Page 47 of Sweet Ruin

He leaned down and pressed another kiss to my lips, which I struggled to pull myself away from.

“See you in the morning,” I said before I turned and hurried off in the direction of the girls’ building.

As I barreled through the entrance, I came to a screeching halt. Lisa was waiting for me in the front foyer. She was dressed casually, and her eyebrows were raised as she looked me over.

“Sorry, I had to go back to the car,” I said, trying to calm my puffing breaths.

Cress and Anna were nowhere to be seen, so I was guessing they were already back in their rooms.

“I’ve been told,” she replied, folding her arms as she looked me over. “What did you need to go back to the car for?”

“Uhh…” I paused as I realized I hadn’t actually brought anything with me. Cress had my duffel bag, and my hands were empty. “I went to get my bag, but I forgot to take the car keys.” It was worth a shot.

“You didn’t take a detour via the boys’ dormitory?”

“Um, of course not.”

“Because I just received a call from Adam to say that one of the boys was found sneaking outside.”

I could feel the blood draining from my skin, and I wanted to swear. I felt so stupid. I’d gotten Wes in trouble too.

“Wesley Montfort,” Lisa continued. “I believe you are friends with him?”

I grimaced, knowing there was no way out of this. “I just wanted to see him for five minutes,” I said, the words spewing out of me in a rush. “We haven’t seen each other in days. I—”

Lisa lifted a hand to stop me. I was somewhat grateful because I didn’t think my word vomit was doing me any favors.

“Isobel, you had permission to arrive back at school after curfew tonight on the condition you made your way straight to your rooms, not the boys’ dorm.”

“I know,” I replied, my whole body sinking. “I’m sorry.”

“You’ll attend detention this Friday night, and your privileges to leave school grounds are suspended until next week.”

“But, Lisa—”

She shook her head, cutting me off. “I’m sorry, Isobel, but rules are rules. And with the pranks that have been taking place in the middle of the night recently, we won’t be making any exceptions. I don’t care who your father is.”

I released a breath and slowly nodded. I hadn’t been planning to play the father card. Did she really think I was that entitled? Or was that just the way she expected all students at Weybridge to respond when they were given detention?

I’d never had a detention in my life, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t so bad. At least she wasn’t expecting me to clean the boys’ bathrooms like she’d threatened everyone in the dorm just a few weeks ago.

“Now, off to bed with you.” Her tone was stern and left no room for further discussion. I left quickly before she could reconsider my punishment.

Cress was sitting on the edge of her bed when I arrived. She took one look at me and let out a sigh. “Oh no, you got in trouble, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Grounded until next week, and detention on Friday.”

“That sucks. I told you to be quick.”

“I was, but Wes took a while to come out.” I blushed. “He got caught too. I should probably check he’s okay.” I pulled out my phone to see he’d already sent me a text.

Wes: So, I might have gotten caught. It was totally worth it though. Want to sneak out again?

I laughedand quickly texted him back.

Me: No!!!! Are you crazy?

Wes: Crazy for you.

---