Faking with Benefits : A Friends to Lovers Romance(127)

Amy stands a little straighter. “Zack, you need to leave. I can’t let guests come into this school and threaten to assault one of our former students.”

“Donald here was verbally attacking Layla,” Luke points out. “Shall we throw him out as well? That only seems fair.”

“I was not!” Donny shouts. “I was just saying hello to her!”

“You called her loose,” Josh spits from behind me.

Amy sighs heavily. “You really haven’t changed at all, have you, Layla? You got here three minutes ago, and already the allegations are flying. You must be the most desired woman in London.” She regards Luke coolly. “Do we have any proof that Donald was harassing Layla? I have to say, given your circumstances,” her eyes drop to our joined hands, “I’m not particularly inclined to believe you.”

Luke’s face flushes red. He pulls away from me, squaring his shoulders, but I cut him off before he can really lose his temper.

“Oh, I have plenty of proof,” I say sunnily. “About four years’ worth, I’d say. Don’t worry, you’ve already got it all on file. Just pop into the staff room, you’ll find a folder full of complaints I’ve made, with all the proof you need. Emails. Scans of lewd drawings. Photographs of graffiti on my personal property. Hey, the janitor even helped me rip a couple of CCTV tapes that show Donny here trying to get under my skirt in the car park.” I glance across at Donny. “I think you were eighteen, then. A legal adult. I hear you’re in politics now, right?” I whistle under my breath. “Wouldn’t want that getting out now, would we?”

“What?” Luke barks.

Donny scoffs. “Does the tape also show you kicking me in the balls?”

“Ah. So you do remember it. Funny, you seemed to be suffering from some sort of selective amnesia when the school counsellor asked you about it.”

Amy takes a deep breath through her nose. “Well, this is a very concerning accusation, Layla. I’ll be sure to look into it. Although unfortunately, we’ve switched up our student records system, so it’s unlikely any of this evidence still exists.” She pulls a sympathetic face. “I’m very sorry.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” I say cheerfully. “I have copies of everything. Dated and time stamped. I even got most of them signed off by you and other staff members. I know these things can be tricky.” I smile at her blandly. “I wanted to make sure you couldn’t possibly lose anything.”

“Good,” she says through gritted teeth. “That’s great, Layla. But I don’t think—”

I interrupt her, pointing to the line of green metal lockers behind her. “Do you never get the lockers cleaned? It’s been ten years, and my old one still has skank scribbled on the door. God bless the poor kid who got assigned that one.”

“Of course we have the lockers cleaned,” Amy spits. “They’re scrubbed down every year.”

I squint. “Hey. You’re right. That’s not my locker. This one says dirty slag. Hey, Luke, isn’t that a hate crime?”

Luke draws himself up to his full height. “Yes,” he says, his voice icy. “It is. You know, Amy, this is very concerning. I think it would be best that I make a report to the council, so they can perform an inspection of the school’s student support procedures.”

Amy is livid. “Luke,” she snaps. “You are blowing this completely out of proportion. For God’s sake, you don’t even work here anymore.”

“I’m still on the student board,” he reminds her peaceably.

She turns her scowl on me. “Did you put him up to this?” She demands. “Why? Because I wouldn’t listen to you when you came whining to me every single lunch break, wasting all of my free time? Because I released those pictures of you whoring around at my wedding?”

Luke stares at her. “Wait. It was you who released the pictures? You said you didn’t know who did it!”

Amy rolls her eyes. “Stop looking at me like that. It was my right.” She jabs a finger at me. “She turned up without an invite, dressed like a goddamn hooker, and went around snogging my guests. It was embarrassing. And you’re so goddamn stupid, I knew you’d never see what kind of a person she was, so yes. I took some shots on my phone. I wanted to give you proof that she was cheating on you.” She throws up her hands. “And you don’t even care! I don’t know what the Hell is wrong with you, Luke, but this little four-way you’ve got going on is disgusting. You used to teach children, for God’s sake. What do you think parents will think when they find out one of our former professors is a damn pervert?”

Her voice rises on the last word, and I see people throughout the room turning to look at us. A couple of my old PE teachers share a knowing look. Luke flushes.

Suddenly, I’m starting to regret my little plan. I thought we’d get in here, show off a bit, and come out again. I didn’t think about how bad it could look on the boys to all be seen with me. Apparently, my reputation as a total slag is infectious. I don’t want that on anyone else. It hurts.

Behind me, Josh’s grip on me tightens.

Luke swallows. When he speaks, his voice is very calm. “This has nothing to do with me or Layla. It’s about the wellbeing of the students.”