Private School Playboys novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Photo

By seven the next morning, the photo had two thousand views.

Brooks had posted it to the senior feed from his own account.

Under the picture of Jude and me slipping through Calder's side door, he'd typed one line.

Scholarship girl found her price. Ask Rafferty what it cost.

My phone buzzed forty times before I even brushed my teeth.

Most of the messages were from people I'd never spoken to.

Some were laughing.

Some were worse.

Roisin sat on her bed with her arms around her knees.

"I'll kill him," she said calmly. "I'll do it with a lacrosse stick."

"No."

"A very small, symbolic stick."

"Roisin."

I stood at the mirror with my uniform on, my hair brushed, and my face as blank as I could make it.

My mother had taught me one thing about being looked down on.

You never let them see you shrink.

You walked in.

"Tuesday assembly," I said. "The headmaster opens the floor for students after the announcements."

Roisin's head came up.

"You're going to talk?"

"I'm going to read."

"Read what?"

I looked at her.

"Do you still have the video you took outside the coat room on Founders' Night?"

She stared at me.

Then her whole face lit up.

"Oh my God. I do."

The chapel was full by eight-thirty.

Every Hollis student sat in dark wooden pews, with teachers lined along the walls, and the headmaster standing at the front under the stained glass.

Jude sat in the back row with his arms crossed.

He didn't look at me, and I knew he was waiting to be called on.

I had said not yet.

Brooks sat near the front, in the lacrosse section, with Sheridan two pews behind him.

Sheridan wore pearls and a small, smug smile.

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