Totally Tormented by Lucy Covington Read Free Book Online Page A

where I humiliated you in front of everyone?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I want to learn everything I can. Even if that means I might have to endure things that aren’t that pleasant.”
    He narrowed his eyes at me. “Very well,” he said. “Carter will give you instructions on where to report later this week.”
    “Carter…?”
    “Yes. Carter? My teaching assistant? He’ll be in touch.”
    “Oh. So does this mean…?” My heart was soaring, but I held it back, like a balloon I was afraid to let go.
    “Yes, Ms. Cramer. I’ll probably regret it, but I am giving you one of the research assistant jobs.”
    “Oh my God!” I said. “Thank you! Thank you so much.”
    “Don’t thank me,” he said. “Thank Carter. Apparently your paper made quite the impression on him.” He waved his hand at me. “Now, go on, get out of here before I change my mind.”
    And so I did.
    ***
    I practically flew across campus back to my room.
    I couldn’t believe it! Talk about a comeback!
    I was so excited that at first I didn’t see the box that sitting in front of my door.
    It was small brown cardboard box, the kind you could get at any post office.
    There was a cream-colored envelope stuck to the top, and my name was written on it in black sharpie.
    Had my mom sent me a package? Or maybe it was something from Dr. Klaxton.
    I opened the envelope. Inside was a card, with was a picture of a dog on the front. It was a Bassett Hound, with floppy ears and sad eyes.
    Underneath the picture, printed in a loopy font, were the words “I’m sorry.”
    Inside, there was a handwritten note:
    “Don’t worry, I paid a kid ten bucks to leave this in front of your door. I’m sorry about what happened last night. Let me make it up to you. JB”
    Inside the box were two movies – Dead Poet’s Society and The Fighter. I realized he was sending me my favorite movie, along with The Fighter, which was probably his.
    My chest tightened, and my first instinct was to pull out my phone and call him, to tell him I missed him already, to forgive him. But then I got angry.
    He wouldn’t have had to leave me a cute little gift and a cute little note if he hadn’t acted like such an asshole. I wouldn’t have to forgive him and get excited about things like this if he just acted like a normal person. It was the second note he’d left me.
    He was always disappearing, he was always taking off.
    It was completely infuriating. I realized that in the end, he was just trying to manipulate my emotions, charm me out of feeling hurt and angry. Well, I wasn’t going to be that stupid and naïve anymore.
    I picked everything up, then opened the door to my room. I balled up the card and tossed it into the garbage, then put the DVDs on the floor and stomped on them. But their protective cases didn’t break, so I picked The Fighter up and pulled the DVD out of its case. The disc was shiny and perfect. I ran my hand over the underside of it, feeling how smooth it was. And then I broke it over my knee.
    “Wow,” a voice said. “I guess you don’t like that movie, huh?”
    I looked up, my face hot. Carter was standing in the doorway, giving me an amused look.
    “Carter!” I said. “What are you doing here?” And why hadn’t I shut the door before I decided to go crazy on a poor defenseless DVD?
    “I wanted to come by and see if you’d talked to Dr. Klaxton yet. I was going to call, but I kind of wanted to congratulate you in person.”
    “I did talk to him,” I said. “After class today. Thank you so, so, so much for putting in a good word for me.”
    “Yeah.” He looked down at the broken DVD in my hand, and a flicker of trepidation moved over his face, like maybe he was afraid he’d made a mistake, and that I was really crazy and unstable, the kind of person who stalked professors and smashed things.
    “This isn’t what it looks like,” I said.
    “So you weren’t snapping DVDs over your knee?” He bent down and picked up the