Chapter 9 Silent Stacks #2
They are quiet for the remainder of class. Once I have everything packed up, I notice that they are not going to let me pass, so I step down into the seat in front of me before hopping to the floor and walking out.
I stop by the dining hall and get my food for the evening before making my way to my dorm room.
I have a feeling that I’m being followed, but anytime I turn around, no one is there.
I pick up my pace and climb the stairs two at a time.
I have a feeling I know who is following me and I don’t want to get trapped in an elevator with the two of them.
I don’t think that they are trying to hurt me, but I do think that they are hyper-focused on fucking with me today.
Most of the time they make a few comments and then leave me alone, but not today.
I get to my dorm room and before I can shut the door, a hand blocks the door from shutting. I immediately turn slightly, set my food on my desk, and drop my bag. I keep my foot behind the door, so Connor can’t push it open. He’s not trying to, but he’s not letting me close it either.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Can we talk?” he asks.
“Not here. No,” I say.
“Oh, come on,” Dillon sighs. “Two minutes?”
“Fine, but you are not coming in my room,” I say, as I pointed for them to back up so I can step out of my room and pull the door closed behind me. “What do you want?”
“How did you know so much about the CNC thing?” Connor asks.
“Ask something else,” I say, shaking my head.
“Why?” Dillon asks. “Why don’t you want us to know?”
“Why do you care?” I question.
“I think someone hurt you,” Connor says.
“And why would I tell?” I ask.
“So, you have been assaulted,” Connor pushes.
“Jesus. Fine,” I say. “Yes. I was gang raped by some guys from the baseball team. I was on the softball team, so we traveled together sometimes for games. The coaches fucked up and put me in a joining room to one of them when we traveled over night for a game, and they somehow got a copy of my key. They used condoms, forced me to shower, and denied having a copy of my key, so no one did shit. They’re still out there living their lives, while I’m scared because two entitled assholes have been following me all day, wanting me to go to dinner with them.
I don’t know the difference between a trick and genuine interest, so I say no to everyone to avoid someone hurting me again… Does that answer your questions?”
“Yeah,” Connor says softly.
“If you are genuinely interested, maybe start by using my actual name when you talk to me. Try getting to know me as a person. I’m not that scared little teenager anymore.
I will fuck you both up and go to bed with a smile on my face.
If you’re intention is to hurt me, you can just fuck off and move on to someone else,” I say.
“I’m going to go eat my dinner now. If one of you to try to block my door again, I’ll stab whoever it is with my fork. Got it?”
“You talk big for someone who doesn’t know what our intentions are,” Dillon says. “Also, after everything you’ve gone through… you would not risk it unless you were at least partly interested yourself.” Connor chuckles at his implication.
“Goodnight, guys,” I say as I step back into my dorm room and shut the door.
I rest my forehead against the cool wood of the door before taking a deep breath.
Unfortunately, he is right. I am partly interested because they are painfully attractive and I’m a sucker for those fucking veins bulging in their forearms. Why?
I have no clue. When they smile at me the way they do, the only thing I can picture is what their hand would look like wrapped around my throat.
Fuck, I need to get that out of my head before my lust filled brain tricks me into believing they are being genuine.
I sit down and eat my food before working on some things for class.
When I get done, I gather what I need to take a shower.
Everyone should be out partying already so I should be alone.
I always bring everything in with me so no one can take my stuff and I get stuck in there naked with no way to get back to my room without having to streak.
The girls on my hall did that to Carol one time.
They took a video and shared it with everyone.
It took weeks for them to stop calling her “pancake tits”; which didn’t even make sense considering she didn’t have pancake tits, but whatever.
I’ve been called a whore even though I’ve had sex one time in the last four years that I’ve been in college.
That wasn’t even here though. That was over summer break two years ago with someone I met in a bar.
He was twenty years older than me and fucked like a beast. To this day I regret giving him a fake number.
When I get done with my shower I walk back to my room and settle in with my Kindle for the night to read. I just started a new crime fiction series last night, so I’d like to get a decent amount of reading in. After a few hours, I fall asleep.
“Hello?” I say sleepily.
“Hey, Chloe. This is Dean Mathers,” he says.
“You could just say Aaron,” I say.
“Force of habit,” he chuckles. “Look, we have some students who got caught with some alcohol Friday night and opted to be judged by a peer. Your name was chosen.”
“These people hate me, Aaron. Can’t you pick someone else?” I ask.
“It’s random and no, I can’t. It’s the rules and I’d love to bend them, but I can’t with this.” he says sympathetically.
“Do they know it’s me?” I ask.
“Yeah. It’s their right to know who’s judging them,” he says. They’re not allowed to talk to you until the hearing at four this afternoon. Do you want to know who they are?”
“I guess,” I sigh.
“Connor Evans and Dillon Mitchell,” he says. “It’s their first offense, so you’ll be deciding if they go on academic probation.”
“Wow… uh… okay,” I say. “You said four?”
“Mhmm. You have class with them so they know they cannot talk to you. Your professor knows as well.”
“Alright, well I’m going to go clean the library. I will see you at four, I guess,” I say. I end my call and get dressed.
It’s still dark as I walk to the library.
No one is ever out this early, especially Monday mornings.
When I unlock the door, I hear movement behind me.
I don’t bother turning around because I know it’s Connor and Dillon.
I slip inside and pull the door closed so I can lock it back.
It will automatically unlock at six thirty, so I have some time before I end up having to deal with them.
I don’t know why it unlocks that early but some people wander in as soon as it does.
I go through my usual routine of cleaning the bottom level first. This time I have both headphones in so I can distract my thoughts.
I don’t know if they’re still waiting, but I focus on cleaning then go upstairs and start.
I get all the way through vacuuming before I sense a presence.
This time I leave my earbuds in and only glare at them when they sit at one of the tables.
They watch me but say nothing as I wipe the table down and move to the next.
Once everything is clean, I take my supplies to the closet before I head downstairs.
They step in front of me to block my way, but I pivot around them and continue walking.
I don’t want them to end up on probation just for talking to me so it’s best I ignore them.
For the rest of the day, I go through my classes and blend in with my surroundings.
No one bothers me or even really notices me.
When I get to Human Sexuality, Connor and Dillon sit on either side of me again like last week.
They say nothing and don’t even look my way through all of class.
They are respectful to the professor and neither of them make a smart ass comment.
When class is over, I have to walk straight to the Dean’s office. Connor and Dillon follow because they are going to the same place. They walk beside me but don’t look at me. Each time we come to a door they open it before I get a chance, but I can’t object because I can’t talk to them either.
We get to the Dean’s office and he smiles when he sees me. “Chloe,” Aaron says.
“Hey, Aaron,” I say.
“Have they talked to you?” he asks, gesturing to Connor and Dillon.
“No. We just came from class,” I say. “So, what do you need from me?”
“Basically, they will tell you their version of things, you’ll get to read the report, and you’ll get to ask them anything you want pertaining to the incident. Then you’ll get to make your decision,” he explains.
“Okay. What happened?” I ask them.
“Well, we were supposed to be at a party off campus but we weren’t feeling like being social. We decided to just come back to the dorm and drink. We shouldn’t have brought it on campus,” Connor says.
“Why did you then?” I ask as Aaron hands me the report. I look at it and it says they were not drunk and they were respectful to the person who caught them. They didn’t give any trouble.
“Because we’ve been trying to get a girl’s attention, but she keeps rejecting us.
We were feeling a bit down after finding out about her trauma and how we unintentionally added to it.
Knowing she is saying no because she’s afraid she will get hurt isn’t something money can fix, so we were trying to come to terms with that,” Dillon explains.
“Are you going to do it again?” I ask.
“No. It was a mistake. We shouldn’t have disregarded the rules,” Connor says. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out.