Page 91 of Swallow Your Sorries

It’s only seven.

Ms Trix only nods dreadfully, her red-stained lips puckering as she sucks the chocolate with another smack.

“I have a private dance session in fifteen minutes,” I say more to myself. “I already booked the studio.”

The studios always have a waitlist and it took me four days just to secure a reservation with Sylo, AKA Platinum Prince.

“Maybe you can find someone to swap times with?” Ms Trix says thoughtfully, her teeth covered in brown. “Maybe Aria or Stassi have reservations sometime this week too?”

I sigh and nod, though I doubt it. Stassi normally used the ballroom room and Aria was on the ice more often than not.

The girls and I still aren’t close, but lately, we’d drifted into a bit more conversation other than “stop hogging all the hot water,” or“catch!”as I’m socked in the face with some sort of snack when either girl can’t withstand my stomach rumbles anymore.

Plus, Aria had helped me twice on Monday, though I’d forgone her advice, at least in the tutoring department. The interlude was still weighing heavily on my mind and shoulders, but I’d asked Sylo to tutor me instead. I still don’t know what he’ll get out of it, seeing as I can’t pay him anything, but we were supposed to discuss a trade tonight.

Is it a good idea to accept a lesson without understanding the tradeoff first? No. But I was desperate to improve. Desperate to not get kicked out of Mistress’ class in a few months. Desperate to stay the fuck away from Gant as much as possible, even if I did give in to him in other ways.

But that’s like what? Twenty minutes tops? Not comparable to an hour-long dance session.

Damn,now I’d have to cancel on Sylo.

But why the hell should I have to? Why am I being punished for something Gant did to me? Something Gant had his minions help with?

Another thought comes to mind. Do Gant and Bae have detention for missing Mr Sharpe’s class too? Something tells me no.

Ms Trix sways and I grab her arm to stabilise her, before guiding her to the nearby loveseat in the sitting room.

“Are you okay Ms Trix?” I ask seriously, as she feels for another chocolate. “You seem…out of it? Stressed maybe?”

Gently, I ease the box from her weak grasp and replace the cardboard top before sliding it onto the coffee table.

I expect her to lie. To say that everything is peachy keen jelly bean. But she shakes her candy-floss hair slowly before gazing out of the window like she’s looking for someone.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this because you’re a student. The last thing I want is to worry you, but…”

“But?” I ask, eyebrows creasing as I lean forward to hear her better. She’s slurring and whispering.

When her brown eyes meet mine, she looks zoned out as she says, “I have a stalker.Again.”

That’s the last thing I expect her to say.

“A stalker?” I ask, my curiosity laced with a dose of fear. The campus is always crawling with security guards. If someone slipped past them…Then again, the girls slipped out of the dorms regularly and the security guards were none the wiser. “Do you have any idea who it may be?”

She shakes her head again. “I have so many admirers. It’d be difficult to know which one has crossed over from reality into fantasy land again in an attempt to get their hands on me.” She pinches the top button of her dress closed.

Are we in fantasy land right now?

“I excite this madness in people that just disturbs their peace. It’s sad. It’s scary. It’s fascinating. But it’s the life I live.”

Is it?

I squint at her. “Ms Trix, what makes you think you’re being stalked?”

“Shadows darting past my window, past my bedroom door late at night.” She twiddles her red fingernails towards the rose bush outside the window. “Rustling in the bushes. This sense of always being watched. Like last week, I was scrolling through Instagram and I felt this presence behind me, right by that chaise.” She points to the chair I’d found her on that night I crept after Rin. The night she was stalking Mr. Lexington’s social media.

Immediately, a nervous laugh escapes my lips as I hop to my feet.Time to blast.

“I’m sure it was just an animal.”

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