I woke up because the police were shaking me by the shoulder. They were doing their rounds and thought it was strange that a girl was sleeping on a bench.
Especially since I had rolled down it in my sleep, and my position clearly couldn't be called normal. I was really tired.
"Are you okay?" the policeman squatted down next to me and looked closely into my eyes. Perhaps he was trying to understand my condition. Or whether I was drunk.
"Yes," I stretched, trying to warm up. I had to fall asleep in such a position for my whole body to ache later. "Just tired. There are too many assignments at the university, and I haven't slept for the last few nights."
"You should be more careful. This area is not exactly a safe one."
Trying to stretch my legs, I somehow started talking to these police officers. Mostly just about the area. They also told me a few scary stories that happened nearby.
But in general, I liked talking. It didn't matter with whom. The main thing was to talk a lot. This is another reason why I created my sisterhood at the university. There were a lot of us there. We all had fun together. Alone, we would have simply died.
After saying goodbye to the police officers, I walked away from the park. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I took out my phone again. I didn't have much time to drag it out, but when I dialed Carter's number again, it turned out that his phone was now completely turned off.
Great. So what now? Go and look for him at the university? What if they don't let me in? After all, thanks to Kelly, I'm expelled now.
Scrolling through my phone, I came across Jad's number again, and my heart skipped a beat once again. Hard. To the point of breaking up. No matter what happened, Jad was the only alpha for me. I no longer even doubted that I loved him. Adored him.
I wonder if he's already returned to the country?
How much I wanted to see him again. To hug him. To kiss him.
Closing my eyes, I listened to the loud beating of my heart, but also felt the phone vibrate in my palm. Someone was calling me.
It turned out to be Louise.
"Yes," I answered the call, putting the phone to my ear.
"Sat down, damn it, you need to run urgently," my friend's voice sounded panicked. And she said in a raised voice. "Or at least hide. But don't come to us under any circumstances. They'll find you right away."
"What are you talking about? What happened?" I squeezed the phone tighter, moved it away from my ear a little, and looked at the screen. What I caught in my friend's voice worried me. It was as if she were really scared.
"We did something wrong. That is, we wanted the best..." She exhaled several times and only then continued.
"When we found out about your expulsion, we all went to the dean, and he chased us away. Well, Tara suggested making this incident public. There is a popular news site here in the capital, and we wrote to them. We explained the whole situation. That you never broke the university rules and were a good student, but you were kicked out because some rich bitch paid for it…"
"What did you do?" I even lost my breath from what I heard. "What were you thinking? Do you think that this bitch's family will let you get away with this? They can kill for their reputation. Run and write to that site and ask them to repeal the article."
I didn't even mention that I considered it unacceptable to air the showdown for all to see.
"It won't. It turned out that Kely's mother had friends on that site, and they told her about it. Naturally, Kely herself now knows. But… There was a rumor that you beat her up today."
"What the hell?" The corners of my lips twitched. "I just got back this morning and haven't even seen her yet."
"I'm guessing that one of her friends saw us at the coffee shop this morning and told Keli that you were already in town. So she decided to make herself the victim. And to drown you completely. I don't know yet how bad it is. But it feels like this is the end."
"Does she want an article on that site about me attacking her? Isn't that crazy? Louise, I don't think it's worth paying attention to at all."
"I'm guessing it's the site. More likely Kely's boyfriend. She's in the hospital right now. With bruises, broken fingers, and a head injury. And they say Carter is furious. You know he has a lot of options, right? And Kely is using them to make you disappear. So please, hide for now so Carter can't find you, and we'll try to figure out what's going on and how to solve this. We did this, damn it."
Closing my eyes, I rubbed my lids with my fingertips. I had no way to hide from Carter. Besides, I had to meet him as soon as possible.
So what? I'd have to try to survive this meeting?
"What a bitch," I clenched my teeth and leaned my hand against the rough wall of the nearest house. Clenching my palm into a fist and running my short nails over the stone until it hurt.
"Do you have a place to hide?" Louise's voice still echoed with strong nervousness. "I have a cousin in Versailles. I can talk to him so that he can shelter you for a couple of days. In the meantime, the girls and I will try to figure out what's what."
"I won't hide," I squeezed the phone tighter with my fingers and walked on. The sidewalk was already filled with people. They were talking loudly, and the noise of cars was coming from the road, but I could still hear Louise perfectly well.