CHAPTER 75: 75-THE WAY HE PUNISHED ME

Clementine:

"What is going on? Why are all these people here? And what the fuck are you introducing me to them for?" I asked, confused and completely lost. Troy had never done anything like that before, so I couldn’t chalk it up to a prank.

"Oh, don’t mind them. They asked me if I’d seen the biggest bitch around, and I thought I might introduce you to them," Troy said without smiling or smirking. There was just a strange look of anger on his face.

"Troy? Mind your fucking language," I hissed at him, but then I noticed everyone taking out their phones, probably turning on their cameras. At this point, I already knew something was off. There was no way he was simply joking.

"Why? Aren’t you one?" Troy asked, smirking as I tried to get past one of the people in the crowd to leave. However, the way they had parked their cars made it impossible to get out without a struggle, and I didn’t want to go through that.

"Can you please tell me what is going on? This is so unlike you," I complained, trying to understand what was going on with him. How could someone change overnight?

"As if you don’t know? Don’t you remember what you did to me?"

The minute he said that, I realized what he was referring to. I should have known he was upset. I should have known he didn’t trust me when I told him I had nothing to do with the rumors.

"Okay, Troy, I’m ready to explain it to you if you just let me," I said, upset that he had brought in random people just to shame me, even though I could’ve explained what actually happened, how my social media account had turned weird.

"No, I don’t think I want to know anything from you. I’ve seen and heard enough," he began.

"So you don’t even want to give me a chance to explain myself?" I asked, and he began to laugh.

"Nope. I don’t think you deserve it," he said.

"Well then, I’ll leave, and I’ll only speak to you when you’re ready to listen to me," I mumbled, gesturing for one of the girls to step aside. However, she started shoving her phone in my face.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I snapped, snatching her phone and throwing it onto the ground, breaking it. Everyone gasped, and then one of the tall guys came forward, grabbing my head and trying to shake it.

"You will not fucking touch my girl again!"

As soon as he yelled that, Troy stepped forward and gently pushed his hand off. "Anything but physical," he commented. And honestly, it broke me right then and there. He was letting them know they were allowed to bully me. In fact, he lured me in so they could.

"You know guys, let’s talk about her today, shall we?" Then Troy jumped onto the front of one of the cars to stand above, making sure everyone could see him.

No matter how many times I asked the others to move aside, they wouldn’t. At this point, I just gave in and stood with my hands down by my sides, defeated. I wanted to know how far he was willing to go.

"This is Clementine Stark, the one and only, the great troublemaker. Do you know why she’s so fucked up?" Troy announced, and my fists clenched.

I had heard the rumors about me, plenty of them. Some people said I was so messed up because my father abused me. It was true. He mentally and physically abused me. He would hit me with sticks and belts whenever my stepmother complained or probably out of boredom.

"But let me tell you, there’s more to the story than meets the eye," Troy said. "This bitch is the reason her mother and little brother died. So she hides her face in shame, but still doesn’t forget to act like a fool."

My heart felt like it stopped beating. I just stared at Troy as he aired out my secrets.

"And let me tell you one more thing. Do you know who she has a crush on? Professor Sawyer."

As soon as he said that, everyone gasped. But that wasn’t the worst part. He actually pulled out my diary, the one he sometimes stole from my room when he visited.

"Where did you get this from? Give it back to me!" I screamed, running to climb onto the car with him to snatch it from his hand. But others gathered in front of him, blocking my path.

"Oh yes, this is the diary where she wrote all about Professor Sawyer," he smirked, waving the diary in the air while locking eyes with me.

"Does it mean she only passed his exam because—" one of the girls added, covering her mouth in shock, and I was just flabbergasted.

And then I just stopped protesting. I let Troy speak. He was smirking as he casually flipped through the pages, talking about how I felt about my stepmother, the things I said about my father, and how much I hated my stepsister to the point that everyone started saying I was jealous of her. That’s how Troy skimmed over the things they had done to me and focused only on how I mocked them.

I didn’t stop him. I wanted him to break my heart and my trust so badly that even if he came back later to apologize, I wouldn’t accept it.

After an hour of pure torture, where the others only yelled at me, they finally started to walk away. Troy got down and held my diary up for me.

"Now we are equal. You ruined my career, my character, my image. Now yours is ruined. Now let’s see if you expect me to explain myself to you," he said, his hands in his pockets. "So are you ready to talk about it now? Because now we can mutually agree on something so that we understand how much pain we’ve caused each other."

"Nope. I don’t think I want to explain anything. You’ve already punished me, so why would I waste my time speaking up anymore?" I said as I snatched the diary back from him.

He had the audacity to look shocked that I wasn’t explaining myself anymore, and then I began to walk away.

That night, I cried. I cried so much. I discarded all the diaries I had ever written. I realized that if I wanted my secrets to stay mine, I should never share them with anyone. And I should never feel the need to explain myself. If someone trusts me, they’ll come and ask first, not punish me and then expect an explanation.