Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter Thirteen

When we went downstairs everyone was waiting: my parents; Tina's mom; Mrs. Haun, the principle of Royal Academy; Mr. Douglas, the vice principle of Royal Academy and one-man security team; some lawyer-type lady whose name I forgot as soon as it was mentioned; and Ms. Jessome, a lady from the School Board who's position I didn't pay any notice of during introductions. They were all pencil pushers in my mind, and damned for their lack of action, even though they hadn't known. They should have realized something was happening.

I hurried my dad and Mr. Douglas out of the room. With everything Tina went through, the last thing she needed was to have grown men listening to her talk about Mr. Tinsley. Plus, no way was my dad going to remain silent and calm, so there was that. Tina would have no doubt about how protective he was of her, and how much he didn't blame her, if he stayed. But I gave her my word, so he wasn't going to be there.

Once Tina began talking, everyone, if my own interruptions didn't count, listened in silence as she recounted what had happened with Mr. Tinsley.

"A couple of months?" I exclaimed. The creepiness that crawled over my skin at the thought of them together skyrocketed out of the stratosphere. I am such a terrible friend. Who wouldn't notice something like this happening to their best friend for so long? It was shameful—I was shameful. "This happened for a couple of months? When did it start?"

"About six weeks after school started."

Tina looked away to stare at a spot on the far wall of our living room. Whether it was out of embarrassment or the fear of judgement, I wasn't sure. I had never felt such hatred towards someone before. Castration was too kind for Mr. Tinsley, and all the men and women like him. Someone needed to fry his goodies while he watched before serving them to him as his own last supper.

How did she survive without being a wrecking ball?

"Tina, it's May." I counted in my head how long we'd skipped Health. Two weeks. We've only skipped two weeks of class. "That means he was doing this for six, almost seven, months. That's a helluva lot longer than a couple of months."

Her eyes darted to me and then back to the wall, and she sighed. "I know, Aly. What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing, I'm sorry. I'm just so mad at him for what he's done to you." I sat down and then stood again to pace, biting my nails to keep my mouth in check. I couldn't imagine how hard this must be for her, and I felt dirty listening to what had happened.

"Anyway, it started about six weeks after summer. I was sick one day and went to see Mr. Tinsley after school about making up a test I missed. When I got there, he was watching that, uh..." She cleared her throat. "He was watching the movie he showed in class—one of them, anyway—though he hadn't shown them to everyone yet.

"When he noticed I was there he pressed pause on a part that showed some chick going down on a guy. I told him that I'd come back later when he wasn't so busy, but he wouldn't let me." She shook her head and looked to the floor, clasping and unclasping her fingers while twirling her thumbs together. "He said that if I didn't stay, I would get a failing grade."

"Bastard," I mumbled and looked up with wide eyes to whisper, "Sorry."

I needed to stop interrupting her. The problem with that was that I couldn't close my eyes without seeing the image of him forcing himself on her—or her on him, as the case seemed to be most of the time. It made me feel like last night's supper was going to pay us a visit, and a part of me wished I didn't figure it out so that I didn't have to listen to her describe the details.

No amount of encounters with the voice would be able to wash this from my memory.

"So, yeah, he said he wanted me to do what was on the frame he'd paused the movie on. I didn't want to, but he s-said he'd... have me expelled for coming onto him," she choked and began to cry, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "The whole time... I just wanted someone to come into the classroom and catch us, but it was too late. Even the janitor had left by then, and Mr. Tinsley always locked the door."