Chapter 18

LILY

In the morning, I don’t want to get out of bed. Quite frankly, I’d be happy if I never left the bed again.

But I have two problems.

One, I need to pee.

And two, Sophia has ripped the blanket off me three times, telling me to get up and go to class. I take back what I thought about her last night.

I wish we never became friends because if we hadn’t, she’d leave me to sleep and wallow in my self-pity.

“Look, Lily. You can’t fail college. If you get kicked out, I’ll probably end up with a smelly roommate, and I’m selfish enough not to let that happen,” she tells me matter-of-factly as she pulls my blanket off me for the fourth time.

“I liked you better when you didn’t talk to me,” I mumble, finally giving up and getting out of bed.

“Yeah, me too.” She smiles, handing me a pile of clothes. “Get changed, go to class, and I’ll see you afterward. We can go for dinner,” she orders, reminding me so much of Brittany.

That’s probably why I like her so much.

I walk into my first class and take my seat before pulling out my phone. I still haven’t heard from Mason.

I decide to send him a text to see how he’s feeling today and ask if he wants anything. I stare at my phone, desperate for a reply, but I don’t get one.

“Oh, hey, Lily, how was your weekend?” Cameron’s voice chirps happily from next to me, like he hasn’t been the biggest creep to me, and, you know, forced his disgusting, slimy lips onto me.

I slowly move my head to glare at him. “Fuck off,” I snap, turning back to my phone and sighing when Mason still hasn’t answered.

“How’s Mason doing? He took a pretty hard slam on Thursday,” he asks, making me grind my teeth together.

“Leave me alone, Cameron,” I snap. Why won’t he just go away?

“We’re partners. We’ve got to work on our project.”

“Not in this class.”

“Come on, let’s skip class, and I’ll let you suck my dick.” He smiles at me. His eyes give me puppet vibes. It’s like they’ve been painted on by someone who thinks that’s what happiness looks like, but really, it’s freaky.

“Fuck off,” I repeat, getting the bad shivers down my neck.

“Come on, Lily. Most girls would kill to blow me.” He smirks.

I swear bile starts rising in my throat.

“Leave me alone,” I snap again. Why won’t he get the message? That’s right, fucking male-entitled creeps don’t get the message.

I’m going to talk to Professor Samuels and ask for him to be removed from our group. Surely, he’d understand why I don’t want to be near this creep.

I grab my bag and phone and move to the front of the room. Surely, he won’t follow, and I’ll be alone and have some peace.

I sit down and start unpacking my bag when my phone vibrates. My heart begins pounding, and I don’t know why.

Mason

I’m okay.

Short and sweet, I guess.

Once Professor Samuels dismisses the class, I quickly make my way toward his desk, desperate to talk to him.

“Professor Samuels,” I say, gaining his attention. “I was just wondering if I could talk to you about our project for the other class, please?” I ask, hoping he’s not going to dismiss me.

“Is something the matter?” he asks, raising his eyebrows. “Are the footballers not pulling their weight?”

“It’s not that. It’s just…,” I begin, not quite sure how to say it.

“It’s just Cameron forced himself on me at a party, and he’s still being a creep, and I want nothing to do with him,” I blurt out, causing his eyebrows to shoot up in shock.

“Cameron Armstrong?” he asks as he hits his laptop keyboard.

“Yes,” I confirm, pulling my backpack up onto my shoulder more. His eyes scan his screen for several moments before he slams it closed, leans back in his seat, and crosses his arms across his chest.

“I’ll deal with it,” he states. I really hope he does.

I slowly make my way to the café where, as usual, Liam is waiting for me, but this time he’s clutching two to-go cups.

“Coffee,” he states, handing me a cup, which I gratefully take.

“Have you heard from Mason?” I ask as we make our way to a bench seat.

Liam sighs and kicks a rock with his shoe. “He’s like how he was when Callum died,” he says sadly. “You know, before he met you,” he adds.

“He’s hardly answering me,” I say. “Is he coming?” Usually, he’s joined us by now so we can walk to our next class together.

“I always leave before him.” Liam shrugs, making me sigh.

I don’t know what to do to help. I understand he needs to process everything, and maybe my presence will help. I just hope he doesn’t push me away.

“I better get to class,” I mumble, really not wanting to. Not if Mason isn’t there and Cameron is.

“You don’t sound too happy about that.” He smiles.

“Cameron is in this class,” I explain, the hair on the back of my neck standing up just at the mention of the jerk.

“I’ll walk you,” Liam announces, and I swear he sticks his chest out a bit.

“You don’t have to,” I say, appreciating the offer.

“What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t protect you when you needed it?” he asks sassily. I open my mouth to reply, but he holds a finger up, stopping me.

“And don’t you dare tell me Brittany is your best friend.” He smiles, making me laugh.

“Lily!” someone calls my name. I turn to see Cameron sitting where we normally sit, waving happily and gesturing for me to come sit by him.

“God, I can’t stand him,” Liam mutters.

“Same,” I agree, heading to the front of the room. The plan is to stay away from Cameron as much as possible.

“Wait for me after class. I’ll walk you to your dorm,” Liam states, standing in front of me but looking over my head and glaring at Cameron.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I laugh. I don’t think Cameron would do anything at school. I just don’t want to talk to or be near him.

“Wait for me,” he orders as Professor Samuels walks into the room.

“Liam, you’re not in this class,” he states, giving him a pointed look.

“Just looking out for my bestie, Samuels.” He gives him a boyish smile, making Samuels roll his eyes, but it looks like he’s hiding his smile.

“Scram,” he orders, nodding toward the door.

Liam salutes him before he quickly leaves the room.

“All right, listen up!” Samuels calls out to the class. “I’ve had several complaints about your groups.” He glances from student to student.

“I’ve decided you are no longer to do this as a group but by yourself. Yes, that means you now have to do the workload of four people.”

He is instantly met with complaints from all around the room.

“Unless you can find another partner or group and come up here and convince me one by one why you should be allowed to continue, then you have to suck it up.”

“I’ll give you fifteen minutes to figure out new groups,” he adds, clearly not bothered by the fact he’s just pissed off seventy students.

He’s given me the perfect out. I don’t have to work with Cameron anymore!

I quickly send another text to Mason, telling him the news and asking if he wants to be my partner, and I’ll talk to Samuels for both of us. I actually expect him not to answer, or maybe take forever, but he replies almost immediately with a simple “Okay.”

Professor Samuels starts calling up one person to his desk and telling them to bring their group. When my name gets called, I get butterflies in my stomach.

I really hope I can convince him because there is no way I want to do this whole project by myself.

“Lily.” He nods as I reach his desk.

“Thank you,” I blurt out straight away.

“You’re not the only one that complained,” he states matter-of-factly.

“No group?” His eyebrows raise.

“Mason Cooper. He’ll be my partner,” I say, not making much sense.

“He got injured on Thursday and is at home recovering,” I explain.

“This isn’t some weird schoolgirl crush, nerd gets the quarterback thing, is it?”

I’m taken aback by what he’s said.

“Do you think I’m a nerd?” I gasp, and his cheeks blush the slightest amount.

“He’s been my boyfriend for over a year,” I add quickly, starting to feel bad for him.

“If you take him as your partner, you won’t be able to change again,” he says, his expression unreadable.

“That’s fine,” I say, nodding.

“All right, I’ll approve it,” Samuels says as he taps away at his keyboard.

“Oh, and Lily,” he calls me back. “You should go talk to the dean about Cameron,” he says quietly.

I nod and return to my seat. What would talking to the dean really accomplish? He’d probably just tell him not to do it again, and then Cameron would likely make my life a living hell.

It’s not like it was anything serious; he just tried to stick his disgusting tongue in my mouth.

The second Professor Samuels dismisses us, I gather all my things. I am about to head for the door when I’m stopped by an angry-looking Liam.

“I told you to wait for me,” he states, looking over my head.

“I haven’t left yet,” I point out, not that he needs to know I wasn’t going to wait for him.

“Was your class that bad?” I ask, hoisting my bag onto my back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Liam this mad before.

“I didn’t go to class,” he says, flicking his eyes to me for a split second. “I met up with Stan, and now I want to kill that son of a bitch,” he seethes.

“Who?” I ask, spinning around to see Olly and Cameron talking together.

“Olly?” I frown. He hasn’t been anywhere near as bad as I thought he would be.

“Cameron,” he replies, not taking his eyes off him.

“How come?” I question, curious about what Stan could’ve said that pissed him off so much.

“Stan is a guard. His job is to protect Mason, and Cameron is supposed to as well,” he begins to explain.

“When that huge guy came at Mason, Cameron moved out of the way. He didn’t even try. He didn’t lay one fucking finger on the asshole. Stan saw everything.”

I frown, not understanding what he’s trying to say.

“Cameron is the reason Mason got hurt.”