Page 232 of Call the Shots
“He can’t see you.”
“I’ll hang outside,” he promised.
I opened the door. “He wants you to get in trouble, Bear. Promise me. Youwon’t touch him.”
“I promise,” he said reluctantly.
Bear splitfrom me with a warning that if I didn’t text him in thirty minutes, he’d come regardless. The entire walk toGianna’s,I felt sick to my stomach. At this point, I just wanted Xavier to leave me alone. It was over, done with, I’d moved on—why couldn’t he?
Stay calm. No concha.
I saw Xavier at a quiet booth, still covered in bruises, the only difference was his smirk.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No,” I lied. “Where’d you get the picture?”
“You’re not the only one who does their homework, June. And I think you forget that I know you.”
“I didn’t come to chit chat—who gave it to you?”
“You rented the house and had a party,” he said, ignoring me trying to rush him, “Elijah had bruises, King had stitches, I wanted to find out what happened. I remembered what you used to say about Sloane and Elijah…I figured she’d be there…” He shrugged. “I told Sloane that Elijah was under investigation and risked expulsion."
Sloane.
Quickly, I looked around the restaurant but didn’t see any sign of her.
“She panicked,” Xavier admitted. “Started crying, basically threw the picture at me. She was worried about King, but I told her, I’m under FERPA, and I would be, if this was a school-related issue?—”
“What thefuckdo you want?” I hissed.
“Because of your boyfriend’s littlestunt,I’m the one with eyes on me.”
I stared at him. “What?”
“Next Thursday, I’m getting called in for a behavioral hearing. It’s a witch hunt! It hasn’t evenstartedyet and they’re already trying to push me out of my director positions!”
“But—when I?—?”
“When a crazy bitch yells, no one gives a fuck.”
Holy shit.The organizations were now taking my complaints seriously becauseBearmade a big deal about it. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or pissed that it took my boyfriend for something to happen.
“You need to tell everyone you made it all up,” he said simply.
“No one will believe that,” I retorted.
“Yeah. I know. So we’re going to date for real and you’ll explain this was all because you’re obsessed with me.”
“I—what?”
“If you say, ‘he didn’t do it’ once, no one believes it, so you’ll say it for your entire senior year.”
“Did you hit your head on the way in here?” I demanded. “No one will believe that! And that sounds miserable for both of us!”
“June, a behavioral meeting! They wouldn’t call me in for one if it wasn’t big. What if they see this as an abuse of power? That’s not just getting kicked out of my organizations, I could get in trouble with the university for this?—”
“Youfucking deserve it,” I snarled.
