by K. Walker
He lunged at me, and I clenched my fists and prepared to pummel him into the ground.
“Not here,” Cody said and pulled me back. “Let’s go.”
He tugged me back, even as I tried to get away, and Wes snarled as his team mates collared him and pressed him back, too. I shook Cody off of me when I was a ways off, and stalked out of the building.
I was done. I had to get out of there. I walked straight to the car, got in, and drove off. I saw Cody returning to the building through my rearview mirror.
I was glad when I got home and the Porsche wasn’t there. Dad was though. His Range Rover was in the garage, which meant he had stayed home. My heart raced when I entered the house and went looking for him.
“Dad!” I didn’t like the man, sometimes, for what he’d done to Mom, but he was still my father, and future was still in his hands. “Dad!”
“In here, Chad!” he shouted from below. He was probably in the gym. I skipped through the kitchen, down the hall and through the archway that led away from the entertainment room and down a flight of steps.
He was sweating and had a towel draped around his neck when he saw me. “What’s wrong? Why are you home?”
“Why are you home?” I asked him with heavy concern. No way Callie moved that fast.
“I’m an adult. I can be home. Whereas you go to school. Did something happen?” he asked and reached for his phone.
“No, Dad, you didn’t miss a call from the principal. I just came home so you wouldn’t get a call.” I sank down onto the bench and threw my legs on either side. “I told Callie off today.”
I knew he would be pissed because I was fucking with his future, but I couldn’t take it anymore.
“That’s okay. I appreciate what you did in the first place.” He wiped his face and sat at the end of the bench I occupied, and probably the one he had been using before I came in. The weights were still on it. “You shouldn’t have to give up your life and mess up your senior year to help me. That’s not your job.”
I sat up shocked at his words. “Really? So what are you going to do?”
“You really think your dad is such a sap to sit back and take shit from the Humprys?” He grinned and stood.
“So you have a plan? Because I’m dying to get back at her. I lost my girl because of it.”
“Yeah, and I liked her too. She wasn’t like the others.”
“What do you know about the others?” I teased, even though I was feeling greatly relieved.
“I know that you should have never gotten mixed up with Callie,” he scoffed and rubbed the towel along his neck.
“Well, you’ve got me there. So what’s the plan? Can Mrs. Humpry really pull the plug on your career?”
“Not if I have anything to do with it. You think I would just be sitting here being blackmailed by Natalie? You must be joking. Give your old man some credit.”
The grin that spread across my face was priceless. I jumped up and clapped him on the shoulder. “You have no idea what that means to me. But come on, Dad, you couldn’t have saved me from the headache? What do you have planned?”
“Come on, son,” he said and tossed the towel into the hamper. “Let’s get you up to speed, because if nothing else, the Humprys are going down for good this time. They won’t be getting away with anymore shit in this town.”
“Hell, yeah!” I howled as I chased after him up the stairs.
Chapter 16
I was in a daze for the rest of the evening.
The news Chad had dropped like a bomb had rocked me to the core. I even found myself touching my lips, remembering the way he had kissed me. I had forgotten what that was like.
“Hey, earth to Sophia!” Amanda snapped her fingers to get my attention.
“Oh, sorry,” I replied.
“Where were you just now?”
We were headed to the parking lot, and I was hugging my purse like a shield. I wanted to leave before I ran into Wes – I didn’t know how to look at him with a straight face. Not when I still felt Chad’s lips on mine.
“Come here,” I said and pulled her into a corner, and out of sight. “You won’t believe when I tell you this and it stays between us.”
“What? I swear. Tell me!” Amanda clutched my hand, her eyes widening and her fingers tightening around my wrist.
“Remember how I always thought something was up between Callie and Chad?”
“Yeah. And?” she pressed.
“Well, today he told me. He broke up with me because of her.”
Amanda’s expression flatlined. “That’s what you wanted to tell me?”
“No, it’s not like that. Like, she literally made him break up with me. She blackmailed him, Amanda. Her mom would have done some bogus shit so his dad would lose his business license and wouldn’t be able to work in this town again. And she would have had my mom fired, too.”
“Holy shit! What a bitch!” Amanda screeched.
“That’s what I said. I wish he hadn’t told me though. Things were finally getting really good with Wes, and I was over Chad. Or, at least, I thought I was.” I touched my lips again, unwittingly, and I saw Amanda’s eyes light up.
“Did something happen with him?”
“Not really,” I blushed. “Okay, he kissed me. And now…I’m not so sure how I feel about him. And then there’s Wes. I’m so screwed.”
“I think we need reinforcements,” Amanda stated and took out her phone. She started typing and I walked a little distance from her and stared out at the emptying parking lot.
“Come on,” Amanda said. “We’re going to the beach. Alexi has to do something at the grill and we can get something to eat.”
“That’s actually not such a bad idea,” I said, and snuck past the entrance of the building. My phone began to buzz as soon as I did, and I looked around wildly, thinking I had been spotted.
I darted across the parking lot and reached my car. I didn’t even check the message but I had the sneaking suspicion it was Wes. I would explain tomorrow why I had ditched him.
The car was turning onto the street when I saw the group of them leaving the building. Whew! That was a narrow escape. There was no way I could be around Wes and he wouldn’t figure out that something was wrong. And I couldn’t tell him what it was. I already felt like a traitorous girlfriend.
Damn you Chad. And Callie!
To think she would actually have my mother fired just because she didn’t want me to be with Chad, like he belonged to her like a prized possession. But I had been warned, by Amanda and everyone else. Some things were just too incredible to believe without experience.
My hands shook, and I gripped the wheel and constantly checked the mirror – my mind kept telling me Wes was following me. I was jumpy for the whole time, and I parked in an inconspicuous spot when I got to the beach.
If I had thought about it before, I would have taken my car home and driven with Amanda to the beach.
I leaned against the car and kept checking for Amanda and the other girls. They pulled in about two minutes later and I scurried over to them, like an escaped convict. I felt so silly.
Amanda laughed when she saw me. “Why are you all the way over there?”
“I don’t know. Paranoid, I guess,” I admitted. “I’m a lousy liar and if I see Wes, I might be tempted to say something.”
“No, you can’t do that,” Amanda warned.
“Don’t you think I know that? Come on, let’s go inside the grill.” I took Amanda’s hand and hurried off, pulling her along behind me. Alexi was already inside when we got seated at the corner table.
The grill wasn’t busy yet, and the patio section was pretty much empty, but I didn’t want to be out there. Some older folks were seated at the oval-shaped bar counter while the barmaid smiled and mixed drinks. I was in the cornermost seat, skulking like I was hiding from the cops.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Amanda scolded. “You’re acting like you have a warrant out for your arrest.”
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“I knew Chad wouldn’t just dump you like that.” Liz smiled, like that bit of information solidified her relationship with Cody.
“I don’t know him like you do, or didn’t know him,” I defended. “But I should have known. The whole thing was just weird.”
“Told you Callie was a crazy bitch. I bet she did that just because you almost kicked her ass,” Amanda spat. “Can’t stand her. I wish there was a way we could get back at her.”
“Yeah,” Stacey added. “But what? She’s so connected, once she finds us out, we would be screwed.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But she has to be taught a lesson. She can’t get away with this.”
“No one has ever disagreed on that one, trust me,” Stacey replied scornfully. “But she is freakin’ untouchable. I hate her!”
“Maybe,” I mused.
“Hey, are you guys gonna order something?” Alexi shouted to us as she passed to bus a table.
“Oh, yeah, you know the drill,” Stacey answered for us with a snap of her finger over her head.
“Yeah, a strawberry milkshake,” I added.
“Make that two,” Amanda called.
“Three,” Stacey said.
“Four!” Liz said and giggled.
Alexi rolled her eyes. “As if my job isn’t hard enough.”
“So what are you going to do about Chad?” Amanda asked, like she was trying to pull the answer from me.
“I don’t know. What exactly am I supposed to do about him?”
“Nothing,” Liz said. “He’ll do everything, I’m sure.”
“What does that mean? He’ll do what?” My heart started thundering, imagining even more stolen kisses and secret rendezvous.
“You know Chad,” she said coyly. “Now that you know, he’s not going to just let you be.”
“I don’t think so either,” Stacey quipped.
“But he has to. I can’t take any more drama. I’ve had enough. And it’s not like Wes and Chad need another reason to hate each other.”
“True. But they are beasts, and they both want you. Good luck with that,” Stacey giggled.
“It’s not funny, Stacey,” I moaned and placed my forehead on the table. “This can’t be happening.”
“Well, well, well.”
You’ve got to be kidding me!
“Callie?” I was up before she could say anything else. The table shifted as I moved and tried to get across the table to scratch her eyes out.
She laughed cynically, and held her hands in the air like she was afraid of touching something filthy.
Amanda gripped my hand to hold me back. “Sophia, no!”
“Amanda, let me go! It’s about time someone gave this bitch what’s coming to her.”
“I see Chad told you,” she said, observing her cherry red manicured nails.
“You would fire my mom, just because I was with a boy who didn’t want you?”
“That’s where you have it wrong, honey. No one fucks with me and gets away with it. And you did it twice,” she said with disdain.
“And that gives you the right to destroy people’s lives? What kind of person are you?”
“One who always wins,” she gloated and toyed with her designer shades dangling at the end of her fingers.
“If only you had actually won,” I fired back. “You didn’t get me on the team. You didn’t get Chad back. No one got fired. What exactly did you get, Callie? A conversation with your mother?”
The smile completely disappeared from her face and a scowl replaced it. “Be careful what you say next, poor girl,” she smirked.
“Or what? You’ll fuck Wes? You’ll blackmail him, too? Is that how you get your men? You have to pay them to sleep with you? How fucking cheap!”
Her face reddened and her hands tightened around the glasses. “We’ll see how much more you’ll have to say after today.”
“Go on, Callie. You’ve already done your worst and you lost. Now they all hate you. Chad hates you!”
Her body spasmed, and she shrieked before she reached across the table and tried to grab me. I slapped her hand away and hopped onto the chair. Amanda and Stacey pulled me back just as Alexi came running.
“Let me go!” Callie shrieked as Paris, Zoe, and Christine struggled to get her back while barely touching her. It would have been funny if it had been someone else.
Several patrons had started to look on, and I retreated and allowed Amanda to pull me back. I was fuming, and my hands refused to stop trembling.
“Maybe we should just finish eating and ignore her,” Stacey suggested as we slowly sat again and watched as Callie huffed and exited the grill, her girls in tow.
“She’s just so…so…ugh!” I shuddered.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have angered her more,” Amanda said softly. “Who knows what she’ll do now? She could still get your mother fired.”
“I don’t think so,” I told them. “Mom’s been doing a great job, and if they had someone else in mind, they would have already fired her. I think she’s bluffing.”
“Could be. But that doesn’t mean you should tempt fate. Chad and his dad don’t even get along half the time since his parents broke up, and even he sacrificed his relationship with you to help him,” Liz said.
“I’m not being selfish, Liz. I’m just making a point. Callie wouldn’t dare!”
But I was the one who didn’t know the lengths she would go to get her way. But what would be her way now? She had lost everything. Maybe that was what would make her most dangerous – the fact that she had nothing to lose.
But let her bring it on, I thought. I’d had one day too much of Callie, and one inconvenience too many.
Chapter 17
Everything was different after that.
When I got to school on Monday, I found myself automatically searching the school parking lot for the Audi R8 that belonged to Chad. Nothing had changed between us, except I didn’t hate him.
He was still my ex-boyfriend and my first.
He was there, leaning against the hood, his boys hanging around, and the usual flock of girls dangling from their hems.
Typical Chad. Maybe he had actually moved on after all. It was just as well. As long as I was with Wes, there could be no me and him.
And speaking of my boyfriend, I beamed when I saw him waiting for me, leaning against the wall on the inside of the glass doors. He met me as I walked through the door with a steamy kiss that melted everything inside.
“How’s my girl this morning?” he asked as his lips left mine.
“Great now,” I told him. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
“Why?’ he asked and looked behind him. His face tightened when he looked back at me. “It’s not because of him, is it?”
“No. I’m going to class, which is inside the building, Wes. Don’t be silly.”
“Okay,” he replied, though unsure. “You need to stay away from him.”
“Wes,” I laughed nervously. “Is that an order?”
He stopped walking and turned to face me. “No, not an order. Just saying. I know why you and Minor broke up. And now you do, too.”
“Shit! Does the entire school know everything that goes on with either of you? Sheesh!”
“I know who he is,” Wes continued and rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “He’ll want to come after you. I can’t let that happen.”
I scoffed and wrinkled my brows. “So what you’re saying is you don’t trust me?”
“I do,” he replied. He stopped and turned his face to mine. “But I hate competing.”
“Maybe you should quit racing then, because that’s the only competition here,” I replied and tried to reassure him.
“Just stay away from him,” he added as we started walking off again.
He rubbed the back of my hand as we continued walking, but I couldn’t help feeling like it was a threat.
Despite my reassurance, he hovered more than before for the rest of the day. It seemed like
he lurked in the shadows, like he wanted to catch me doing something, and every time I would ask, he would give me some lame-ass bullshit story.
“I hate the way Wes is acting,” I told Amanda at the end of the day as I was stuffing my binder into my locker.
“How? What did he do?”
“Nothing outright. But he seems off. He’s hovering.”
Amanda sighed. “I knew it. He thinks you’ll go back to Chad because everything’s out in the open now.”
“Does everyone know that? This is crazy!” I groaned.
“Hey, ladies.” Chad grinned as he crashed into the locker next to mine, his legs crossed at his ankles.
“Speak of the devil,” Amanda said.
“Aww, you were talking about me,” he chuckled. “I’m flattered.”
“Whatever, Minor,” Amanda scoffed and started to back away.
I knew Wes was close by. I couldn’t let her leave and have him come and find just me and Chad so chummy.
“No,” I said quickly and grabbed Amanda’s arm. “Not yet.”
He noticed and smiled. “So, either of you going to Zoe’s party later?”
“Why would I want to be at Zoe’s party?” I asked and scrunched up my face.
“Hello? Look, Sophia,” Amanda said and spun me. “It’s not just a Zoe party. It’s a hip party. Forget the face behind it.”
“Exactly.” Chad grinned. “So I’ll see you girls later then,” he said and walked off.
“Amanda, you’ve just gotten me in trouble,” I complained. “I don’t want to be around Callie and her pets. And now Chad will be there and looking out for me. Wes is already breathing down my neck.” I was freaking out because it didn’t sound like I would have a good time at the party. Hip or not.
“Say what you want about the cheer squad, but they do throw good parties,” Amanda defended.
I wish I could say I was a sucker for any party. I was picky, but, apparently, things happened differently in Madison Falls County. The thought had barely left my mind when I turned and saw a scowling Wes. Clearly, he had seen Chad just now.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked in an accusatory tone.
