Chapter 161

Joseph's POV

“Fighting is against school policy, Amanda and Liz,” The dean, Constance, seethed. “I expected a lot more from the two-star cheerleaders.”

“She tried to steal my bag!” Amanda argued.

“It’s true Miss Constance,” Liz agreed. “I saw the whole thing! I was trying to help her!”

Constance looked suspiciously at the two girls before looking up at me from her desk. I stood in the back corner of the room with the two security officers who were there after the fight.

“That doesn’t sound like something Tessa or Ruby would do. Is there any reason they want to steal Amanda’s bag?” She asked me.

I was surprised that she directed the question at me.

“I’m not exactly sure,” I said, trying to sound as even as I could. “All I know is these girls were kicking and punching both Tessa and Ruby.”

“I see,” Constance said, leaning back in her seat. “And how are they? Are they okay?”

“They were beaten up badly. We took them to the nurse's office. I’m not sure if they are still there or if they were sent elsewhere.”

Actually, I was very aware that they were sent home. I could hear them talking outside the nurse’s office. Tessa and Ruby were in bad shape, but nothing was broken or damaged. Tessa brought Ruby to her apartment so the girls could rest together.

I made a mental note to check in with them later. I resented myself for allowing such a thing to happen under my nose. I should have gotten there sooner. What was the point of remaining close to her if I couldn’t even protect her against school bullies?

But I wasn’t going to tell Dean Constance that information.

“One of them threw up all over the place,” one of the security officers muttered, crinkling his nose in disgust like he was an overgrown child.

I had to stifle an eye roll.

“Ruby was kicked pretty hard in the stomach,” I explained, shaking my head.

“I’ll give the nurse a call later and find out more information,” Constance looked back at the girls. “You are facing expulsion, but because this is your first offense and your families both paid a lot of money for you to be here, I’m going to give you a two-month suspension instead.”

“What?!” They both gasped at the same time.

“That’s not fair!” Amanda cried. “This is all Tessa’s fault!!!!”

“I’m not going to argue anything more about it,” Constance said, narrowing her eyes at her. “I know you both live in the on-campus suites, during this suspension you’ll need to live off campus. I suggest getting a hold of your parents and making arrangements. I’ll give you 24 hours to be packed up and off campus property.”

“Stupid—” Liz began to growl but Constance slammed her fist on the table, silencing her.

“I can make it even longer if you’d like. Or maybe I will expel you after all,” she threatened.

“No!” Amanda said, jumping to her feet and taking her loud-mouthed friend with her. “We will take 2 months.”

Constance said nothing more as the two girls scrambled out of the room, scowling at me as they passed.

Constance looked at the guards and sighed.

“Make sure they get back to their suites and off campus within these next 24 hours, please,” she said, sounding exhausted.

They both nodded and left the office immediately, leaving me alone with Constance.

“Do you have any idea why they would try stealing Amanda’s bag?” Constance asked, furrowing her brows together. “You are Tessa’s favorite teacher and mentor. I heard she talks to you.”

“She hasn’t mentioned anything,” I said, shaking my head.

“I see,” she sighed. “Well, thank you for reporting this, Professor Evergreen. I’m going to finish up for the evening and get home.”

I nodded, not wanting to keep her any longer.

I turned and left her office without another word. It was way past school hours and the football game would be ending soon. I wasn’t much of a football player, and I never cared about watching the game, especially college games.

But as I stepped into my office, I found myself turning on the television that was hung up on the far side of the wall and turning on the live broadcast of the ongoing game.

I kept it on in the background as I finished grading my papers for the evening. When I got to Tessa’s makeup homework, I read through it carefully.

It was titled: Falling in Love with a Monster.

My heart was heavy the entire time I read it.

It was about 3 pages long and very detailed. Though she used fake names, it was a story about a young girl who fell in love with a vampire but ended up getting hurt in the end. She never considered him a monster, but they both knew that their relationship would never work because of what he was. Though this girl held hope and loved him with all her heart, he couldn’t love her in return.

It was a message to me.

I hurt her in a way that I couldn’t take back. I shouldn’t have been so careless with her heart. I should have protected it better. She deserved better than that; she deserved better than to get mixed up with a monster like me.

I had to admit though, it was beautifully written. Her talents were really showing with every paper that she wrote. Her extra credit assignments were done perfectly as well. I could tell she put a lot of time and effort into making each assignment right.

She deserved a good grade; she deserved a perfect grade.

Tessa deserved the world, and I wasn’t able to give that to her. Making love to her in my office was a mistake; it’s something I can’t take back though.

I knew it was going to make things complicated afterward; I wouldn’t blame her if she never spoke to me again.

I thought about calling her, but I didn’t think she would answer the phone if I did.

There was loud cheering coming from the television and I looked up to see the football players all chanting with the cheerleaders and they were thrilled. There were fireworks and the crowd was jumping in delight.

It seemed our team had won.

Seeing Brian on the television made me feel annoyed almost immediately. I know I don’t have any right to feel this way, he’s Tessa’s ex. But she’s been hanging out a lot with him lately and I knew he was only using her to gain publicity for his family's business.

This reminded me that Tessa needs to know that his motives aren’t true if she doesn’t already know.

The news broadcaster was trying to get an interview going with Brian, but he was too wound up with his teammates to really pay attention to anything else.

The cheerleaders continued their cheer as if they hadn’t realized their captains weren’t even present.

Humans are so simple, I thought to myself, shaking my head.

I grabbed the remote off my desk to turn off the television but paused when I saw Brian turning toward one of the broadcasters and grabbing the microphone out of their grip.

“WE WON!!!” He yelled into the microphone as if yelling was necessary. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes in annoyance. “Tessa Campbell!!!” He yelled, making my entire body freeze. “I love you, babe!! I’m sorry for all that I did! I want us to start over again! I hope you can accept me back fully and we can move on from here!!!”

Without another word, he gave the microphone back to the reporter who looked startled, but then she nervously chuckled into the mic while looking at the camera.

“Well, that was the star quarterback, Brian Oliver—”

I turned off the television before I heard anything more. I squeezed the remote so tightly that it shattered in my hand. I allowed it to crumble to my desk.

I had never felt such an emotion like this before; some might classify it as jealousy, but I’ve never been a jealous person before. Then again, I never cared about anyone like I cared about Tessa. I never felt anything remotely close to what I felt for her.

Was this a normal emotion to have?

The familiar tune of my phone brought me out of my head. I looked at the screen with a frown and noticed that I had a couple of missed calls from Carter. My stomach tightened; I hadn’t heard my phone ringing.

I saw that Bernard had called me once as well. Something serious must have happened for them to call my cell phone like this.

A familiar phone number flashed across my phone screen.

I knew right away that it was Chief Mulligan.

“What happened?” I asked on the phone.

“We got word from the vampire academy that one of the new vampires escaped last night,” he said immediately. “An escaped prisoner broke her out.”

“Someone escaped the vampire prison?” I asked, standing to my feet. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Mulligan snapped. “He bribed one of the security officers to let him out. The officer was later killed, but the prisoner was nowhere to be seen. Security footage at the school sees him breaking out the new vampire and they escaped together.”

“Do we know who this prisoner is? And who did he break out of the vampire academy?” I asked, but I feared I already knew the answer before he spoke again.

“His name is Ryan I believe, and he broke out this girl named—”

“Fae.”