Page 79 of Hateful
My stomach drops. “Then … why?”
She grins up at me from her chair. “Oh, Alex. I want this place destroyed.” She grins even wider at my face as it drains of color. “And I’m very nearly ready to do that. And,” she adds, her voice lowering, “it’s all thanks toyou. Good work. Excellent, if I may say so myself. So sad you didn’t join my own school, but it’s worked to my advantage, anyway.”
I stumble backward against the closed door behind me. I thought I was protecting myself. I thought that I was doing somethinggood, even. And now I may get this place destroyed.
And me along with it.
I knew giving her that folder was a mistake. I just didn’t realize how big of a mistake.
I glance back once through the glass and into the hallway behind me, looking for a moment to make sure there’s no one outside to overhear.
No one can ever find out about this.Girl or not, The Brotherhood will kill me.
“But … why did you tell the dean about me, then?” I ask, reaching into the depths of my brain to find words.
She frowns. “That one I miscalculated. I didn’t think he’d be able to spin it into good publicity for the school.” Her lips draw into a thin line for a minute. “Leave it to Withers.”
I shuffle my feet. “Well, at least I’m not expelled.”But the school may collapse around you,I remind myself.
Headmistress Robin grins and gets to her feet. “And you don’t have to hide anymore. There’s a silver lining for you.”
Silver lining my ass.
“What’s the point in even being here if this place gets shut down?” I snap, at long last. “Bleakwood’s reputation will be ruined if you have your way … and my chances at a good college, a good future, will be ruined with it.”
The headmistress makes a mocking, pouting expression. “Unfortunately, we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, Alex.”
The sound of her phone vibrating in her pocket draws her attention away from me.
“Ah,” she says, suddenly standing after she sees what’s on the screen. “This is very important, so I’ll have to leave you. Seems everything is falling into place.”
The return of her unfeeling smile chills me to the core.
I have no choice but to step aside as she sweeps past me, leaving me—as so often seems to happen—alone and hyperventilating in this old, abandoned classroom.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I emerge shaking and confused.The hallway is empty. Isolated. I tug my oversized hoodie over my head, transforming myself into my familiar, safe lump of fabric.
With nothing much else to do, I wander toward the infirmary with my hands shoved into my huge hoodie pocket. I might as well check on Heath … and the fact that it’s in the opposite direction of the entrance hall and any remaining crowd is an added bonus.
But soon my footsteps falter, and I slow to a stop in the middle of the hallway.
What am I thinking?
How am I supposed to talk to him now? Is he going to feel the same way about me now that I’m free to be a girl? Probably not.
More importantly, do Iwanthim to?
I shuffle on the spot, trying to decide between going back to my room—if that’s even my room anymore—or heading to the infirmary when Jasper and Beck materialize at the end of the hallway. They’ve clearly just come back from the infirmary themselves.
I stand here, frozen as they spot me. For a second they both stare, unspeaking, unmoving.
The moment stretches on until, at long last, they set their faces and start heading purposefully down the hall towards me. I couldn’t move if I wanted to. I’m rooted to the spot. I don’t know what to say or do, so I do the only thing I can … and I wait to face them.
They don’t look angry, per se—or at least, Jasper doesn’t. Beck’s face is an unreadable mask.
Right up until he gets within grabbing distance.
