Chapter 8: Joke's On Him

William became eerily quiet. She couldn’t even hear him breathing. They were almost at the restaurant when he finally spoke. “Sarah, what have we been doing for the past week?” Sarah knew the answer he wanted. His expression spoke volumes. If she didn’t answer properly, he might just kick her out of the car in anger. “I can’t be with you,” she whispered. He came from a world she had been running away from. He wanted to show her off every chance he got. Waking up every morning to get her breakfast and a bunch of flowers… even the florist near her house knew William at this point. But it was only short term. What billionaire would be serious about her? After he was done playing with her, he would leave. And she needed to save herself the trouble. “Why not?” he asked sternly. Sarah shook her head in denial. William’s eyes started to cloud over. “Are you saying you don’t want to be with me?” He pulled his hand away and stopped the car in front of the restaurant. Sarah was about to exit but the door clicked shut. She was surprised. “Don’t do this,” she whispered. “Don’t do what?” William snapped. “Make you actually answer a question for once?” he prompted. “I can’t do this with you, William,” she sighed. “You don’t understand, okay? It’s not like I can enter your world and be with you. It doesn’t work like that. I am an orphan and people make my life hell as it is. If I date the golden bachelor of the country, people will never stop pointing fingers at me. I want to focus on myself…” “What does it matter what other people think or say?” William gripped the steering wheel. “I know you feel this, Sarah,” he said, motioning between them. “You felt it that first night and you feel it now. So what if I have money? So what if the circumstances are against us? Are you seriously that shallow to not even consider me because of where I come from?” he asked. “Because I surely don’t care about where you come from.” His words hit her like a slap across the face. She flinched and backed away from him. William gritted his teeth, knowing he had crossed the line. Sarah looked away from him and fought to keep her expression from betraying just how much his words had hurt. “Take me back to university,” she said acidly. “Seriously?” William questioned. “Yes.” “You know what?” William chuckled and Sarah angrily glared up at him. “Fine. I am not going to butter you up. I made it clear what I want from you and I have shown my vulnerable side to you every day since I met you. I share myself with you and you throw it back in my face.” The door unlocked but Sarah waited in the seat. “You know, Luca warned me not to go against my father’s wishes and date someone outside my social circle, but I didn’t listen. I never once thought he would be right.” William scowled at the steering wheel. “Guess the joke’s on me, huh?” William drove her back without another word. When they rolled up to the university, Sarah saw familiar faces in front of the gate. She knew she would be gossiped about the moment she stepped out of the fancy car. But she didn’t care. She had about ten seconds to lose those people before she broke down. Slowly, she opened the door and got out. She barely stepped outside and shut the door behind her before William took off. He left so fast that Sarah felt a kick of dust in her face. “Good afternoon, Miss Mitch,” someone said. “Hey,” Sarah said, raising her hand to wave, but her voice cracked at the end. “Is something wrong?” the same person asked. “Who was that? Are you hurt?” Sarah shook her head. “I don’t feel well. My friend just dropped me off,” Sarah explained before moving past the people. Sarah stumbled into the first bathroom and shut herself inside a stall. Finally, she let the first sob escape from her lips. William was right. Sarah was a shallow and spiteful girl. The revelation hurt her more than she could explain. She felt like she hurt William, even though a part of her believed that no one could hurt him. William Colton was like a stone wall when it came to vulnerability. But that day, he looked at Sarah as if she had bulldozed the wall to the ground. She wished Amanda was there, she would know what to do. - - - - - A discussion about the group project was happening in the class and Sarah was simply attending. “I actually like that idea,” Wendy spoke up. It was weird because she never spoke up during these kinds of interactive sessions. “A health shake stand?” her friend said, looking over at Wendy like she had grown two heads. “Let’s veto!” “You can’t say no to my idea…” The argument continued until Wendy turned to Sarah and quipped a brow. “I am not keen on the idea but we could always ask for Miss Mitch’s input.” Wendy turned to Sarah and she wondered if she was expected to agree with the idea. Sarah shrugged and then grimaced. “Miss Mitch, you actually think this is a good idea?” someone asked. “Uh…” Sarah stared at Wendy who looked like she was worried that Sarah was going to throw her idea out. “I have no opinions.” They nodded. They started to veto the notions and Sarah could tell some of them were biting their tongues. She could tell they wanted to disagree, but for some odd reason they were not speaking up. Sarah looked from face to face and realized they were all staring at her. Why was everyone staring at her? “Why are all of you staring at me?” “We need your final word,” Wendy said. “I am not being the final word for your project topic,” Sarah shook her head. “It is not my place.” “That is for damn sure,” some other girl slyly said under her breath. “The professor has given us strict orders to run everything past you. If you ask us to jump into a fire, we are supposed to follow.” Everyone sighed. “Yeah, wonder why that is.”