Life in Hiding

10 ~ Deal

**Make sure you read chapter 9 before this chapter**

"Are you okay?"

Sparing Chloe a glance, I don't stop pacing. "Ask Wes."

"He's a little butt hurt right now, that's why I came here but you look three seconds away from a panic attack so do you want to talk?" She offers, closing the door behind her.

"You mean your precious Wes hasn't shown you the article?" I snap.

"What article?"

"The one that's trying to lie and say my sister cheated on her boyfriend with some lowlife model who made a pass at her and our cousin." I say because that's the truth. Scarlett came home fuming and told me all about Luke Simpson. He made the pass and got rejected, thats how the night ended.

"I-I haven't seen it." She offers, taking a step towards me.

"Well ask Wes he'll show you like he's showing everyone else." I laugh dryly. "Make sure you ask to read about all the things he'd like to do with my sister now that she's spoiled goods as he likes to say."

God, the longer I think about those words the angrier I get.

"He said what?" She demands and I throw my phone in her face.

Red stains her cheeks as she reads, practically fuming by the time she's finished. "Sage, take a moment to breathe." Her arm grabs mine, "What he said was wrong, but you need to calm down. You blowing a gasket will do nothing for the situation."

I stop, she's right.

"Good, now take a seat and drink some water." She orders and I listen, gripping my bottle so tightly that it squirts up into my face.

She bites back laughter, pulling a chair up beside me. "Okay, I'm not real positive of what else I can do to help."

This is where I would usually ask for a hug, but I don't want to get that close to her. I'm not that upset and she's not that nice. Instead, I calm down.

My phones rings and I answer blindly, hoping it's someone who can give me some answers. "Hello?"

"Mister Rhodes?"

"Yes, who's this?" The voice sounds familiar, I just can't place it.

"This is Coach Henderson, the recruitment coordinator for Vanderbilt baseball." He offers and I sit there in shock.

"Sir, we just talked this weekend. Is there a problem?" Or do you actually want to talk to me during school hours?

"Well, it's been brought to our attention that your family has been tied up in some sort of internet scandal."

My heart stops. "Yes, it's all some sort of mistake. I can assure you of that."

"Sadly, with the commotion this ordeal has caused on campus, it has piqued our interest." He says dryly.

"What exactly is the issue, sir?" I ask.

"Vanderbilt baseball has a level of professionalism to uphold and we do not tolerate media circuses." He says. "This caused us to look further and we don't find it very professional to video oneself skinny dipping in a pool of slime."

"I wasn't actually– it was just click bait sir." I fumble for my words, unsure of how to explain the situation. I let the twins talk me in to one drastically stupid idea and it chooses now to be an issue.

"We were not aware of how popular you were online."

"With all due respect, sir, I've been very honest with my relationship to the internet since before I committed to Vanderbilt and you assured me it was not an issue." Scarlett ensured they were clear on that.