Dismissed ⤯ Tom Holland

18 | Ruined

Y/N

_

"I've decided it's best to tell you," I smiled, tilting my head nervously, "I'm dating Tom."

I expected them to be surprised, but I didn't expect for them to be horrified. Jamie, Oliver, and I were standing outside of Claire's room, about to break in. I agree, it wasn't the most ideal time and place to tell them, but it kind of just slipped out.

"Congrats," Jamie winced, "but Claire's going to kill you."

"Why?"

"Not only is she a thief, she's obsessed with Tom."

I nodded, "that's why she left me the notes..."

"Yeah."

I turned to Oliver, who just seemed disappointed now. He didn't say anything, but instead whipped out his tool kit and turned towards the doorknob. I blinked, hoping he'd at least say he was happy about it, but he just sat there fiddling with the lock.

"You're mad," I frowned, "aren't you?"

He still didn't respond. Jamie sent me a glance, as if to say don't worry about it, but that made me want to worry more. When I left the two boys at the table yesterday, I assumed they worked it out. I guess I was wrong.

"It's not personal," I frowned, "I'm not dating him to make you mad."

"Then why are you dating him?" Oliver finally snapped back, "to get chummy with the headmaster?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're just using him as an excuse to ditch class."

Oh. So he was mad I left the school with Tom, and didn't come back until dinner time. It wasn't his problem, so I didn't understand why he was all in a fuss about it.

"Whatever," he muttered, "let's just get this necklace and leave."

"I'm not doing anything until you stop being immature," I shot back.

"I'm not being immature!"

"Then how come everytime I bring Tom up, you throw a fit?"

"I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"Oliver," Jamie hissed, breaking up the fight, "I think you should tell her."

"Tell me what?" I growled, crossing my arms.

Oliver sent a glare to the girl beside me, but let out an exhale. The tip of his nose turned pink as he took a moment to think, but then he dropped his tools and turned to face me.

"I used to like Tom," he said bluntly, "in freshman year."

...

...

Wow. I didn't see that coming, and honestly, it made everything make sense. I tilted my head, nodding slowly. This situation could play out to be very awkward, but the three of us seemed relatively at ease.

"I was stupid," Oliver continued, "and he was cute. So naturally, I told him."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing bad. He said he appreciated it, but he didn't like me back like that."

"Then how come you two hate each other?"

The boy sent another glance at Jamie, "Claire heard the whole thing."

"And told Oliver she'd tell the whole school if he didn't stay away from Tom," Jamie cut in, "so they kind of just avoided each other for the rest of the school year."

"I stick with my friends," he sighed, "and he sticks with his."

Just hearing about the awful thing Claire did, made my blood boil. No one deserves to be outed like that, much less blackmailed for it. It was a sickening and horrible thing to do.

"At least she'll be going to jail after we find this necklace," I frowned, "let's get it over with."

"I agree."

Oliver began to fiddle with the lock again, and with a few clicks, the door swung open. Claire's room was neat, but drenched in pink paint. I didn't even know she was allowed to paint her walls... jewelry hung all over the room, on the floor, on the bed, on the mirrors, and even hanging on the walls.

"How the hell are we supposed to find anything in all of this?" I groaned, lifting up an earring from the ground.

"We can help," Jamie shrugged, "It's a necklace right?"

"Yeah."

"What does it look like?"

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone. Swiping through my camera, I pulled up the photo of the necklace and held it out.

"It's called the Larmes de Claude," I explained, "it's priceless."

They stared at the picture, stunned. It was like they were frozen.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

They looked at each other in disbelief, but still didn't say anything. I cleared my throat, and finally Oliver spoke up.

"That necklace," he said, "I've only seen one person wearing that."

"Who?"

At this point, it was obvious it wasn't Claire who had it. None of it made sense. We knew she left the notes, so it had to be her. Jamie let out a sigh, staring at me in pity. I didn't know the word they'd say next would ruin everything:

"Tom."

_

heh