Chapter 113

I woke up in my room alone. It was still daylight and the spot on my bed where Asher had been sitting was still warm. He couldn’t have been gone for long.

But he was gone. I wondered where he went, and why.

I rolled into the warmth he’d left and tried to quash my swelling anxiety.

I was still mortified by what had happened. I had disrobed in front of Coach, and if Asher hadn’t shown up when he did, who knew how far Coach would have pushed it.

Asher had saved me. He had plucked me from that terrible situation, brought me home, and then made sure I was okay physically and mentally. I was so grateful to him.

Yet despite Asher’s efforts, I knew that I would likely have to leave the Academy after this. Even if Coach somehow found it in himself to forgive and forget, he would only keep pushing for more and more in the future.

It was so obvious now, that he would never stop abusing his position to take advantage of us girls.

Groaning, I tossed and turned in the bed until I knew I’d find no more sleep this afternoon. Checking my clock, I realized I had cheerleading practice soon.

For a while, I thought about just skipping it. After everything that had happened, I wasn’t in a rush to see Coach again so soon.

But… maybe if the other girls had similar experiences as me when they had gone to Coach’s house for the private photoshoots…

Maybe I could convince them that we should take a stand.

Things would only get worse unless we acted, so maybe it was time to act.

Wasn’t it at least worth a try?

With great effort, I pulled myself from my bed and changed for practice.

When I got to the gym, the rest of the cheerleaders were standing outside and the gymnasium doors were locked tight.

“Was practice canceled?” asked one of the girls.

Another checked her phone. “I don’t have any emails…”

“Maybe we should just wait a few minutes,” a third suggested and we all agreed.

An awkward silence fell over our group for a little while, until someone said, “Did you all do the private photoshoot at Coach’s house?”

At first only a few girls nodded, but when the rest saw the others nodding, they did too.

“Yeah…” I said weakly. “What a creep…”

“One hundred percent. And it was weird, he started out all nice. Then as soon as he was behind the camera, it was like, ‘Take off your clothes!’” one girl said.

“I knew he was disgusting the minute I walked into that bathroom,” Elena said. “He had picked out a short leather skirt for me to wear. Like, tacky much? And when I told him it was two sizes too small, I thought he was going to blow a gasket.”

My skirt and top had fit, but they were purposefully loose in design. I supposed I had lucked out, since Coach thought I was too fat for tight clothes.

“I was there earlier today,” I said, and all of their attention snapped to me.

“You were?”

“What happened?”

I swallowed hard, not wanting to relive the moment. But if it would help convince the girls of our need to act, than I would. Plus, they wouldn’t judge. If any group of people in the whole world would understand what I went through, it was the other cheerleaders.

“He told me to take my top off,” I said.

Several of the girls groaned.

“He did the same to me!”

“He didn’t stop there with me.”

“If Asher hadn’t come knocking on the door when he did…” I continued.

“Asher was there?” Elena asked.

“He stormed into the house when he didn’t get return text from me. He was really worried.” I cleared my throat. “He… uh… punched Coach in the face.”

“He didn’t!” one of the girls laughed.

“Serves him right!” said another.

“He threatened to expel Asher.” I worried my bottom lip with my teeth. “I don’t know if he’ll try or not.”

“Thin-skinned weasel like that definitely will,” Elena said.

I couldn’t let that happen. “We should report him,” I said.

The group silenced at once.

“Things have gotten progressively worse since this new coach started,” I said. “Swimsuit photoshoots to contests and now these risqué photos… If we don’t stop him now, who knows what he’ll want us to do next?”

“I can lose my spot on the team,” said one girl.

“But if we all stand together,” I said, “Then we might not. It would be unrealistic for him to get rid of the whole squad. How would he ever explain that?”

“I don’t know…” The girls seemed unsure.

“No, Cynthia’s right,” Elena said, surprising everyone – especially me. “If we don’t do something to stop him now, then we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves when he only gets worse.”

And like that, with Elena’s unexpected endorsement, the girls began to sway in their opinion.

“We should take a vote,” I said. “We won’t do anything if we aren’t in full agreement.”

I hadn’t needed to worry. When the votes were cast and counted, everyone agreed we should report Coach.

“Let’s go now,” I said, tired of waiting outside the gym door.

“Might as well,” Elena said, standing. She dusted off her backside.

Together, more united than maybe we had ever been, we walked to the faculty office.

Yet when we pulled open the door, we were startled by what we found.

Coach was there, verbally berating Asher in front of an administrative assistant and another faculty member – someone who looked like a security officer.

“He’s setting me up!” Coach shouted, pointing at Asher.

Asher stood tall, arms crossed over his chest. He looked at me as we came through the door. “Cynthia?”

Coach looked too. He paled.

I walked straight to the counter. “Excuse me, we are the cheerleading squad, and we’d like to file a report against our coach.”

“No… No!” Coach shoved me to the side, but Asher quickly caught me.

“They are in on it, don’t you see? They tried to seduce me! All of them! They are sluts who only wanted special favors! I tried to resist them, I did! But they are so young and beautiful! Surely you can see how they manipulated me!”

The admin frowned at him. “So you admit that you were the one to take these photos then.”

Coach physically reared back. “Is that what I said? That’s not what I meant!”

“Perhaps you should take a minute to get your story straight.” The admin nodded to the security officer, who started to pull Coach toward one of the interior offices.

“This is outrageous!” Coach screamed. “If I was an Alpha, I could do whatever I wanted! You are only judging me because I’m not!”

Suddenly, he lunged for me, gripping my arm. Asher immediately punched him again, and Coach fell down onto the ground.

“I told you not to touch her,” Asher growled.

The admin waved to Coach, and the security officer helped pick him off the floor. He was much more subdued after that, as the security officer led him away.

“All of you wish to make the same complaint of sexual harassment against your coach?” the admin asked the group of girls.

“Yes,” said many of the girls. Others nodded.

“Very well. We will take you into individual rooms to make statements,” the admin said. Then she turned her attention back to Asher and me. “Now, as for you two.”

I stood a little straighter. Didn’t she want me to go into an individual room too, to file my complaint?

Instead, she said, “I shouldn’t have to tell you that mates need to be officially declared at this school.”

My thoughts came to a screeching halt.

Wait.

…Mates?