Page 116 of The Other Side
42
“Miss Price?” A student aide from the administrative offices interrupted my last class on Friday afternoon.
“Can I help you?” I replied, slightly irritated that whatever it was couldn’t have waited twenty more minutes for class to have been dismissed for break. My stomach flipped as the urgency of the matter sunk in. I hoped everything and everyone was okay. I’d been through enough in the last two months.
“The headmistress needs to see you right away,” the timid young boy said.
I sighed, looking at those remaining in class, who hadn’t already left early for luxurious vacations on their parents’ dimes. Their attention was on me, eagerly awaiting what they knew was coming next. “You’re dismissed.” I waved a hand in defeat. “But don’t get me in trouble for letting you leave early,” I warned them.
Nervously, I made my way down to the basement offices. The familiar chill from the eerie space crawled up my spine. The closer I got, the more anxiety began to tear at me, piece by piece.
When I made it far enough down the steps to see the front desk, it only made matters worse. Jolene’s face was long and drawn. Even the cheerful, smiling chipmunk on her sweater looked apologetic for whatever was waiting for me.
My heart dropped.
Something was very wrong. Had they found someone else? Was Chance okay? I hadn’t told him that I loved him, even though I knew I did. I just hadn’t been able to say the stupid words. Would I regret being frozen with the vestigial fear of past relationships, if something had happened to him?
“Jolene?” I asked worriedly, approaching her desk. “What’s going on?”
“I—I don’t know.” She shook her head. But I think she did know. I think she was too afraid to tell me. “The headmistress is expecting you.” She turned to look down the hall. When her gaze returned to mine, it was nothing if not ominous.
I wasn’t sure why Jones was the one who needed to speak with me. I hoped I wasn’t in trouble. I’d never had the misfortune to have crossed her in the past, and had no plans to do so in the future, especially not with her recent crackdown on rules and procedures at Montgomery across the board.
Maybe they’d finally come to their senses and realized that my teaching was subpar and they’d found a replacement for the remainder of the school year that had more tenure, a degree from a more elite university, or a more prestigious background?
Each step I took toward her office was a battle. Every fiber in my being was telling me to bolt in the opposite direction, to race across the lawn and hide in my room until Chance found me.
I was halfway down the hall when I heard Chance shouting. I was both relieved he was okay and concerned with the anger in his tone. What could she have told him that would have caused him to yell at the headmistress like that?
The answer struck me like a lightning bolt, and I had to lean against the wall to stop my knees from buckling.
She knew about us.
This was it.
This was the end.
“You can’t be serious,” Chance scoffed.
“I assure you, Mr. Harper, I’m dead serious,” she hissed.
“Look lady, you obviously have no idea who I am—my name’s not Chance Harper. It’s Alexander Roberts, as in, the son of esteemed alumnus and billionaire, Thomas Roberts.” He chuckled menacingly.
The sound resulted in a cold sweat breaking across my brow. Chance may have been behind that door, but whoever was speaking to Marilyn Jones wasn’t the Chance I knew.
“I was bored, so I came here for shits and giggles to get my father off my back. He wanted me to find a purpose in life. And I found one. There’s nothing to do around here, so what could be more fun than seducing and bedding unassuming women?”
My head began to spin; the only thing I could hear for a moment was the blood rushing through my ears.
He was lying.
He had to be.
Because if he meant it—if this had all been a joke to him…
“Excuse me!?” The headmistress balked.
“Oh, get over yourself, Marilyn.” He snorted.
