit. I knew he’d find out about the rumor.
The headmaster didn
’t sit behind his desk. Instead, he perched himself at the end, his shoes peeking into my line of sight.
“No.”
“No?” I repeated, thinking over the little word carefully. The word no typically stood for something negative, at least in my life, but right now? It was full of sunshine and rainbows.
A light chuckle came from him, and I finally glanced upward, leery of what I’d find. “I just wanted to see how you were doing. I saw you made friends with Sloane, and…” The headmaster looked up at the ceiling as if contemplating something before bringing his green eyes back down and smiling. “Mercedes?”
Pushing my back onto the hard chair, I swallowed nervously. “Oh, um. Yes, sir. They’re nice.”
His heavy brow line deepened. “You don’t need to call me sir, Gemma.”
I let out a breath, bringing my hands to my lap. “My uncle told me—"
“I’m pretty positive your uncle told you a lot of things. Please do not call me sir. I want you to be comfortable here, and I can tell you’re pretty uncomfortable right now.”
Not necessarily uncomfortable, just extremely cautious.
“And…” He sprung up off the edge of his desk and walked around to sit in his chair. I eyed him the entire way. He was even more relaxed today than when I had met him at the beginning of the week. He wasn’t wearing a tie but instead was wearing dark jeans and a button-down shirt, his hair a little messy on top. I had to admit, he was perplexing. “Gemma, did you hear me?”
Shit. No. I was too busy trying to figure him out. “Oh. I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I said I can tell you don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone except my brother.” I was quick to answer him, and almost instantly, I wanted to slap myself. There was a definite dent in my heart as I spoke aloud about Tobias for the first time in a very long time. Why did I say that?!