by Bella King
“I’ve learned my lesson,” I said, but I wasn’t entirely sure that I had. I needed Cora to keep me in line.
Cora shook her golden hair. “I doubt that very much, Georgia. The first thing I want you to do is to stop talking to Apollo. He’s no good for you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said jokingly.
“Next,” she continued, her voice remaining serious, “You’re going to have to stick close to me. He’s not going to mess with you when I’m around.”
“I wonder why that is,” I said, staring off into space.
“Because I ignore him, that’s why. He’s good at manipulating people, but only those who show weakness.”
“Are you calling me weak?” I asked.
“Yes,” Cora replied, being awfully blunt. “You let him treat you the way he does.”
If you looked at us, you would have guessed Cora to be the weaker of the two, but she was deceptively strong underneath that small, sweet exterior. Truthfully, I was the one that gave in to temptation when it veered into my path often enough. Apollo was tempting to me because he was so goddamn attractive.
“Look at me,” Cora demanded.
I turned my head to face her.
“We’re sticking together from now on. No more Apollo,” she said, holding out a slender pinky. “You have to promise.”
I stuck my pinky out, wrapping it around hers firmly. “I promise,” I said, and I meant it. The problem was, I had trouble sticking to my promises even if I did mean them. I would need her help if I was going to be saved from Apollo’s wicked ways.
“Alright,” I said, pulling away. “I need to get to class.”
“Meet me here when you’re done. We’ll walk home together,” Cora said.
“Sure,” I replied, and went to class.
Chapter 4
Hate is a strong word.
“Hey, sweetheart, how was class?” Apollo asked, drifting in front of me as I exited the classroom.
“Do you even go to class, or have you spent your afternoon stalking me?” I asked, immediately forgetting Cora’s warning not to engage with Apollo the second I saw him.
“I’m totally just stalking you,” Apollo answered with a sly grin. “Do you want to join me at the park tonight. Me and some of the guys from the team are going to have a drink together.”
“What do you think?” I asked sharply, moving around him to move further down the hall.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Apollo said, jogging back up beside me.
“It’s a no,” I said, staring ahead. I could already feel the effects of his cologne on me, relaxing me, making me more susceptible to his words. No man should smell this good and be so fucking bad.
“I’m a changed man, Georgia,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t try to take advantage of you.”
“Yeah-fucking-right,” I said, quickening my pace and pulling my bookbag up on my shoulders.
“You can invite Cora if you want,” he said, testing to see if that would change anything.
It didn’t. I knew that he was trying to trick me, to lure me into a false sense of security so that he could ensnare me in his sick trap. I wasn’t biting. “She thinks you’re gross,” I responded as I walked down the hall toward the lockers where Cora would be waiting.
“But you obviously don’t. Otherwise, you won’t have wanted to fuck me before,” Apollo countered.
I groaned, giving in to my negative emotions. I knew that I was only giving in to what he wanted by revealing my frustration, but I had to blow off some steam. I had grown used to being left alone, and this was severely ruining my day.
I stopped walking, turning to face Apollo. “Listen, dickbag. Neither I nor Cora wants to have anything to do with you or your stupid jock friends. I don’t want to hang out with you, and the thought of having sex with you makes me want to vomit,” I blurted loudly.
A few students turned their heads, and Apollo looked around, smiling at the attention he was getting. He loved this.
“Stay away from me,” I said, shaking a finger at him. “Don’t fucking talk to me again.”
“You’re a little firecracker, now, aren’t you?” He replied, the same cocky look plastered on his face as when he had annoyed me a thousand times in the past.
The heat was rising into my face, making my cheeks pink and my heart thump in my chest. I was going to pop a blood vessel in my forehead if I didn’t exit this confrontation soon. I twirled around, racing off toward the lockers, leaving Apollo standing with the cocky smile still on his face.
Chapter 5
Old habits die hard.
I could already see the disappointment on Cora’s face as I walked up to her. She had her hands on her hips, and her blue eyes were like ice.
I gave her a fake smile when I walked up to her, knowing that I was likely walking into a scolding.
“I heard you down the hall,” Cora said calmly, betraying her stern expression.
“I just needed to get it off my chest, you know. I was standing up for myself,” I said.
“I told you not to talk to him. Literally, ignore him,” Cora said, jamming her finger into the palm of her hand while she spoke. “It’s not hard, Georgia.”
“It is for me,” I replied. “Can we go? I don’t want him following us.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Cora said, looking out behind me before taking my arm and guiding me to the exit.
“What did he say to you?” She asked when we were outside.
“He invited you and me to the park to drink with him and his jock friends,” I said, shielding my brown eyes from the pink sunset.
It was fall, which meant that the sun set earlier. It also meant that it was the time of the year when we bundle up in soft sweaters and sip hot tea after school. Fall was my favorite season, but it seemed that this fall was going to be colder than the last few. It didn’t bode well for winter.
Cora shivered when we stepped outside. I could see the tiny golden hairs on her hairs stand up in the light when a cool breeze swept past us. She was underdressed for such chilly weather, but that didn’t stop her fiery attitude from returning when we started walking.
“Apollo is just trying to suck you back into his demented world. You don’t need to go anywhere with him,” she said, walking briskly two steps ahead of me.
I had to nearly jog to keep up with her. “I’m not going to drink with him,” I assured her.
“You’re not going to do anything with him,” Cora corrected. “I don’t want to have to come to save your butt again like last time.”
“My ass doesn’t need saving. I have this covered,” I said.
Cora laughed and shook her head. “You have no idea how screwed you would be without me.”
She was right. If she hadn’t been pulling me in the direction opposite of Apollo’s powerful vortex, I would have succumbed to him long ago. I might have even missed him when he got expelled. She was right to protect me from him, and I wasn’t doing myself any favors by not listening to her.
“I am feeling like a drink, though,” I said.
“Have a coke. I’m going to drink some tea when I get home,” Cora said cheerfully.
“I need a whiskey and coke,” I replied, thumbing the straps of my bookbag.
“So that you can drunk text Apollo? No way.”
“I don’t have his number anymore,” I said, which was only partially true. I didn’t have it on my phone, but it still survived on a little crumpled piece of paper in the bottom drawer of my dresser at home. I hadn’t thrown it away in case I needed it for some kind of emergency, but I couldn’t find a valid reason why I would ever need to call him. I should burn the thing, but I was afraid to even touch it. It grew old in the dark of the bottom drawer, and there it would remain.
“No booze, no phone calls, no cigs. Do you got that?” Cora said firmly when we stopped outside of her house.
“I don’t even have alcohol. My parents won’t let me drink at home.”
“Smart,” Cora repl
ied. “Nobody should be drinking, to be honest.”
“I’m an adult,” I reminded her.
“Adults shouldn’t be drinking either. It’s bad for you and you make stupid decisions when you drink. You know that better than I do.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be safe tonight. I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” I said, waving a hand halfheartedly.
Cora flashed me a sympathetic glance as she turned and retreated to her house. She knew that I couldn’t be trusted when I was in a state of shock like this, and she was right. The first thing I did when she left me alone was walk to the store to buy a pack of smokes for old time's sake. That’s all it was, right?
Chapter 6
It’s hard to wash away your inner tragedies.
I had to slip in through the back door without being noticed so that my parents wouldn’t smell the cigarette smoke that clung to my body like syrup. Smoking once wasn’t enough for it to soak into your clothes, but if you made a habit out of it, you would never smell like anything else.
Thankfully, I hadn’t gone back to the habit. I just had a happy relapse that I needed to wash the evidence of off my body as soon as possible. I slunk up the stairs to my bedroom, which had a private bathroom and shower.
The nice thing about being wealthy was that there was so much space in the house. It was easy for the smell of whatever I had been doing before coming home to slip into the open air and be diluted by the vast space in the house. It wasn’t concentrated in one place for someone to catch a whiff of
I showered right after school anyway, so my behavior wasn’t suspicious, not that my parents took much notice of anything I did. They were notorious for breezing over the fine details of my life as though I was a robotic young woman who never stepped out of line.
This proved to be advantageous to me in some ways, giving me the unique ability to slip under their radar and do things that would bring shame on our family, but it also meant that there was nobody to stop me from doing the really bad things, like associating with men like Apollo.
Getting drunk in my bedroom alone wasn’t going to hurt anyone, but going out drinking with guys who fucked women like they were toys was a different world of trouble, one that I had teetered on the edge of ever since I became an adult.
I wasn’t the type of woman to give up her virginity that easily, but Apollo was skilled in his seduction, and it had almost been too easy for him to take me, ruin me, and leave me behind like all the rest before me. Cora saved me, but she couldn’t always be there to do that.
I heard my parents in the living room discussing furniture placement for the refurnishing they were doing around the house. It was nearly seasonal the way they refreshed things, but I would have preferred it to stay the same. I could never get used to all the new furniture and decorations.
I moved away from their voices as things began to turn heated. They were too distracted with each other to notice me. That was often the case when I came home. I probably didn’t even have to sneak around, but there was a chance that I would get caught, and if they weren’t in a good mood, it spelled serious trouble for me.
I didn’t take chances. Chances are what had me fall for Apollo in the first place. Now he was seeking another chance, and that wasn’t happening.
I took the stairs to my bedroom by twos, rushing up and tossing my bookbag onto my bed before retreating in the bathroom to clean myself up. As much as I like ruining my lungs, the smell wasn’t something I was particularly fond of. I was happy to get clean.
I stripped off my clothes, remembering the way that Apollo had last year. I was wearing the same bra as back then, a red one with black lace around the edges. It was pretty, and I remember Apollo being very much into it. I didn’t admit that’s why I wore it so often now.
My sweater came off over my head easily, crumbling in a ball on the floor. I pulled my skirt and panties down together, stepping out and kicking them to the corner before unlatching my bra. I looked at myself in the mirror as my breasts fell out in front of me.
I looked good. I had to admit that I could see why men like Apollo were after me. If it weren’t for the damn mole on my hip, I would have been a ten out of ten in my own eyes, but then again, nobody’s perfect. I remember trying to burn the thing off after I got teased for it in middle school.
The perfect blonde girls that had laughed at me and pointed fingers all continued on to Winterlake Prep and still made it a point to snicker and give me nasty looks in the hallway. Bitches remain bitches.
The mole wasn’t even anything major. It wouldn’t bother me if those girls hadn’t pointed it out, and now it was an enduring reminder that I just wasn’t good enough to be part of the in-crowd. I would always be a bit of an outsider.
I moved my hips out of the mirror and looked again. Yeah, I was stunning. That was enough for me. I spun around and walked to the shower, which was a good ten feet away because of how large the bathroom was.
I pushed the golden handle to slide open the frosted glass door on the shower, stepping in with bare feet on the cold black tiles. I turned the gold water knob, jumping out of the way of the sudden jet of cold water, continuing to turn it until the water was hot enough to step under.
We had a ceiling showerhead fixture installed a few years ago, and I liked to pretend I was out showering in the rain sometimes. I even took a shower with my clothes on this way once, but I don’t think I would have done that if I hadn’t been drinking. You have to have fun sometimes.
I tried not to take life too seriously. What more could I ask for when I had every opportunity to succeed handed to me on a silver platter. I often felt guilty for being the daughter of a coal tycoon, not only because my father was actively destroying the air that we breathed, but also because it gave me an advantage in life that I had never asked for.
I was a privileged young woman, but I still struggled. Life didn’t give it to you easy just because you were rich. That was something I learned firsthand attending Winterlake, where no matter how much you earn, someone else there was out-earning you. A ruby is nothing special when it’s surrounded by emeralds.
I didn’t like to bitch and moan about my problems. Substances were a quick fix, but they didn’t last, leaving me feeling worse than before. The best thing I could do was to take long, hot showers, relaxing my muscles, and forgetting about the day before I enjoyed a nice dinner with my parents. That would fix everything enough to prepare me to endure the next day.
I let the hot water roll over my shoulders, turning my skin from white to bright pink with the heat. I could never have it hot enough, slowly turning the knob until I could barely feel the heat anymore. I always came out looking like a boiled crab.
I spun the shiny gold knob a little more to the left, giving me more hot water to cook myself with. My eyes scanned the excessive arrangement of soaps, gels, and shampoos on the long shelf in front of me, trying to pick one that fit the occasion.
I had a shower gel called black roses that I thought aligned with my mood fairly well. I thought about Apollo as I squirted a large glob of the sparkling purple gel into the palm of my hand.
As I rubbed it on my body, I remembered how his hands had felt on me, and as the sweet smell entered my nostrils in the steam, I remember how he had smelled, deep and masculine, a hair away from my lips.
My hairs stood up at the thought of him, and even in hot water, I shivered. Why the fuck would the school let someone like him back in? Was it because he was the captain of the football team, which went tragically downhill after he left? Maybe they were trying to save face by bringing him back.
Well, he wouldn’t back at Winterlake for long if he couldn’t get his grades up high enough to play sports, and he wasn’t going to get away with tampering with them again. I’m sure they were keeping a close eye on him now.
I rinsed the glittering gel off my body, not bothering to lather it up much. I was already clean from my shower that morning, and all I needed to do was to get the scent of the smoke off my
face and fingers. I applied a different, less harsh gel to my face lathering it up well. Turning my face into the raining water and scrunching up my eyes and mouth as my face was nearly melted off by the heat.
I switched the shower water to cold to take care of my hair. It’s better to rinse your hair in cold water because it keeps it from being frizzy. I had naturally smooth copper hair, but hot water wasn’t going to keep it that way. I rinsed off with cold water only.
I picked a fluffy white towel off the heated rack beside the shower when I was finished, and carefully patted myself dry. I squirted a palm-full of lotion and lathered myself up, making sure that I got enough on my back. It was a hard part to reach, but my back would be itchy from the dry heat if I didn’t lotion it well enough.
Finished. Time for dinner!
Chapter 7
Family ties are strong.
My father, a sturdy man in his late 40s, pushed a forkful of medium-rare steak into his mouth, chewing and swallowing while patting his lips with a napkin. He looked over at me while I poked at my vegetables. “How are your exams?”
My mother looked up at me from her food, smiling the same fake way she always did whenever my father asked me about school. She had the look down pat after doing it for so many years. I suspected she was never really happy.
“We haven’t had them yet, but I’ve been studying,” I said. He never got the dates right for my school stuff. He didn’t actually care about what I was doing or when I was doing it, so long as I got good grades.
“You know, Winterlake University is accepting application next week. You might want to get on top of that for early admittance,” My father said, taking another piece of steak to his mouth.
“Aren’t I going to get in anyway?” I asked.
“Early admittance is a privilege. You’ll be seen more favorably by the dean.”
I internally rolled my eyes. My parents were obsessed with making connections and getting on people’s good sides so that they could game it in the future. I wondered why they couldn’t get along with each other if they were so good at it.
