Elite & Tawdry ✔ [COMPLETE]

Chapter 61

Tawny stretched her arms and triumphantly slapped her pencil across the desk.

She had finished relatively later than the rest of her peers due to her healing her injuries, but with her English exam behind her, she had finally completed her exams and her semester.

She was disappointed that it was not McCurdy himself who proctored the exam -- instead, it was Miss Lynch -- but Tawny finally reconciled that she might not see them again until the fall term began.

Tawny handed in her exam package and practically skipped down the empty halls, excited for her newfound freedom from academic obligations.

"--I hear Eugene is elated--"

Tawny froze midskip in front of the Teachers Lounge. The door was left ajar so she could hear the conversation between two teachers who were occupying the space by sitting at a table having coffee.

"Yes, he was so excited to break the news to the staff," one of the teachers said. "Once Rebecca was 3 months pregnant. I never would have guessed, she's barely showing."

PREGNANT? Tawny leaned against the wall. She began to hyperventilate, so she slid down until she was sitting on the ground and held her head between her knees.

This was absolutely NOT the news that Tawny wanted to hear.

"So I guess she'll be on the move again?" the other teacher quipped. "She never stays stateside for long."

"Oh yeah, I hear she's heading back to Europe," the first teacher. "Permanently this time. And Eugene is going with her this time. They want to start a new life together with the baby."

He's not coming back.

Professor McCurdy is not coming back.

Tawny slowly got to her feet. At first, she was walking calmly down the hall, as though she was in shock after witnessing a horrible calamity. But then she began to run, practically sprint, until she reached the double door entrance and flung herself out into the open.

She was supposed to meet up with Maddie and Audrey after class but not anymore. Tawny was in crisis mode and couldn't think straight.

Even though it was raining heavily outside, Tawny sprinted down the road leading away from Ivoree Gates and towards the McCurdys.

Immediately she was brought back in her mind to the moment when Professor McCurdy "rescued" her after being bullied during her first gym class.

That seemed like an an eternity ago, when she first visited her teacher at his residence, where she was eventually to be taken in and meet McCurdy's lovely wife.

Now his lovely wife was pregnant, and they were preparing to leave her -- no, ABANDON her -- to fend for herself for the remainder of her time at Ivoree Gates.

Audrey and Maddie said it themselves. Aside from the presence of the Dylantantes, nothing would ultimately change. The Evil 3 would be the same shade of evil sans Elaine, just a different coat of paint. She would still be mocked and ridiculed for her status. Only this time she wouldn't have the idea of Professor McCurdy -- the hope of him -- to get her through a day of torment.

Tawny was brought out of her spiralling thoughts by the sound a horn behind her. She turned and squinted; the intensity of the vehicle's headlights were distorted by the rain so she couldn't immediately identify who was on her trail.

"Professor McCurdy?" she said hopefully.

The vehicle pulled alongside Tawny; only then could she identify the familiar details of the red Porsche. The passenger side of the vehicle swung open and Dylan leaned across his seat so he could see her. "Get in!" he commanded over the roar of the rain.