Tasting 185

185–Looking Bad

Nora:

I rose from my seat to confront him directly, but I had to walk past Lord Atwood to do so.

“Nora! They didn’t say anything bad about you,” he continued, sounding sincere.

“Although they did show me something,” he paused, turning to the principal and Lord Atwood.

“See! I told you they have shown him something that angered him,” I was standing up for myself. I

was simply trying to explain to them that she had told me she had shown him something, and now

he was admitting to it.

“But it’s not something negative. When did I tell you that I was angry at you, Nora?” Brody asked,

his voice tinged with concern.

“Just show me what those two have shown you,” Lord Atwood rose from his chair. He appeared to

be searching for an explanation for my behavior as well. Until now, he had still believed me over

everyone else.

“This,” Brody showed them an image of a dress, and then the conversation below was from April.

April: I think you should get her this dress, and if not, get her these glass slippers. She’s a real–life

Cinderella and will look so good in these.

122 L

My jaw dropped as all eyes turned to me.

Mr. Fortin scoffed and shook his head, giving a sly smile to Lord Atwood, who seemed dismayed

while reading this chat.

“My daughter! He blocked you, right?” He still wanted me to provide some proof to support my side.

“She told me he did,” at this point, I realized she had deceived me. No! I had deceived myself. She

had riled me up so much that I believed every scheme she claimed to have plotted against me.

“I think there’s enough evidence indicating that Nora was bullying April. She insulted that poor girl

and called her names–” Mr. Fortin began speaking, but Brody frowned.

“Hold on. There’s no way Nora would bully someone,” him taking my side brightened Lord Atwood’s

face.

“In fact, I think you need to investigate and ask other students who have been bullied,” he continued

in a stern tone before stepping up in front of me.

“You just saw how she lied,” Mr. Fortin mentioned the whole. misunderstanding of the accusations I

had made against April.

“And what makes you believe April didn’t say all that to her?” he placed his hands on his waist,

facing Mr. Fortin and not even taking his own cousin’s side.

“She’s your family, and you’re telling me you don’t believe her?” Mr. Fortin was directly arguing with

Brody now.

Lord Atwood turned to me, placed his hand on my back, giving me the reassurance I needed.

11

It really helped.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m telling you, because she is my family and I know her. She has been bullying

Nora a lot. That’s why when she sent me this picture, even I had to ask her why she was suddenly

being so nice,” Brody continued, but Mr. Fortin had more to talk about. He wasn’t holding back.

“Okay! What about their friendship? I believe they’ve been friends. So how can you say she’s been

bullying Nora?” Mr. Fortin’s smirk turned into a frown when Brody scoffed.

“Maybe you don’t remember the two girls spreading rumors about Nora. Weren’t they caught lying

and only got away because they started dating the Alpha King brothers?” My mouth went dry when

Brody mentioned the rumors. But it was more because Ryker and Cain had saved their skins. My

skin started to burn with anger. If they hadn’t intervened, those girls would never have dared to get

me into another

mess.

“Hmm,” Mr. Fortin lowered his head this time.

“I won’t tolerate anyone spreading rumors or playing games with Nora again. If this school can’t

take care of her and protect her, then I guess I’ll have to transfer her to the school in my pack,”

Brody made that bold statement, causing my heart to jump and catch in my throat.

“I feel like you wanted my stepdaughter to be in the wrong. Look at you siding with and arguing for

those two,” Lord Atwood took his turn this time, prompting Mr. Fortin to defensively shake his head.

“Atwood, I’m your friend. Why would I ever be against someone who is dear to you?” His tone had

changed, and his actions were very contradictory. In fact, Lord Atwood was right.

It did seem like he wanted the two girls to be proven innocent and for me to take responsibility for

this messy situation.

“I don’t know, but you have disappointed me today,” Lord Atwood held my hand to lead me outside

when Mr. Fortin cleared his throat and regained everyone’s attention.

“I think you should really consider marrying her off to Alpha Brody as soon as possible.”

We all turned to him, even Brody was frowning.

“I am just saying that we have been receiving complaints about Nora a lot lately. Some students are

making explicit drawings of her and her stepbrothers—and spreading them around,” he paused,

noticing Lord Atwood narrowing his eyes at him.

“Why is that rumor still circulating? And who are these students? Why haven’t they been caught

yet?” Lord Atwood yelled. I noticed how tightly he was holding my hand, and he was shaking with

anger.

“I don’t know. I can’t enter someone’s head and erase these things. As for the students, we’ve

called in a maintenance guy to fix the cameras. Some students broke them a few weeks ago. Once

that is done, hopefully, nothing will be spread around the school, but I can’t be certain about the

internet,” he finished, causing my eyes to fill with

tears.

“I will take care of it. As for you, just do your job and don’t get involved in high school drama,” Brody

took over, warning Mr. Fortin outright. Once again, I felt like the walls were closing in on me.

The way Mr. Fortin looked sadly at Lord Atwood before he passed me a very disapproving glance

let me know that he still thought I was wrong in this scenario.