XIV
Tori
“T hat’s a heavy sigh.” Penny pauses in applying mascara as she stares at me through her reflection in the mirror. “Just do yourself a favor, block everyone, and remove yourself from every stupid chat.”
“I’m reading my emails,” I tell her.
Penny turns around in her chair to face me. “College? Or did somebody dox you?”
Having been doxed once before after Cole was sentenced, and being forced to change my email, phone number, and eventually, even having to delete all of my social media, I’m relieved that it isn’t the case now. However, even if what I’m reading is expected, it still feels like a heavy weight in my stomach.
“It’s from the dean’s office. They’ve arranged a meeting for first thing this morning. An investigation into inappropriate conduct.”
“Let me see.” Penny walks over, and I hand her my phone.
“Don’t worry about it. You know I’m not coming back next semester anyway. I can just tell them I plan to withdraw.”
“Tori? I’m not sure that’s it.” Penny frowns as she lowers the phone. “Has anyone seen you together with Dr. Wright? Because the email is quoting JKU’s Statement on Professional Ethics: it’s a policy about professors, not students.”
Even though I’m sitting, the blood rushing from my head makes me feel like I’m going to pass out.
I had every intention of leaving this place. After the video of me was released, Penny read and re-read every document relating to student code of conduct and assured me that the University had no grounds to expel me. Unless someone else came forward to give further information, like where and when the video was filmed—at which point, Penny promised me I would be able to press charges—there was no proof anything happened on the James Keyingham University campus.
As Penny pointed out then, I might not have cared about the circumstances of me leaving here now, but if I did decide to reenroll somewhere else in the future, I should make sure there’s no black mark following me.
But if this is something that could lead to a disciplinary action against Payne and ultimately affect his job or his future, I do care.
“I need to stop this.” As I stand up, Penny grabs my wrist. “Let me go.”
“I’m not stopping you from going, but you look ready to bolt out of this room, and you’re still in my pajamas. That’s not going to help anybody.” She releases me and hands me my phone back. “Just take a breath. The email doesn’t give any details, so I might be wrong—this might be about how your rights were violated when some pervert scum released that sex tape without your consent. But if this is about your relationship with Dr. Wright, you bursting in there is just going to make you and him seem automatically guilty.”
Penny is right. “For the record, I wasn’t going to go without getting dressed first. Can I borrow one of your uniforms?”
Since I’m attending here on a scholarship, I’d been assigned several changes of the college uniform, but the modest, unaltered version was confiscated by Syn when I moved into Denali House. Even if I thought it was appropriate to wear the customized version he provided me, they’re hanging in the closet of the bedroom on the other side of campus.
“Of course.” Penny goes to the closet and pulls out a blazer, skirt, and a blouse, while I find some clean underwear from my case that she’s been hanging onto for me.
Even though this is probably one of the only universities in the country that requires students to wear uniforms—their justification being that in the working world we’d be expected to wear uniforms in the form of suits—Penny, like almost every other student on campus, has customized her uniform. Thankfully, Penny’s alterations, aside from having the items of clothing tailored specifically to her size, only consist of subtle additions of hot pink.
Before I apply a little make-up and fix my hair, I quickly send Payne a text message.
By the time I’m ready to leave the room, he still hasn’t replied.
“Take it as a good sign.” Penny tries to assure me. “If this was about you and him, don’t you think he would have messaged before now?”
“I should go.”
“Do you need me to come with you?”
I shake my head. “You have someone coming to get you, and you still need to pack.”
Penny arches an eyebrow. “That’s what they’re being paid to do, and if you think I’m leaving before I know you’re okay, you’re sadly mistaken.”
The temperature doesn’t feel any warmer than it did yesterday, but the snow looks like it’s beginning to melt as we walk across campus to the administration building. Even though the number of students on campus has been dwindling in the last few days before winter break, the admin officers are still busy, bright, and cheerful, with a few Christmas decorations in the University’s colors of navy blue and silver.
I’m grateful for Penny’s company, even if we do spend most of our time waiting in silence. Just before the assigned time, one of the office workers comes over to tell me that she’ll take me to the meeting room.
“I’ll wait here,” Penny promises me.
In silence, the lady accompanies me up to the second floor. She knocks on a door and leans in. A moment later, she opens the door wider, stepping back to let me pass.
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a long table with three men seated on one side, and a single chair on the other, like I’ve just walked into a job interview.
“Please sit, Miss Anderson,” one of the men says to me as the door closes behind me.
The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach returns as I sit down, trying to ignore the flashbacks I was having from when I moved into Denali house. Right now, I’d rather have Syn, Royal, and Gemini sitting across from me, because at least I’d have a better idea of what to expect.
“Good morning, Miss Anderson. Thank you for joining us on such short notice. I’m Mr. Woodhouse, head of HR. This is Mr. Ellis from the Professional Conduct and Ethics Committee, and, of course, Dean MacDonald,” the first man tells me.
The dean’s face is the only one I recognize. Aside from his name and face being all over the university website, I remember his speech from the Welcome Assembly on my first day here. Of the three, I think he’s the oldest. There’s more gray than brown in his hair, and wrinkles line his brown eyes. Eyes that are already narrowed in disapproval as he stares at me.
“What’s this about?” I ask, keeping my voice level.
“A serious allegation has been made against Dr. Wright,” Mr. Ellis explains. He is the only man with facial hair; a thick, red beard, matching the thinning hair on the top of his head.
“I’ll cut to the chase.” Mr. Woodhouse picks up the navy, leather-bound folder with the silver crest of JKU that’s lying on the table in front of him. “Has Dr. Wright made any inappropriate advances towards you?”
My heart starts racing. “Inappropriate advances?”
“Are you having relations, sexual or otherwise, with Dr. Wright?” Mr. Woodhouse asks.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mr. Woodhouse’s eyes narrow, and then he pulls some sheets of paper from the folder before sliding them across the table to me.
Fighting to keep my face as expressionless as possible, I pick up the first photograph. Although Payne’s body is blocking mine, he doesn’t quite hide my ponytail of bright blue hair. I’m sitting on his desk, my legs wrapped around him, as he kisses me. I glance down at the next photograph. In this one, my face isn’t hidden. Neither is the fact that, at this point, I’m now only wearing my bra.
Whoever took the photograph did so from outside.
I’m going to kill them.
The only people who saw me go to Dr. Wright’s office were Syn, Royal, and Gemini.
Syn did accuse me of sleeping with Payne when they met me afterwards.
“As our code of conduct prohibits professors from having relationships with students, Dr. Wright has been suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the hearing. You’re free to tell us what happened, without fear of repercussions from him.”
I’ve accepted that I’m not coming back here, but I won’t be responsible for getting Payne fired in the process.
Fired…
This had been Syn’s plan from the beginning.
One of the initiation challenges he had given me was to seduce Payne.
Before I crumple the photograph up in my hand, I set it down on the table.
“What you’re seeing here is my initiation challenge for joining the Elite. I had to seduce a professor, and I chose Dr. Wright. I kissed him, and when he turned me down, I started to undress. I don’t know where you got these photographs from, but it seems you’re missing the key ones where I get dressed and leave shortly after.”
That story is not too far from the truth, but I’ll tell whatever lies I need to protect Payne.
“The only one who did anything inappropriate was me.”
A smile starts to grow on the Dean’s lips. “Speaking of inappropriate behavior…”