Chapter 4Ditching Him Made Me A Billionaire

The last period of the day was study hall.

Suddenly, a barrage of shouting and screaming erupted from the back of the campus.

Near the fence line of the back fields, a crowd had gathered. I could hear the dull, heavy clangs of metal hitting metal.

Students in my classroom rushed to the windows, pressing their faces against the glass.

"Holy shit! Travis is fighting the vocational guys!"

"Is he crazy? It's five against one! He's got an iron pipe!"

I sat at my desk, my pen pausing for a fraction of a second.

The voice in my ear came right on cue.

"To impress Courtney, he's going to shatter the leader's spine."

"The police will be here in exactly three minutes. Courtney's family driver is already waiting at the back gate to whisk her away."

I looked out the window.

Sure enough, amidst the chaos, Courtney was clutching her skirt, jogging toward the back gate in her designer sneakers without looking back once.

A sleek black Mercedes was waiting. She slipped into the back seat, and the car sped away.

In the distance, the wail of police sirens grew louder.

The crowd on the field scattered instantly, boys running in every direction.

Travis stood frozen, holding a blood-slicked iron pipe, looking around in a daze.

He turned, realizing Courtney was already gone.

When the police cruisers slammed to a halt at the edge of the field, panic finally registered on his face.

He looked up at the school building and locked eyes with me standing by the second-floor window.

His eyes lit up with desperate hope.

He bolted toward the building, dragging the heavy pipe behind him, leaving a harsh scraping sound on the concrete.

"Maeve! Come down here!"

"Hide this for me! Hurry!"

He wanted to hand me the weapon—the heavy iron pipe coated in someone else's blood and bone.

The voice in my ear screamed with terrifying authority.

"Step back! Do not touch a single thing he has!"

Heavy, frantic footsteps echoed up the stairwell.

Travis kicked open the back door of the classroom, his hands dripping red.

He thrust the pipe toward me.

"Take it! Put it in your bag, now!"

He was hyperventilating, his veins bulging, his eyes wide with animal terror.

I looked at the weapon inches from my face and took two deliberate steps backward.

Travis stared at me, his face twisting into a hideous snarl.

"Why the fuck are you moving? Give me your jacket to wipe the blood! Hurry up!"

He lunged forward to grab my clothes.

I dodied him, my voice flat and cold.

"You did this. You deal with the consequences. I'm not helping you."

The heavy thud of tactical boots echoed on the linoleum outside.

Two officers burst through the door, tackling Travis to the floor before he could react.

They pinned his face to the dusty tiles.

The iron pipe clattered to the floor, rolling to a stop right by my sneakers.

The lead officer picked it up, sealing it inside a clear plastic evidence bag.

Travis thrashed under the officers' weight, forcing his head up to glare at me.

A venomous light flickered in his eyes.

"Officer! It was her! She made me do it!"

He screamed at the top of his lungs, spit flying from his lips.

"Maeve told me to beat him up! That switchblade in my pocket is hers too! She forced me!"

The classroom fell into a dead, suffocating silence.