Puck Me, One More Time의 모든 챕터: 챕터 61 - 챕터 70

Liam's POV"Steph must have sent that text from your phone." The thought clicked and the words came out before I had fully finished processing it. But they landed with the specific weight of something that made complete sense the moment it was said out loud."Yeah." Ken nodded slowly, the pieces falling into place on his face in real time. "She has been glued to my side all evening. And the way she kept us from getting here earlier — that whole performance about the celebrant making a grand entrance." He exhaled. "She is the only one who could have done it. She had my phone, the time to do it and a reason to want you here tonight.""Those people planned this together." I said it quietly, the full picture now assembled in a way that left no real gaps. "One of them sent you the message from my phone to get you here. The other one took the sketchbook from where I had it." He paused. "Both pieces moving at the same time toward the same result.""But you know that you cannot accuse them of

Steph's POVThe moment Eric suggested breaking the door down I stepped back instinctively… far enough to be out of the way of whatever force they were about to use, but close enough that I would have a clear, unobstructed view of everything that came next. As I was already suspecting that something was going on in there and that Ken must be in there…I could actually feel that, even though I can't prove it if I don't see for myself.Eric and Lauren positioned themselves side by side facing the door. They moved together on the first attempt with their shoulders forward in combined weight — and the door held still. The second attempt had the same result. On the third, they pulled back and went in with everything, the kind of force that was going to end with either the door giving way or something on their end giving out first.The door opened.But surprisingly, it actually opened from the inside.It swung inward before Eric and Lauren made contact with it, pulling open cleanly from withi

Liam's POVThe moment Aria reached me she dropped her wine glass on the nearest table without breaking stride and came straight to my shoulder — her hand landing there with that easy, practiced energy of someone who had done this particular move before and knew exactly what effect it was supposed to produce."Liam, come on. Let's go dance." She said it with a warmth that was assembled rather than genuine, the kind that came with a specific instruction attached to it that the warmth was trying to disguise.I put my hand at her waist and matched her energy because what else was I going to do. I had told Ken I would stay. I had made that decision in the restroom and I was not going to undo it now by standing in the middle of the birthday hall looking like someone who was waiting for something to happen.Even if I was exactly that.After Ken gave me his assurance once again in a whisper that I could bet that I was the only one who heard what he had said to me. I got every information he tr

Ken's POVI watched Steph work the room from where I was standing and I could see it. I mean, the specific frustration of someone who had always been able to control the narrative and was now watching it slip sideways in front of an audience that was supposed to be hers.The faces looking back at her were not the facial expression she was used to. They were not nodding, accepting or performing the agreement she had always been able to produce from a crowd just by saying something with enough confidence. It was obvious that they were uncertain and skeptical. Holding what I had just said up against what she was now saying and finding that the two things did not fit together the way she needed them to.For Steph, that was not a small thing. That was indeed everything for her.I knew what was at stake. I was fully and completely aware of everything that could come apart from this moment forward if I did not handle what came next with precision…which was Liam's enrollment, his scholarship

Ken's POVMr. Wright's voice came through clearly enough that the people standing nearest to us caught every word. It was indeed the specific tone of a father who had just heard something about his daughter that he had not expected and was not pleased about."Steph, you have been throwing my name around to bully your classmates." His tone was the specific kind of calm that was worse than shouting. It was all measured and final, with nothing underneath it that suggested the decision was open to discussion. "I am freezing all your credit cards right away. Go fix your act, or I will send you to boarding school."The call ended from his side.The silence that followed in the hall was the loudest silence the evening had produced. Every person in that room had heard enough to understand what had just happened and not one of them was performing surprise. But they were just sitting with it, watching Steph's face and waiting to see what she did next.What she could only do was just to cry.Not