Lies

Lies

Arabella

IT'S BEEN TWO days since the last attack from my mother. I haven't stepped foot back in the house other than to grab the money and anything Vinnie needed from there. My mother wasn't home when I showed up so I was able to get in and out with ease. Thankfully, she wasn't lying when she said she couldn't find my hiding spot. It's not exactly something I was expecting her not to find. There are so many holes in the walls of this fucking rundown house that there's a million places for me to stash things. Places that I've used more often than not because anything of value, my mother will take without hesitation. She's proven it so often over the years. That's why we have absolutely nothing left from before my dad lost his life. The house we live in is empty and there's nothing personal filling the walls. The few pictures that were hanging up, have long been destroyed in the various battles that have taken place in the house recently.

As I walk across the campus today, I'm lost in my head with thoughts of everything I've got going on swirling at such a fast pace that I can't keep anything straight. For the first time in a very long time, I'm not paying close attention to my surroundings. Anyone can use this opportunity to sneak up and attack me and I'd be too late to do anything to protect myself. Shaking my head, I try to clear the thoughts tumbling around and pay attention to the grounds of the campus I'm practically running across. It hurts my body, but there's nothing I can do since I'm already running late today. Vinnie didn't have a good morning and I spent more time with him before leaving Mrs. Andrews to take care of him for the next few hours.

Just as I get to the quad I can't avoid today, I notice the guys heading my way. All five of them are together and they're making a beeline straight for me. There's no hesitation on their part as they all move together. If I weren't actively avoiding them, I'd be impressed by the way their bodies move as one. These guys are closer than brothers and it's no surprise how in sync they are. I'm sure they don't even have to utter a word to know what the others are thinking. Fallon and the rest of them have spent countless hours together and are closer than anyone I've ever met before in my life. They let one another in completely and don't hold any secrets back. At least that's the way they used to be with one another. Right now, I see that nothing has changed in that regard.

Taking a deep breath despite the pain, I start to run across the campus and head for my class. I've got math this morning and if I don't get in there on time, Professor Rollins will only make my life more of a living hell than he already does. He gets off on calling me out for stupid lies in class on a daily basis. I'm fucking sick of it and there's not much I can do about it. Not with him being a professor and me being a scholarship student.

"Bella!" Fallon calls out, their long legs eating up the distance between us. "Wait! We need to talk to you about somethin' important."

Without looking over my shoulder, I continue to run to the building my lecture hall is in. My backpack slams against my back causing me more pain than what I'm currently in. The textbooks I carry with me on a daily basis are heavy as fuck and bring me nothing but pain on a good day. Today, when I'm not completely healthy after the beating from my mother, the pain is almost enough to make me drop to my knees. Thankfully, I don't and manage to remain on my feet as I finally reach the building and head directly inside to the room I need for math.

"Ah, Miss Moore, it's so good to see you. Unfortunately, class today will not have the two of us in it. It seems Miss Moore thought it would be a good idea to cheat on her test. I probably wouldn't have caught on to her cheating, but for someone like her to get every single answer correct is absurd. Miss Moore, we'll be making our way to see the Dean while my TA takes over teaching the class for today. I suggest the rest of you pay attention to the lesson and don't cause disruption in my absence," Professor Rollins says, making his way up the aisle until he stops next to me. "I'm not the only professor who will be in this meeting. Apparently you're cheating in more than one class."

Karmen's laughter fills the hall as Professor Rollins leads me from the room. The door slams behind us as we make our way out of the building and toward the administration building where the Dean's office is located. I have to jog to keep up with his long strides as he power walks to the office. Honestly, I want to get through this meeting and find out what's about to happen to me. Karmen, Professor Rollins, and this other professor have the power to destroy my future with their blatant lies. I will not hold back on this when I'm in front of the Dean. The test Professor Rollins is talking about is the one he tried to get me to fail simply because it wasn't the same as everyone else's test. It was on the next chapter we were going to be working on.

"We're here to see Dean Maddison," Professor Rollins says as Professor Matthews and Karmen enter the office as well.

I knew that bitch had something to do with this. The smug look on her nasty face as she looks at me with a smirk proves she's got a hand in this shit. I'm sure the three of them plotted out this plan together in their attempt to get me expelled from school. With me gone, I don't know what the hell they'll gain though. That's the most puzzling part of this entire situation. I'm a fucking nobody and there's nothing they can do to me that's worse than what I face on a daily basis.

"Go right in. He's waiting for you," the lady behind the counter informs us as the four of us head for the Dean's door.

I take a seat in front of his desk where Karmen sits down next to me. She tries to put a look of pure innocence forward as she looks at the Dean and her body starts trembling like she's afraid of me or something. The bitch is a good actress, I'll give her that. I can't say anything else kind about her, but she's definitely able to put on a show when she wants to. She's not about to come in here and show the Dean how horrible and manipulative she truly is. That won't get her what she wants today.

"What seems to be the problem?" Dean Maddison asks when we've all settled into his office and the door has closed behind us.

"It seems that Miss Moore has been cheating in at least two of her classes, Dean. The first test of the year, she got every single question correct and yet she can't give me a single right answer while she's in class. There's no way she not only passed this test but got every question correct," Professor Rollins says, his voice making me tremble as his words linger in the office between us.

"Sir, she's also been caught cheating in my class. Karmen brought me several papers that have already been written by Miss Moore. However, those exact same papers have already been written and turned in by other students. She's somehow getting her hands on them and copying them before the students even notice they're missing. I don't know how she's managing to do this, but you can clearly see that it's happened," Professor Matthews says, shocking the hell out of me because I have already written every single paper for my English class.

Karmen stands up and hands over the so-called evidence to the Dean as he looks over the papers in front of him. I hold my breath as tears fill my eyes with the knowledge that these three are going to completely destroy me in a matter of seconds because of their lies and manipulation. It doesn't take Dean Maddison long to skim the papers he's been handed before setting them down on the desk in front of him.

"What do you intend to do about this?" Professor Rollins questions the Dean, his voice hard, cold, and full of accusation as I feel his eyes drilling into the back of my head.

"I intend to investigate the matter. I'll talk to the students whose names are on the papers, look over the math test along with everyone else's in the class to compare them, and then I'll make a final decision in the matter," Dean Maddison answers, leaning back in his chair while glancing between the four of us currently sitting in his office.

"There's no reason for you to look at the rest of the tests," Professor Rollins states, his voice shaking because he knows the test I was given won't match the one that everyone else took.

Even Karmen shrinks down in her chair slightly with the knowledge that her test will more than likely be gone over by the Dean as well. Her skin pales and I know she wants to say something as her lips twitch. It takes her several minutes to get herself back under control and put the fa?ade back in place. Again, the thought of her being a good actress fills my head.

"I said what will happen and that's the last I want to hear about this, Professor Rollins. I expect to have the remaining tests for your class in my hand within a half hour. If you do not provide them to me, I will give Miss Moore the grade she deserves and you will not override the decision I've made. Professor Matthews, I suggest you make sure the papers you have currently are brought over to me as well. I want to see how closely Miss Moore's papers resemble others in your class. Again, you have a half hour to get me what I'm asking for. The same results will take place in your class if not. Moving forward, none of Miss Moore's work will be graded by either one of you. Mr. Hayden will take place grading every assignment, project, paper, test, and everything else for Miss Moore.

"If I find that this is some kind of game, the two of you will more than likely be looking for employment elsewhere. Miss Jones, I suggest you take a long, hard look at what you've been doing around this campus. Bullying other students, lying, and everything else. If I determine this is all some sick game you've concocted to get rid of Miss Moore for your own selfish reasons, you will find yourself the one being expelled. Am I making myself clear?" Dean Maddison says, his voice filling the room and letting everyone know he's not playing games right now.

Nothing is said by anyone else as we're all dismissed from his office.

"Miss Moore, can you give me a minute please? You're excused from the rest of your math class today and it won't go against you," Dean Maddison asks, his voice letting Professor Rollins know he's not messing around in this situation.

"Of course," I answer, taking my seat once again as the other three leave the room in complete silence.

Once the door has been firmly closed by one of the three who just left, I remain silent. I'm sure this is the moment when Dean Maddison expels me from school and tells me I'm no longer welcome to attend classes here. It was too good to be true and I know there's no way he's going to take the word of some scholarship student over two professors and a popular student. My entire body is shaking and sweat covers me as I wait for him to deliver the news I'm dreading.

"Miss Moore, I know for a fact that you haven't cheated in either of these classes. See, I don't spend all day in this office and let everyone else do the work I should be doing myself. I make my way around campus and know that you've had your fair share of issues since school started. Why you haven't told anyone is beyond me. We don't tolerate bullying of any kind, Miss Moore. Yet, you seem to act as if it's just part of your day every second you're here. Why haven't you reported what's happened to you?" Dean Maddison questions me as my heart feels like it's about to explode out of my chest.

"There's nothing to report. If anything, I would only have a target on my back and no one would get in trouble for what's supposedly being done to me anyway. How do you know I didn't cheat on that test or with those papers?" I ask him, curious about why he's so sure I haven't been the one to cheat here.

"Because I've watched you, Miss Moore. When you're still on this campus, you're either in class, tutoring, or working on classwork. It's not hard to assume you're ahead in all of your classes with everything else you have going on outside these walls. I imagine the papers you've supposedly copied were written before anyone else even thought about getting started on them," he answers me, a smile on his face as he steeples his fingers together and looks at me with nothing but the truth showing in his eyes.

"Who is this Mr. Hayden? I've never heard of him before," I ask, needing to get out of this office so I can get through the rest of my day here at school. I've got work tonight and then I need to figure out what's going on with Vinnie.

"Mr. Hayden is one of the counselors here. He's going to be taking over all grading for you in both of those classes and you are free to meet with him whenever it's needed about anything you're finding difficult. He will more than likely schedule a time for you to come in to see him so the two of you can meet. I have a feeling the two of you will get along quite well. If there are any issues with your schedule or any more attempts to hurt you while on campus, please talk to him about it. If you're not comfortable going to see him, my door is always open. How is the tutoring going?" Dean Maddison returns, his voice gentle as if he's about to scare me away from his office with the bomb he just dropped on me.

"Tutoring is going good. Right now I've only got Brock and Danny. No one else would like to work with me. The one girl who was going to take me up on my tutoring decided her social life was more important. I don't have time to work with people like her. I'm sorry if that's not how I'm supposed to feel, but my time is just as valuable as everyone else's here," I answer him, my voice almost a whisper as I admit to what happened with Amy in the library.

"You have every right to avoid working with anyone you're not comfortable helping. If someone is stringing you along and not taking your time seriously, don't worry about helping them. They'll only succeed in failing and that will be on them and no one else. Miss Moore, please know you've done nothing wrong here and I believe you'll graduate at the top of your class with any number of job offers once you complete your degree," Dean Maddison says as I feel heat crawling up my neck and face in embarrassment. Again, I don't know how to take compliments from anyone because I haven't received any from the time I lost my dad. "If you continue to have problems in your math and English class, please let myself or Mr. Hayden know and we'll get it taken care of. Though, I believe those professors won't be an issue for much longer. Steps are being taken as we speak to figure out other things that we've been hearing about happening on campus."

"Okay. Thank you, Dean Maddison. Is there anything else?" I ask him, my body finally starting to settle down with the knowledge that I'm not being expelled and I will continue to get my education here.

"That's all, Miss Moore. I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish here," he says as I stand from my seat and grab my bag to leave his office.

Taking a deep breath, I leave the safety of his office behind and hope I don't run into Karmen. I'm sure she's fuming right now and that only means bad things for me. She'll make it even more of a mission to hurt and humiliate me every single day since she lost this round. However, she's nowhere in the waiting area. Brock is though. He's sitting in a chair on his phone as I leave the Dean's office and head toward him slowly.

"Are you okay?" Brock asks when he notices me walking his way.

"I'm okay. I'm not getting expelled. Supposedly I'm cheating not only in math but in English as well. The Dean kept me behind because he knows I didn't cheat and is waiting for the professors to hand over the work that he's requested as part of his investigation into the matter," I inform him, my voice a whisper as we leave the office behind and head for the back courtyard. Far away from everyone else in the main courtyard as usual.

I inform Brock about what the Dean said and he lets me know what a horrible mood Professor Rollins returned in. He went straight to his office and exited shortly after with a stack of papers in hand while muttering under his breath. I couldn't help but laugh because those were the tests he had to hand over which would prove I couldn't copy anyone else since my test was different. For the first time while walking on this campus, I feel slightly freer than ever before. Yeah, I'm still gonna have Karmen and the others after me. But, I know the Dean doesn't believe that I'd cheat in any of my classes. And that he's taking steps in order to make sure Professor Rollins and Professor Matthews no longer bring my grades down because of their own reasons for hating me.

By the time we get to my next class, I'm ready to get it over with so I can get off this damn campus. Especially when I walk in to see Karmen glaring daggers at me while whispering to the others sitting around her. This is a class Brock's not in with me and he can't switch right now. The time for that has passed so I have to remain all on my own and hope Karmen doesn't try to pull anything too horrible while in this lecture hall. So, I take my seat in the very back as usual and keep my head down while getting out what I need. Including the paper I already wrote and my homework. The sooner I can get the hell out of here, the better I'll feel.