Clear Lake Academy holds the worst of the worst delinquents from around the country. Each and every student there holds a notorious background that led them there and almost everyone avoids them.
After setting the tenth building on fire, which just...
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I hadn't expected my mother to show up at school when we returned.
We'd only been back for a week—minus Bentley—and in that short time we had somehow become the center of attention. Everywhere we went, people stared and whispered among themselves. Questions and rumours flew around and even Lila stayed away warily.
By the last day of the week, I thought the worst of the curiosity had finally settled.
And then my mother showed up.
Now we sat across from each other in one of the school's small conference rooms, the door shut firmly behind us. The room felt too quiet, the long table between us acting like a barrier neither of us was willing to cross.
I waited for her to explain why she had come all the way here. Waited for her to say something—anything. But she didn't. She just stared.
My mother looked exactly as she always did, perfectly composed as if she had stepped straight out of a magazine. Her dark hair was twisted tightly into a high bun that pulled her face upward, emphasizing the sharp curve of her cheekbones. Her makeup was simple but flawless, barely noticeable except for the way it smoothed every feature. She wore a tailored black suit, elegant and severe, and the diamond bracelets wrapped around her wrists caught the light every time she shifted her hands.
She looked polished. Untouchable. Exactly like the woman who raised me.
"Are you going to tell me why you're here?" I finally asked, breaking the loaded silence.
She twisted her lips in thought, eyes flickering over me like she were reading a menu. The quiet in the room became unbearable.At the front wall, the clock ticked steadily. Tick. Tock.
Finally, she spoke. "I want you back home."
"No." The word left my mouth the moment her sentence registered in my mind. "Not a chance."
Her expression tightened slightly. "You're being ridiculous, Pandora. There is no need for all this unnecessary drama. Do you have any idea what people are saying out there? The rumours about our family?" She shook her head faintly. "It's damaging our reputation."
I scoffed before I could stop myself, my jaw tightening. "So that's the reason you want me home?" I asked.
She didn't even hesitate before nodding.
Of course.
"You didn't seem to care when I spent most of my childhood at the station," I continued, my voice edged with sarcasm. "Or when I was practically living at home with Will." I tilted my head slightly, studying her expression for any sign that she remembered those years. "You didn't even bother to ask why I stopped coming home. Why I only showed up once a week, if that."
I gave her a thin smile that held no warmth.
"So I don't know why you suddenly care now."
The room fell quiet again, but this time the silence felt heavier, thicker with everything we weren't saying.
