by Nora Cobb
This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, events, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Outcast copyright @ 2019 by Nora Cobb and Scholae Palatina Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
OUTCAST
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
REPRISAL: Montlake Prep Book 3
OUTCAST
CHAPTER 1
Natalie
Cold winter weather creeps in and the moss is cool underneath my thighs as I stare at my tablet. My mind is so unfocused that the words look like hieroglyphics scribbled across the screen.
“I thought I’d find you here.”
Beth stands in the doorway leading into the hidden courtyard of the art building. She has a smile on her face that remains below her eyes. Beth pretends like we’re okay, and I’ll pretend too. I nod, and she walks over to join me on the low, brick wall. A shiver jolts my back as Beth tosses her schoolbag at our feet.
“The academy allows pants and leggings when it’s cold,” she says.
“Then I have to go shopping this weekend.” I have on a long gray turtleneck and a short skirt with black stocking and lace-ups. Very conservative, and I’m freezing.
“I’ll go with you if you want.” Beth smiles broadly, like a vlog host, but something’s off. I can sense it.
“Where’s Anthony?”
That wipes the phony smile off her face. Clean off, as she watches me.
“He’s buying lunch.” Beth narrows her eyes. “Why do you ask? You need something from him?”
“I may buy a smoke.” I shrug my shoulders casually as I put my tablet in my backpack.
Beth scoffs. “You don’t smoke.”
“I need to now.”
Her gaze softens, and the judging stops.
We started talking again during Thanksgiving break. We hung out during the parade and watched the float we decorated glide down the street. The Montlake Academy logo should have been pristine white letters, but everyone could see the gray showing through where we ran out of paint. Wearing their letterman jackets, Troy, Lucas, and Jacob rode on the float with the cheer squad. My hands tightened into fists as I watched the royal court wave to the crowd. Three boys determined to ruin my life because they could. They didn’t notice me in the crowd, but Arielle did. Showing off, she flipped her hair and hugged her arms around Jacob and Troy. I clenched my fists tighter. It’s a game to them, ruining other people’s lives.
Beth’s sigh brings me back into the conversation. I’m at the bottom of the social totem pole along with her and Anthony. Only, she doesn’t want me around, and maybe, I don’t blame her.
“So you want to go shopping, or what?” she asks.
“Sure.” I grab the straps of my bag and hoist it into my lap. “When do you want to go?”
“Whenever you want.” Her words sound less like an invitation and more like an obligation. I can’t stick around with Beth and her resentment.
Lunchtime is my time to escape mentally. I daydream that the clocks have sped up, and it’s the day before graduation. I imagine myself racing my Audi toward the podium at Principal Cromwell as he’s handing out the diplomas. I roll down my window and grab mine from his trembling hand. Then I spin my car around in a one-eighty, taking out half the senior class. With my hand out the window, I shake my diploma in my fist and laugh like a crazed MF. I peel out of the gates of Montlake forever.
A wan smile slips over my lips as I stand to leave. For a moment, my gaze meets Beth’s, and I wish I could convince her that nothing would’ve happened. But how can I say that when something did happen? I look away, still wondering whose hands were on my body, making me feel that way — making me feel so good.
“Natalie.” Beth watches me like a hawk before I can scurry away. “He’s off-limits.”
I face her. “I don’t want Anthony. And I didn’t know you wanted him.”
“Really?” Beth stands up and steps closer. Involuntarily, I take a step back. The look in her eyes speaks louder than words. She may say we’re friends again, but it’s with conditions. “Then why are you waiting for him?”
“I told you what happened at the party, Beth. I refuse to hide in my car every day at noon. I thought you and Anthony were my friends?”
I didn’t want it to happen, but a tear slides down my cheek. Dammit. I hate being weak. Will Beth feed on it like the other vultures? Will she make fun of me and hang packets of condoms on my locker door? I don’t wipe the tear away. I let it fall.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “But maybe I don’t like competition, especially from my friends. It doesn’t matter. I’m not into him anymore.”
Nodding, I step away from Beth as Anthony walks into the courtyard. In his back pocket, his phone is playing loud rock music, and he’s carrying a half-eaten slice of pizza on a napkin. He stops in mid-bite to look at us with a startled look in his eyes. Instead, he doesn’t look like a deer caught in the headlights. He looks like a deer caught in a tractor beam. I don’t know why he’s the only one who’s not being held accountable for that night.
Beth’s sullen mood disappears in a flash as she puts on the thick charm. She puts her hands on her hips, which causes her chest to push out. She’s wearing a long polo shirt with a sweater knotted around her waist. Underneath she has on a pair of charcoal-gray leggings and half-ankle boots in matching suede. I wonder how she gets away with wearing an outfit to school that looks like she’s missing her pants.
“Ladies,” he sputters. It’s been a week since Thanksgiving break. And even though I hung out with Anthony at the parade, I’ve been avoiding his texts. Like a suicidal moth fluttering helplessly toward a flame, Anthony approaches me first. “So, I hear you got into Columbia.”
“Wait-listed,” I reply, I sliding my heavy backpack to the ground. Anthony watches its descent along my legs, and his gaze lingers a little too long. I don’t dare look at Beth. “How did you know?” I ask.
“Gossip in the cafeteria,” he shrugs and sits down on the low wall.
“So, they won’t talk to me...” Looking at him, I sigh, “but they’ll talk about me. I just barely got in. I have good grades, but not much else. I quit cheer. And I don’t want to tutor anymore.”
I saw Jacob in the hallway earlier, but I’m glass to him. He won’t acknowledge my existence.
Anthony swallows another bite of pizza while Beth sits down close to him. “Word is your Uncle Ph
il made a very hefty donation to get you in,” he says.
“Those assholes. They fuck with my life, and they know my business.” Turning away from the door, I sit down beside Anthony, careful to give him space.
“That’s Montlake,” adds Beth. “They don’t want you, but they want to run your life.”
“You mean 'ruin' it.” I frown at the ground.
“Did you find out?” asks Anthony.
“Find out what?” I know what Anthony is asking, but I want to see if he’ll have the nerve to say it. If there’s nothing between him and Beth, then we should be able to discuss it.
“You know," he averts his eyes. "Who you were with homecoming night.”
I shake my head. “I keep thinking about it.” That’s not what I meant, and my face heats up. “I mean, I’ll figure it out, and then I’m through with dating.”
My voice trails off, but they heard me. I can tell by their expressions. Anthony looks ill as he tosses his pizza crust on the ground for a squirrel. I feel a pinch of sadness over letting Anthony go, but I’ve made a decision. I look past his anxious face to Beth. She’s radiant that he’s being “dumped.” It’s as if she’s found a golden ticket lying in the dirt. Beth jumps off the low wall and practically skips over to me. She grabs me by the hands and lifts me onto my feet.
“Come on, lunch isn’t over yet, Natalie.” Her tone is light and cheerful. She is pleased that I placed Anthony back on the friend list. “We can shop the school store and get you some school-sanctioned leggings approved by Cromwell.”
No sooner do we step inside the student center, than I see Jacob and Lucas. My chest feels a pang of longing though I hate them both for what they did. But there’s a fine line between love and hate, and the emotions are intense on both sides.
Beth hurries along, chattering about some animal-friendly boots that look like black leather that she saw on the internet. My gaze is on Jacob and Lucas, and I cannot turn my head away. My face is a still mask as Jacob glances over in my direction. Lucas follows Jacob’s intense gaze. And then they both look away and turn toward each other as if I were a ghost drifting by.
Someone touched me in that dark bedroom, causing my body to shudder and shake with desire. But the boys won’t own up to who shattered my heart and my trust. I didn’t do it alone.
“Ignore them,” Beth whispers as we enter the bookstore. She pulls a pair of dark leggings off the rack and hands them to me. “Remember who you are, Trashalicious.”
CHAPTER 2
Natalie
Monday morning Calculus, and nothing’s changed except for my seat. Poor Peterson. Every class we're in together, he has to trade seats with me like we’re playing musical chairs. I keep my eyes on the board as Ms. Petrenko writes tiny numbers across it in even lines. She’s wonderfully OCD. Though math is my favorite subject, I’m having trouble focusing as her voice drones on about stuff I can't care less about right now.
Today, I have to find out who was in that bedroom.
The sensation of being watched from across the room isn’t my paranoid imagination. Jacob’s head is turned in my direction, and he needs to pay attention to the board. I can barely follow this problem, so I know he’s in trouble. Slowly, I turn my head, but when I look, his head is down as if he wasn’t staring from across the room. I watch him a second longer, and he looks at me head-on. Instead of looking away, I don’t play it off. I continue to look at him because I have nothing to be ashamed of.
His lips curl, and his arrogant gaze returns to the board, and then to the tablet on his desk. Jacob hasn’t cut his dark hair in a few weeks, and his bangs sweep into his brown eyes. He doesn’t push his hair aside and hides his eyes behind it. With a smirk, Jacob looks over once more, and I swallow hard as heat floods through me. My mind and my pride hate him, but my heart wants him back. Deep down, I hope that...
“Natalie, do you know the answer?” Ms. Petrenko smiles as if I’m caught.
Staring at the board, I figure out fast what’s been going on for the last few seconds. And I’m able to save face because I’m not fooled by math. It’s the one thing I can trust all the time.
“The limit does not exist.”
Ms. Petrenko’s eyebrows lift at the correct answer. She only calls on students that she thinks aren’t paying attention, but I’m not flustered. This is a lightweight shaming compared to the shit I’ve been through lately.
“That’s right. Thank you, Natalie.”
Her eyes look to Jacob and then back to me. I squirm a little in my seat, knowing what she must be thinking. Ms. Petrenko expressed surprise when Jacob canceled his tutoring sessions with me. I stopped going to meet him in the library on Thursday afternoons after the homecoming party. Taking the high road, I sent him a strongly worded text. No emotion. No accusations. I simply stated in four well-written sentences that I was unavailable. His brief response was “all right—no problem.”
I was stunned that he didn’t ask for an explanation or beg for forgiveness. He just accepted the fact that I wanted to exit his life. I was disappointed that Jacob would give up so quickly; I wanted him to be angry and show his rage, but instead, I got nothing but scornful looks and cold stares.
The bell chimes, and I’m determined to get the closure I need.
Grabbing my books, I head for the door as Jacob exits. He brushes past me, and I can smell his familiar cologne mixed with sweat. He’s not the cold customer that he pretends to be. I don’t bother to call after him because he won’t stop. Following him so closely that he must know that I’m there, I match his fast pace until we're at his locker.
His locker is off the main hall in an alcove with twelve other ones. All the other lockers are in alphabetical order, but the lockers in this part of East Hall are for the select few. Set apart from the common herd, the wealthiest kids are given even more privileges than the rest.
“We have to talk.” I lean my body against the locker next to his and stare hard into his face.
But he won’t look at me or even acknowledge me. I’m not backing down.
“Jacob,” I repeat. “We have to talk.”
Jacob looks around us to see who might be listening. But we’re alone. Most students only use their lockers in the morning. Hardly anyone carries a textbook when they have it on a tablet.
“Later,” he says.
“Now,” I challenge.
“Fine.” He turns and towers over me. His face twists into a scowl. “What do you want?”
Finally, a sentence. Jacob has no problems showing his aggression, so I was surprised how passive-aggressive he could act. He could teach master classes in it.
His hard glare makes my lip tremble, but I’m not backing down. I have to say it. “What happened that night? Was it all a plan to humiliate me?”
His gaze falters, and Jacob looks into his locker as if he hasn’t seen what’s inside of it before. He won’t answer me. I told him straight out what I wanted to know. Did he think I wouldn’t ask? If so, he doesn’t know me at all. Reaching over toward the locker door, I slam it shut, almost catching his hands.
Scowling, Jacob steps back looking at me as if I’m the crazy one.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Seriously? The three of you used me like a toy and then humiliated me after. I thought things had changed between us. Between all of us.”
The tears start, and I’m angry at myself for crying in front of this heartless man. I wipe my eyes on the back of my hand and take a breath. Jacob watches me, and the cold façade is cracking. He looks concerned. Good. Maybe next time, he’ll look ashamed.
Taking a deep breath to steady my knees. “Was it you?” I ask.
Jacob narrows his gaze as a look of confusion alters his face. “What do you mean, was it me?”
A sob escapes my lips, and the tears immediately stop as my nerves start to rise. “In the bedroom in the dark.” I look down at our feet. “Were you the one touching me?”
Looking up, I hope that Jacob
will say yes. I wait for him to say it, hug me close and apologize. I wait for him to tell me that the worst is over, and it can only get better. But he just stands there.
“Oh, fuck.” I look around helplessly like the answer might be written on a locker. My legs start moving before I can think. I have to get away from him.
“Never talk to me again,” I hiss. “Never. Just keep ignoring me. Because this will be the last time, I ever look at you.”
I’m hurrying toward the main hall as the late bell chimes, wondering if I can keep my threat or if I’ll break before he does. My heart is hammering as Jacob’s gaze pierces me. The lips that kissed me and the body that held mine. Digging my nails into my hand, I head toward the stairs. I can’t miss class.
Pushing the door open, I’m flying down the steps to the landing when I hear my name.
“Natalie, stop.”
