Damaged Beyond Repair by Kashmira Kamat (KittyKash) (best short books to read TXT) 📗

Chapter 21

 I felt the bad vibes drifting from the seat next to mine. There was a very likely possibility of being sent packing. “Rowan.”

“Just shut up and drive.”

Rowan’s bad mood be damned. Getting insulted was becoming part of my daily routine.

I clenched the steering wheel hard; I might as well drive into a damn tree. I drove the entire way without a word exchange from the either of us. When I outside the dorms, I grabbed for my luggage, said goodbye to Minnie, ignored Rowan like he was the air, walking in the opposite direction of my car towards the dorm building. Rowan had probably expected a formal goodbye with a nice peck on the cheek since he shut the door with an ear-piercing loud bang and drove away. I literally heard the car screech.

Who the hell was he kidding? If he was going to treat me like shit, he was getting shit. No sugar smooches and no ‘call me baby.’

                                                                                      ****

I took regular classes from Rowan time to time, for about two hours a day after my daily routine classes. While in the midst of everything, Chez repeatedly showed me the ‘I’m hollow man’ card and chose to ignore me otherwise. Nina met me in the hallways, but that was only for a few brief minutes. Chez opened his fat mouth once in a while to throw a string of sarcastic insults which were supposed to make me go into hiding, but I fired back with equally witty comebacks. Nina was our usual referee. So far round one was down. If that guy had a bag of guns I was armed with a wider range of artillery. So Bring it!

That was pretty much my routine.

Nina and I were in a mood for a chat and a sip of coffee, so after my study session with Rowan in the noon, we walked to the nearest barista and ordered our favorite lattes as we made our way towards the picnic bench in the park. Just when I thought my evening couldn’t get any better, my phone began to ring. I checked the phone that flashed ‘SHOUTY WOMAN’

“Its mom. I need to get this.” I told Nina as I watched her take a sip of my caramel latte.

“What’s up?” I spoke over the phone.

“Don’t you, what’s up me, Alana.” I heard my mom yell on the other end.

Oops! Something bad was going up my alley.

“So...Is it my birthday today?”

“Does turning eighteen give you permission to bend over for the professor?”

I thought I went deaf for a second. Darn it! But, I never thought I’d hear something like that from this woman, “It doesn’t, but it defiantly gives me permission to choose who I want to be with or how I want to live my life and that also includes bending over for the professor.”

“ALANA.” I heard her shout on the other end and the muffled words in the background, which I sure as hell knew was Dad telling mom to calm down or handing her an oxygen mask.

“What is it this time?” I was trying to put up the brave front, but the wonder woman facade was coming apart. I knew I’d be in tears in no time. What’s worse, it seemed like Nina probably figured out what was going on since she stared at me wide-eyed, the coffee sipping coming to a pause.

“What is going on between you and him?”

“Your sources are correct; I’ve been sleeping with the professor for a while now.”

“I want a straight answer, Alana.”

“I’m dating him, is there a problem?”

“Disgusting.” I could practically hear her distaste. “We allowed you so much freedom and you threw it back in our faces. Do you know what the Dean’s secretary told us about you?” 

“I’m seriously not interested...”

“He told us how you were seducing the professor for passing grades and you’re covering up your tracks by telling me you’re dating him? You’ve got some nerve, Alana. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was for us to hear all that trash?”

“You believed him, right? You think I would do all that for grades?”

Nina became agitated by every passing minute as she fidgeted and started to get busy with her phone just so I could get some privacy, but I knew she was all ears for my conversation.

“Do you have a relationship with him or not?”

“Yes, I do.” I told her.

“That explains. You’re coming back to Ridgewell with us. I don’t give a damn if you miss a semester and stay back a year.”

Wow. So, now she was trying to handle the Alana Tv remote control. The last thing I wanted right now was going back to Ridgewell and rot in the prison they called home.

“Thought, I made myself clear when I left that place. I go where Chez goes and even if he chooses to leave Carmel, I’m staying back. I don’t plan to come to Ridgewell, like ever. I’d much rather be alone in the dorms then live with you guys.”

“You heard her, Rick?” she spoke to Dad in the background, who obviously was listening from the sidelines, better yet, the call could be on speakers and he probably helped her with a few comebacks because my mom’s brain only worked where the brain was concerned, the smart lines were probably coming from the lawyer. Then again, my dad had been more on my side. It had to be my mom dominating the situation.

“I’m not coming, but if you do want me to come so bad, why don’t you call a minivan full of thugs and get me kidnapped. Yeah?” I told her, “And the last time I checked, I could buy myself an alcoholic drink in the bar, and that makes me oh so legal. I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

I heard my mom gasp in horror, her daughter was talking back to her and using the ‘F bombs’. That was news flash.

“Well, you are, aren’t you?” she chuckled on the other end, like a damn vamp, “how about this, we block all your cards and see how long you can survive without daddy’s or mommy’s financial help. Let’s see how good you can pull those survival instincts and let’s not hope you come begging to us within a month.”

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