Escaping Mr. Grayson [UN-EDITED]

Chapter Seventeen.

The air conditioner is blasting at high, and it's starting to make me shiver. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck start to rise more with each word that leaves Daisy's mouth. I didn't expect to be this nervous. Last night, after my...incident with Mr. Grayson, Daisy had an idea. "We should take matters into our own hands and tell the dean", she said. "We need to get this sicko fired and out of both of our lives for good"

We practiced this scenario over a dozen times and yet it is still nerve racking.

"I'm sorry but you are the only two people that have ever raised a report. I can't just fire him right away because two random students say that he's a bad guy. It simply just doesnt work that way", Dean Baxter tells us as he slides his reading glasses down the bridge of his nose, sitting them on the very tip. He's been scrutinizing and analysing the photos of Daisy's bruises for almost ten minutes now.

"What more do you want? A blood sample? Some sort of DNA scan? You heard it yourself, not only did he follow me and strangle me in a public place off campus but he also threatened Nailea's safety right in his lecture room", she says, "that in itself should be enough to put him in jail"

A pause.

"Miss Morgan, as I said before, the most that I can do for you is put him on a paid probation or send him a letter of warning. Unfortunately outside of those two options, there isn't any more that I can do for you", The Dean starts, "I assure you, I am on your side, but, there's regulations and protocol for these kinds of situations that I just cannot ignore"

Daisy turns her head in my direction. I can see the frustration start to burn up in her eyes.

"Dean Baxter, are you familiar with Morgan Media?", she says and I already know where this is heading

"Why yes, of course. Your family's company donates a large sum of money to our school board every year"

Daisy smirks devilishly. "Then you know that if I made a phone call to my father right at this second and told him that not only were his treasured only daughter and her roommate physically assaulted by a lecturer both on and off campus, but their esteemed Dean won't even take any serious and immediate action....", she pauses, purely for the dramatics of it. "...you would have a serious problem on your hands. I mean, from tabloids to unwanted media attention, maybe even more stories coming out. If that happened, I'm sure the board wouldn't be very pleased with the Dean of the school. Don't you agree?"

I choke back a laugh while Dean Baxter straightens his posture in his seat and clears his throat uncomfortably. He tugs at his tie and gulps.

"Why Miss Morgan, there's no need for things to get to that extent", Dean Baxter says

"I know I don't want them to"

"Alright...Effective immediately, I will make sure this problem is handled. You have my word, as long as I can have yours not to make this anything more than it is"

"I want that man out of this school. He shouldn't be able to set a single toe on this property", Daisy says sternly, Do we have an understanding?

Daisy stretches out her arm to shake Dean Baxter's hand. And with that, we can only hope never to see or hear from Xavier Grayson ever again.

As Daisy and I strut hand in hand out of the office, the fear of being the rea-son for my lecturer's obsession haunts me and I don't dare say it out loud, because I know for a fact that's only going to make it even more real than I need or want it to be. The truth is, I'm not as strong or confident as Daisy. Not even in the slightest. I don't believe that this will be the end of our...stalker. If anything, I feel we've made things even worse. I should be feeling some sort of accomplishment by now but in-stead, all I feel is a shudder of defeat.