If Only (18+)

Chapter 13 (Part I)

Happy reading, darlings!♡

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"Do you have my essay, Mr. De Luca and Miss Chilton?" Mr. Reynolds asked as Nathan and I walked into the classroom.

Nathan began to dig through his schoolbag before fishing out our three-page essay. 

After our little talk in the library yesterday, Nathan read over the essay I wrote and critiqued it, adding extra points, taking out unneeded sentences, and replaced some words to make the essay look more presentable. He was without a doubt the perfect partner, and never failed to voice encouraging words when I would feel down about not writing a simple word correctly.

"Here you go," Nathan grunted, tossing our essay onto Mr. Reynolds' desk, causing some papers he was grading to slide onto the floor.

"I'm going to need you to lose the attitude, Mr. De Luca," Mr. Reynolds stated in a stern tone, glaring at my partner.

"Or what?" Nathan countered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm not in the mood to play your immature games, Nathan." Mr. Reynolds replied in a calm, warning tone.

I stared at the two men, not sure who to side with. Although Nathan was being unreasonable, Mr. Reynolds always managed to tick him off whenever he felt like, it seemed.

Like always, I felt hopeless. Finding a sudden interest with the ends of my platinum blonde hair, I stood to the side like the coward I was.

Once a coward always a coward, I thought bitterly, frowning.

"Look, we turned in your stupid essay. What else do you want from us? A damn certificate that says 'Nathan and Valerie Are In Fact Capable Of Doing Their Assignments'?", Nathan exclaimed, his usual cloudy grey eyes now a sparkling metallic grey.

"Watch it," Mr. Reynolds glared at him, not holding back his obvious boiling anger that was bound to make an appearance through an outburst.

"Oh, I see. This is about Valerie, isn't it?" He retorted, and at that moment I felt my blood freeze and my throat close up.

No, this can't be happening.

"Excuse me-" Mr. Reynolds began, but Nathan was quick to interrupt him.

"Don't play dumb. I see the way you treat her. Anytime she does something so small and so tedious, you have to publicly humiliate her in the worst place possible. Then, you play it off so she stays on your good side because quite frankly, she's probably the only student in here that can tolerate you. And that is fucking disgusting." Nathan finished the end of his rant with a growl.

My entire body went weak and I wish a big black hole would encave and suck me out of this miserable place.

"Nathan. Front office. Now." Mr. Reynolds gritted out, his reddish-purple face resembling a bruised apple.

"I'm sorry you don't get laid often and have to let it out on one of your best students because let's be real here, Valerie is probably the best student you'll ever get." Nathan snorted.

Please stop, I wanted to say. But, as always, the words wouldn't come out. Couldn't come out.

"Front office. Now." Mr. Reynolds snarled, and I noticed how his usual warm brown eyes were ice-cold.

Nathan scoffed, adjusted his single backpack strap on his shoulder and strode out of the classroom.

Nervously, I gulped and looked up, noticing the starstruck faces of my peers. Fidgeting with my cuticles, I stood at the front of the classroom, frozen in time.