Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
“It’s in the teachers’ garage,” Taylor said. “Spot twelve by the window. You should head home in twenty minutes.”
When he didn’t immediately walk away, I looked up. “Let me guess—you left a bag of dog shit on the passenger seat in exchange for helping me. Or maybe you collected a month’s worth of cockroaches and placed them in my glove box so I can swerve off the road whenever it accidentally flings open?”
“No.” He had the audacity to look concerned. “Someone here did that to you before?”
“The someone is you.” I rolled my eyes. “You used lizards last time, so I’m just assuming roaches would be next.”
“I would never—”
“Bully me?” I scoffed, standing to my feet. “Thank you for saving me from one version of hell and ushering me into another.”
I walked down the stands without another word and rushed across the gymnasium floor.
Outside, I ran toward the teachers’ parking garage on the other side of campus. Just as Taylor said, my car was parked in spot twelve by the window.
Letting out a breath, I braced myself before unlocking the back door. There were no bags on the floor or on the seats—nothing tucked into the magazine pockets.
I moved to the passenger side and opened the glove box, finding nothing but the worn pages of my auto manual and copies of my insurance card. Still, I couldn’t help checking under the seat and running my hands along the vents in the dashboard.
When I was finally convinced that my drive home would be uneventful, I climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the key. Tears pricked my eyes, practically begging to fall, but I refused to give in.
I refused to let anyone at that godforsaken academy see me cry again.
I pulled down the sun visor to make sure I looked “normal,” and a folded sheet of notebook paper fluttered into my lap.
From Taylor…
I sighed. I knew this was too good to be true. But I couldn’t help opening it.
Dear Audrey,
You may be the one person at this school that I despise more than anyone else, but no one else gets to hurt you.
Only me.
Take care,
Taylor
P.S. — I told Principal Warren what’s going on. You can have that spot, which is mine, for the rest of the year.
P.P.S. — This doesn’t mean anything else changes between us.
I still fucking hate you.
TRACK 14. IMGONNAGETYOUBACK (2:19)
AUDREY
The hatred coursed through my veins like a relentless current, dragging every trace of her downstream.
No matter how I tried to reroute the tide or build a dam to hold it back, she always found a way to spill through the cracks.
All I could do was wait—patiently, bitterly—for the day her poison found someone else’s shore.
Professor White read those words aloud from the front of our Deep Insights and Metaphors class, his smile widening with every sentence.
“How beautiful is that, ladies and gentlemen?” He held up today’s random and anonymous piece.
Everyone in the room clapped and whispered their awe—everyone except me.
Is every teacher here going to kiss Taylor Wolff’s ass?
“I’m tempted to tell the rest of you to drop out of the program now if the person in question continues to write like this.” Professor White smiled. “This is the type of writing I love to read!”
I leaned back in my chair, struggling to stay still and not lunge after Taylor for using me in his work again.
All I could do was tap my fingers against the seat.
“Anonymous” pick or not, I knew after two lines that those words belonged to Taylor.
His prose had always flowed like honey—drizzling over his chosen subject like a master baker—and I could taste the brilliance in every word.
His style was wholly unique to him, undeniably beautiful, and I hated it.
That evening
“I’m so glad you picked me as your personal mentee!” Emma Sharpe, my brand-new, sixteen-year-old shadow, beamed as we stepped off the elevator. “Learning from you is going to be so much fun!”
The jury was still out on that.
I’d thought all I had to do was give a quick biweekly lesson to her and her classmates, but the director surprised us all with a mandatory mentorship program today.
It’s only four extra hours, Audrey. Just four extra hours.
Pushing the suite door open, I spotted Taylor on the balcony—shirt sleeves rolled, eyes locked on his laptop. The glow from the screen caught the edge of his jaw, and in this moment, he looked more like a statue than a person—frozen, focused, untouchable.
“This is where I live,” I said to Emma. “Today, we’ll hang out here, and next week we’ll go into town, okay?”
She said nothing.
“Hello?” I looked at her. “Emma, does that sound okay?”
“Can I switch mentors and be with Mr. Wolff instead?” She was staring at Taylor. “I’m sure Lucas wouldn’t mind trading with me.”
“No.” I held back a groan.
“Don’t you think I should ask Mr. Wolff about it?”