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Chapter 58

Hold, hold on
Hold onto me
'Cause I'm a little unsteady
A little unsteady.

— X Ambassadors, Unsteady

. . . .

I'm shaking frantically. I can't control the racing thoughts and questions running through my mind about the horrible events of what's to come in our future. What's going to happen to me? More importantly, what's going to happen to him? And Lilly? He can't go to prison. Lilly needs him and he needs her.

I need him.

"What? How did she find out?" My palms are sweaty, as his are too, and my stomach is churning. "Did someone see us and tell her? Just tell me everything that happened, okay?"

He takes a deep breath and licks his lips, "I was sitting in my office around lunchtime, and she called me into her office. The second she called and the expression on her face when I walked into her office, I could tell she was pissed off..."

"Okay."

"She said, "I was in my office early this morning with the security footage on my screen when it showed a dark car parked behind the school. A student got out and walked across the lawn to get into the building"."

"Fuck."

"It gets worse."

He stares at the shut door to our right and shifts his foot a tiny bit.

"Then she said, "Then I looked further into it. I backtracked to days, weeks, months ago and found the same car driving the back road of the school. Finally, I switched to the camera displaying the parking lot and found a car identical to yours, Mr. Styles, and each time a female student gets out every morning."

I'm at a loss for words. Of course, each time we would sneak around we were quite forgetful and careless at times. I just didn't think it would come to the point of Beckman doing her job around the school to catch us.

"Does she know it's me?"

He looks sideways at me with a worried look in his red eyes and says, "Your ombre is quite recognizable, love."

"Oh my god."

"You don't need to worry," he tells me reassuringly and holds my hand despite the crisis that's happening. "Nothing's going to happen to you. You're going to be fine."

I feel selfish for sighing a momentary breath of relief, but there's still Harry that I need to worry about and not just myself. His whole future is at stake while mine is left untouched.

"What's going to happen to you?"

He bitterly laughs and grits his teeth together. "Beckman's not going to call the police. Do you know why? She said she doesn't want more bad publicity for the school after all the Horan shit. It's funny...after all of this time working at that hellhole I'm finally relieved that that old bitch doesn't do her job."

I laugh and he does too, but it fades away into more blank stares.

"Isn't this good, though? You're not going to prison."

He sniffles a little bit and runs a hand through his sopping wet hair. His hand trails down over his face and pulls on the skin below his eyes.

"I'm fired, though."

"Harry..."

"I'm terrified for my life right now, Vi. I can't just not have a job. I have to support you, and Lilly, and...and myself. I have bills to pay. I—this can't be fucking happening to me."