Page 173 of Depraved Boys

Bianca and Geraldine turned to me, each giving me the kind of smug smiles that made my fingers itch to slap their faces.

“They weren’t in my year or taking any of my classes.” I ran a shaky hand through my hair. “But I can point them out.”

Mrs. Benazir slammed her palm on the table. “I’ve just lost a dedicated deputy headmistress, a valuable source of legal advice, and now you wish to turn my dining room into an identity parade?”

“We wouldn’t ask the girls to form a line,” said the police officer. “Willow can walk around and ask those girls responsible to—”

“To hand themselves over for DNA testing and police interrogation?” Mrs. Benazir folded her arms across her chest. “What you fail to realize is that we’re now victimizing girls aged sixteen and under for the benefit of one girl who I’ve already bent over backward to accommodate!”

Rage burned through my veins. “All of this could have been avoided by stamping out bullying.”

“We had a deputy headmistress who battled the bullies, but your accusations drove her out!”

An awkward silence stretched out through Mrs. Benazir’s office. From the way she twisted things around, it was my fault for getting abducted in the middle of the night, nearly killed with alcohol, and then sexually assaulted. I’m sure she would have given me a nice eulogy if I had kept my head down and endured the taunting until the bullies finally drove me to suicide.

Mrs. Benazir drew in a deep breath through her flared nostrils. “I apologize for the outburst. Recent events have made my job four times as stressful.”

I held back my comments. The headmistress had only recently recovered from her food poisoning, appearing pale and over-inflated with stress. Any more, and she’d probably burst.

Geraldine placed her hands on her hips. “Since we’ve been proven innocent, may we leave?”

“You may go.” The headmistress waved them away.

“What about obstructing the course of justice?” I turned to the police officers. “If this crime was about money, you’d make them reveal their accomplices.”

The officers exchanged glances, and I balled my fists. Why was it so difficult to do the right thing?

After Advanced Calculus, Prakash and I walked down to the first floor. He’d been glancing at me throughout the lesson as though wanting to ask a question, and I finally asked, “What’s wrong?”

“You’re changing.”

“Like Corrine?”

“Angrier.”

“I think it’s frustration.” A lump formed in my throat. “Sometimes, I wonder if I’m keeping this whole thing alive by pursuing justice.”

“If you didn’t fight back, your persecutors would ensure a death of some kind.”

“Huh?”

“That sweetness that radiates through your eyes has turned into righteous fury.”

“Is that a good thing or bad?” I asked.

“Either version of yourself wants to do what’s right.” He sighed and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Don’t give up. I’ll stand by you all the way.”

My heart thudded, and a breath caught in the back of my throat. Of all the kings, he was the most distant. The one I couldn’t reach. To discover that he had observed me so closely was both eye-opening and flattering.

I raised my chin and gazed into his glistening, ebony eyes. “What happened to the Prakash who wanted me to leave?”

“Retreat is no longer an option,” he murmured. “The more you defend yourself, the more of a difficult target you become.”

I lowered my lashes. “Thanks. Sometimes, I felt hopeless. Like I’m being selfish somehow for wanting those people who hurt me to be punished.”

“Never think that.” He laced his fingers into mine. “You haven’t done a thing to deserve these people’s wrath, yet they keep coming after you.”

“The police are getting sick of me,” I whispered.