The Boy and His Ribbon (The Ribbon Duet, #1)(119)

The memory gave me mixed feelings of amusement and terror. She was so different to everyone else, but her differences meant we never seemed to stay in one place for too long.

Sitting down but with all my weight in my feet ready to leap up and run, I waited for Marnie Sapture to tell me why exactly I’d been summoned. The familiar weight of my goat hide knife that Cassie gave me whispered to be used.

To unholster the blade and threaten this woman the same way she was threatening me.

She ran her hand through her black short hair, shuffling paperwork with the other. Finally, she cleared her throat importantly. “I’m sure you’re aware, Della came to school today with blue hair.” She looked up, narrowing her eyes. “And I’m sure you’re aware that our policy on uniform and conformity don’t permit such unnatural colours.”

It didn’t matter that I’d said the exact same thing last night.

Telling Della off on my own was one thing; having a stranger do it made my need to protect her at all costs surface. “Blue isn’t unnatural.” I shrugged. “Blue is the colour of the sky. It’s one of the most common colours around.”

She pursed her lips, causing more lines to appear. “That may be the case, Mr. Wild, but blue in the clouds and blue on one’s head are two completely different things.”

I held my tongue, waiting for any other reason I was here. Della’s detention was hardly breaking news to call in a caregiver. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as Ms. Sapture’s cheeks reddened, and her righteous voice slipped into disgusted. “I’m sure you’re also aware that in this state, there are rules about unnatural relationships between family.”

This time, she didn’t look up as if she found making eye contact with me repulsive.

“Excuse me?” I hissed.

“I said unnatural relationships between fam—”

“I heard you.” I shot to my feet, hands balled. “And just what the hell are you implying?”

She stiffened but dared look up. “I’m implying that some information has come to light that you and Ms. Della’s bond is more than brother and sister.” She tapped some papers with a pink-painted fingernail. “This is Della’s enrolment application. You signed as her brother, yet a student here informed us that a more worrying connection might be at play.”

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t see past the red haze in my vision.

All I wanted to do was grab Della and run. What had she done? Who had she spoken to? What the fuck did she say?

“Whoever said such things is lying,” I bit every word as if killing them with my teeth.

“That might be, but whenever accusations like this arise, it is protocol to call Child Protective Services.”

I backed toward the door. “You have no right.”

She stood behind her desk, eyes gleaming. “I do have a right, Mr. Wild. In fact, I have an obligation. I invited you here today to state your side of the argument, but if you have nothing to say on the matter then—” She picked up the phone on her desk. “I suppose I might as well make that phone call now and get this over with.”

Fuck.

What did I do? Waste the precious time I had trying to make her see reason or bolt now and pack up as much as I could? Where the hell was Della? I couldn’t move until I knew she was safe and—

Commotion sounded outside, the receptionist’s high-pitched voice arguing against one I knew better than my own.

Della.

Before I could spin and open the door, she shoved it open and stumbled over the threshold. Every nerve demanded I grab her, but I had to bury those urges because she wasn’t alone.

“What the—?” I said under my breath as she dragged Tom, her ex-boyfriend, into the small office and slammed the door. She held his hand with a death grip, her fingernails making white indentations in his flesh.

“What is the meaning of this, Ms. Wild? Why is another student from a different school in my office?” the principal snipped. The phone dangled in her hand, unconnected and silent on its horrible message that Della and I did something immoral.

“I know who started the rumour, Ms. Sapture,” Della said, yanking Tom closer. “And it’s just that. A stupid, silly little rumour that’s gotten out of hand.”

I didn’t understand what the hell was going on, and Della refused to make eye contact with me.

I’d been forgotten about as Tom gulped and hung his head. “It was me, Ms. Sapture. I started it. I wanted to make life difficult for Della.”

The principal gave him a harsh stare. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” He flinched as Della dug her nails harder into him. “Della and I were going out, but then she dumped me, and I got jealous and made up the lie that she broke up with me because she was in love with her brother.”

Holy shit.

I stumbled backward, dragging a hand over my mouth.

Della flicked me a glance, then fixed her stare back on the principal. “As you can see, Ms. Sapture, my brother is as horrified by this as I was. I couldn’t think of a more terrible thing to say.” She glowered at Tom beside her. “Jealousy makes us do strange things.”

Ms. Sapture slowly sat down in her chair, her witch-hunt game-face fading in favour of the truth. The only truth. That Della and I weren’t blood, but we were family through and through.