Chapter 50
CHAPTER FIFTY
ASTRID
When we returned to Redwood Academy, it was lunchtime, and I really, really, really wasn’t sure how I was feeling about the whole rumor thing.
I had told Diya that we could go along with it because I didn’t want her stressing, but now I was because as soon as Rush opened the door for me to enter the school, everyone—and I mean, everyone—was staring. Even the teachers.
Vaughn’s name was being thrown around behind hands. The noses were scrunching. And the side-eyes were siding.
“Who started the rumor?” Rush asked calmly, though I could tell that he was on the verge of exploding.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“They’re saying it’s Vaughn’s,” he said as if he still didn’t believe that I wasn’t pregnant. Or maybe this was just him being overprotective. “Did he rape you last semester?”
“No!” I exclaimed, glancing around nervously and hoping that he’d keep his voice down. As we approached the cafeteria, I didn’t want anyone to catch wind and start any more untrue rumors. “Look, I’m not the one actually pregnant.”
“Not yet,” he said under his breath, and I elbowed him in the ribs. “But someone is?”
I gulped. “Yes, but you can’t say anything to the other guys. I don’t want them to find out.” Especially Calix.
“Is it Diya?” he asked.
My eyes widened, and I stopped. “How’d you know?”
“Because Calix was bitching all morning about how you have been ignoring him. You fucked Cairo this morning in the Dunkin’ parking lot. Were asking me about—”
“How did you know that I was with Cairo this morning?”
“Because I saw you.”
“You’re stalking me?”
A low chuckle left his mouth, but he didn’t answer. He continued heading toward the cafeteria.
“Rush?!” I said, hurrying after him.
“What?”
“Forget it. You can’t say anything to Calix, okay?”
“And if I do?”
“Then I won’t fuck you for the rest of your life.”
Another low chuckle left his mouth. “Are you sure about that? Don’t make promises that you can’t keep.”
I flared my nostrils. “He will kill her if—”
“I won’t tell him or any of the other guys.”
We stepped into the cafeteria, and everyone looked at me, suddenly quieting down. I felt like I was in one of those cheesy high-school dramas.
Rush leaned closer to me. “But whose is it?”
“Didn’t pin you as one for drama,” I hummed quietly, hoping nobody would hear.
I headed for the girls’ table. It was bad enough about the rumor, even worse that I was walking into the room with Rush—someone who barely talked to anyone.
My gaze landed on The Crew, who was sitting next to my friend group, Calix right beside Diya. All their eyes were on me and Rush, the guys looking especially pissed. Not at me. But at their best friend.
I sat on the other side of Diya, heart pounding out of my chest. “Did we figure out how everyone found out?!” I whisper-yelled at her.
“Sakura said that she didn’t tell. It must’ve been someone who overheard us at the coffee shop yesterday.”
Fuck.
Ruby smirked at me from across the table. “It’s definitely not Vaughn’s, is it? Who have you really been fucking, Astrid?”
Oh, this ho knows exactly who I’ve been fucking!
Rush took the only open seat beside her, his gaze on me, which made Calix even angrier. Arch chuckled as if he knew exactly what had happened and why we had walked in together.
Frasier was seated next to Cairo, who passed me a note. I unfolded it.
Don’t worry. Physics is covered.
When I peered back up, he offered me a warm smile. Butterflies fluttered through my chest at his thoughtfulness. I’d have to repay him later.
What surprised me the most wasn’t that the rumor had spread so rapidly around Redwood.
It was that I’d literally fucked all these guys in very public spaces now, and nobody else seemed to know about that!
If the student body wanted something to gossip about, Astrid getting railed by five guys at once was probably the thing they should’ve clung on to.
Someone cleared their throat to my left, and I looked over to see that Calix had moved his sister to his seat and taken hers, his hand now on my elbow.
“We need to talk,” he said. “You’ve been ignoring me all morning, and now this?”
“Actually, I have …” I started looking for any type of excuse. “I need …” What can I say to him?! “We can—”
“I need to speak with her first,” Diya and Calix’s stepfather said, standing beside one of the deans. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was staring down his nose at me. “You can gossip with her later, Calix. Astrid, in my classroom. Now.”