Page 11 of Pucking Good Girl

Yeah, right. Spending any time in her presence is as pleasant as cozying up with a spitting cobra.

I open my mouth to say something a little less offensive, but Gen stops me.

“No. Don’t tell me.” Her glossy lips curl into a smile. “You finally got bored with Miss Charity Case and you’re here to beg me to take you back. I’ll be honest with you, after parading your pathetic reject prom princess all around campus, I should make you suffer. And I do have a date with Nigel tonight. But Nigel isn’t you. Building him up to a decent status on campus and on social media is going to take a lot of my time and energy. I’d rather take you back and cash in on the project I’ve been working on since we were in high school. Especially now that you’re on the brink of going pro.”

Her callous words shouldn’t surprise me, and yet I stifle a shudder of disgust. To her, I’m nothing but a ticket to fame. All she wants is the attention and the lifestyle that comes with dating a pro athlete.

Maybe coming here wasn’t a good idea, but since I’m in the shark tank, I might as well swim.

“I wouldn’t cancel your date just yet, Gen.” I fight to keep my tone as neutral as I can. “I came to talk to you about this mess with the pop quiz and Victor. I’m really worried about it.”

It’s impossible to miss the disappointment on Gen’s face, but it’s short-lived. “Yeah, it’s a fucking shitshow.” She bites out. “And there’s only one person who’s to be blamed for it.”

Finally, I’m glad Gen sees the situation clearly and is taking responsibility for her actions.

“If Talia hadn’t been a selfish bitch and had helped me like she was supposed to, I wouldn’t have had to suck Victor’s dick to get out of trouble. I don’t know how you can date such an ungrateful little bitch. She owed me after I gave her a room in the Zeta house. I stuck my neck out for her, and instead of holding her end of the bargain, she turned her back on me.”

I blink, too shocked to even begin to unpack what Gen just said. “Come again? You and Talia had a deal?”

“We did.” She rolls her eyes. “I shuffled things to make sure she could have a room in the Zeta House since she’s so broke she couldn’t afford a room in Daddy’s new complex, not even with a fifty percent discount. I asked her to help me study for Cantucci’s class in return, and she dropped me in the time of need.”

This is news to me. “Hold on a second. Didn’t she make you some flashcards with the main topics that would be on the quiz? She said she made them for you when she offered me copies of those.”

“She gave me those cards, too. But that wasn’t what we agreed on. I have no time to study. Do you know how much time and effort it takes to keep all this together?” she waves her hand up and down her body. “Especially without my parents footing the bill? I’ve had to do my hair myself, and the only way I’ve been able to afford to get my nails done is by offering to post pictures and tag my beautician on my social media. It’s an uphill battle, and don’t even get me started about not being able to buy any new clothes and accessories until after graduation. I’m on the hunt for a few deals with my favorite brands, or my image might never recover. Unless you’re ahead of the latest trends, the internet will move on. All I wanted was to be able to look at Talia’s answers during the quiz. I don’t think it was too much to ask after all I did for her. But she said no, so I had to take matters into my own hands. If I don’t graduate on time and with a decent GPA, my parents will cut me off until my twenty-fifth birthday.”

The disgust of a couple of minutes ago turns into fury. If Genevieve were a d-man on an opposing team, I would slam her against the boards so hard that the impact would register on the fucking Richter scale. But I’ve been brought up to never lift a finger against a woman, even when she’s the devil incarnate.

“So, to you, helping you study meant letting you copy?”

“Duh,” Gen sneers. “What else could it mean? I told you how busy I am.”

I can’t with this woman. Even if I weren’t head over heels in love with Talia, I could never get back with Gen.

“So you asked Talia to let you copy, and she said no, right?” I double check.

Gen’s whole body vibrates with frustration. “Yes! I already told you. Keep up, Mack.”

I ignore her rude tone. “So you copied from Talia anyway, and it turns out that you aren’t just a lying, cheating bitch. You aren’t even smart enough to copy without getting caught.”

Slap.

She hits me quite hard. I’ve taken worse hits on the ice and I smile. “The truth hurts, huh?”

She gets right in my face. “Shut up! How dare you? Did you come here to insult me?”

I take one step back. Even the slightest touch from her makes my skin crawl. “No. I came here to fix this. You said you sucked Victor’s dick, right? Convince him to let Talia off the hook. I know you can be very persuasive when you want to be.”

She looks at me as if I had sprouted a second head. “And what? Get stuck with fucking Victor all year so you and Talia can walk off into the sunset? Why would I do that?”

“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t copied from Talia or if you had done it right. Take responsibility for your actions. Tell Victor that you and Talia will go to the professor and report him if he insists on his disgusting blackmail. If it’s both your words against his, Professor Cantucci might listen and give you a second chance. But I know men like Victor. They’re cowards. If you two fight back as a united front, he’ll probably back off and make this go away. You owe it to Talia, Gen.”

She laughs. “I owe that bitch from the wrong side of the tracks shit.”

“If you don’t,” I threaten. “I’ll go to see the professor with Talia and say that I saw you copying from her.”

Gen laughs again. This time it’s a full on laugh, with her head thrown back as if I had cracked the funniest joke she’s ever heard. “Be my fucking guest. It’ll be your word against mine and Victor’s. I wonder who Professor Cantucci will believe. The president of one of the most prestigious sororities on campus and her TA, or a piece of white trash and a hockey player? You know she can’t stand athletes, especially hockey players. I wonder how that will go.”

“But there are those quiz sheets with identical essays and the same errors. And you were sitting behind Talia. How is she going to get in trouble if she says that you cheated off her without her consent?”