president has any concerns or objections to your presence, I’m sure he’ll let me know about it?” Dad glances back at Church who nods, and I fume. Seriously, steam must be rising from my head now. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
Archie stands up and exits the room, leaving me alone with Church.
The stupid asswad comes over to stand beside me, bringing with him that particular scent of lilac and rosemary. I hate that we use the same shampoo. His smell is almost, like, comforting to me. Gross. He leans down and puts his lips right up against my ear.
“Did you hear what your father said, Chuck Carson?” He licks my ear, and I reach up to slap him away, my jaw clenching with anger. He doesn’t even know my secret, and it feels like he’s hitting on me. Pretty sure it’s all just part of his fucked-up personality, built on intimidation and BS. “You’ll obey.” Church strokes my hair back, and I jerk my head away from him. He laughs in my ear, this cold, awful sound that gives me the chills. “Just remember that, Chuck. This is my school, and if you want to survive here, you will obey.” He stands back up and returns to his seat, plastering on one of those stupid happy smiles of his. By the time Dad comes back, he’s the very picture of adolescent perfection.
I stab my fork into my pot roast and try to consider myself lucky that Dad’s even thinking about letting me move back to the dorms. If I have to suffer one more night without Wi-Fi, I might just die. All I want is to talk to Cody and Monica, that’s it. Just a little taste of home.
Church seriously overstays his welcome, refusing to leave until he’s ruined my movie night with Dad. The entire film, I swear he’s staring at me.
I mean, seriously, what’s this guy’s problem?
If I were actually sticking around at this school, maybe I’d have time to find out? As it is, I just don’t care. All I have to do is survive a few more weeks, just a few short weeks, and I’ll be home.
Permanently.
On Sunday, Dad finally lets me move back into the boys' dormitory, and the twins offer to help carry my stuff. Thankfully, they already know my secret, so there's nothing for them to find. Unfortunately, they … well, already know my secret, so when I come out of the bathroom at Dad's place and head down the hall to grab the last few boxes, I find them going through my dresses in the closet.
Well, Tobias is looking through my dresses. Micah is holding a pair of lacy panties with a hole in the crotch. Like, um, a purposeful hole. Monica bought the undies for me as a sort of joke, but also as like a let's get you to lose that V-card nudge. Didn't work out quite like that, but I still have the underwear.
“Crotchless panties, very racy.” Micah twirls them around on his finger as I march over with my jaw clenched tight and try to grab them. He lifts them out of my reach and continues to spin them.
“This is a huge violation of my privacy,” I snap, and Micah shrugs.
“They were literally lying on the ground at the edge of the bed. I didn't exactly go looking for them.”
There's a knock on the door, and I spin around to find Spencer standing there, frowning at us. His eyes go right from me to the underwear, and a dark scowl takes over his face.
“You got a girlfriend, Chuck?” he asks, a dark note in his voice that makes me shiver. Micah tosses the underwear over to him, and Spencer catches them, finding the hole in the crotch right away. His cheeks redden slightly, and he clenches his jaw, looking up at me with those turquoise eyes in an accusatory sort of way.
“We shared one kiss,” I snap back at him, and the twins exchange a look. “And yeah, I do have a …. girlfriend back in California.” Mentally, I just swap Monica and Cody for the time being. It's mostly true, right? I mean Monica is my girlfriend, a platonic girlfriend, but still. “Her name is Monica Peters. And yes, these are her panties.”
I march over to Spencer, snatch the underwear back, and shove them in my pocket while Tobias surreptitiously closes the door on my dresses without Spencer noticing. Thank God.
“Good to