Page 21 of Hidden Truths

“Of course,” I answer, taking my seat once again as the other three leave the room in complete silence.

Once the door has been firmly closed by one of the three who just left, I remain silent. I’m sure this is the moment when Dean Maddison expels me from school and tells me I’m no longer welcome to attend classes here. It was too good to be true and I know there’s no way he’s going to take the word of some scholarship student over two professors and a popular student. My entire body is shaking and sweat covers me as I wait for him to deliver the news I’m dreading.

“Miss Moore, I know for a fact that you haven’t cheated in either of these classes. See, I don’t spend all day in this office and let everyone else do the work I should be doing myself. I make my way around campus and know that you’ve had your fair share of issues since school started. Why you haven’t told anyone is beyond me. We don’t tolerate bullying of any kind, Miss Moore. Yet, you seem to act as if it’s just part of your day every second you’re here. Why haven’t you reported what’s happened to you?” Dean Maddison questions me as my heart feels like it’s about to explode out of my chest.

“There’s nothing to report. If anything, I would only have a target on my back and no one would get in trouble for what’s supposedly being done to me anyway. How do you know I didn’t cheat on that test or with those papers?” I ask him, curious about why he’s so sure I haven’t been the one to cheat here.

“Because I’ve watched you, Miss Moore. When you’re still on this campus, you’re either in class, tutoring, or working on classwork. It’s not hard to assume you’re ahead in all of your classes with everything else you have going on outside these walls. I imagine the papers you’ve supposedly copied were written before anyone else even thought about getting started on them,” he answers me, a smile on his face as he steeples his fingers together and looks at me with nothing but the truth showing in his eyes.

“Who is this Mr. Hayden? I’ve never heard of him before,” I ask, needing to get out of this office so I can get through the rest of my day here at school. I’ve got work tonight and then I need to figure out what’s going on with Vinnie.

“Mr. Hayden is one of the counselors here. He’s going to be taking over all grading for you in both of those classes and you are free to meet with him whenever it’s needed about anything you’re finding difficult. He will more than likely schedule a time for you to come in to see him so the two of you can meet. I have a feeling the two of you will get along quite well. If there are any issues with your schedule or any more attempts to hurt you while on campus, please talk to him about it. If you’re not comfortable going to see him, my door is always open. How is the tutoring going?” Dean Maddison returns, his voice gentle as if he’s about to scare me away from his office with the bomb he just dropped on me.

“Tutoring is going good. Right now I’ve only got Brock and Danny. No one else would like to work with me. The one girl who was going to take me up on my tutoring decided her social life was more important. I don’t have time to work with people like her. I’m sorry if that’s not how I’m supposed to feel, but my time is just as valuable as everyone else’s here,” I answer him, my voice almost a whisper as I admit to what happened with Amy in the library.

“You have every right to avoid working with anyone you’re not comfortable helping. If someone is stringing you along and not taking your time seriously, don’t worry about helping them. They’ll only succeed in failing and that will be on them and no one else. Miss Moore, please know you’ve done nothing wrong here and I believe you’ll graduate at the top of your class with any number of job offers once you complete your degree,” Dean Maddison says as I feel heat crawling up my neck and face in embarrassment. Again, I don’t know how to take compliments from anyone because I haven’t received any from the time I lost my dad. “If you continue to have problems in your math and English class, please let myself or Mr. Hayden know and we’ll get it taken care of. Though, I believe those professors won’t be an issue for much longer. Steps are being taken as we speak to figure out other things that we’ve been hearing about happening on campus.”

“Okay. Thank you, Dean Maddison. Is there anything else?” I ask him, my body finally starting to settle down with the knowledge that I’m not being expelled and I will continue to get my education here.

“That’s all, Miss Moore. I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish here,” he says as I stand from my seat and grab my bag to leave his office.

Taking a deep breath, I leave the safety of his office behind and hope I don’t run into Karmen. I’m sure she’s fuming right now and that only means bad things for me. She’ll make it even more of a mission to hurt and humiliate me every single day since she lost this round. However, she’s nowhere in the waiting area. Brock is though. He’s sitting in a chair on his phone as I leave the Dean’s office and head toward him slowly.

“Are you okay?” Brock asks when he notices me walking his way.

“I’m okay. I’m not getting expelled. Supposedly I’m cheating not only in math but in English as well. The Dean kept me behind because he knows I didn’t cheat and is waiting for the professors to hand over the work that he’s requested as part of his investigation into the matter,” I inform him, my voice a whisper as we leave the office behind and head for the back courtyard. Far away from everyone else in the main courtyard as usual.

I inform Brock about what the Dean said and he lets me know what a horrible mood Professor Rollins returned in. He went straight to his office and exited shortly after with a stack of papers in hand while muttering under his breath. I couldn’t help but laugh because those were the tests he had to hand over which would prove I couldn’t copy anyone else since my test was different. For the first time while walking on this campus, I feel slightly freer than ever before. Yeah, I’m still gonna have Karmen and the others after me. But, I know the Dean doesn’t believe that I’d cheat in any of my classes. And that he’s taking steps in order to make sure Professor Rollins and Professor Matthews no longer bring my grades down because of their own reasons for hating me.

By the time we get to my next class, I’m ready to get it over with so I can get off this damn campus. Especially when I walk in to see Karmen glaring daggers at me while whispering to the others sitting around her. This is a class Brock’s not in with me and he can’t switch right now. The time for that has passed so I have to remain all on my own and hope Karmen doesn’t try to pull anything too horrible while in this lecture hall. So, I take my seat in the very back as usual and keep my head down while getting out what I need. Including the paper I already wrote and my homework. The sooner I can get the hell out of here, the better I’ll feel.

Collette

Dash

PRACTICE IS FUCKING grueling today. Coach has a bug up his ass about something and is taking it out on us. I don’t know what the fuck is going on. We’ve been on the field for almost two hours now and I’m ready to lay down where I am so I can curl up into a fucking ball and let my muscles loosen up. We’re all dying and the only one not fucking showing it is Brock. For some reason that fucker is running laps around us all and I hate him even more for it. I don’t know him, but I fucking hate him for how close he seems to be to Arabella. She’s my Shy Girl and no one will ever tell me any different. Arabella belongs with the five of us and no one else. Brock doesn’t deserve to be close to her for any reason. The fact that she’s letting him so close tells me that he’s going to be a huge obstacle in our way to get her close to us again. That’s not something I’ll let stand.

The only redeeming quality Brock has is that he protects her from Karmen and all the other motherfuckers who bully and hurt her on a regular basis. I don’t know why he’s always up her ass, but I’m grateful for it because it means no one else can get close to her. That’s the only reason I haven’t beat the shit out of him yet. I know Dante’s waiting to get a piece of him too. My twin is fucking livid that Brock is with her so often and I want to make sure Dante doesn’t lose his shit because he can’t control the urge to beat the fuck out of Brock. Not only would it get him in a ton of trouble, but it would hurt Arabella because she likes the asshole. So, for now, we’re leaving him alone and no one will touch him.

As I make my way over to get some water, I notice Collette sitting in the stands. She’s got her eyes on the field. Specifically me. When I look closer, she’s wearing a shirt with my number on it. What the fuck is this girl’s problem? She’s never going to be with one of us. Especially after the shit Fallon told us about when she found him in the library. Collette is a selfish, greedy skank who truly is only out for herself and that’s not someone who will ever lead The Faction because she won’t have any interest in furthering anyone’s agenda but her own. While that’s how our fathers are right now, I refuse to be part of something moving forward that continues in the same way.

With my eyes still on Collette as I try to figure out what the fuck her end game is, she gives me one of those little finger waves. I ignore her because there’s no reason for me to have any contact with her at all. My parents are the only ones not trying to force Dante and me to marry someone we have no interest in. At the end of the day, they want us to be happy and know we’ll choose someone to be with who fits what we need based on the rules outlined in The Faction guidelines. So, Collette can fuck right off if she thinks I’ll give into her demands for her time and attention. None of us will because she’s even worse than Karmen and I didn’t think we’d ever find someone that horrible.

“Who the fuck is that?” one of the guys asks, walking up to me where the table is filled with water for us.

“Some skank who wants somethin’ she’ll never get,” I answer, my voice hard and angry as I look away from the skank.

“So, she’s fair game?” he questions, his voice taking on a predatory sound.

“Absolutely. You want her, fuckin’ go for it,” I tell him with a smirk on my face as I look in her direction again.

Collette is just as bad as Karmen when it comes to fucking anyone with a cock. She hasn’t been here that long and her body count is already higher than the five of us combined. Hell, I believe her count is about as high as Karmen’s and she’s had years to get hers that high. Collette proves on a daily basis that she’s nothing more than a self-absorbed skank who will soon find out how little she truly has.

None of us have said a word about the will Kash found. We’re the only five who know that Arabella is the one who will sit at the head of the table when it comes to The Faction. For now, we’re keeping that shit close to our chests so we can put our plans in place to ensure Arabella gets everything coming to her and no one knows what we’ve discovered. If someone were to find out too soon, we don’t know what they’ll do to continue ensuring Arabella doesn’t take her rightful seat at the table and improve her life the way she should be living.

When I see Arabella on campus, my heart breaks for her. She’s so fucking skinny and the baggy clothes she wears are filled with holes and you can see how worn they are. It’s easy to see that she doesn’t have the means to take care of herself and that’s not how I ever want to see my Shy Girl. She deserves to be pampered and treated like a fucking queen. Instead, every day seems to be a fucking battle as she slinks around campus and hides from the world. I hate that my girl has to act that way and I want to see her be able to eat a full meal multiple times a day so she can put weight on. She’s beautiful now, but I can imagine what she’ll look like when she’s able to eat proper food on a regular basis. She’ll be sexy as fuck and everyone will want their chance with her.

Shaking my head to clear the thoughts away, I’m joined by Fallon and a few more guys. Again, we’re asked who Collette is and what she’s doing at our practice. Last I knew she’s a cheerleader and they have practice right now. That’s where she should be instead of sitting in the stands with a shirt for me covering her body. I let them all know she’s available and a slut so if that’s what they want, they’re more than welcome to have her. Everyone laughs at me when I say this because they believe I’m kidding. I’m really not. The second they realize I’m not playing around, they get serious and start taking bets about who can get her to fuck them first. It’s fucking hilarious and she deserves nothing less than what they’re saying about her. At least as far as I’m concerned.

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