My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 156

Chapter 156 He Offers To Be Expelled

The heavy double doors swung shut. The metal hinges groaned, sealing the cavernous cafeteria.

Chloe took the college-ruled paper with her. She took the blue-ink signatures. She took the entire foundation of my academic future.

The silence in the massive room felt thick and suffocating. The fluorescent overhead lights cast a harsh, unforgiving glare across the sticky linoleum floor. The hum of the vending machines vibrated against the cinderblock walls, a steady, mocking rhythm.

Ryder turned to face me. The panic and the raw, untamed fury raged in his hazel eyes. His chest heaved with deep, ragged breaths. He reached out. His large, calloused hands gripped my shoulders. The heat from his skin burned through the thin cotton of my gray sweater, offering a desperate anchor in a collapsing world.

I will fix this, Ryder stated. The rough gravel in his voice scraped the sterile air. “I will go to Principal Miller first thing Monday morning. I will handle the administration.”

“You cannot go to Miller, I argued. My voice shook. I placed my hands over his knuckles. “Chloe synced the files to a secure cloud server. She possesses the photographs. If you confess, she sends the proof. Miller will expel you.”

“I do not care about the expulsion, he fired back. The stubborn fire burned brighter. “Let him expel me. Let him call my father. I will take the punishment. I will tell the school board I forged your signature. I will tell them I threatened you to participate in the fake relationship. I will build a lie to protect your transcript.”

“Miller will not believe you.”

“I will make him believe me. Ryder tightened his grip on my shoulders. “I spent four years building a terrifying reputation in the B-wing. I will weaponize the monster narrative. They expect the worst from me. They will believe I manipulated a quiet scholarship student. Your

record remains clean.”

The sheer magnitude of his sacrifice stole the remaining breath from my lungs.

He offered to burn his own life to the ground. He offered to validate every cruel whisper, every unfair judgment, and every massive stereotype the affluent elite held against him. He wanted to embrace the villain role to shield my medical school dreams.

If your father receives the expulsion notice, he will send you away,” I whispered. The truth hung between us, heavy and devastating. “He will strip your freedom. He will force you into the corporate mold. You despise the Steinmann empire.”

I despise the idea of you losing your future more, Ryder countered. He did not break eye contact. The fierce, unyielding devotion in his stare possessed zero hesitation. You worked for four years. You bled for those grades. I will not let a jealous parasite steal your rank. You take those midterms on Tuesday. You secure the Valedictorian spot. I take the fall.

He dropped his hands from my shoulders. He turned and walked toward the kitchen loading dock. He expected me to follow. He considered the matter settled.

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Chapter 156 He Offers To Be Expelled

We navigated the dark, cavernous kitchen aisles in silence. We stepped out through the heavy steel doors. The crisp spring wind hit my face, but it offered zero relief. The terror sat heavy in the center of my stomach.

We climbed into the battered blue Ford truck. Ryder turned the key. The massive diesel engine roared to life. He shifted the gear and

pulled away from the loading dock.

The drive back to the East Side lacked conversation. The silence inside the cab stretched, tight and fragile. I stared out the passenger window. The affluent neighborhoods of Crestview blurred into the cracked concrete sidewalks of my reality.

Ryder planned to march into the administrative offices and destroy himself. He believed he deserved the ruin. He spent his entire life believing he carried a destructive poison. He thought an expulsion confirmed his natural state.

But I knew the boy hiding beneath the scuffed leather jacket.

I knew the boy who sat in the back row of freshman English, observing the world with a brilliant, calculating mind. I knew the boy who memorized chemical equations without opening the textbook. I knew the boy who carved stars into a wooden bookshelf because he craved a connection he felt unworthy to ask for.

His future mattered. His freedom mattered. If his father dragged him into the corporate machine, the light in his hazel eyes would die. The ruthless boardroom politics would crush his spirit.

I could not let Crestview ruin him.

Ryder brought the truck to a halt outside my small house. He kept the diesel engine running. He rested his broad hands on the steering wheel. He turned his head to look at me.

“Study this weekend, Ryder instructed. His tone left zero room for negotiation. “Block out the noise. Focus on the biology exam. Focus on the calculus formulas. You walk into that classroom on Tuesday and you dominate the test.”

I looked at his sharp jawline. I looked at the dark hair falling across his forehead. A massive, hollow ache expanded in my chest.

I needed to lie to him.

If I told him my true intentions, he would stop me. He would drag me to the principal’s office himself to ensure my innocence. I needed to feed his protective instincts to keep him passive.

“I will study,” I said. The words tasted like ash.

“Promise me, he pushed. He searched my face for any trace of deception. ‘Promise me you will not throw your hard work away for my sake. My record is a lost cause. Yours is a masterpiece. Protect the masterpiece, Raisa.”

I promise, Ryder.

He exhaled a long, heavy breath. The tension in his shoulders relaxed a fraction of an inch. He believed the lie. He believed I valued the

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Chapter 156 He Offers To Be Expelled

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