Page 56 of Lessons in Cruelty

Always putting on a brave face for her peers, but I notice the tiny moments of desperate panic that make her eyelashes tremble, her lips thin, her hands tighten into fists.

How she tries to keep track of everyone in the room all at once, all the time.

She wipes at her face again. Charming, how she thinks it’s that easy to eradicate cruelty.

Imagine a world where everyone’s bruises could just be wiped away.

She hesitates, even glances away as if she’s trying to find an alternative. But she must realize there’s safety in being at my side. That the presence of a faculty member provides some respite from the monster tracking her through the ever-darkening forest she’s gotten herself lost in.

Miss Lee dips her head and falls in line behind me as I go to collect my satchel from the desk. Ezra Jordan’s younger brother, Kai, watches us approach with a lopsided smile.

“Hey, kid, you manage to get a copy of The Lucifer Effect from the library yet?” he asks when Miss Lee and I are in earshot, sliding my laptop over the table to me.

I’m focused on putting my laptop away. At least, it must seem that way to them as he pushes the remaining envelopes over the desk.

“No,” she replies coldly, snatching an envelope and shoving it into her tote bag. “Some asshole took the last copy.”

She makes it sound intentionally spiteful. If she considers every form of bad luck in her life a purposeful slight by the universe, no wonder she thinks there’s a curse on her.

“Oof,” Kai says through a laugh, twanging the end of a plastic sucker stick against his teeth. Teeth he won’t have much longer if he keeps at the candy like that. “Tough break. Guess you’ll just have to go buy one. She needs it for the class, right, Sir? Make or break kinda situation?”

I straighten, giving each of them a long look.

Miss Lee’s staring in Kai’s direction, but her eyes are unfocused like she’s in her own head. Kai is leering at her, but when he feels me switch focus to him, he looks away.

I suppose I can’t chastise him for being human. Or male.

Miss Lee’s plump, heart-shaped face exudes innocence. And while her clothing is the furthest thing from complimentary, it does a poor job of hiding her juicy curves.

“Correct, Mr. Jordan. But Miss Lee seems resourceful. I’m sure she’ll find a way.”

Kai sits forward, pulling air through his teeth as he gives Miss Lee a pitying once-over. “Sure hope so, Sir. Be a pity seeing such a promising grant student drop out because she can’t keep up with the rest of us.”

Christ, these students are all born with a chip on their shoulder.

If Kai has more to say, I don’t wait around to hear it.

Miss Lee chases along behind me as I head for the door, and I swear I hear Kai chuckle to himself.

Sadists, sociopaths, and society’s outcasts.

If they had paid attention in my class, my students would have run out of pages in their Activity Logs by now.

Is it any wonder I find teaching so intoxicating?

Just like Miss Lee.

It saddened me that I’d only be able to monitor her in class, or the occasional chance encounter in the hall. Throughout this lecture, I’ve been planning how to study her up close.

Kai doesn’t know it, but he just handed me the perfect lure.

We step into the hall, and I slow down until she’s forced to walk beside me. She throws a nervous glance toward me and tucks her hair behind her ear.

“He’s right. It would be a tragedy if you had to drop out, Miss Lee,” I murmur, my voice meant for her ears alone.

She stiffens up, but says nothing. From the tight set of her jaw, it’s almost like she doesn’t dare.

“I could pick up a copy of Zimbardo’s book for you.”