Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Stupid fucker.
“Drop that smug little look from your face,” the principal sneered at me.
I glared at him, my upper lip curling. “Why should I? He fucking started it. He always fucking starts it, and today—”
“Enough!” he barked at me. I scoffed. “I ought to expel you. You’ve been nothing but trouble, Ace—”
“Let’s not get too hasty,” Shaw spoke up, coming to stand behind me. When he rested his hand on my shoulder, I lurched away from him. Sighing, he dropped his hand back to his side. “Surely, after the paperwork that was presented to you by Mrs. Sheffield, you understand Ace has been in a… difficult situation,” Shaw said. I gritted my teeth, wondering what the fuck my social worker had to do with all of this. Was she the reason they were randomly appearing in my life? I was doing just fine without them. I didn’t need them. I didn’t fucking need anyone.
“This does not excuse—”
“No, it doesn’t,” Konrad agreed. I scoffed again, but he ignored me. “But perhaps, before we go pointing fingers, we should look at the security feed and see what actually happened. Then, a solution and a punishment can be decided from there. We’re just asking that you not automatically blame Ace for this… disagreement.”
I snorted. Disagreement.
Konrad shot me a dark look, but I just shot him a fake, sickly-sweet smile before giving him both of my middle fingers. He clenched his jaw but didn’t respond.
Asshole.
Principal Hartly rubbed at the spot between his brows before he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and turned to his computer. Keller, for once, was silent, not saying a fucking word. He just leaned forward and snatched the box of tissues off Hartly’s desk and shoved some up his bleeding nostrils, wincing in pain as he did so.
Served his stupid ass right. He shouldn’t have fucked with me.
The loud chatter of the hallway we’d just left behind suddenly filled the room. I stayed still when the sound of me asking Keller if he had a fucking problem rang through the room. Konrad, not giving a fuck about etiquette, moved behind the desk.
“Rewind it,” Konrad demanded. “I want to see from the beginning.”
The principal clenched his jaw, clearly annoyed, but he rewinded it anyway. Konrad crossed his bulky arms across his chest, his expression unreadable as the audio filled the room once more. Cheers I hadn’t even heard while I was in the midst of the fight grew louder and louder. The video paused, silence filling the office once more. Without a word, Konrad moved back around the desk, coming to stand beside me. I scooted to the edge of my chair, not wanting to even chance brushing against him.
“Well, it appears that you started the fight, Keller,” Hartly said, not looking pleased about it. I barely bit back a smug grin. “You’ll serve a week of suspension, and when you come back, you’ll do a week of after-school cleaning with the janitorial staff.”
Shaw cleared his throat when the principal looked at me. “He’s being pulled out of school today,” Shaw announced. I frowned, trying to remember if I’d missed something. Hartly looked downright pissed that he wasn’t getting to punish me. “We’ll deal with this… behavior ourselves.”
“Who the fuck—” I blurted, turning to glare at Shaw, but Hartly smacked his desk, making me jump and glare at him next.
“Watch your language in my office,” Hartly snapped at me. He looked at Konrad and Shaw. “If he’s being withdrawn, get him out of my office and out of my school.”
I jerked to my feet, and just because I fucking felt like it, on my way out the door, I punched Keller in the face again. Hartly shouted my name, but I just stormed out of the room and out of the front office.
“Ace, fucking stop,” Konrad growled from behind me.
“Fuck you,” I shot over my shoulder as I shoved through the school doors. When we were outside, I swung around to face them, my backpack smacking against my side. “Why the hell are you here? Why the fuck are you barging into my life, yanking me out of school? Why—”
“Jax called us,” Shaw told me, his voice patient. Always so fucking patient. I wanted to kick him in his fucking throat.
“Jax called you?” I snapped, disbelief coloring my tone. “He wouldn’t betray me—”
“He called us because he’s worried about you, Ace. He heard your group home was being investigated, and he didn’t want you to get shipped across the state to a new home where he didn’t have access to you,” Shaw explained.
A mocking laugh spilled past my lips. “What—so you think you can just jump in here, pull some fucking strings, and just whisk me away?”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Konrad told me, anger creeping into his voice. “Per the state of Washington, you’re now under my care, and I’m your guardian. I—”