Chapter 36 Elle
ELLE
Unsurprisingly, I don’t sleep much that night. When I slog my way to class at eight the next morning, I feel hungover, even though I barely drank at the party itself and definitely didn’t have anything in the caves.
Aurora spent the whole morning giving me major side-eye between the thirteen steps of her skincare routine, but she at least had the sense not to pry too much.
My stomach rolls as I take my usual spot in the front next to Meg, whose dark brows arch as she takes me in. “Jesus. How much did you guys drink last night?”
I lay my head on the small desk connected to the chair. “Let’s not talk about it.”
“Fine, fine.” She sits back in her chair. “Prepare yourself though. Essays are being returned.”
Groaning, I peek at mine as Sabrina sets it face down on my desk, expertly avoiding eye contact. I wonder how she’s feeling and what she’s thinking, but I don’t ask. Not here, not yet.
“A C’s not the end of the world,” Percy says, leaning over to look at the big letter circled on the page.
“Hey, quit being nosy.” I shove him back, flipping the paper over.
“That’d be like asking me to stop breathing,” he says, shaking his head. “But you don’t have anything to be ashamed of. Dupont’s a tough grader, and it’s not a failing grade. Ace the two big assignments we have left, and you’ll be fine.”
It’s a little unnerving how easily Percy’s managed to file last night away as if everything that happened was totally normal. I wonder how much he had to drink and if maybe the hangover is diluting the gravity of the situation.
Not that he really saw anything, but still.
“And one of those is the play,” Meg adds, stuffing her A-plus into her bag. “Which you’ll obviously nail.”
If I’d thought my relationship with Sutton was going to have any bearing over my class performance, clearly I was wrong. Not that I’d want him to be unfair, I guess, but still.
Is he still angry about last night? Surely, this isn’t a form of punishment.
“What’d you get, Lex?” I ask, leaning my head on the back of my seat.
“B-minus.” He twirls a pencil between two fingers, not looking up. His attitude, dark and gloomy in contrast to Percy, feels more appropriate. “Seems like your boyfriend doesn’t care for perfect prose or solid arguments that much.”
Everyone looks at me, and I blanch.
“My…” I trail off, alarm swarming my insides. Sutton’s all the way across the aisle, talking to a student who requested additional feedback on their essay, but his warmth is like a beacon to me—I can sense him wherever he’s at in the room as if he’s standing at my side.
I wonder if Lexington senses that too.
Or if he knows more about what happened last night than he’s letting on. He did know that was Jean-Louis after all.
“Relax,” he says, rolling his blue eyes so they’re finally meeting mine. “It was a joke, Anderson. You’ve got to lighten up.”
“Yeah,” Percy chimes in, slinging his arm around Lexington’s shoulders and giving him a shake. “You really do.”
Tension threads through the air anyway, weaving between us as if we’re back in those caves again.
“Come to think of it,” Meg says, tapping her chin with a purple fingernail, “you’re all acting kind of cagey. Did something happen you’re not telling me about?”
The three of us exchange a look.
“No one’s wound up dead this semester that we know of,” Lexington answers. “So you can’t accuse us of anything.”
Meg’s brows lift, and she glances between us slowly, narrowing her gaze. “I was thinking more along the lines of you three hooking up and then realizing it was a terrible decision. Or maybe that you and Percy were bad at it.”
“Just us? You’re not adding Elle to that possibility?”
“Uh, have you seen her? No way is she a bad fuck.”
Heat crawls up my neck. “Well, sex with guys is pretty foolproof. They’ll come if you moan and squeeze enough—”
A throat clears, startling us. Sutton stands at the edge of our aisle, arms crossed over his chest. “Is this a conversation you four would like to share with the class?”
I lift my chin, catching his eyes with my own. His are hard as jade, unyielding and mesmerizing. “Only if the class is interested in learning how easy it is to make a man orgasm.”
Percy coughs into his fist, his eyes bulging out of his head.
Sutton remains unamused. “Perhaps we should keep discussion confined to relevant talents, Ms. Anderson, and not hobbies we may engage in outside the classroom.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t eavesdrop.”
A muscle in his jaw twitches, and my thighs clench.
“Please see your assignments for Othello posted on the exit when you leave today. The short list is still being finalized, but you’ll see which nonspeaking roles you’ve been given.
Remember, we’re putting this production on by ourselves.
It’s all hands on deck for the final.” He starts to walk away, pausing briefly to look over his shoulder.
“Ms. Anderson, I’d like a word after class. ”
Percy makes a whomp whomp noise with his mouth, sinking lower in his seat.
“Damn, he does not like you,” Meg says, cringing.
Sutton’s sudden claps fill the air as he stalks across the stage, instantly hushing the crowd to a silence. A bitter taste burns the back of my tongue when I look at his stupid dark hair and the stupid sweater vest he has on. Those stupid hands that ran over me last night to make sure I was okay.
The annoying mouth that hurt my feelings afterward.
He doesn’t look at me at all as he begins the lecture, so I exhale and open my notebook, scribbling notes.
“…the importance of acting exercises cannot be overstated. If you want to continue to grow in your craft and preserve the talent you possess currently, it’s imperative you make exercises like these a part of your warm-up routine,” Sutton tells us.
My stomach twists into a million little knots. How easily he can compartmentalize is unsettling.
He points to the rolling chalkboard behind him. “Now, get into groups of…let’s say four, and I want you to practice the first three of these in preparation for our impending rehearsals.”
I join Lexington, Percy, and Meg and try my best to focus on the task, but my mind keeps drifting. A few times, I sneak glances at Sabrina as she works with her own group, but she never makes eye contact.
By the time class is over, I’m starting to wonder if I made up the events of last night altogether.
“Ms. Anderson,” Sutton calls out from the stage as I sling my backpack over one shoulder. “Don’t forget I requested a quick meeting in my office.”
He disappears backstage, and I clench my teeth.
“Someone’s in trouble…” Percy sings, grabbing the back of Meg’s chair as he starts wheeling her up the aisle.
Lexington hesitates. “Need me to stay for moral support?”
I shake my head. His presence would likely make things worse.
Leaving Lexington there with a wave, I head to the annex, pausing outside Sutton’s office door.
I knock before entering, and he gestures for me to have a seat—but not in the plastic chairs right in front of his big desk.
Instead, he points to the green suede armchair against the far wall, and I can’t help feeling a little like I am in trouble, even though I don’t know the full extent of what I did.
He folds his arms over his chest, leaning against his filing cabinet. “Do you know why I asked you to come here today?”
“Are you finally going to ask me to be your TA? I could really help whip your students into shape, you know. I have a lot of experience. With acting at least. Teaching, not so much.”
Sutton exhales, pinching the bridge of his nose. “As if I could deal with that temptation.”
That almost draws a grin out of me. “Well, we could test that theor—”
“You have no idea what you’ve done.” He lifts his eyes, dropping his hand onto the desk with a loud smack. “What the hell were you thinking, going to a Death’s Teeth gathering?”
Huffing, I drop my gaze to the floor, sinking lower into the armchair. “I didn’t choose to go there, which you would know if you’d let me speak last night instead of berating me.”
“Berating you?” He shifts on his feet, an incredulous expression etched into his face, but lets out a sigh. “Fine, all right. Tell me what happened.”
So his dad didn’t tell him anything?
I should feel a twinge of relief, but for some reason, that just makes me more anxious.
“We went to a party in the Apollodorus,” I offer, though I can instantly tell that’s the wrong thing to say.
His face reddens, and he clenches his teeth, but I keep going.
“No one knew who was throwing it, just that The Delphic Pages sent out an invite. As it started winding down, we wandered past the exit and kept going down, just to see what was there. If the rumors about a Death’s Teeth meeting were true. ”
His nostrils flare. “So you did go on purpose.”
“Yes, okay, fine. But not to participate. We just wanted to watch from a distance.”
“Who’s ‘we’?”
“Me, Sabrina, Percy, and Lex.”
“Lex,” he spits, his anger mounting. “Is he the one that convinced you to go?”
“Not that it matters, but no. Sabrina was. Lexington was just along for the ride.”
“I’ll bet he was.”
Squinting, I frown at him. “Are you seriously jealous right now?”
His jaw shifts. “Feelings aren’t logical. And I may have heard a rumor about the party you were at. Someone said they’d seen you kissing another student, and I guess… Fuck, I don’t know.”
I swallow, guilt burning my insides. “I didn’t kiss anyone.”
“You didn’t.”
“It wasn’t like that. I was just…proving a point to Sabrina. No lips touched. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
To us.
Sighing, he leans forward with his elbows on his desk, dropping his face into his large, veiny hands. “You make me regress into a person I don’t recognize, Elle. It’s daunting.”
“So that’s why you’re mad?”
“No,” he says quickly, letting his hands fall. “I’m mad because I tried to keep you from the scope of Death’s Teeth, and not only have I failed to do that, but I’ve made you a target too. I’m mad at myself.”