Better (Too Good series) Read Online Free PDF

seemed to have it out for her. A punishment for her deceit. She left the subtle signs on Cadence’s quizzes.
    “Hey! Let me see your quiz for a second,” Cadence called t o Jacob after class.
    “Huh?”
    “Just let me see,” she said, snatching his paper. She held up the quizzes side by side and compared the red marks. Sure enough, her wrong answers were marked with large, angry red X’s that spanned a quarter of the page. Jacob’s one X was much smaller. “What the fuck?”
    Cad ence stormed over to Ms. Donovan. She slapped the quizzes on the desk and leaned in.
    “What is this?” she asked.
    “What is what?”
    “This X on my quiz. Why isn’t Jacob’s X huge like mine?”
    “Are you serious , Cadence?”
    “Yes.”
    Ms. Donovan blinked.
    “Why are my X’s huge and Jacob’s X is tiny?” Cadence asked. She wouldn’t let it go. It was straight up bullying, and by a teacher no less!
    “Cadence, perhaps I graded the quizzes at separate times,” Ms. Donovan offered. She sounded annoyed.
    “You expect me to believe that?”
    “Frankly, I don’t care what you believe. You’re paranoid.”
    “I know what you’re doing. Subtle intimidation? Give me a break. Bully me all you want. You can’t fail me. I’m passing this class and leaving this hellhole.”
    “You need to watch the language.”
    “You need to stop being a fucking bitch!”
    And that was the end of that conversation. Cadence found herself back in Mrs. Jackson’s office being lectured about respect for authority.
    “Explain this to me!” Cadence showed the assistant principal the quizzes.
    “Why do you have Jacob’s quiz?”
    “Mrs. Jackson, look at the X’s, please.”
    “Cadence, you’re spinning. No one is out to get you. No one is bullying you.”
    Cadence’s mouth dropped open. Maybe Mrs. Jackson should have been in calculus this morning when some dipshit simulated a blowjob for her. Or last week when she was tripped in the hallway. Or two days ago when she was solicited for sex by four different boys. The bitch was crazy.
    “You have a week and a half. And I’d like to see you graduate, just as you’d like to see yourself graduate.”
    Cadence sighed.
    “Suck it up and deal with it.”
    Cadence raised her head.
    “Really? What happened to the other week when I was in here, and you were consoling me about all the abuse I’ve been taking at school? Now I’m not being bullied? I don’t get it. Was that just a ploy to get me to say something bad about Mark? Because I won’t.”
    “ That’s enough, Cadence.”
    Cadence bit her tongue and stared out the window.
    “Morning detention for the rest of the week. And an apology to Ms. Donovan.”
    Cadence snorted.
    “I mean it,” Mrs. Jackson said. “She may not have the authority to see that you do not graduate, but I sure as hell do.”
    Cadence snapped her head up at the sound of Mrs. Jackson’s threat.
    “Do you understand me?”
    Cadence nodded grudgingly. And then she left the office before being excused. It wasn’t until she was halfway down the hall that it happened. Clarity. Bam! It punched her in the face. Big-fisted clarity that bruised her cheekbone. She finally got it. These women were angry at her—angry because she wasn’t a victim after all. They would have coddled her had she been a victim of abuse at the hands of a teacher. But she wasn’t. She was a willing participant, and therefore, became their enemy.
    Why? She couldn’t say, but she wasn’t about to let these bitches treat her like shit for the next week and a half. And she was graduating, too, even if she had to steal her diploma.
    She decided to get her apology over with now instead of later. Waiting would only make it worse. She knocked softly on the classroom door, then entered.
    Ms. Donovan raised her eyebrows. “May I help you?”
    “I’m supposed to apologize to you,” Cadence said, standing in the doorway.
    “So this is a fake apology,” Ms. Donovan replied, snorting.
    “Pretty