A Joke That Went Too Far

I kicked the chair next to me hard enough to send it sideways. "Joking around? Then why don't you put your own names and numbers out there and sell yourselves?"

I looked them dead-on, one at a time.

"Cut the chatter. We're going to the dean's office. Or I'm calling the police."

The air fell silent for a few seconds–then they burst out laughing.

Tara lifted her chin and tossed her hair. "Even if you take it to my dad, what is he going to do, Sophie? Really?"

I knew her too well. She was banking on me caving like I always had.

That ended now.

Giving in only gets you trampled.

I stepped closer. "If you're not scared, let's go right now."

Seeing I was serious, her expression stiffened. She quickly grabbed my arm. "My dad's busy. He doesn't have time for nonsense.

"And since you're my best friend, I don't even have to tell him."

Before she finished, I turned and walked off. She hurried after me.

As long as I found the dean, this would be easy to settle. I sent my dad a quick message and headed downstairs.

I got to the front of the building and walked straight into a wall of muscle.

I looked up. Connor Pierce.

His face was dark, his eyes filled with the same disgust as before.

Before I could react, his hand struck my face. The sound rang in my ears.

"Sophia. Didn't expect you to be this shameless."

His mouth twisted into a sneer. "You wouldn't even let me kiss you before. What was all that pretending to be innocent for?"

My cheek burned. But I did not even blink.

I did not feel anything for him anymore.

Anyone who turned on me because of someone else's words… was never worth anything.

The slap was loud. People quickly gathered around.

Tara came panting up behind me, took one look at the scene, and threw herself at Connor with a sob in her throat. "Connor? What are you doing here?"

He pulled her behind him protectively. "Was she bullying you?"

She did the broken little hiccup. "I just didn't want Sohpia to bother my dad over something so small…"

She glanced at me sidelong. "Maybe I'm the one who messed up. I'm her best friend. I should have stopped her from doing something like that."

Connor's face went black. He pulled her closer. "Tara, what are you blaming yourself for? Don't bother with someone like her."

"It's a fact that she's selling herself. She has no shame–and now she won't even let people talk about it?"

He whipped around and yelled at me, "I cannot believe I gave you a chance. We're done."

The crowd erupted.

The men looked at me with vulgar eyes, like they wanted to strip me bare. "If even her own boyfriend is calling her out, the hundred-bucks rumor must be real."

The women glared at me, furious. "She walked around acting all stuck-up and look at her now."

The dorm supervisor pushed through the crowd. When she saw Tara's tearful face, her expression immediately softened.

"What's going on out here?"

Tara spoke softly, still sniffling. "Sophia was insisting on dragging the dean into something stupid. I was just worried she'd ruin the dorm's reputation…"

The matron's face went purple. She rounded on me.

"I have had it with you. You stay out half the night, every night. And now you're running a side business out of a dorm room? And now you're picking on Tara on top of it?"

Tara's tears fell even harder as she pointed at me. "I've seen it myself… more than once. Coming back late at night with different men…

"I just never thought she'd be desperate enough to start running it on campus."

That was all the crowd needed. The shouting got worse.